Ephesians 4:25-5:2 continue a discussion of the new life in Christ. It employs a rhetorical motif of the old versus the new ways of life, which extends from 4:17-5:20. The emphasis on rejecting the shameful past behavior and adopting a path acceptable to God seems aimed at Gentiles who have become part of the Christian community. The author dedicates this letter to detailing how new and different life in the church as the body of Christ should be from the life previously led by Gentile Christians. The letter celebrates the oneness in the Spirit that unifies believers and makes them into a new creation ‑‑ a living body with Christ as its head. This exalted vision of what the church should be leads the writer to spell out carefully the kinds of behaviors that new Christians should exhibit to each other and to the world. The text singles out for discussion those attitudes and activities that could splinter the unity of the body of Christ. The author relies upon the insight that the pull of higher moral and spiritual achievement is far effective than a push. He wants to charm us toward right living. He uses the language of aspiration rather than criticism and command.[1]
Ethical and moral writing is pedantic. It seems shallow, judgmental, and narrow. It can feel like writing about trifles. Who does not agree that we need to tell the truth, maintain self-control of emotions (anger, bitterness, anger), respect the property of others, use our words carefully, be kind, and forgive? Yet, I find it helpful to periodically remind myself of such trifles. Behind such little behaviors is a revelation of my character and spirituality. Such trivial matters may have far larger implications than I might want to consider. As the story of human origins suggests, the Lord made a simple, trifling command not to eat the fruit of a tree. Such a small thing. Yet, the response of the original couple (Genesis 3) suggested far more about the human condition than most of us care to admit. The gospel takes on flesh and enters the everyday flow of our lives as we ponder the guidance offered in these words.
25 So then (Therefore), the opening word ties this passage to the argument that has preceded it. The series of moral exhortations in 4:25-5:2 is the logical outcome of the propositions the author has asserted in verses 17-24. It refers to verse 21. Thus, since they have received proper instruction, their actions are to be testimonies to their knowledge of God. The Gospel receives ethical content. The result of such ethical content is putting away a phrase that intends us to hear a reference to baptism. Because baptism has changed their status and their identity, these new Christians are able to lead new lives. The author identifies what they are to put away.
First, putting away falsehood (ψεῦδος) let all of us speak the truth. Here is a summons to righteous behavior that runs throughout the Old and New Testaments. Truth-telling, both for God (Numbers 23:19; Psalm 89:35) and for human beings, is chief among biblical virtues (see Exodus 20:16; Leviticus 19:11; Deuteronomy 5:20, 19:18-19; Job 6:28; Proverbs 14:5; Jeremiah 8:8, 27:10, 14, 16; John 19:35, 21:24, etc.), since trustworthiness is the foundation upon which one builds all relationships, human and divine. Unlike error or wrongdoing, which is subject to correction and reproof, lying destroys the trust that constitutes the environment in which all interaction must take place. To damage that trust through deliberate deception is to cast all subsequent interaction into at least partial shadow. For such a community-centered text as this, such behavior would have dire consequences. Some ancient thinkers did not condemn lying. They considered lying according to the profitability of truth‑telling in any given situation. Many Greek and Roman philosophers taught that a lie that benefited was better than a truth that was costly. However, falsehood here refers specifically to deliberate religious deception, as opposed to innocent factual error. Such falsehood is the kind of active fabrication that one chooses and practices in the face of opportunities for enlightenment rather than naive ignorance. Those who persist in spreading such doctrinal deceit are liable to grave punishment (Revelation 21:27, 22:15). Such behavior is characteristic of the Devil (John 8:44). We are to tell the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. The emphasis is on the joint constitution of the body of Christ at Ephesus, made up of Jews and Gentiles. He continues the somatic metaphor, which the author moderates using "our neighbors," a phrase that occurs only here in the New Testament. The inclusive nature of the community that is the church gives new force to the old teaching of the ninth commandment and its teachings on bearing false witness against one’s neighbor. One expects, in a letter emphasizing the closeness of the relationship of Jews and Gentiles, a biological or familial designation for the other, rather than a social one. Although the author is writing primarily to a Gentile audience (3:1), he emphasizes throughout the letter the sharp distinction between those Gentiles who, through Christ, have been brought near to the "household of God" of the religion of Israel (2:19), and those Gentiles who continue to live, as he says in this context, "in the futility of their minds" (4:17). Not all Gentiles are alike. Gentiles may know that they all forms of falsehood and deceit are wrong, including such passive ones as misleading silence. They may even recognize the affirmative responsibility to “speak the truth.” However, what sets Christians apart is that their motivation is to do these things because they recognize their somatic unity, recognizing that to deal falsely with others is to deal falsely even with one’s self.
