Satan Seeks a Gap Called Grudge

May 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

by John Piper – Listen

Ephesians 4:22-27

Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, putting away falsehood, let every one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.

The emotional life of God and his children is very complex. The inner workings of God’s heart and the hearts of his saints are not simple.

The Complex Emotional Life of God

For example, Exodus 34:6 says that God is “slow to anger” and Psalm 103:9 says that God “will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.” Yet Psalm 7:11 says that “God is a righteous judge and a God who has indignation (or anger) every day.” In other words, every day God’s anger is rising slowly toward some, decreasing toward others, and sustained in fury toward others. In his infinite complexity God experiences the absence, the rise, the presence, and the fall of anger simultaneously.

And yet he is a “God of peace” (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 13:20). The hurricane of his wrath against faithless men will never beat itself out on the beaches of eternity (Revelation 14:10; Matthew 18:35f.). And yet God is not the slave of his anger like a man who seethes with bitterness every day—because he is a God of peace. The hurricane of his wrath is somehow swallowed up in the great calm of the divine mind—like the firing of cosmic pistons while the engine idles smoothly and quietly, or like the churning of massive generators far inside the dam sustained by a great reservoir of deep, calm water. We can only grope for flashes and images of the rising, falling, perpetual, propitiated wrath of God. His heart is infinitely complex (Psalm 90:11).

Complexity in the Hearts of God’s Children

It’s not surprising, then, that the hearts of God’s children should be complex, and that God’s instructions to us about anger should require great spiritual sensitivity. Surely this is part of the reason why Paul speaks of a renewed mind and a new creature in Ephesians 4:22–24 before he teaches us about anger in verse 26. Let’s look for a moment at these foundational verses before we talk about anger.

The Contrasts Between the Old and New Natures

Verses 22–24: “Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts (or: “is ruined through desires of deceit”), and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Notice the contrasts. There is an old nature and a new nature (or old man and new man). One is to be put off; the other is to be put on. One is corrupted; the other is created. The corruption of the old accords with desires of deceit. The creation of the new accords with God in the righteousness of truth.

old nature new nature
put off put on
corrupted created
in accord with desires of deceit in accord with God in righteousness and holiness of truth

Note especially the word “created.” We do not produce our new nature as Christians. We were dead in trespasses and sins (according to 2:1) and were made alive by God’s sovereign grace (2:5). We were created anew (born anew!). Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Our new nature is God’s creation, God’s workmanship. It is a supernatural work of grace.

God’s Work and Our Task

But, we ask, if my new life in Christ is God’s creation and workmanship, then what is my task? Ephesians 4:23–24 gives the answer. We are to put on this new nature. When God creates in us a new heart, he does not cancel out our consciousness. We are conscious hour by hour of choices—will we follow the way of deceit or will we follow the way of truth? The new creation is not the negation of choice; it’s the transformation of the heart that makes choices. The moral choices which you face as a new creature in Christ are just as real and crucial as the choices you faced before you were born again (i.e., created in Christ Jesus). The difference is that your character, your nature, your heart, your will have been radically changed. The source of choice, the root of your choosing is now. There is a new nature within.

So when Paul says, “Put it on,” he means, “Act it out.” If you have been created anew after the likeness of God, clothe yourselves with godly garments. Your clothing is what men see. So when Paul says, “Clothe yourselves with your new nature,” he means, “Make it visible in your attitudes and behavior.” If the hidden spring has been purified, let the visible streams of your life run clean.

The Christian Life Is the Experience of a Miracle

But of course, if the spring has been purified, the streams will run clean. If the tree is good, it will bear good fruit. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak. Christian morality is the experience of an inner miracle. But the experience in moment by moment living includes conscious choices to go the way of truth not deceit. These choices are the fruit that signify a good tree; they are the words that reveal the abundance of the heart; they are the clean streams that provide the purified spring; they are the obedience that confirms your calling and election.

If we fail to understand Ephesians 4:22–24, we will surely go astray in what follows about anger. The practical, nitty-gritty, day to day living of the Christian life is the experience of a miracle. If it were not, then all our moral choices and all our pursuit of holiness would be done in our own strength; it would signify our own merit and it would redound to our own glory. And the whole purpose of God to be glorified in his creatures would fall. So there are immense things at stake in the ordinary issues of truth-telling, and anger, and stealing which Paul deals with now in verses 25–28. We will restrict ourselves to the problem of anger.

The Problem of Anger

Verses 26–27: “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” Keep in mind that the general admonition is put off the old nature and put on the new. Now the specific example of that is getting rid of bad anger and only having good anger. In other words, when you are born again, you are given a new nature, you become a new creature; and Paul says here that your newness will show itself in the way you experience anger.

Two Assertions About Anger

Verse 26 makes at least two assertions about anger: 1) There is a time to get angry; 2) the time to stay angry is short. Or: there are good grounds for getting angry, but no grounds for holding grudges. “Do not let the sun go down on your anger,” means, “Let the day of your anger be the day of your reconciliation” (Estius). And if reconciliation is impossible, even so, do not stroke your wound, or cherish revenge, or hold a grudge. For Satan seeks a gap called grudge, and if he finds it, he will enter and ruin life with all manner of bitterness.

Let’s take these two points one at a time:

  1. There is a time to get angry, and
  2. the time to stay angry is short.

1. There Is a Time to Get Angry

First, there is a time to get angry. “Be angry but do not sin.” Not all anger is wrong for man. But some anger is clearly wrong. Verse 31 says, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger . . . be put away from you.” What’s the difference between good anger and bad anger?

Two Characteristics of Good Anger

I would suggest two things that characterize good anger:

  1. it is based on God, and
  2. it is mingled with grief.

It Is Based on God

James 1:19–20 says, “Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of men does not work the righteousness of God.” In other words, we should be slow to anger because the anger which rises quickly is very likely to be mere human anger which will not accomplish God’s righteousness. But if we are slow to anger, if we rule our spirit and consider the matter carefully, then our anger, if it comes, may be the very anger of God. That is, our anger may be owing to the fact that God’s character is dishonored not ours, and God’s aims are resisted not just ours. In short, good anger is based on God not just ourselves. Its target is sin against God, not just assaults on us.

It Is Mingled with Grief

The second thing that characterizes good anger is that it is mingled with grief. The one instance where Jesus is said to get angry is Mark 3:5. Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath about to heal a man’s withered hand. The Pharisees were adamantly opposed. It says, “Jesus looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.”

Last week I was reading a book whose teaching is so wrong, so harmful to the church, and so injurious to God’s glory that I got so angry I wanted to tear it in half. I think condition number one for good anger was satisfied—it was for God’s sake. But that’s not enough. I had to pray that God would give me the kind of grief for the author that Jesus felt for the Pharisees. “He looked around on them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.”

Here is where we fail so often. Our grief over the sinner gets burned up in the zeal of our anger against the sin. A person does something wrong and we get angry, but there is no grief over the person’s hardness. We express our indignation for his sin, but we show no longing for his softening or reconciliation. This is natural, but it is not good. As long as there is hope for change, good anger should not only be directed against sin but also be mingled with grief for the sinner.

