Ephesians 4
v.1
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Prisoners have forfeited all their rights. Christians have no rights outside of our identity in Christ. How illogical it is for a prisoner to cry out for rights! He has forfeited it all as a penalty for his sins. Yet, in Christ we have freedom from sin and are now slaves to Christ.
v.2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient bearing with one another in love.
Niagara excites our wonder; and we stand amazed at the power and greatness of God there, as he “pours it from his hollow hand.” But one Niagara is enough for a continent or a world; while that same world needs thousands and tens of thousands of silver fountains, and gently flowing rivulets, that shall water every farm, and every meadow, and every garden, and that shall flow on, every day and every night, with their gentle and quiet beauty. So with the acts of our lives. It is not by great deeds only, like those of Howard - not by great sufferings only, like those of the martyrs - that good is to be done; it is by the daily and quiet virtues of life - the Christian temper, the meek forbearance, the spirit of forgiveness in the husband, the wife, the father, the mother, the brother, the sister, the friend, the neighbor - that good is to be done; and in this all may be useful.
v.3
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
v.11
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
v.14
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
So many persons are in regard to religious doctrines. They have no fixed views and principles. They hold no doctrines that are settled in their minds by careful and patient examination, and the consequence is, that they yield to every new opinion, and submit to the guidance of every new teacher. The “doctrine” taught here is, that we should have settled religious opinions. We should carefully examine what is truth, and having found it, should adhere to it, and not yield on the coming of every new teacher. We should not, indeed, close our minds against conviction. We should be open to argument, and be willing to follow “the truth” wherever it will lead us. But this state of mind is not inconsistent with having settled opinions, and with being firm in holding them until we are convinced that we are wrong. No man can be useful who has not settled principles. No one who has not such principles can inspire confidence or be happy, and the first aim of every young convert should be to acquire settled views of the truth, and to become firmly grounded in the doctrines of the gospel.
v.15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
v.18
They were 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.
Nothing is more obvious than that indulgence in sin weakens the mental powers, and renders them unfit for high intellectual effort. This is seen all over the pagan world now - in the stolid, stupid mind; the perverted moral sense; the incapacity for profound or protracted mental effort, as really as it was among the pagans to whom Paul preached.
He who wishes a mind well balanced and clear, should fear and love God; and had Christianity done no other good on earth than to elevate the “intellect” of mankind, it would have been the richest blessing which has ever been vouchsafed to the race.
the way to elevate the understandings of mankind is to purify the heart. The approach must be made through the affections. Let people “feel” right toward God, and they will soon “think” right; let the heart be pure, and the understanding will be clear.
v.19
Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
See also Romans 1:24.
Sin is not only destructive, it is addictive. Saddest of all, the brutal oppression of sin is something we inflict on ourselves: we “give ourselves up” to it.
This is an accurate description of the state of a sinner. He has no “feeling,” no emotion. He often gives an intellectual assent to the truth, But it is without emotion of any kind. The heart is insensible as the hard rock.
v.21
Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
v.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;
The first of the characteristics, then, of this sinful self, to which I wish to point for a moment is, that every Christless life, whatsoever the superficial differences in it, is really a life shaped according to and under the influence of passionate desires.
The desires are meant to be impelling powers. It is absurdity and the destruction of true manhood to make them, as we so often do, directing powers, and to put the reins into their hand.
That command ‘put it off’ is the plain dictate of conscience and of common sense. But it seems as hopeless as it is imperative.
The law, the pattern, and the power for complete victory over the old sinful self, are to be found, ‘as the truth is-in Jesus.’ Union with Christ gives us a real possession of a new principle of life, derived from Him, and like His own.
The word “lusts,” has a more limited signification with us than the original word. That word we now confine to one class of sensual appetites; but the original word denotes any passion or propensity of the heart. It may include avarice, ambition, the love of pleasure, or of gratification in any way; and the meaning here is, that the heart is by nature under the control of such desires.
v.23-24
to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
The believer is called to live by the Spirit by focusing his or her mind on what is godly. This includes the believer’s thoughts and actions. Those who do are “created after the likeness of God” (Ephesians 4:24).
There is the assumption of His righteousness which makes a man a Christian, and has for its condition simple faith. There is the assumption of His righteousness sanctifying and transforming us which follows in a Christian course, as its indispensable accompaniment and characteristic, and that is realised by daily and continuous effort. #AlexanderMaclaren
v.25
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
Take heed of every thing contrary to truth. No longer flatter or deceive others. God’s people are children who will not lie, who dare not lie, who hate and abhor lying.
It may seem strange that the apostle should seriously exhort Christians to put away “lying,” implying that they were in the habit of indulging in falsehood. The same testimony is borne by almost all the missionaries. of the character of pagans everywhere. No confidence can be placed in their statements; and, where there is the slightest temptation to falsehood, they practice it without remorse. Nothing is more important in a community than simple “truth” - and yet, it is to be feared that nothing is more habitually disregarded. No professing Christian can do any good who has not an unimpeachable character for integrity and truth - and yet who can lay his hand on his breast and say before God that he is in all cases a man that speaks the simple and unvarnished truth?
I remember the closing of fall quarter of my senior year at UCI when I texted a house church member about their absence at church service due to busyness for finals. I warned them and have a conversation with Katlyn about the whole matter. It was then on that I needed to first live out the conviction to speak the truth in love in our house church community for people to better understand my heart when I warn them one-on-one. I put off the falsehood that going through the motions in worship/prayer was sufficient. God deserves our utmost praise—so Paul and I would interrrupt worship times exhorting everyone to remember the Gospel that saved them and repent if anything has hindered their love for God this past week. Let’s not wait for a retreat or good sermon to awaken the dullness of our hearts to the light of the Gospel.
v.26
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
Anger is not always sin but do not let it nest in your heart that it might breed sin.
v.28
He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.
See more in Barnes on Ephesians 4 28 Ephesians4 v 28.
v.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.
We build others up not according to their deeds but according to their needs. If true prayer is born out of need, every community ought to best meet the needs of others through corporate prayer. This verse points out that the only ones who can’t be benefitted are those who will not listen.
v.30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
That Divine Spirit pleads with us, and proffers its gifts to us, and turns away-I was going to use too strong a word, perhaps-sick at heart, not because of wounded authority, but because of wounded love and baffled desire to help, when we, in spite of It, will take our own way, neglect the call that warns us of our peril, and leave untouched the gifts that would have made us safe.
The only way the Holy Spirit can be wounded is not because of any weakness He possesses. It is because of the love He possesses for those whom He is sealed inside. Wounded love comes from real love.
jj on Barnes
v.31
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
Rage is defined as passion-driven behavior, i.e. actions emerging out of strong impulses (intense emotion).
Anger’s root, “Orgē comes from the verb oragō meaning, ‘to teem, to swell’; and thus implies that it is not a sudden outburst, but rather (referring to God’s) fixed, controlled, passionate feeling against sin … a settled indignation (so Hendriksen)” (D. E. Hiebert, at 1 Thes 1:10).
v.32
Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you.
His courtesy is to be the result of love, good-will, and a desire of the happiness of all others; and this will prompt to the kind of conduct that will render his conversation. with others agreeable and profitable.