Ephesians 4:20-32
OFF WITH TATTERS;
PUT ON WHAT MATTERS
Ephesians 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ; 21 If so
be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in
Jesus:
Going back to our former sinful lives is not
an option if we have truly surrendered our lives to Jesus. Jesus is The Truth,
and all He taught is applicable to our lives. We are to live according to His
teachings and those of His apostles and prophets as recorded in the New
Testament. We are to base our lives on what is real,
authentic, and in accordance with Scripture.
1 John 5:20 (KJV) And we know that the Son of
God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is
true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the
true God, and eternal life.
Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Since the “soap” of Jesus’ blood, shed to
redeem those He loves, cleanses us from all unrighteousness, we should not want to dress our cleansed minds in the filthy
rags of our former way of life. We are to repent, turn 180° away from our sin,
and follow Jesus. The next verse tells how:
Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness.
Jesus renews our minds as we turn from the
influence of the world, study the Bible, and spend time with Him in prayer.
Romans 12:2 (Phillips) Don’t let the world
around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from
within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good,
meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity
Philippians 3:9 (CJB) and be found in union
with him, not having any righteousness of my own based on legalism, but having
that righteousness which comes through the Messiah’s faithfulness, the
righteousness from God based on trust.
Jesus, the Messiah, died to provide us a
righteousness we could never achieve on our own. This “new man,” the robe of
His righteousness should be the garment we consciously put on each day. When we wake up in the morning, we dress appropriately for work,
school, housework, church, etc. When we become “new creatures” in Christ (2
Corinthians 5:17), we are given a new wardrobe, but we each choose whether to
wear the regal robe of Jesus’ righteousness or slip back into the slouchy old sweats
of our sinful nature.
Isaiah 61:10 (KJV) I will greatly rejoice in
the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the
garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a
bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a
bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Following are some of the specific things we
should take off or put on.
Ephesians 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every
man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Do not lie to each other or even “stretch” the truth. Believers
are family, and trust is a most valuable commodity when it comes to living in
unity. Since we are all members of one another, deceit hurts us all. I
remember reading a book to my students about a big, fat lie. It started as a
small “white” lie and grew and grew as more untruths had to be told to prevent
the parent finding out about the lie. Finally, it was like a giant on the
child’s back until he confessed the original lie. Untruth grows and festers
like a boil, and is eventually found out.
Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go
down upon your wrath:
What kind of anger is acceptable? Righteous anger. Such as? Anger due to injustice or injury to an innocent. An example
would be the anger felt toward the driver in a hit-and-run incident. However, even righteous anger should not be allowed to fester
and turn to bitterness. We need to ask the Lord to calm our spirits, help us to exercise self-control by not reacting in haste, and guide us into the way He would have us respond to the
situation.
Ephesians 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
Anger between and among believers leads to
disunity which gives place for the devil to sneak in - like
undetected, caustic, black mold. He cannot
overcome believers or inhabit them, but he can make the atmosphere miserable by
oppressing and harassing them.
Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather
let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may
have to give to him that needeth.
The believer should leave dishonest pursuits
and the need for instant gratification. He should work for a legitimate living
to know the joy of a job well done as unto the Lord in the hope of having more
than enough for himself or his own family, giving him the ability to share with
those in need.
Colossians 3:23 (KJV) And whatsoever ye do,
do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of
your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
The words that come out of our mouths should
edify, encourage, and console our fellow believers. We should never use our words to degrade others, to tear them
down. Nor should we resort to the use of foul language. The Lord spoke the world into existence, created everything with
His words. Therefore, the misuse of our gift of language grieves, saddens, the
Holy Spirit of God.
Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger,
and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
John
MacArthur Study Bible:
“Bitterness”
reflects a smoldering resentment. “Wrath” has to do with rage, the passion of a
moment. “Anger” is a more internal, deep hostility. “Clamor” is the outcry of
strife out of control. “Evil speaking” is slander. “Malice” is the general Gr.
term for evil, the root of all vices.
Verse 31 tells us what we need to toss out of
our lives, put in the trash compacter, and throw in the dumpster. We can only
do this through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit after we have received
the gift of salvation through the grace of God.
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath
forgiven you.
The church, the local body of believers
should be a safe place. We should not keep lists of
wrong-doings but lists of right-doings in order to encourage one another. We should go out of our way to show kindness to our familyship
and be alert to meeting needs (physical, emotional, spiritual) by the power of
the Holy Spirit. We should forgive one another
completely and unconditionally just as Jesus forgave us. Forgiveness does not wait on the person to apologize or
recompense a wrong but forgives even if that never happens. We must act on the choice to forgive in obedience to Jesus which
is not always accompanied by feeling like forgiving. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can enable us to forgive in
this way.
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