Is Malice A Sin? The Truth About What The Bible Says

Deep hurt does something to you. The intense anger that rises at first slowly eases, but it never truly goes away. It settles into a still, hardened impression. You find yourself hoping they fail. When things go wrong for them, you get a small sense of satisfaction. You replay what they did. You hold it. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you already know that what you are carrying has moved past grief into something else.

That question brings you here. Is this a sin?

Scripture gives a clear answer. This article presents it clearly and without leaving you without hope.

Quick Answer: Yes, malice is a sin. The Bible defines malice as a deliberate inward intent to harm another person, rooted in ill will and hatred. Scripture commands Christians to put it away entirely (Ephesians 4:31, Colossians 3:8, 1 Peter 2:1) and replace it with kindness and forgiveness. Malice is a condition of the heart, and the blood of Christ covers it for those who bring it to God in repentance.

Is Malice a Sin According to the Bible?

Yes, malice is a sin. The Bible says so plainly and repeatedly.

Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31). He wrote to the church at Colosse: “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth” (Colossians 3:8). Peter repeated the same command: “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings” (1 Peter 2:1).

These commands are addressed to believers. Paul wrote them to gathered churches, to people who already knew Christ and were still capable of carrying bitterness and malice. These commands would be meaningless if Christians were incapable of harbouring ill will. The fact that God commands it to be put away tells you everything you need to know about whether it is sin.

What Does Malice Mean in the Bible?

The Dictionary Definition of Malice

The dictionary defines malice as “extreme enmity of heart, or malevolence; a disposition to injure others without cause, from mere personal gratification or from a spirit of revenge; unprovoked malignity or spite.”

Extreme enmity of heart: a deep, hostile orientation of the inner person toward someone else. Unprovoked malignity: the definition acknowledges that malice sometimes has no legitimate cause at all, springing from personal gratification or a spirit of revenge. A disposition to injure: a posture, a settled orientation, held and chosen. Malice is what you have chosen to carry.

The Greek Word Behind Malice: Kakia

The Greek word translated “malice” throughout the New Testament is kakia. It refers to evil of character, a settled badness of disposition. A related word, poneros, points to the active destruction that evil causes in the world. Kakia is different: it describes what a person is, not merely what they do. It is the condition of the inner life, the settled evil intent of the heart toward another person. You can study the full lexical entry for kakia at Blue Letter Bible.

Malice is primarily about what you have become toward someone, not only about what you have done to them.

Malice Is a Deliberate, Cold-Blooded Sin

The Mosaic law drew a careful line between murder and manslaughter. Numbers 35:16-21 describes the difference: if a man strikes another with a weapon or out of hatred and the person dies, that is premeditated murder. If someone dies by accident, without prior enmity, the death falls into a different category. The intent is what makes the distinction.

Malice operates on the same principle. A sin of passion is a sin of weakness, a moment of heat that overwhelmed judgment. Malice is a knowing, deliberate choice of the heart. The person who harbors malice understands what they want for the other person and has chosen to keep that wish. That cold deliberateness is exactly why Scripture treats it with such seriousness.

What Does the Bible Say About Malice?

Examples of Malice in the Bible

Malice appears early in Scripture and runs through it. These accounts show real people choosing harm from the inside out.

Cain carried malice toward Abel before he ever raised his hand. God saw it forming: “Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?” (Genesis 4:6). The murder began as envy that hardened into intent.

Haman harbored malice toward Mordecai because one man refused to bow to him. That wound to his pride became a scheme to destroy not only Mordecai but every Jewish person in the kingdom (Esther 3:5-6). One rejection, one hardened heart, and malice expanded to fill everything in its path.

Saul’s malice toward David emerged after David was celebrated following the defeat of Goliath. “And Saul eyed David from that day and forward” (1 Samuel 18:9). For years, Saul pursued a young man who had done nothing but serve him faithfully. Envy had turned to malice, and malice drove everything he did toward David after that.

The Pharisees plotted against Jesus not because He had wronged them, but because He challenged their position and authority. “Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him” (Matthew 12:14). Their settled, organised determination to destroy someone who had done them no harm was malice at its coldest.

Ephesians 4:31

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31).

Malice is the final word in this list. Paul moves from bitterness to wrath to anger to clamour to evil speaking, and then names malice as the condition underneath them all. The others are expressions. Malice is the stance that generates them. The verse immediately following reads: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). Kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness take its place entirely.

Colossians 3:8

“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth” (Colossians 3:8).