Second, they are to put away sinning in their anger. 26 Be angry (Ὀργίζεσθε). We must never forget that there is such a thing as justifiable anger, righteous indignation, and enragement over injustice. St. John Chrysostom taught that who is not angry when there was cause to be sins. Unreasonable patience is the hotbed of many vices. It fosters negligence and incites doing wrong. We need to make room for justifiable anger. However, when angry, do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger (παροργισμῷ), a word that occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, refers in the Septuagint to that which provokes to anger, a provocation; here, it refers to a simmering resentment that endangers the stability of the community (cf. Matthew 5:23-24). Do not hang on to anger obsessively. That is good advice for a marriage, as well as our involvement in social reforms. Those who live their lives driven by anger eventually pay a bitter personal price. Among the seven deadly sins, anger may be the most fun. We get to lick our wounds, smack our lips over grievances long past, roll our tongues over the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, savor to the last morsel the pain someone gave you and the pain you give back. We have a feast fit for a king. Of course, the chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down so joyfully is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.[2] 27 And do not make room for the devil. We begin with a proverb that offers practical advice on how to deal with anger. Anger and emotional turmoil were staple commodities in the tales of the pagan gods. Anger was what started and sustained wars of extreme duration. Anger made men into wild warriors, which was a valuable commodity on the pagan market. The devil will take possession of your heart if anger endures. Gentiles may recognize as a virtue the ability to exercise self-control when they are angry. They might even know that the only effective way to deal with their anger is to work swiftly toward reconciliation. But Christians realize that these actions are less about demonstrating one’s own virtue and more about removing opportunities in which the devil can further the destructive work of evil in the world. Paul’s dictum suggests his roots in the traditions of Pharisaic Judaism, where fierce debates and heated discussions could take place over the proper inferences of points of law. Thus, Paul acknowledges the validity of anger born out of disagreement, but he cautions readers not to allow self-serving tendencies to extend the natural boundaries of our anger. Paul does not ask us to be emotionless, but neither does he give us the latitude to create an environment for nurturing grudges and rivalry, a “room for the devil.”
Third, they are to put away stealing.28 Thieves must give up stealing (κλεπτέτω). This seems like surprising advice, but thieves are part of the congregation. In the ancient world, theft was clearly a matter of perspective. In the marketplace, businesses typically loaded the scales, and the watchword was "buyers beware." Further, he does not denounce slave labor. Yet, the established relationship between master and slave practically mandated thievery as part of a slave's expected duties. People expected stealing from the master. All the behaviors proscribed here are loopholes for evil, activities that disrupt the unity of the body, destroying the trust and coherence of the community. Thievery was a serious moral offense (I Corinthians 5:9-11, 6:10), and he specifically adjured the Corinthian community to dissociate itself from such persons (5:9, 13). Rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Paul seems to have emphasized manual labor. The temptation toward sloth is strong in some people. Most people have a desire to leave a positive mark in their world, to fulfill a passion, to find a productive place in the world. Some people, however, would be happy if someone else provided the basics of their lives. A political order can encourage such behavior to spread by the types of social programs offered. Such a political order does do good to society or to the slothful individual. In the context of this letter, the motivation to work, so that the needy may live, is a surprise. It acknowledges that every society has individuals for whom navigating their way through the maze of human existence and the alienating dimensions of culture become difficult. Paul does not refer, as he could, to creativity, productiveness, dominion, empire-building or world improvement. The advice against thievery is different in Ephesians, where he urges thieves to desist so that, through labor and working honestly "with their own hands," they may contribute to those in need. Paul elaborates elsewhere on the vice of idleness, castigating them has freeloaders and mere busybodies for taking from the provisions of the community what does not belong to them. His advice is blunt in that one unwilling to work should not eat, since they were thieves (II Thessalonians 3:6-13). The slothful will need such a threat to motivate them to work. Of course, those who are alienated from God may still recognize that their community can only function if people do not steal from one another. Recognizing that they cannot simply take the things that they need from others, they may understand the necessity of working honestly to obtain the things required for life. However, what motivates Christians is not only to provide for themselves but also to work hard enough that they have excess that allows them to freely share with others who cannot provide everything they need for themselves. In behaving this way, they show that they acknowledge that God has freely given them things they could not have obtained for themselves.
