Article By Amanda Dennis // EEW Magazine // Christian Living

A clapback is a fierce, snarky, strong, comeback— whether verbal or in writing— that owns or even sometimes destroys the credibility of the one on the receiving end. 

Though you may feel personally justified in putting aggressive enemies, critics, bullies, and trolls, in their place, here are 7 Scriptures that make a powerful case against clapping back.

2 Timothy 2:23-25 ESV – “Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.”

Proverbs 20:3 NIV – “It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.”

Philippians 2:14-16 NIV – “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.”

Proverbs 18:2 ESV – “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.”

Proverbs 21:23 ESV – “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.”

Isaiah 53:7 NLT – “He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.”

2 Corinthians 12:20 NASB – “For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances.”

If Jesus our Lord and savior, the One we should follow and imitate, didn’t clap back at His enemies, wy should we? While voicing your opinion is sometimes good and necessary, it is never okay to engage in open arguments that devolve into messy verbal wars fueled by outsized egos.

Struggling with the urge to clap back? Pray this:

God, I have trouble controlling my mouth and ignoring instigators. But I believe that the power of Your Spirit works and is able to empower me to do what I cannot do on my own. So I ask for help and guidance today and a heart to submit to Your will instead of my own. It is truly my desire to use my words wisely, in a way that brings Your name glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.