The phrase “put off” carries the image of removing a garment. Paul uses clothing language throughout Colossians 3: put off the old man (verse 9), put on the new man (verse 10), put on mercies and kindness and meekness and longsuffering (verse 12). Malice is something you wear. And it belongs to a self that has already died in Christ.

1 Peter 2:1

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings” (1 Peter 2:1).

The word translated “laying aside” means to put something down deliberately, the way a person sets aside something heavy they have been carrying. Peter groups malice with guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking. All of these sins work under the surface. Malice does not always announce itself loudly. It works quietly, alongside the others.

Titus 3:3

“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).

Paul includes himself. He writes as someone who lived in malice before grace found him. Malice is the pre-conversion condition of every human being. It levels the ground. No one reading this stands above this verse.

Romans 1:29

“Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers” (Romans 1:29).

This catalog describes those whom God has given over to a reprobate mind. Malice sits in the company of murder, deceit, and envy. The words “maliciousness” and “malignity” a few words later both carry the same root idea: a soul bent toward evil against others. Scripture places this not among minor failures but among the severest conditions of a heart that has rejected God.

Mark 7:20-23

“And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23).

Jesus locates the problem in the heart. Whatever happened outside provided the occasion; the malice formed inside. And it defiles the one it comes from.

Proverbs 26:24-26

“He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation” (Proverbs 26:24-26).

The malicious person often does not look malicious. Solomon describes someone who speaks carefully while concealing hatred beneath the words. The smooth face. The fair speech. And underneath it, seven abominations. God sees what the congregation does not, and the day will come when it is brought into the open.

1 Corinthians 5:8

“Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8).

Christ is our Passover, sacrificed for us (verse 7). The Passover feast was kept with unleavened bread because leaven represented corruption spreading through the entire lump. Paul applies that picture directly to the Christian community: malice is leaven. A small amount spreads. It does not stay contained in the person who holds it. It moves through the whole body.

1 John 3:15

“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15).

John does not soften it. Hatred toward a brother, held and carried, places a person in the same category as a murderer in God’s sight. Jesus said it first in Matthew 5:21-22: the one who is angry with his brother without cause is in danger of judgment. John confirms the principle: the inward life counts before God. The thought, the settled intent, the cherished hatred: all of it counts.

Where Does Malice Come From?

The Wound Beneath the Malice: Hurt, Anger, and How Malice Forms

Malice rarely appears from nowhere. Something precedes it. Someone betrayed you. You were treated unjustly. A person you trusted used you. Something real happened, and the pain was real.

Grief over genuine harm is right. God does not demand that you feel nothing about what was done to you. The movement from wound to malice follows a path that most people recognize. The wound produces anger, and anger at genuine wrong is not automatically sinful. Paul writes “be ye angry” in Ephesians 4:26, but he adds immediately: “and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Anger that is not brought to God and surrendered starts to harden. It becomes bitterness, an inward ache that keeps returning to the injury, pressing on it. And bitterness, left without resolution, turns outward: I want this person to suffer. When bitterness arrives at that point, it has become malice.

Grief brings the wound to God. Malice picks it up as a weapon.

Jesus Traces Malice to the Heart

Jesus is clear in Mark 7:20-23 that the evil things that come out of a person come from within the heart. Circumstances provide the occasion, but the heart is where malice forms and where it must be addressed. The wrong that was done to you is between the person who committed it and God. The malice in your heart is between you and God.

What Does Malice Look Like in Everyday Life?

Malice does not always arrive with raised voices or obvious hostility. It lives in ordinary moments that feel almost reasonable. The satisfaction when you hear things went badly for someone you resent. The withholding of help you could easily give to anyone else but not to them. The grudge held so long it has become simply part of how you think of that person. The quiet wish that they would fail, held privately without ever acting on it.

It looks like scrolling to find bad news about someone. It looks like the person who refuses to pray for someone they despise, even when the need is obvious. It looks like the subtle steering of conversations in a direction that will damage the one they hold malice against.

When Malice Wears a Polite Face

Solomon identified something about malice that makes it difficult to catch in yourself: it is skilled at presenting a clean face. “He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; When he speaketh fair, believe him not” (Proverbs 26:24-25).

In practice, this looks like the prayer request that is really an opportunity to share damaging information about someone else. It looks like the concerned feedback given at exactly the right moment to undercut rather than help. It looks like the observation that is technically true but timed and phrased specifically to wound. The words are careful. The intention is not.

Is Malice the Same as Anger, Hatred, or Bitterness?