Fourth, they are to put way evil talk. 29 Let no evil (σαπρὸς, unwholesome, “putrid,” as in rotting fish) talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. The importance attached to community discourse in the early Christian foundations is clear in this passage from Ephesians. Although early Christian leaders enjoined the early Christians to practice charitable works among themselves and within the larger communities in which they found themselves, they inherited much of their ethical code from the religious tradition of the Hebrew Bible. What was especially distinctive about the early Christian communities was the nature of their discourse, focused on the life and teachings of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in their midst. In such logocentric communities, one cannot exaggerate the importance of correct speech. The mouth represents the whole person. Building up others is the responsibility of everyone, and thus opposed to clericalism. All believers have a "sacrament of the word." Likewise, the positive behaviors preached here are to be "useful for building up" and to "give grace" to members of the church. Anyone who has learned as a child that, despite the conventional wisdom of the proverb, words can hurt emotionally as much as sticks and stones can physically intuitively understands why people should not speak evil words to one another. They even understand that one can use words to build people up rather than to tear them down. What Christians recognize is that the words can be a means of conveying God’s grace to others. A common saying is that words are cheap. That may be true since the supply often exceeds the demand for them. We need to learn the wisdom contained in not talking as well. Nothing is often a good thing to do and often a clever thing to “say.” Silence is golden.[3] Yet, how people talk reveals a lot about who they are. The way we talk can also reveal something about how committed we are to being Christian. It has nothing to do with accent, or vocabulary or grammar. It has everything to do with how we use this God-given gift of speech. Do our words hurt, or do they heal? Do they work in service to truth or falsehood? Do our words build up, or do they tear down?
There is a story about a society woman in London who attended two dinner parties one week apart. At the first, the host sat her next Prime Minister William Gladstone. At the second, she found herself next to Benjamin Disraeli, leader of the opposition party. A friend later asked her what she thought of the two men. "When I left the dining room after sitting with Mr. Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But after sitting next to Mr. Disraeli, I thought I was the cleverest woman in England." Such is the power of words to build up.
I offer a brief prayer of confession. Most merciful God, we ask forgiveness for our words. We are grateful for the gift of language. We can speak and write, but too often, what we say is hurtful to others. We use words to tear down relationships, to make fun of others, and to show how incredibly witty we are. Sometimes, we know it the minute we say it. Other times, we may have fooled ourselves into thinking what we said was the truth and for their good. Forgive us, O God, and help us to use our language to build up the community rather than tear it down. Allow our words to show kindness and graciousness to others. Help us to live in love, even as Christ loved us. Amen.
30 In addition, fifth, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. The very definition of a “Gentile” in this context as one alienated from God identifies such persons as those who continue to grieve the Spirit. Such a sentiment comes close to patripassionism. It seems to be a stray element but it may suggest that a good relationship to the Spirit is a motive for good conduct. Although the expressions "the Holy Spirit" and "the Spirit of God" occur frequently in Paul's letters, the combination "the Holy Spirit of God" is unique. The Father marked them with the Holy Spirit of God with a seal for the day of redemption.[4] In this list, we have the single prohibition unpaired with a command. Because this alienation has ended for Christians when the Spirit had “marked [them] with a seal for the day of redemption” means that they are now motivated not to grieve God as they had done before. Whether grieving the Holy Spirit of God constitutes a summary of the untoward behavior enumerated in the preceding verses, or whether it refers to a separate offense (which seems more likely, given that other offenses follow) is impossible to say with certainty, as the expression occurs only here.