2. The Time to Stay Angry Is Short

So there is a time to get angry—that’s the first thing verse 26 teaches: “Be angry but do not sin.” But the time to stay angry is short—this is the second thing the verse teaches: “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” This does not mean that Eskimos at the North Pole may hold a grudge for six months while the sun is up and natives at the equator may only hold one for twelve hours. It means that anger, for all its possible legitimacy, is a dangerous emotion and should not be nurtured into a grudge. Anger is the moral equivalent of biological adrenaline. It is good and healthy to experience periodic secretions of adrenaline in reaction to dangerous situations. But a steady flow would damage the heart. So with anger. It has damaged many hearts because it was not put away, but nurtured again and again into a life-destroying grudge.

Six Goals of Satan in Getting You to Hold Grudges

According to verse 27 this is what Satan is watching for—the gap called grudge. If there is any way that Satan can assist you to hold a grudge, he will do it. For there are six goals of Satan which are greatly advanced when professing Christians hold grudges.

1. To Make Us Put Ourselves in the Place of God

Ever since Genesis 3 Satan’s goal has been to make us put ourselves in the place of God. “When you eat of the fruit of the tree your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” Nothing helps in holding a grudge like thinking too highly of ourselves. The more exalted we are in our own eyes, the more justified we will feel in holding a grudge against the person who offended us. If Satan can succeed in making a grudge feel natural or justified, he will have gone a long way toward his goal of making us put ourselves in the place of God.

2. To Make Us Act as If We Are Judge, Not God

Satan aims to make us act as if we were judge and not God. Romans 12:19 says, “Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to wrath, for it is written: Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. No, if your enemy is hungry feed him.” If we hold a grudge, we act as though God were not a just judge. We act as though we are the moral guardians of the world and if we don’t hold this wrong against this person, it’s going to slip away into oblivion and a great injustice will go unrequited. But this is sheer unbelief. Vengeance belongs to God. He will repay. It is his business not ours. So again holding a grudge puts us in the place of God—just where Satan wants us.

3. To Make the Cross of Christ Look Weak and Foolish

Satan aims to make the cross of Christ look weak and foolish. Notice Ephesians 4:32–5:2. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.” The power that frees us from holding grudges is that in the cross of Christ God satisfied his grudge against us and dropped it. So Paul says, forgive as God in Christ forgave you. When we hold a grudge, we cancel out the cross. We act as though God did a foolish thing on the cross, since he dropped his infinite grudge against us, but we are going to hold on to our little grudge against so and so. And thus Satan brings the cross of Christ into contempt.

4. To Cultivate Disunity in the Body of Christ

Satan aims to cultivate disunity in the body of Christ so that the grand evidence for Christ’s divine reality is shattered. Proverbs 15:18 says, “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.” Short tempers and long grudges breed strife and disunity in the church. But in John 17:23 Jesus said that unity in the church is a great evidence to the world of his reality. So if Satan can preserve and deepen grudges among God’s people, he will have achieved a great goal—the hiding of Christ’s reality from the world.

5. To Crush Broken Christians into Depression

Satan aims to crush broken Christians until they are depressed into uselessness. Paul tells about an instance of church discipline at Corinth in which the offending party repented. Paul counsels in 2 Corinthians 2:7, “So you should turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you reaffirm your love for him.” The burdens of life are so great at times that someone’s grudge against us can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. You can destroy a person by holding a grudge against them—the very work of Satan from the time of Cain and Abel.

6. To Help You Destroy Yourself

Finally, by holding a grudge Satan will help you destroy yourself. Satan always throws away his tools in the end. He promises the moon and delivers misery. When the unforgiving servant was thrown into jail, Jesus said to his disciples, “So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Forgive from Your Heart—Put On the New Nature

Which brings us back to where we started—”from your heart,” from your new nature, the purified spring, the good tree. The only way to get victory over anger is to put off the old nature corrupted by desires of deceit—Satan’s deceit, and to put on the new nature, by acting according to the truth:

  1. the truth that none of us is so exalted that we can justify holding a grudge,
  2. the truth that vengeance belongs to God, he will settle all accounts;
  3. the truth that the cross of Christ is the wisdom and power of God, not foolishness;
  4. the truth that the unity of the church is precious beyond words;
  5. and the truth that it is possible by holding a grudge to commit spiritual murder and suicide simultaneously.

The Son of God came into the world to destroy the works of the devil. Let’s resist the devil this Christmas with all the power of God by putting on the new nature Christ came to create.

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Used by permission: John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

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Put On The New Person

May 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

by John Piper – Listen

Ephesians 4:22-24

Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

I said two weeks ago that the series of messages on Ephesians 4:17 to 5:20 was chosen because many of us felt the need to ponder the relationship between our faith and the ordinary daily affairs of our lives. That is what this section of Scripture helps us do.

Six Layers of Corruption Apart from Christ

First, we looked at verses 17–21 where Paul, for the third time in this letter, lays bare the moral misery of life without the saving grace of God. He mentions six layers of corruption that, apart from the saving work of Christ, make us utterly unacceptable to God and without hope.

  1. First, he says in verse 18 that our root problem is hardness of heart.
  2. Second, this hardness against God darkens the understanding (v. 18).
  3. Third, the result of this darkness is a gross ignorance of reality (v. 18)—even if I have three doctoral degrees and know 10,000 facts, I am ignorant if I do not know the divine meaning or the purpose of those facts, and how they relate to the great things of eternity.
  4. Fourth, being ignorant of the true value of things in relation to God and eternity, I yield naturally to covetousness and licentiousness (v. 19), that is, my desires go after the wrong things, or after all things in the wrong way. None of my desires has a proper relation to God, and so they are all ruined.
  5. This leads, in the fifth place, to a life of futility (v. 17). Nothing of any eternal significance is accomplished. Life is one big ash heap of wasted weeks and years. There is no service to the King of Ages, and so it is all meaningless in the end—like a man who works hard planting trees and landscaped flower gardens in a new housing project and then watches them get bulldozed because he was just doing his own thing and never consulted the master plan for where they belonged. There is only futility in the end without relating all you do to God.
  6. The sixth layer of our corruption, and the one that seals our hopelessness without some mighty work of salvation, is mentioned in verse 18, namely, that we are alienated from the life of God. Our hardness and darkness and ignorance and licentiousness and futile behavior are the marks and motions of living dead men—like Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their dead!” (Luke 9:60). And like Paul said of self-indulgent widows: “She is dead even while she lives” (1 Timothy 5:6). Alienated from the life of God. Dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), “having no hope and without God in the world” (3:12).

Everyone of us is in that condition until the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ breaks in and melts the hardness, and dispels the darkness, and unites us to the life of God and makes us new creatures through faith in Christ.

Freedom Through Hearing the Voice of Jesus

And so Paul says in verse 17, “No longer live in the futility of your mind!” Life need not be—must not be—futile any more. Then in verse 20 he gives the reason why we can no longer live like the Gentiles in futility: “You did not so learn Christ.”