Malice, Anger, and Righteous Anger: What Is the Difference?

Anger is an emotion. It arises as a response to something and can be entirely appropriate. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:26: “Be ye angry, and sin not.” Jesus cleared the temple in righteous anger (John 2:15-16). God himself is described throughout Scripture as slow to anger, which means He does get angry, in perfect proportion to real injustice.

Malice is different in kind. Anger rises and falls. Malice stays. Anger is what you feel in the moment; malice is what you have decided toward a person over time. Righteous anger responds to real evil without seeking personal revenge and without wishing harm on the person as an individual. Malice has already settled on wanting the person to suffer, regardless of whether justice is served.

Is Malice the Same as Bitterness?

Bitterness is the inward experience of unresolved pain, the ache that keeps returning to a wound and pressing on it. It corrodes the one who holds it from within. Malice is bitterness directed at the perpetrator. When bitterness stops turning inward and starts pointing outward at the person who caused the pain, when it shifts from “I hurt” to “I want them to hurt,” that turn is malice. Bitterness can exist without having yet arrived at malice, but bitterness left without resolution tends to move in that direction.

Is Malice the Same as Hatred?

John connects them directly in 1 John 3:15: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” Hatred and malice are closely bound. Hatred is the deep ill will toward someone, the emotional experience of wanting them gone, wanting them diminished. Malice is hatred that has decided what it wants to do. Both are sin. Scripture treats both seriously. Where one is present, the other is usually close.

Malice vs. the Love Commandment

Jesus gives the clearest measuring standard in Matthew 5:44: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Love in this sense is benevolence: wishing good, doing good, praying for the other person’s welfare. Malice is malevolence: wishing evil, hoping for harm, pleased at suffering. Harboring malice toward someone places a person in direct disobedience to the love commandment, because that commandment extends to enemies, not only to friends.

Can a Christian Have Malice in Their Heart?

Yes. The evidence is in the commands themselves. Ephesians 4:31, Colossians 3:8, and 1 Peter 2:1 are all written to people who already believed in Christ. These are church letters, not evangelistic tracts. If Christians were incapable of harboring malice, Paul would have had no reason to address it so specifically and repeatedly to the churches.

The person who has trusted Christ is forgiven and is being made new, but transformation is not instant. The old patterns of the heart do not vanish on the day of conversion. They must be identified, confronted, confessed, and put off. Malice in a believer’s heart is still sin. It does not become less serious because the person is saved. The gospel provides the grace to go through the confrontation.

What Happens When You Hold Malice in Your Heart?

The Person Carrying Malice Is Carrying the Poison

Jesus says in Mark 7:23 that the evil things proceeding from the heart “defile the man.” The person carrying malice is defiled by it. The target of your malice is often entirely unaware of what you hold toward them. They move through their life. You go over the grievance again and again, revisiting it, absorbing what it produces. Yet malice does not punish the person you want to suffer. It works on you.

It Grieves the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30-31)

Ephesians 4:30 reads: “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” The command to put away malice follows in verse 31. That sequence is intentional. Paul places the warning about grieving the Spirit immediately before the list that ends with malice. Paul’s word is grieves, and it is exact. The Spirit remains with the believer, sealed to the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30), and that grief shapes the texture of the believer’s walk with God. The freedom of prayer, the sense of nearness, the fruit of the Spirit in daily life: all of these are affected by carrying something the Spirit is calling you to lay down.

It Hinders Prayer and Fellowship With God

Matthew 5:23-24: “If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” God takes the condition of the heart seriously when it comes to worship and prayer. Malice creates a condition in the heart that is incompatible with genuine prayer and worship. A person carrying settled hatred toward another and trying to come before God in prayer is carrying a contradiction.

Malice Spreads Through the Church Like Leaven (1 Corinthians 5:8)

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:6: “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” He applies that image directly to malice two verses later. Malice in one member of a church does not stay private. It moves through gossip, through faction, through the gradual erosion of trust. It draws others into sides. It divides what should be united. Malice held between two people becomes a church problem whether those two people intend it to or not.

How to Get Rid of Malice: What the Bible Commands

You Are Not the Old Man Anymore

Paul grounds the command to put off malice in identity, not in effort. “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds” (Colossians 3:9). “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22). The old man, the self defined by malice and envy and bitterness, has been crucified with Christ.

A believer putting away malice is a person in Christ, removing a garment belonging to a self that has already died. The grace available for that work is proportional to what Christ actually accomplished.