31 Put away from you all bitterness (πικρία, sustained anger). Here is the type of talk that keeps calling back to mind experiences of hurt or pain, some of which are better left alone. It is possible to revel in victimhood. We have all known injured people who just cannot let it go. Some people go to their graves feeling bitter for the way their parents or their spouses or their children failed them. Or they castigate themselves for some missed opportunity decades in the past. Bitter talk, when it continues for an exceedingly long time without let-up, causes terrible emotional harm to the speaker — not to mention misery for everyone who must listen to their complaints. They are to put away wrath (θυμὸς, angry outburst) and anger (ὀργὴ) and wrangling (κραυγὴ, clamor, “shoutings” or “raucous outbursts.”) and slander (βλασφημία, gossipy, murdering reputations over a cups of coffee occurs all too often today[5]), together with all malice (κακίᾳ), 32 and be kind (χρηστοί, reliable) to one another, tenderhearted (εὔσπλαγχνοι, warm and intentional emotion), forgiving (χαριζόμενοι), one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you (or "us" in some ancient versions). A catechism parenesis, in summary fashion, Paul lists, the offenses which the Ephesians should "put away" (resuming a theme in this passage), and the virtues with which they should replace those offenses. The justification for this transformation is theological. Christians are to renounce all marks of a Christless way of life. Yet the Christlike qualities he enjoins are remarkably simple. None of those qualities appears especially heroic or dramatically expressive but works quietly and with dignity to create a community based upon divine love and respect. Even Gentiles could formulate a staccato summary of things that can only cause harm and they understand the need to foster civil society by being. However, only the motivation of Christians is to do these things because “God in Christ has forgiven” them. To be "kind," "tenderhearted" and "forgiving" is the goal set for the Ephesian Christians. Christians can have exalted language when it comes to the great theological themes, such as creation, the Incarnation, the Trinity, and the hoped for redemption of the world. Such great themes become little more than abstractions unless they touch us in the intimate places of our lives that disclose who and whose we are.
The author has stipulated the criteria that must prevail as Christians consider their words, thoughts and deeds. Building up the body of Christ which “gives grace” to all its members is the ambition of the Christian life. Paul insists that Christians take their baptism seriously. As a people “marked with a seal,” believers are to act discernibly differently from the pagan society surrounding them.
5 1 Therefore, using a different Greek word than he used in 4:25, be imitators of God,[6] as beloved children. Christians demonstrate their love for God with their desire to be like God, as children mimic their own parents’ behavior and attitudes. We are to imitate God by being half as gracious toward others as God has been toward us. They are to 2 live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. The passage concludes by urging imitation of Christ as well as God, that the Ephesians may "live in love" following the example of the earthly Savior. He further identifies that Christ loved and offered himself up as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. This suggests that our lives are to be the sacrifice or gift gratefully returned to the God who has given so much to us. We offer our lives in faithful and loving actions because God has offered so much to us. We find here the one reason that the writer advocates such strict adherence to bodybuilding behavior. The church exists because Christ has loved us, forgiven us and given himself up as a sacrifice for us. Christians unite in their imitation of the love God has for them. Such love God has embodied by the death of Christ on the cross. Christians are to bring light into a shadowy world because Jesus himself was, and is, the Light of the World. Christ on the cross, the expression of the love of God, becomes a call to imitate the love of God. In that sense, this thought concludes verses 25-32.[7] These two verses reveal the positive thrust behind the series of negative statements in verses 25-32. He discusses what is to be the driving impetus of these Christians. These verses summarize well what it means to thank and to serve the glory of God.[8] They are to be imitators of this God, as he discussed in 4:31-32, and therefore to walk in love. This imitation elevates us to the gracious attitude of God us humanity revealed in Christ. We bind our activity to this attitude. This standard of love measures us and orients us properly.[9] The point here is that the self-giving of Christ for the church is the fruit of his ministry and becomes a model for Christians to follow.