WORD From The Woods
Ephesians 4:17-32
"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
In this passage, Paul teaches us how our lives should look if we are truly saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord. He says that we should no longer walk as Gentiles do, but what does he mean by this? After all, aren't most of us in the world today Gentiles and not Hebrews? Paul makes clear in most of his writings that to be a part of God's covenant people, it's not about Hebrew or Gentile heritage, it's about placing our trust in Christ for salvation. Paul uses the picture of Jews and Gentiles as a living metaphor for the contrast between believers and unbelievers, those who follow God and those who don't. In this passage, Paul gives a list of things that we as followers of Christ should and should not do. He makes clear that if we are in Christ then we must put off our old way of living and put on a new self in Christ, being renewed in the spirit of our minds, being created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness! We must always remember that this righteousness and holiness doesn’t come from some "inner strength" that we draw from, it comes from The Holy Spirit living in us and the light of Christ shining through us. As Paul says in verse 30, if Christ is our savior then we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God for the day of redemption! We will still struggle with sin and temptation as Christians in this life until the day of redemption. Even though we are seen as holy and righteous positionally before God, we are still sinners practically in this life. This is not an excuse to be cavalier about sin, but our lives should show a pattern of this new life that Paul talks about and not a pattern of the old life. If we are in Christ and have the Holy Spirit, then our lives will indeed show it!
God bless, and have a great week! -Terry-
Ephesians 4:17-32
"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
In this passage, Paul teaches us how our lives should look if we are truly saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord. He says that we should no longer walk as Gentiles do, but what does he mean by this? After all, aren't most of us in the world today Gentiles and not Hebrews? Paul makes clear in most of his writings that to be a part of God's covenant people, it's not about Hebrew or Gentile heritage, it's about placing our trust in Christ for salvation. Paul uses the picture of Jews and Gentiles as a living metaphor for the contrast between believers and unbelievers, those who follow God and those who don't. In this passage, Paul gives a list of things that we as followers of Christ should and should not do. He makes clear that if we are in Christ then we must put off our old way of living and put on a new self in Christ, being renewed in the spirit of our minds, being created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness! We must always remember that this righteousness and holiness doesn’t come from some "inner strength" that we draw from, it comes from The Holy Spirit living in us and the light of Christ shining through us. As Paul says in verse 30, if Christ is our savior then we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God for the day of redemption! We will still struggle with sin and temptation as Christians in this life until the day of redemption. Even though we are seen as holy and righteous positionally before God, we are still sinners practically in this life. This is not an excuse to be cavalier about sin, but our lives should show a pattern of this new life that Paul talks about and not a pattern of the old life. If we are in Christ and have the Holy Spirit, then our lives will indeed show it!
God bless, and have a great week! -Terry-