Then in verse 21 he entertains the possibility that some who hear this letter may not be true Christians. He realizes he may be out in front of some church attenders. And so he mentions two things he is assuming when he says they don’t have to walk in futility any more. He says, “Assuming [or: if indeed] 1) you have heard him [i.e., Christ] and 2) were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus.”

I take this to mean: before you can escape from all the hardness and darkness and futility of the old life, you have to hear the voice of Jesus and in response to his voice enter his school to be taught by him as a trusted master. His voice is the power that breaks through all the hardness and darkness and ignorance and wakens you from the hopelessness of death. And faith responds like the Gadarene demoniac, suddenly saved from the futility of insanity and self-destruction, and says, “Lord, let me be with you.”

And so I want to make clear before we go on this morning that this must happen in your life before today’s text can apply to you. You must hear the voice of Jesus calling you out of darkness into light and out of death into life. This is why Jesus so often said things like, “Take heed how you hear” (Luke 8:18), and, “If any man has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:23). And once you hear the quickening voice of Jesus, you must, as Paul says here in verse 21, be taught in him as the truth is in Jesus. You must gladly and heartily enroll in the school of Christ.

The School of Christ: Instruction for Living

That is where we are this morning. Verses 22–24 are the teaching of the Lord for Christians who have been awakened by the voice of Jesus, have been given a new eternal life within and who are now in the school of Christ waiting and eager to be taught how to live, no longer like the Gentiles in the futility of their minds (v. 17) but like new creatures whose lives are full of meaning and hope and joy.

“Change Your Clothes”

What is the first thing Jesus says to us when we enter his school? Answer: verses 22–24 (my literal translation):

Put off the old person [or: old self; or: old man] which accords with the former way of life and which is corrupted in accord with the desires of deceit. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And put on the new person which was created in accordance with God in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

And so after you hear the voice of Christ and are made alive and brought to faith in him and enter into his school to let him teach you how to live, the first thing he says to you is: “change your clothes.” Take off the old person and put on the new person.

Putting Off the Old Person

So we should ask immediately: What do these two garments refer to? What is the old person and what is the new person?

Verse 25 gives a helpful clue. The same word is used for “put off” both here and in verse 22, as though Paul meant to illustrate now what he intends by putting off the old person. He says, “Therefore putting off falsehood, speak truth.” So it seems like one example of putting off the old person is to put off bad practices that belong to the old way of life—like lying.

Another good clue to the meaning of “the old person” is in Colossians 3:8–9.

But now put them all away [same Greek word as in Ephesians 4:22]: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old person with its practices.

So putting off the old person is more than putting off old practices, because Colossians 3:9 says we put it off WITH its practices. And Colossians 3:8 mentions things that lie beneath and behind practices—like anger and wrath.

So the old person is the old bundle of attitudes and emotions and practices that I used to be. That’s who I was before I was called out of darkness by the voice of Jesus and began to be taught in his school.

Putting On the New Person

Colossians 3:12 gives the same kind of clue about the meaning of the new person that we are supposed to put on. Paul says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience.”

So the new person is the new bundle of attitudes and emotions and practices that Jesus has called us to become in his school. We must take off the old person and put on the new person. It is absolutely imperative that we get our moral clothes changed. If we don’t, we will not graduate. We will not make it to heaven.

The Requirement for Graduation

Do you remember the parable of the marriage feast (Matthew 22:1–14)? The invitation was thrown open to anybody who would come. But then Jesus says,

But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

There will be many shocked church goers when the Lord comes, who think that they have responded to the Lord’s invitation to come to the banquet of heaven, but in fact have never really, with their hearts, entered his school to get ready. They walk in the door, as it were, when the bell rings, but they don’t listen to him. With their lips they honor him as the schoolmaster, but their hearts are far away. It’s as though they were not even there. When the Master says, “Change your clothes,” they adjust their collars or shine their shoes, or tuck in their shirts, but they won’t take off those cherished habits. They won’t strip away those old attitudes of racism, or the love of money, or the addiction to pornography. They want the hope of heaven, but they won’t dress for heaven. They won’t change their clothes. And Jesus says in the end on the graduation day, “Bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness.” He had never really enrolled with his heart. It was all a show.

So when Paul says, put off the old person and put on the new person, he is not talking about an optional elective that some true Christians enroll in and others don’t. This is the core curriculum in the school of Christ. It is a requirement for graduation. There is a holiness without which we will not see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Therefore (as v. 24 says) put on the new person created after the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness.

An Utterly Unique School

Now why doesn’t Paul just come straight out and say that when you believe on Jesus you must get rid of bad attitudes and habits and build in some new good attitudes and habits? Why does he write in pictures like this in verses 22–24?

The answer is that Christianity is not like any other school. It is not a moral self-improvement course. You don’t just sign up and work hard to change yourself. That’s the school of legalism, not the school of grace.

In the school of Christ change comes in a totally different way, by grace through faith, so that the schoolmaster gets all the glory not the students. That’s why Paul has to describe the coursework with such strange language. It’s like nothing you have experienced anywhere before entering this school. Let’s look closely at the three verses and see how the coursework is described.

The Description of the Coursework

Verses 22 and 24 are parallel in four ways.

  1. First, put off the old person in verse 22 is parallel to put on the new person in verse 24.
  2. Second, verse 22 says that the old person accords with the former way of life; verse 24 says that the new person accords with God.
  3. Third, verse 22 says that the old self is corrupted through its desires; verse 24 says that the new person is created in righteousness and holiness.
  4. Fourth, verse 22 says the desires that ruined the old person were based on deceit; verse 24 says that the righteousness and holiness of the new person are based on truth.
Verse 22 Verse 24
Old person New person
Corresponding to former life Corresponding to God
Corrupted through desires Created in righteousness and holiness
Based on deceit Based on truth

Now you can start to see how different the coursework is here than in a moral self-improvement course. In the school of legalism, where you take moral self-improvement courses, you are given the assignment to make a new set of moral clothes and put them on. But in the school of grace your new clothes are . . . what (v. 24)? CREATED! God creates the new person that we must put on.

Now remember what this new person is! It is the bundle of attitudes and emotions and practices that make up the new me. That is what verse 24 says God creates. He creates the new me. The bundle of attitudes and emotions and practices are created after his own likeness in righteousness and holiness, the catalogue says.

This is totally unlike any other school in the world. I am given the assignment to become holy; but then I am told that God creates my holiness. This is a very strange school. Look at Ephesians 2:10 for one of the strangest sentences of all in the course description:

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

This boggles the mind! I am God’s workmanship, God’s creation. And not only that, the works that I am assigned to do—he has already prepared those, too! Who is working in this school, anyway?!

Do you see why Paul can’t just say, “OK, you’re a Christian now, get rid of your bad habits and get some good ones.” That is the curriculum in the school of legalism: God saved you, now improve yourself. No! In the school of grace God creates the new person—and that includes all the new attitudes and emotions and practices that we are supposed to put on.

The Key Question in the Christian Life

So here I am in the school of Christ. I have heard his voice. He has called me from death to life. I’ve trusted him to forgive all my sins. I’ve gladly submitted to enter his school and learn from him how to live to his glory. Now here I am, and he tells me that I am his workmanship and that the new person I am to become is his creation and the works I am assigned to do are already prepared by him before I even do them. What in the world am I supposed to do?

