Ephesians 4:25-27
Therefore, having laid aside falsehood
For what reason? Because we are a New Creation in Christ, because we have “put on” are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, As Rom 13:12 puts it: 2 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. The Holy Spirit is constantly urging us to “be more like Jesus”, and thereby be renewed more and more toward what God created us to be. But this requires cooperation with the process. We have to sacrifice what our flesh wants to do, and the kind of life that it wants to live apart from Christ. We present ourselves before the Lord, for Him to sculpt us, mold us into who we are supposed to be, in faith that His plan for our lives is better than ours (see Rom 12:1-2). Our New Life should reflect the character of our Savior. In order to do that, we have to lay aside the old person, with it’s habits and sin. If we lie, then we cannot help but be allowing the enemy a foothold in our lives, as he attempts to entice our flesh by what we might gain from deceit. But, that’s the way of Satan, not the way of God. John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. No lie is of the truth; The lifestyle of the old person was one of deception, but this lifestyle has been laid aside.
each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor.’
Paul says “each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, using the ancient rabbinic teaching tool of quoting an Old Testament passage, and expecting them to “look it up” to get the context. Zech 8:16 16 These are the things which you shall do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace at your gates. In the Zechariah context God tells the remnant that he is going to do good to Jerusalem and to Judah and the first command he says is “Everyone one of you speak the truth to his neighbor.” As we learned in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, “our neighbor” here refers to anyone who is in need of The Truth—the reality of any situation from God’s Perspective—His Truth. And that means everybody who is in need of the truth of God’s Word—so everybody! If we are to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt 5:43) , and we don’t like being lied to, then we should tell them the truth. We should speak the truth at all times, and especially to our Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
because we are members of one another.
Rom 12:4-5 4 For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another. As members in the body of Christ, we are all members together of one another. In order for this body to function smoothly and efficiently, the truth must be expressed among the members. Deception by one member not only harms that member but the whole body suffers as well and in the end self-destruction occurs. So, as new persons in Christ, we are commanded to speak the truth with one another.
‘Be angry and do not sin.’ ” Paul next deals with anger. The word used for be angry is orzizo’ meaning “to be angry”, coming from a word meaning “to provoke anger, irritate,” more often “to be angry.” It often refers to people’s anger in the Bible, but also refers to God’s anger. What causes God to become angry? When wrong has been done against a person or against God himself. However, when God is angry, he is always in control of his anger. Unlike God, however, people have a tendency to allow anger to control them. Anger itself is not always intrinsically evil, or always wrong. There are times when we should be angry. Jesus’ anger was justified and not sinful when He turned over the money tables in the temple in Matthew 21:12-13 12 And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 And He *said to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.” Paul acknowledges that we will all get angry, from time to time. It is a human emotion that comes up from within us. And when we recognize it, we must ask ourselves, is it right that I am angry about this? Jesus was angry because of righteous indignation over how people were defiling God’s temple. That’s a good reason. That’s good anger that motivates us to good deeds.
In your anger, do not sin
But Paul warns us, “in your anger, do not sin”. The word for sin hamartano means “to miss the mark” such as when throwing a spear or “to miss” the way–“to fail to accomplish your purpose, to go wrong.” Because anger is such a powerful emotion in us, it can easily lead us astray and into sin. Jesus cautions us against this kind of anger, saying that it is like murdering someone in our heart. Matt 5:22 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. To be angry enough with anyone that we have an obligation by faith to love (which is everyone according to Jesus, and especially our brothers and sisters in Christ) is sin, and we will have to give an account of it before God. And when it gets to the point that we consider that person useless, or even beyond redemption, then we are already guilty enough to be damned, even if we haven’t murdered anyone outwardly. If we become angry for some reason—we experience the involuntary emotion or passion of anger—we are not to allow it to prompt sinful actions. We need to ask ourselves why we are angry. To be angry, without good cause is wrong, and shows mis-placed priorities. A great example of this is in the book of Jonah 4:2b-4. Jonah’s anger toward the Ninevites for the harm that they had done his people had blinded him to the wondrous grace of God. He wanted them destroyed, not making any room in his heart for their repentance, not making any room for their salvation, in terms of deliverance from calamity. He was angry because he felt slighted, and not able to get his personal revenge, and make sure that the Ninevites got what was coming to them. We have to make sure to distinguish between self-righteousness or self-service in anger, which is wrong, and leads to sin as opposed to anger against sin and injustice, which should lead to righting the wrong or stopping the transgression, not more transgressions. We can easily conceal our own smugness or self-righteousness in a cloak of public anger or virtue signaling—look everyone I’m angry about the right things–or justify our own pride under the cover of righteous indignation. Cain expresses such anger at God and his brother Abel, and God warns Cain that this anger causes him to contemplate sin, which is “crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (Gen 4:5–7). Cain missed the mark, he failed, he sinned, and his anger destroyed his relationship with his brother and alienated him from God. We may be upset, but we do not need to be overcome with anger, because we trust in Him.
let not the sun go down on your anger
We do not stay angry. We do not dwell on it. We deal with it quickly, in constructive and God-honoring ways, so it does not grow stronger and produce bitterness in our lives. We should deal with the problem and the anger on the same day as the provocation. Before we go to sleep that night, we should have taken positive steps to find a solution to the problem and alleviate the anger.
4:27. nor do you give opportunity to the devil.
The danger of prolonged anger is that the enemy will use it to destroy you, or those around you. This is why Paul does not want believers to give the devil an opportunity by their anger. The devil twists and distorts the truth. If there is no quick restoration between parties, further anger mounts and dissension and revenge often result. James 1:19b-20 Now everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; 20 for a man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness of God. We very seldom get this right in God’s eyes, but God always acts appropriately. Best to let Him handle anger and vengeance. Settling issues quickly so as to thwart the devil who will attempt to manipulate the situation for his purposes. In this passage the devil does not cause the anger but simply would like to use it as an opportunity to work evil.