Repenting of Malice: The Biblical Steps

The first step is to call the thing what it is. Call it malice. Name it as sin before God, without the softening language of “complicated feelings” or “needing distance.”

Confess it: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Then bring the wound beneath it to God as well. Do not confess the malice while leaving the injury unaddressed. Peter held up Christ as the model: “Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:23). Commit what was done to you to the one whose judgment is perfect.

Forgiveness comes next, and it is a decision before it is a feeling. Releasing the claim on repayment. Trusting God as the judge instead of carrying the scales yourself. Then walk in the Spirit: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). The Spirit is the agent of the transformation that willpower alone cannot produce.

The Replacement: Kindness, Forgiveness, and Overcoming Evil With Good

Paul’s command extends past “put off” to “put on.” Ephesians 4:32: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Colossians 3:12-14: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another… And above all these things put on charity.”

Romans 12:21 sets the full standard: “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Doing good toward the person you once wanted to see fail is where the command actually lands. It is hard, and it requires more than willpower. It requires grace, and that grace is what Christ provides.

What Does the Bible Say If You Are the Target of Malice?

Proverbs 26:26-27: Hidden Malice Will Be Exposed

“Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him” (Proverbs 26:26-27).

The person whose malice toward you hides behind careful words will not hide it forever. God sees it now. The congregation will see it eventually. Galatians 6:7 holds without exception: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” The person sowing malice toward you is already building the pit they will fall into. Your part is to step aside and let God deal with what belongs to Him.

Romans 12:17-21: How to Respond Without Becoming Malicious

“Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:17-21).

The greatest danger for someone on the receiving end of malice is becoming malicious in return. Paul’s instruction is practical and complete. Do not repay evil. Give place to God’s wrath, which means step aside and let God be the judge. Feed your enemy if they are hungry. Do good toward them. The aim is to be the person who overcame evil with good, rather than the person who became what was done to them. Paul notes the effect on the other person tends to follow, but that is the outcome, not the aim.

God’s Grace for Those Who Have Harbored Malice

When Forgiveness Is Hard and the Other Person Is Guilty

The command to put away malice does not wait for the other person to apologize or to deserve forgiveness. Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God extended forgiveness before you were worthy of it. The command to forgive does not require that the other person’s wrong be acceptable. It requires that you trust God with justice and obey Christ with your own heart, regardless of what the other person does with theirs.

This is genuinely hard when the person is still doing harm, still unrepentant, still treating you poorly. The command still stands. God sees what they did and He is the judge. Trusting Him with the outcome is its own act of faith.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). The blood of Christ covers malice when it is confessed. The Spirit of God is the agent of actual change in the believer. The freedom from malice that determination alone cannot produce, the Spirit produces through grace. What you owe yourself is honesty with God about what you have been carrying. Everything you need, God has already provided in Christ.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is malice in the Bible?

In the Bible, malice is a deliberate inward intent to harm another person. The Greek word kakia refers to evil of character, a settled badness of disposition. Malice is the condition of a heart that has chosen ill will toward someone and holds it as a posture, not simply a passing feeling.

Is malice a mortal sin?

Scripture treats malice with great seriousness, though the mortal and venial categories are not its own framework. John writes in 1 John 3:15 that “whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” Malice is incompatible with genuine love for God and others and must be confessed and dealt with. The grace of Christ is sufficient to cover it for those who repent.

What is the opposite of malice in the Bible?

The direct opposite is kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness. Ephesians 4:32 gives the contrast immediately after the command to put away malice: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” The full demand is Romans 12:21: overcoming evil with good.

Can you accidentally have malice?

Malice is by definition deliberate. A flash of anger is not malice. Malice develops over time as anger is not surrendered, bitterness forms, and the intent to harm becomes a settled posture. A person can arrive at malice without ever making a single conscious decision to become malicious, but once it is present it is a settled orientation, and Scripture treats it as such.

What is the Greek word for malice?

The primary Greek word translated “malice” in the New Testament is kakia, used in Ephesians 4:31, Colossians 3:8, 1 Peter 2:1, and Titus 3:3. It refers to evil of character and settled disposition. A related word, kakoeetheia, translated “malignity” in Romans 1:29, carries a similar meaning with added emphasis on the tendency to interpret other people’s motives in the worst possible light.

Is malice unforgivable?

Malice is not the unforgivable sin. Scripture describes only one unforgivable sin: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32). Malice, like every other sin, is covered by the blood of Christ when confessed. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Read also: Am I Beyond Repentance

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