Verse 24 says, “Put on the new person!” But how do you put on a bundle of attitudes and emotions and practices that God has created? Here is THE KEY QUESTION for how to live the Christian life: How do you think in such a way that God will be the creator of your thoughts? How do you feel in such a way that God will be the creator of your feelings? How do you act in such a way that God will be the creator of your actions? How do you put on a new person created by God?

I believe the answer is found in verse 23: “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

This is the connection between the laying off of the old in verse 22 and the putting on of the new in verse 24.

Notice very carefully: in verse 22 the old person is corrupted by desires that are fueled and fired by deceit, by lies, by the absence of truth. When your mind is deceived, you can even love to drink poison.

But then notice in verse 24 that the new person is created in righteousness and holiness that is fueled and fired by truth. Right attitudes and emotions and actions are born from true views of spiritual reality.

And what is the bridge that leads from between the corrupting deceit in verse 22 to the sanctifying truth in verse 24? It is the renewing of the spirit of the mind in verse 23. This is the key to all the assignments in the school of grace: “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” If your attitudes and emotions and practices come from the spirit of a renewed mind, they will be yours in one sense, but in a deeper sense they will be the creation of God in righteousness and holiness. And you will be able to say with one of the most advanced students in the school of grace, “I worked harder than any of them, nevertheless, it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). I did my assignments but really God did my assignments in me and through me.

Becoming Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind

But how do you become renewed in the spirit of your mind?

With this I close until next week when we will flesh it out with the specific example of putting away lying and putting on honesty.

The answer is to fill the mind continually with truth about spiritual, eternal, heavenly reality. In 2 Corinthians 4:16–18 Paul says, “We do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day.” How? Answer: “Because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” Paul was renewed in the spirit of his mind by filling his mind with the unseen truths of eternity, so that the loud, garish deceitfulness of this world was pushed out.

He says in Colossians 3:2–3, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Fill your mind with the truth of heaven.

And here in Ephesians Paul prays for us in 1:18–19 that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened that we might know what is the hope to which God had called us, and what are the riches of his glorious inheritance, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power. Why does he want us to see these things with the eyes of our hearts? Because this is what renews the spirit of the mind—when it is full of the truth of God’s power and promises.

And finally, in 3:18–19 Paul prayed for us that we may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God.” Why?

Because when your mind is filled with the love of Christ and with all the fullness of God, then the spirit of your mind is renewed and freed from the deceit of the world. And out of that renewed mind come new attitudes and emotions and practices, and they clothe you with righteousness and holiness. And this new person that you become is indeed the creation of God himself, and to him belongs all the glory forever and ever. Amen.

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Used by permission: John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

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John Wesley’s Notes on Ephesians 4

December 17, 2008 By admin Leave a Comment

Ephesians 4
Verse 1. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord – Imprisoned for his sake and for your sakes; for the sake of the gospel which he had preached amongst them. This was therefore a powerful motive to them to comfort him under it by their obedience.

Verse 3. endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit – That mutual union and harmony, which is a fruit of the Spirit. The bond of peace is love.

Verse 4. There is one body – The universal church, all believers throughout the world. One Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father – The ever-blessed Trinity. One hope – Of heaven.

Verse 5. One outward baptism.

Verse 6. One God and Father of all – That believe. Who is above all – Presiding over all his children, operating through them all by Christ, and dwelling in all by his Spirit.

Verse 7. According to the measure of the gift of Christ – According as Christ is pleased to give to each.

Verse 8. Wherefore he saith – That is, in reference to which God saith by David, Having ascended on high, he led captivity captive – He triumphed over all his enemies, Satan, sin, and death, which had before enslaved all the world: alluding to the custom of ancient conquerors, who led those they had conquered in chains after them. And, as they also used to give donatives to the people, at their return from victory, so he gave gifts to men – Both the ordinary and extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. Psalm lxviii, 18.

Verse 9. Now this expression, He ascended, what is it, but that he descended – That is, does it not imply, that he descended first? Certainly it does, on the supposition of his being God. Otherwise it would not: since all the saints will ascend to heaven, though none of them descended thence. Into the lower parts of the earth – So the womb is called, Psalm cxxxix, 5; the grave, Psalm lxiii, 9.

Verse 10. He that descended – That thus amazingly humbled himself. Is the same that ascended – That was so highly exalted. That he might fill all things – The whole church, with his Spirit, presence, and operations.

Verse 11. And, among other his free gifts, he gave some apostles – His chief ministers and special witnesses, as having seen him after his resurrection, and received their commission immediately from him. And same prophets, and some evangelists – A prophet testifies of things to come; an evangelist of things past: and that chiefly by preaching the gospel before or after any of the apostles. All these were extraordinary officers. The ordinary were. Some pastors – Watching over their several flocks. And some teachers – Whether of the same or a lower order, to assist them, as occasion might require.

Verse 12. In this verse is noted the office of ministers; in the next, the aim of the saints; in the 14th, 15th, 16th, the way of growing in grace. And each of these has three parts, standing in the same order. For the perfecting the saints – The completing them both in number and their various gifts and graces. To the work of the ministry – The serving God and his church in their various ministrations. To the edifying of the body of Christ – The building up this his mystical body in faith, love, holiness.

Verse 13. Till we all – And every one of us. Come to the unity of the faith, and knowledge of the Son of God – To both an exact agreement in the Christian doctrine, and an experimental knowledge of Christ as the Son of God. To a perfect man – To a state of spiritual manhood both in understanding and strength. To the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ – To that maturity of age and spiritual stature wherein we shall be filled with Christ, so that he will be all in all.

Verse 14. Fluctuating to and fro – From within, even when there is no wind. And carried about with every wind – From without; when we are assaulted by others, who are unstable as the wind. By the sleight of men – By their “cogging the dice;” so the original word implies.

Verse 15. Into him – Into his image and Spirit, and into a full union with him.

Verse 16. From whom the whole mystical body fitly joined together – All the parts being fitted for and adapted to each other, and most exactly harmonizing with the whole. And compacted – Knit and cemented together with the utmost firmness. Maketh increase by that which every joint supplieth – Or by the mutual help of every joint. According to the effectual working in the measure of every member – According as every member in its measure effectually works for the support and growth of the whole. A beautiful allusion to the human body, composed of different joints and members, knit together by various ligaments, and furnished with vessels of communication from the head to every part.

Verse 17. This therefore I say – He returns thither where he begun, ver. Verse 1. And testify in the Lord – In the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus. In the vanity of their mind – Having lost the knowledge of the true God, Rom. i, 21. This is the root of all evil walking.

Verse 18. Having their understanding darkened, through the ignorance that is in them – So that they are totally void of the light of God, neither have they any knowledge of his will. Being alienated from the life of God – Utter strangers to the divine, the spiritual life. Through the hardness of their hearts – Callous and senseless. And where there is no sense, there can be no life.

