Podcast Notes: Our passage for today is Ephesians 4:17-32
We’ll begin by reading it and then we’ll:
Briefly look at the background to the passage Offer a short overview of the passage Seek to apply the teaching of the passage to our lives today17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ
21 and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body.
26 ‘In your anger do not sin’: do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Background to the passageIn the NIV the passage begins with the word ‘so’.
However the Greek is somewhat stronger and is better translated ‘therefore’
This takes us back to what he has been saying previously
So far in the letter Paul has emphasised:
The many blessings of being in Christ The fact that Gentiles believers are fellow-heirs with Jewish believers That the church, the body of Christ, is a holy temple in which God lives by his SpiritBecause of all this, at the beginning of Ch.4 he urges us to:
Live lives worthy of our calling, which, as we saw last time, will involve each member of the body pulling its weight and fulfilling the role that Christ who is the head of the body has assigned to it.
Now, in v17 he says:
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
In other words, in the light of all I’ve been telling you, don’t go back to what you were.
Overview of the passageDon’t go back to what you were (17-19)
Remember what you were taught when you became Christians (20-24)
Let your attitude and behaviour reflect what you are in Christ (25-32)
Don’t go back to what you were (17-19)
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
Remember what you were taught when you became Christians (20-24)
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ
21 and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
22 You were taught...
Let your attitude and behaviour reflect what you are in Christ (25-32)
25 ... put off falsehood and speak truthfully
26 ‘In your anger do not sin’: do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Application of the passageThe application of Paul’s teachings to our lives today is fairly obvious.
He gives a list of instructions telling us what to do and what not to do.
Let’s look a little more closely at what I consider to be the heart of the passage - vv.20-24.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ
21 and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
He tells us to put off our old self (22) and put on the new self (24).
This is clearly a metaphor relating to clothing.
We are to put off the old sin-stained clothes that we wore before we became Christians
and put on the new clean clothes that we received when we were converted
In other words, we are to stop behaving as we used to and to start behaving in accordance with the teaching and example of Jesus.
But how do we do this? We need to know what is right and what is wrongNotice the emphasis on the mind in these verses:
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ
21 and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
The Gentiles (or pagans) don’t act right because their thinking isn’t right
As a result they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity (19) - and we used to do the same
But now we know better because we’ve been taught the truth in Jesus
We must act in accordance with what we knowThis involves a conscious decision (cf. given themselves over v.19)
Putting off the old self means refusing to act in ways we know are wrong
Putting on the new self involves a conscious decision to do what we know is right
But we will only do this if the attitude of our mind is right (23)
Paul says something similar in Romans 6 where, by using a somewhat different metaphor, he tells us to think of ourselves as dead to sin
We must keep on doing thisPutting off the old self and putting on the new is not a once off thing
All Paul’s instructions in vv25-32 are in the Present Imperative
We must keep on:
putting off falsehood and speaking truthfully to your neighbour (25) not letting the sun go down while we are still angry (26) not giving the devil a foothold (27) stealing no longer (28) not letting any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths (29) not grieving the Holy Spirit, with whom we were sealed for the day of redemption (30) getting rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice (31) working, doing something useful, sharing with those in need (28) building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen (29) being kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave us (32)Finally, bearing in mind the theme of our last talk, it is only as we work at these things that the body will make increase of itself in love as each member does its work (vv.15-16).
Compare v. 25 for we are all members of one body.