[10] God has shown us the divine attitude toward all creation with the sacrifice of Christ for its sake. Paul’s directive that we imitate this behavior is then no small undertaking. Those deceptively simple qualities of kindness and a forgiving nature are a call to let membership in the body of Christ change the sinful heart of humanity into a commitment to selfless, sacrificial love. Just as those who live alienated from God also live alienated from others, those who now have experienced and accepted the love of God will be able to “live in love” toward others even when those others do not respond in kind. Imitating the example of Christ, they can love and offer themselves as a sacrifice to God to the end that the alienation from God so many experience might finally end The whole sending of the Son by the Father aims at the vicarious expiatory death on the cross. Here, the thesis is one of self-sacrifice. Jesus accepted his approaching death as a fate in part imposed by enemies, but also in part by God. The Son makes an offering in obedience to the Father and for the salvation of the world.[11] The Christian community has received instruction in the kind of life that builds up Christian community, and will therefore build up individual Christians. We need to receive such instruction in the way the author wrote it, and the tradition has passed it down to us. We need to receive this advice prayerfully, even as we need to live our lives in a prayerful way. When it comes to the kind of people we are to be, the New Testament does not leave us to make it up on our own. Yes, our motivation for this life arises from what we believe. Yet, we receive some standard and simple advice that we might think of as the building of character. It will take practice, of course. Some areas may be difficult at certain times and stages in our lives. Yet, we need to ask ourselves regularly if we are becoming the kind of person, and even the kind of community that encourages, the way of life the New Testament describes. What the community believes is the motivation. Yet, if we do not live this way, will the world believe what we say believe?
This way of life imitates God, in that God has turned toward humanity with forgiveness, love, giving, and grace. To imitate God in this way, Christians will need to learn to reject one type of life and embrace another. They will do so as they are members of a community of people who have Jesus Christ as their Lord.
Here are some examples of the kind of life from which we need to turn. Christian people still lie, hold anger inside through resentment, and allow their ambition for more things to acquire them inappropriately. Christians can say hurtful things to each other. Christians can cause suffering in the heart of God. We too easily become bitter, angry, divisive, and gossipy people, all from a heart of meanness. Such things are destructive of true Christian community, and therefore of individual life.
Here are some examples of the kind of life that true children of God will embrace. We will be truthful. With no truthfulness within the community, true community cannot exist. We will take care of our anger immediately and appropriately. Our words will build up the Christian community, and thus will be words of grace. We will earn the things we have honestly and respectfully of others, with an eye to sharing generously with others. We will honor the Spirit. We will be kind to each other, tender (compassionate), and forgiving. In all of this, we are mindful of what God has done in Christ, as one who forgave us, loved us, and gave his life for us as an offering to God. In these ways, we can imitate God. These things will build up the Christian community, and therefore will build up individual Christian life.
[1] Reinhold Niebuhr, Leaves From the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic, 1929, p. 29: "the highest moral and spiritual achievements depend not upon a push but a pull. People must be charmed into righteousness. The language of aspiration rather than that of criticism and command is the proper pulpit language."
[2] Frederick Buechner Wishful Thinking Harper & Row, 1973, 2.
[3] Talk is cheap because the supply always exceeds the demand. One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. -Will Durant.
[4] Unlike the conclusion of verse 28, which displays wide variation in the Greek original, the reading here is probably original, being attested in all witnesses.
[5] A poetic image drawn from William Barclay.
[6] A rare concept in the New Testament (see, e.g., Matthew 5:48). Much more frequent are exhortations to imitate Christ (e.g., Romans 15:7; I Corinthians 12:12, 15:49; 2 Corinthians 1:5; Ephesians 5:25; Colossians 3:13) or, occasionally, Paul (who is, himself, imitating Christ, e.g., 1 Corinthians 4:16, 11:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:6). As in Jesus' counsel to perfection in Matthew, the Ephesians are to imitate God "as beloved children," relying on God their heavenly father as role model.
[7] Of course, it could also be a heading for the next chapter.
[8] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.1 [31.3] 673-4.
[9] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.2 [37.2] 576.
[10] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 359.
[11] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 438,440.
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