Verse 19. Who being past feeling – The original word is peculiarly significant. It properly means, past feeling pain. Pain urges the sick to seek a remedy, which, where there is no pain, is little thought of. Have given themselves up – Freely, of their own accord. Lasciviousness is but one branch of uncleanness, which implies impurity of every kind.

Verse 20. But ye have not so learned Christ – That is, ye cannot act thus, now ye know him, since you know the Christian dispensation allows of no sin.

Verse 21. Seeing ye have heard him – Teaching you inwardly by his Spirit. As the truth is in Jesus – According to his own gospel.

Verse 22. The old man – That is, the whole body of sin. All sinful desires are deceitful; promising the happiness which they cannot give.

Verse 23. The spirit of your mind – The very ground of your heart.

Verse 24. The new man – Universal holiness. After – In the very image of God.

Verse 25. Wherefore – Seeing ye are thus created anew, walk accordingly, in every particular. For we are members one of another – To which intimate union all deceit is quite repugnant.

Verse 26. Be ye angry, and sin not – That is, if ye are angry, take heed ye sin not. Anger at sin is not evil; but we should feel only pity to the sinner. If we are angry at the person, as well as the fault, we sin. And how hardly do we avoid it. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath – Reprove your brother, and be reconciled immediately. Lose not one day. A clear, express command. Reader, do you keep it?

Verse 27. Neither give place to the devil – By any delay.

Verse 28. But rather let him labour – Lest idleness lead him to steal again. And whoever has sinned in any kind ought the more zealously to practice the opposite virtue. That he may have to give – And so be no longer a burden and nuisance, but a blessing, to his neighbours.

Verse 29. But that which is good – Profitable to the speaker and hearers. To the use of edifying – To forward them in repentance, faith, or holiness. That it may minister grace – Be a means of conveying more grace into their hearts. Hence we learn, what discourse is corrupt, as it were stinking in the nostrils of God; namely, all that is not profitable, not edifying, not apt to minister grace to the hearers.

Verse 30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit – By any disobedience. Particularly by corrupt discourse; or by any of the following sins. Do not force him to withdraw from you, as a friend does whom you grieve by unkind behaviour. The day of redemption – That is, the day of judgment, in which our redemption will be completed.

Verse 31. Let all bitterness – The height of settled anger, opposite to kindness, ver. 32. And wrath – Lasting displeasure toward the ignorant, and them that are out of the way, opposite to tenderheartedness. And anger – The very first risings of disgust at those that injure you, opposite to forgiving one another. And clamour – Or bawling. “I am not angry,” says one; “but it is my way to speak so.” Then unlearn that way: it is the way to hell. And evil speaking – Be it in ever so mild and soft a tone, or with ever such professions of kindness. Here is a beautiful retrogradation, beginning with the highest, and descending to the lowest, degree of the want of love.

Verse 32. As God, showing himself kind and tenderhearted in the highest degree, hath forgiven you.

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John Darby’s Commentary on Ephesians 4

December 11, 2008 By admin Leave a Comment

Ephesians 4

The faithful were to seek-in the dispositions mentioned above-to maintain this unity of the Spirit by the bond of peace. There are three things in this exhortation: first, to walk worthy of their calling; second, the spirit in which they were to do so; third, diligence in maintaining the unity of the Spirit by the bond of peace. It is important to observe, that this unity of the Spirit is not similarity of sentiment, but the oneness of the members of the body of Christ established by the Holy Ghost, maintained practically by a walk according to the Spirit of grace. It is evident that the diligence required for the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit relates to the earth and to the manifestation of this unity on the earth.

The apostle now founds his exhortation on the different points of view under which this unity may be considered-in connection with the Holy Ghost, with the Lord, and with God.

There is one body and one Spirit; not merely an effect produced in the heart of individuals, in order that they might mutually understand each other, but one body. The hope was one, of which this Spirit was the source and the power. This is the essential, real, and abiding unity.

There is also one Lord. With Him was connected “one faith” and “one baptism.” This is the public profession and recognition of Christ as Lord. Compare the address in 1 Corinthians.

Finally there is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.

What mighty bonds of unity! The Spirit of God, the lordship of Christ, the universal ubiquity of God, even the Father, all tend to bring into unity those connected with each as a divine centre. All the religious relationships of the soul, all the points by which we are in contact with God, agree to form all believers into one in this world, in such a manner that no man can be a Christian without being one with all those who are so. We cannot exercise faith, nor enjoy hope, nor express christian life in any form whatever, without having the same faith and the same hope as the rest, without giving expression to that which exists in the rest. Only we are called on to maintain it practically.

We may remark, that the three spheres of unity presented in these three verses have not the same extent. The circle of unity enlarges each time. With the Spirit we find linked the unity of the body, the essential and real unity produced by the power of the Spirit uniting to Christ all His members: with the Lord, that of faith and of baptism. Here each individual has the same faith, the same baptism: it is the outward profession, true and real perhaps, but a profession, in reference to Him who has rights over those that call themselves by His name. With regard to the third character of unity, it relates to claims that extend to all things, although to the believer it is a closer bond, because He who has a right over all things dwells in believers.[17] Observe here, that it is not only a unity of sentiment, of desire, and of heart. That unity is pressed upon them; but it is in order to maintain the realisation, and the manifestation here below, of a unity that belongs to the existence and to the eternal position of the assembly in Christ. There is one Spirit, but there is one body. The union of hearts in the bond of peace, which the apostle desires, is for the public maintenance of this unity; not that there might be patience with one another when that has disappeared, Christians contenting themselves with its absence. One does not accept that which is contrary to the word, although in certain cases those who are in it ought to be borne with. The consideration of the community of position and of privilege, enjoyed by all the children of God in the relationships of which we have now been speaking, served to unite them with each other in the sweet enjoyment of this most precious position, leading them also, each one, to rejoice in love at the part which every other member of the body had in this happiness.

But, on the other hand, the fact that Christ was exalted to be in heaven the Head over all things, brought in a difference which appertained to this supremacy of Christ-a supremacy exercised with divine sovereignty and wisdom. “Unto every one of us is given grace [gift] according to the measure of the gift of Christ” (that is to say, as Christ sees fit to bestow). With regard to our position of joy and blessing in Christ, we are one. With regard to our service, we have each an individual place according to His divine wisdom, and according to His sovereign rights in the work. The foundation of this title, whatever may be the divine power that is exercised in it, is this: man was under the power of Satan-miserable condition, the fruit of his sin, a condition to which his self-will had reduced him, but in which (according to the judgment of God who had pronounced on him the sentence of death) he was a slave in body and mind to the enemy who had the power of death-with reservation of the sovereign rights and sovereign grace of God (see chap. 2:2). Now Christ has made Himself man, and began by going as man, led by the Spirit, to meet Satan. He overcame him. As to His personal power, He was able to drive him out everywhere, and to deliver man. But man would not have God with him; nor was it possible for men, in their sinful condition, to be united to Christ without redemption. The Lord however, carrying on His perfect work of love, suffered death, and overcame Satan in that his last stronghold, which God’s righteous judgment maintained in force against sinful man-a judgment which Christ therefore underwent, accomplishing a redemption that was complete, final, and eternal in its value; so that neither Satan, the prince of death and accuser of the children of God on earth, nor even the judgment of God, had anything more to say to the redeemed. The kingdom of Satan was taken from him; the just judgment of God was undergone and completely satisfied. All judgment is committed to the Son, and power over all men, because He is the Son of man. These two results are not yet manifested, although the Lord possesses all power in heaven and in earth. The thing here spoken of is another result which is accomplished meanwhile. The victory is complete. He has led the adversary captive. In ascending to heaven He has placed victorious man above all things, and has led captive all the power that previously had dominion over man.

