We Are Members One of Another

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.  Ephesians 4:32

Ephesians 4:17–32 – Learning to Live Under the Reign of Christ
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Life in the Spirit  – August 11, 2024 (am)    

If you’ve ever wondered just what it should look like to live like a Christian, today’s text stands at the heart of the answer—sort of the left chamber, with 5:1-21 being the right. The first half of c.4 gives the aim—walking in a manner worthy of the calling we receive in Christ, protecting the unity we inherit in Him, rooted in the humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, love, and peace He modeled (1-6)—and the enabling He provided—spiritual gifts to all believers and the gifts and offices of equipping to move them toward maturity (7-16).

Now, from 4:17 through 5:21 we get straight-forward, staccato instruction on just what it looks like when someone is truly converted, walking with God in the community of His people (mark some). After that we see what it looks like in the more specialized relationships of marriage (5:22-33), family (6:1-4), and the workplace (6:5-9), before we move into a final word that’s intended to cover every remaining category of life (6:10-20). Let’s summarize this text in two statements.

Put Off the Old Self and Put On the New – 17-24

In this new subsection—which begins very similarly to the new major section back in v.1: Paul asserting his authority; here, in the Lord (17) essentially means, in the name of the Lord or with the authority of the Lord Jesus (Stott 174)—Paul is saying God would have us add to our our focus on unity a focus on purity (Stott 174). That word isn’t here, but that’s the basic idea.

And Paul makes this point using a series of contrasts. Big picture, it’s a change in culture. 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. Interesting, he didn’t say unbelievers or pagans, although that’s surely what he meant. He used an ethnic/cultural category that, prior to this letter, would just have meant the non-Jewish world. But now, believing Jews and Gentiles are one new man in Christ (2:15). So, Gentiles refers to the unconverted, those you don’t imitate (4:17; cf. 5:1).

Why? 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hard-ness of heart, as used to be true of all Gentiles (cf. 2:11-12). 19 They’ve become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. This sounds like Rom.1 (Turner 1239). Together, these two texts emphasize the two-sided nature of this worlds’ rejection of God. Rom.1:24 … God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity…. Here: 19 They have… given themselves up to sensuality, … to… impurity. The unconverted are determined to pursue their own gratification, believing they’d lose too much by embracing this great God and coming under the reign of His Son by faith to receive all the blessings in the heavenly places (1:3) in him.

20 But Christian culture reverses all this. Paul writes: that is not the way you learned Christ! Rather: 21 … you… were taught in him to turn away from sensuality and impurity, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, to turn away from your former desires, to reject them by faith in Jesus, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness, echoing Col.3:10 … renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. In Christ, our hearts and minds are being refreshed toward what they were designed to be before sin entered this world and darkened them in their understanding such that they only want to satisfy themselves on their own terms. To put on the new self means to believe that God’s way is better than yours, more satisfying, more rewarding, more pleasing to Him, so you choose by faith to go His way. And you give thanks to God because you know that it’s only Jesus’ saving work in you that enables you to do this.

Put Away Falsehood and Be Kind – 25-32

So, how does that work itself out in life and relationships? Paul turns his attention to that with a 25 Therefore; then his study in contrasts continues. He describes what a worthy walk (1) should look like, since he’s now called us to walk as the Gentiles no longer (17). And the focus is really on truth and purity (Stott 174), especially in speech and relationships, intentional turning away from every kind of impurity (19).

You hear this right away: 25 … having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. We’re in the same family (3:15); we don’t want our family relationships marred by any expression of falsehood, nor any form of anger! 26 Be angry and do not sin, Paul writes, quoting David from Psa.4:4. And how does David finish his thought? Psa.4:4 … ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. It sounds like he’s saying the way we can be angry and not sin is to give to God in quietness and solitude all the things that make you angry; Paul retains a nighttime image from Psa.4. He writes: do not let the sun go down on your anger, don’t let your anger linger, 27 and in so doing, it seems you’ll give no opportunity to the devil.

His next contrast (28) draws on the eighth commandment, the work of a thief. In Christian community, not only do we stop any expression of seeking other people’s stuff to gratify ourselves, we turn it around and desire their blessing. In essence, we ask: What do I have that someone else may need?

It’s much the same with speech. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths—can you imagine? When we studied this years ago, we turned this into a charge to test our speech: 4:29 it! Here’s the rest—but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, there’s the summary aim, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. How? Here’s the summary negative charge: 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And here’s our summary positive: 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, not hard hearted (18), forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Forgiveness is the distinctively Christian virtue. We’re freed in Christ not just from the penalty of sins we’ve committed, we’re freed from the need to penalize sins committed against us.

Now, this staccato teaching continues on through the next therefore (5:1), but seeing that one makes this as good a place as any to punch Pause on Paul’s instruction regarding how to walk in a manner worthy of [our] calling (1), on what it looks like to live as a Christian under the reign of Christ.

Conclusion

So, how should we express our take-away? We need to spend some time with these words of instruction. They’re so poignant, so penetrating. Which one/s did you mark?

Twice in the first half of this letter Paul had to stop and pray some pretty specific prayers just to believe that these Ephesians would have any hope not just of hearing what he was teaching, but of grasping and embracing and living the profound implications of that teaching.

This second half, and in fact the letter as a whole, finishes with yet another call to prayer—[attentive], [persevering] prayer at all times, in the Spirit, for all the saints (6:18). Clearly, prayer is a necessary component of hearing and living the teaching of Ephesians. And I believe that’s what we need most as we hear this instruction this morning.

When we read today’s text with the Preaching Team this past Wednesday, we agreed that if ever a passage just needed to be read, read again, read a third time, then pronounce the benediction, this is the text—I’m sure there are also others, but this one ranks high among them!

So, let’s do that. Let’s take a few moments in silent, personal prayer, even while we’re sitting among the community of believers, and speak to God about whichever of these commands most caught our attention, penetrated our heart, pricked our conscience, on our own personal behalf or on behalf of this body of believers. And let’s pray.

Now, let’s come together to the Table of the Lord rejoicing 3:11 … in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

 ___________________

Resources

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                  , R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Ephesians, by Max Turner, 1222-1244. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

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Hughes, R. Kent. 1990. Preaching the Word. Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ, by R. Kent Hughes. Wheaton: Crossway.

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Osborne, Grant R. 2017. Osborne New Testament Commentaries. Ephesians: Verse by Verse. Bellingham, WA: Lexham.

Sproul. R. C. 1994. The Purpose of God: An Exposition of Ephesians. Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus.

Stott, John, NT ed. 1979. The Bible Speaks Today. The Message of Ephesians, by John Stott. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

NEXT SUNDAY: Ephesians 5:1–21, Nick Conner