“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:”
King James Version (KJV)
4:31 Let all bitterness - The height of settled anger, opposite to kindness, ver.#32|. And wrath - Lasting displeasure toward the ignorant, and them that are out of the way, opposite to tenderheartedness. And anger - The very first risings of disgust at those that injure you, opposite to forgiving one another. And clamour - Or bawling. I am not angry, says one; but it is my way to speak so. Then unlearn that way: it is the way to hell. And evil speaking - Be it in ever so mild and soft a tone, or with ever such professions of kindness. Here is a beautiful retrogradation, beginning with the highest, and descending to the lowest, degree of the want of love.
Eph 4:31,32 Let all bitterness, etc. These verses enforce sundry duties essential to keeping "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph 4:3) plain, everyday duties of life. Those of this verse are negative; those in Eph 4:32 are positive.