Now before manifesting in person the power He had gained as man by binding Satan, before displaying it in the blessing of man on earth, He exhibits it in the assembly, His body, by imparting, as He had promised, to men delivered from the enemy’s dominion gifts which are the proof of that power.

Chapter 1 had laid open to us the thoughts of God; chapter 2 the fulfilment, in power, of His thoughts with regard to the redeemed-Jews or Gentiles, all dead in their sins-to form them into the assembly. Chapter 3 is the especial development of the mystery in that which concerned the Gentiles in Paul’s administration of it on earth. Here (chap. 4) the assembly is presented in its unity as a body, and in the varied functions of its members; that is to say, the positive effect of those counsels in the assembly here below. But this is founded on the exaltation of Christ, who, the conqueror of the enemy, has ascended to heaven as man.

Thus exalted, He has received gifts in man, that is, in His human character (compare Acts 2:33). It is thus “in man,” that it is expressed in Psalm 68, from whence the quotation is taken. Here, having received these gifts as the Head of the body, Christ is the channel of their communication to others. They are gifts for men.

Three things here characterise Him-a man ascended on high-a man who has led captive him who held man in captivity-a man who has received for men, delivered from that enemy, the gifts of God, which bear witness to this exaltation of man in Christ, and serve as a means for the deliverance of others. For this chapter does not speak of the more direct signs of the Spirit’s power, such as tongues, miracles-such as are usually termed miraculous gifts. But what the Lord as Head confers on individuals, they are the gifts, as His servants for forming the saints to be with Him, and for the edification of the body-the fruit of His care over them. Hence, as already remarked, their continuance (till we all, one after another, grow up to the head) is stated as to power, by the Spirit; in 1 Corinthians 12 it is not.

But let us pause here for a moment, to contemplate the import of that which we have been considering.

What a complete and glorious work is that which the Lord has accomplished for us, and of which the communication of these gifts is the precious testimony! When we were the slaves of Satan and consequently of death, as well as the slaves of sin, we have seen that He was pleased to undergo for the glory of God that which hung over us. He went down into death of which Satan had the power. And so complete was the victory of man in Him, so entire our deliverance, that (exalted Himself as man to the right hand of God’s throne-He who had been under death) He has rescued us from the enemy’s yoke, and uses the privilege which His position and His glory give Him to make those who were captives before, the vessels of His power for the deliverance of others also. He gives us the right, as under His jurisdiction, of acting in His holy war, moved by the same principles of love as Himself. Such is our deliverance that we are the instruments of His power against the enemy-His fellow-labourers in love through His power. Hence the connection between practical godliness, the complete subjugation of the flesh, and the capacity to serve Christ as instruments in the hand of the Holy Ghost, and the vessels of His power.

Now the Lord’s ascension has immense significancy in connection with His Person and work. He ascended indeed as man, but He first descended as man even into the darkness of the grave and of death; and from thence-victorious over the power of the enemy who had the power of death, and having blotted out the sins of His redeemed ones, and accomplished the glory of God in obedience-He takes His place as man above the heavens in order that He may fill all things; not only as being God, but according to the glory and the power of a position in which He was placed by the accomplishment of the work of redemption-a work which led Him into the depths of the power of the enemy, and placed Him on the throne of God-a position that He holds, not only by the title of Creator, which was already His, but by that of Redeemer, which shelters from evil all that is found within the sphere of the mighty efficacy of His work-a sphere filled with blessing, with grace, and with Himself. Glorious truth, which belongs at the same time to the union of the divine and human natures in the Person of Christ, and to the work of redemption accomplished by suffering on the cross!

Love brought Him down from the throne of God, and, being found as a man, [18] through the same grace, into the darkness of death. Having died, bearing our sins, He has gone up again to that throne as man, filling all things. He went below the creature into death, and is gone above it.

But while filling all things by virtue of His glorious Person, and in connection with the work which He accomplished, He is also in immediate relation with that which in the counsels of God is closely united to Him who thus fills all things, with that which has been especially the object of His work of redemption. It is His body, His assembly, united to Him by the bond of the Holy Ghost to complete this mystical man, to be the bride of this second Man, who fills all in all-a body which, as manifested here below, is set in the midst of a creation that is not yet delivered, and in the presence of enemies that are in the heavenly places, until Christ shall exercise, on the part of God His Father, the power that has been committed to Him as man. When Christ shall thus exercise His power, He will take vengeance on those who have defiled His creation by seducing man, who had been its head down here and the image of Him who was to be its Head everywhere. He will also deliver creation from its subjection to evil. Meanwhile, personally exalted as the glorious man, and seated at God’s right hand until God shall make His enemies His footstool, He communicates the gifts necessary for the gathering together of those who are to be the companions of His glory, who are the members of His body, and who shall be manifested with Him when His glory shines forth in the midst of this world of darkness.

The apostle shews us here an assembly already delivered, and exercising the power of the Spirit; which on the one side delivers souls, and on the other builds them up in Christ, that they may grow up to the measure of their Head in spite of all the power of Satan which still subsists.

But an important truth is connected with this fact. This spiritual power is not exercised in a manner simply divine. It is Christ ascended (He however who had previously descended into the lower parts of the earth) who, as man, has received these gifts of power. It is thus that Psalm 68 speaks as well as Acts 2:33. The latter passage speaks also of the gifts bestowed on His members. In our chapter it is only in the latter way that they are mentioned. He has given gifts unto men.

I would also remark, that these gifts are not here presented as gifts bestowed by the Holy Ghost come down to earth, and distributing to every one according to His will: nor are those gifts spoken of which are tokens of spiritual power suited to act as signs upon those that are outside: but they are ministrations for gathering together and for edification established by Christ as Head of the body by means of gifts with which He endows persons as His choice. Ascended on high, and having taken His place as man at the right hand of God, and filling all things, whatever may be the extent of His glory, Christ has first for His object to fulfil the ways of God in love in gathering souls, and in particular towards the saints and the assembly; to establish the manifestation of the divine nature, and to communicate to the assembly the riches of that grace which the ways of God display, and of which the divine nature is the source. It is in the assembly that the nature of God, the counsels of grace, and the efficacious work of Christ are concentrated in their object; and these gifts are the means of ministering, in the communication of these, in blessing to man.

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers: apostles and prophets laying, or rather being laid, as the foundations of the heavenly building, and acting as coming directly from the Lord in an extraordinary manner; the two other classes (the last being sub-divided into two gifts, connected in their nature) belonging to ordinary ministry in all ages. It is important to remark also, that the apostle sees nothing existing before the exaltation of Christ save man the child of wrath, the power of Satan, the power which raised us up (dead in sins as we were) with Christ, and the efficacy of the cross, which had reconciled us to God, and abolished the distinction between Jew and Gentile in the assembly, to unite them in one body before God-the cross in which Christ drank the cup and bore the curse, so that wrath has passed away for the believer, and in which a God of love, a Saviour God, is fully manifested.

So the existence of the apostles dates here only from the gifts that followed the exaltation of Jesus. The twelve as sent out by Jesus on earth have no place in the instruction of this epistle, which treats of the body of Christ, of the unity and the members of this body; and the body could not exist before the Head existed and had taken His place as such. Thus also we have seen that, when the apostle speaks of the apostles and prophets, the latter are to him those exclusively of the New Testament, and those who have been made such by Christ after His ascension. It is the new heavenly man who, being the exalted Head in heaven, forms His body on the earth. He does it for heaven, putting the individuals who compose it spiritually and intelligently in connection with the Head by the power of the Holy Ghost acting in this body on the earth; the gifts, of which the apostle here speaks, being the channels by which His graces are communicated according to the bonds which the Holy Ghost forms with the Head.

The proper and immediate effect is the perfecting of individuals according to the grace that dwells in the Head. The shape which this divine action takes, further, is the work of the ministry, and the formation of the body of Christ, until all the members are grown up into the measure of the stature of Christ their Head. Christ has been revealed in all His fulness: it is according to this revelation that the members of the body are to be formed in the likeness of Christ, known as filling all things, and as the Head of His body, the revelation of the perfect love of God, of the excellency of man before Him according to His counsels, of man the vessel of all His grace, all His power, and all His gifts. Thus the assembly, and each one of the members of Christ, should be filled with the thoughts and the riches of a well-known Christ, instead of being tossed to and fro by all sort of doctrines brought forward by the enemy to deceive souls.

The Christian was to grow up according to all that was revealed in Christ, and to be ever increasing in likeness to his Head; using love and truth for his own soul-the two things of which Christ is the perfect expression. Truth displays the real relation of all things with each other in connection with the centre of all things, which is God revealed now in Christ. Love is that which God is in the midst of all this. Now Christ, as the light, put everything precisely in its place-man, Satan, sin, righteousness, holiness, all things, and that in every detail, and in connection with God. And Christ was love, the expression of the love of God in the midst of all this. And this is our pattern; and our pattern as having overcome, and, as having ascended into heaven, our Head, to which we are united as the members of His body.

There flows from this Head, by means of its members, the grace needed to accomplish the work of assimilation to Himself. His body, compacted together, increases by the working of His grace in each member, and edifies itself in love.[19] This is the position of the assembly according to God, until all the members of the body attain to the stature of Christ. The manifestation alas! of this unity is marred; but the grace, and the operation of the grace of its Head to nourish and cause its members to grow, is never impaired, any more than the love in the Lord’s heart from which this grace springs. We do not glorify Him, we have not the joy of being ministers of joy to each other as we might be; but the Head does not cease to work for the good of His body. The wolf indeed comes and scatters the sheep, but he cannot pluck them out of the Shepherd’s hands. His faithfulness is glorified in our unfaithfulness without excusing it.

With this precious object of the ministration of grace (namely, for the growth of each member individually unto the measure of the stature of the Head Himself), with the ministration of each member in its place to the edifying itself in love, ends this development of the counsels of God in the union of Christ and the assembly, in its double character of the body of Christ in heaven, and the habitation of the Holy Ghost on earth-truths which cannot be separated, but each of which has its distinctive importance, and which reconcile the certain immutable operations of grace in the Head with the failures of the assembly responsible on the earth.

Exhortations to a walk befitting such a position follow, in order that the glory of God in us and by us, and His grace towards us, may be identified in our full blessing. We will notice the great principles of these exhortations.

The first is the contrast [20] between the ignorance of a heart that is blind, and a stranger to the life of God, and consequently walking in the vanity of its own understanding, that is, according to the desires of a heart given up to the impulses of the flesh without God-the contrast, I say, between this state, and that of having learnt Christ, as the truth is in Jesus (which is the expression of the life of God in man, God Himself manifested in the flesh), the having put off this old man, which is corrupt itself according to its deceitful lusts, and put on this new man, Christ. It is not an amelioration of the old man; it is a putting it off, and a putting on of Christ.

Even here the apostle does not lose sight of the oneness of the body; we are to speak the truth, because we are members one of another. “Truth,” the expression of simplicity and integrity of heart, is in connection with “the truth as it is in Jesus,” whose life is transparent as the light, as falsehood is in connection with deceitful lusts.

Moreover, the old man is without God, alienated from the life of God. The new man is created, it is a new creation, and a creation [21] after the model of that which is the character of God righteousness and holiness of truth. The first Adam was not in that manner created after the image of God. By the fall the knowledge of good and evil entered into man. He can no longer be innocent. When innocent, he was ignorant of evil in itself. Now, fallen, he is a stranger to the life of God in his ignorance: but the knowledge of good and evil which he has acquired, the moral distinction between good and evil in itself, is a divine principle. “The man,” said God, “is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” But in order to possess this knowledge, and subsist in what is good before God, there must be divine energy, divine life.

Everything has its true nature, its true character, in the eyes of God. That is the truth. It is not that He is the truth. The truth is the right and perfect expression of that which a thing is (and, in an absolute way, of that which all things are), and of the relations in which it stands to other things, or in which all things stand towards each other. Thus God could not be the truth. He is not the expression of some other thing. Everything relates to Him. He is the centre of all true relationship, and of all moral obligation. Neither is God the measure of all things, for He is above all things; and nothing else can be so above them, or He would not be so.[22] It is God become man; it is Christ, who is the truth, and the measure of all things. But all things have their true character in the eyes of God: and He judges righteously of all, whether morally or in power. He acts according to that judgment. He is just. He also knows evil perfectly, being Himself goodness, that it may be perfectly an abomination to Him, that He may repel it by His own nature. He is holy. Now the new man, created after the divine nature, is so in righteousness and holiness of truth. What a privilege! What a blessing! It is, as another apostle has said, to be “partakers of the divine nature.” Adam had nothing of this.

Adam was perfect as an innocent man. The breath of life in his nostrils was breathed into him by God, and he was responsible for obedience to God in a thing wherein neither good nor evil was to be known, but simply a commandment. The trial was that of obedience only, not the knowledge of good or evil in itself. At present, in Christ, the portion of the believer is a participation in the divine nature itself, in a being who knows good and evil, and who vitally participates in the sovereign good, morally in the nature of God Himself, although always thereby dependent on Him. It is our evil nature which is not so, or at least which refuses to be dependent on Him.

Now there is a prince of this world, a stranger to God; and, besides participation in the divine nature, there is the Spirit Himself who has been given to us. These solemn truths enter also as principles into these exhortations. “Give no place to the devil,” on the one hand-give him no room to come in and act on the flesh; and, on the other hand, “grieve not the Holy Spirit” who dwells in you. The redemption of the creature has not yet taken place, but ye have been sealed unto that day: respect and cherish this mighty and holy guest who graciously dwells in you. Let all bitterness and malice therefore cease even in word, and let meekness and kindness reign in you according to the pattern you have in the ways of God in Christ towards you. Be imitators of God: beautiful and magnificent privilege! but which flows naturally from the truth that we are made partakers of His nature, and that His Spirit dwells in us.

These are the two great subjective principles of the Christian-the having put off the old man and put on the new, and the Holy Ghost’s dwelling in him. Nor can anything be more blessed than the pattern of life here given to the Christian, founded on our being a new creation. It is perfect subjectively and objectively. First, subjectively, the truth in Jesus is the having put off the old man and put on the new, which has God for its pattern. It is created after God in the perfection of His moral character. But this is not all. The Holy Spirit of God by which we are sealed to the day of redemption dwells in us: we are not to grieve Him. These are the two elements of our state, the new man created after God, and the presence of the Holy Spirit of God; and He is emphatically here called the Spirit of God, as in connection with God’s character.

And next objectively: created after God, and God dwelling in us, God is the pattern of our walk, and thus in respect of the two words which alone give God’s essence-love and light. We are to walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us a sacrifice to God. “For us” was divine love; “to God” is perfection of object and motive. Law takes up the love of self as the measure of love to others. Christ gives up self wholly and for us, but to God. Our worthlessness enhances the love but, on the other hand, an affection and a motive have their worth from the object (and with Christ that was God Himself), self wholly given up. For, so to speak, we may love up and love down. When we look upward in our affections, the nobler the object the nobler the affection; when it is downwards, the more unworthy the object, the more pure and absolute the love. Christ was perfect in both, and absolutely so. He gave Himself for us, and to God. Afterwards we are light in the Lord. We cannot say we are love, for love is sovereign goodness in God; we walk in it, like Christ. But we are light in the Lord. This is the second essential name of God and as partakers of the divine nature we are light in the Lord. Here again Christ is the pattern. “Christ shall give thee light.” We are called on, then, as His dear children to imitate God.

This life, in which we participate and of which we live as partakers of the divine nature, has been objectively presented to us in Christ in all its perfection and in all its fulness; in man, and in man now brought to perfection on high, according to the counsels of God respecting Him. It is Christ, this eternal life, who was with the Father and has been manifested unto us-He who, having then first descended, has ascended now into heaven to carry humanity thither, and display it in the glory-the glory of God-according to His eternal counsels. We have seen this life here in its earthly development: God manifest in flesh; man, perfectly heavenly, and obedient in all things to His Father, moved, in His conduct to others, by the motives that characterise God Himself in grace. Hereafter He will be manifested in judgment; and already, here below, He has gone through all the experiences of a man, understanding thus how grace adapts itself to our wants, and displaying it now, according to that knowledge, even as hereafter He will exercise judgment with a knowledge of man, not only divine, but which, having gone through this world in holiness, will leave the hearts of men without excuse and without escape.

But it is the image of God in Him, of which we are now speaking. It is in Him that the nature which we have to imitate is presented to us, and presented in man as it ought to be developed in us here below, in the circumstances through which we are passing. We see in Him the manifestation of God, and that in contrast with the old man. There we see “the truth as it is in Jesus,” save that in us it involves the putting off of the old man and putting on the new, answering to Christ’s death and resurrection (compare particularly as to His death, 1 Peter 3:18; 4:1). Thus, in order to attract and to lead on our hearts, to give us the model on which they are to be formed, the aim to which they should tend, God has given us an object in which He manifests Himself, and which is the object of all His own delight.

The reproduction of God in man is the object that God proposed to Himself in the new man; and that the new man proposes to himself, as he is himself the reproduction of the nature and the character of God. There are two principles for the Christian’s path, according to the light in which he views himself. Running his race as man towards the object of his heavenly calling, in which he follows after Christ ascended on high: he is running the heavenward race; the excellency of Christ to be won there, his motive-that is not the Ephesian aspect. In the Ephesians he is sitting in heavenly places in Christ, and he has to come out as from heaven, as Christ really did, and manifest God’s character upon earth, of which, as we have seen, Christ is the pattern. We are called, as in the position of dear children, to shew our Father’s ways.

We are not created anew according to that which the first Adam was, but according to that which God is: Christ is its manifestation. And He is the second Man, the last Adam.[23] In detail we shall find these characteristic features: truthfulness, the absence of all anger that has the nature of hatred (lying and hatred are the two characteristics of the enemy); practical righteousness connected with labour according to the will of God (man’s true position); and the absence of corruption. It is man under the rule of God since the fall, delivered from the effect of the deceitful lusts. But it is more than this. A divine principle brings in the desire of doing good to others, to their body and their soul. I need not say how truly we find here the picture of the life of Christ, as in the preceding remarks it was the putting off of the spirit of the enemy and of the old man. The spirit of peace and love (and that, in spite of evil in others and the wrongs they may do us) completes the picture, adding that which will be easily understood after what has been said, that, in “forgiving one another,” we are to be imitators of God, and to walk in love as Christ has loved us, and has given Himself for us. Beautiful picture, precious privilege! May God grant us so to look at Jesus as to have His image stamped upon us, and in some sort to walk like Him.

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[17] To recapitulate, there is, first, one body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling; second, one Lord, with whom are connected one faith and one baptism; third, one God and Father of all, who is above all things, everywhere, and in all Christians. Moreover, while insisting upon these three great relationships in which all Christians are placed, as being in their nature the foundations of unity, and the motives of its maintenance, these relationships extend successively in breadth. The direct relationship applies properly to the same persons; but the character of Him who is the basis of the relationship enlarges the idea connected with it. With regard to the Spirit, His presence unites the body-is the bond between all the members of the body: none but the members of the body-and they, as such-are seen here. The Lord has wider claims. In this relationship it is not the members of the body that are spoken of; there is one faith and one baptism, one profession in the world: there could not be two. But although the persons who are in this outward relationship may stand also in the other relationships and be members of the body, yet the relationship here is one of individual profession; it is not a thing which cannot exist at all except in reality (one is a member of Christ’s body, or one is not). God is the Father of these same members, as being His children, but He who maintains this relationship is necessarily and always above all things-personally above all things, but divinely everywhere.

[18] The descent into the lower parts of the earth is viewed as from His place as man on earth; not His coming down from heaven to be a man. It is Christ who descended.

[19] Verse 11 gives special and permanent gifts; verse 16, what every joint supplies in its place. Both have their place in the forming and growth of the body.

[20] I have already noticed, that contrast of the new state and the old characterises the Ephesians more than Colossians, where we find more development of life.

[21] In Colossians we have “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created us.”

[22] There is a sense in which God is, morally, the measure of other beings-a consideration that brings out the immense privilege of the child of God. It is the effect of grace, in that, being born of Him and partaking of His nature, the child of God is called to be the imitator of God, to be perfect as His Father is perfect. He who loves is born of God, and knows God, for God is love. He makes us partakers of His holiness, consequently we are called to be imitators of God, as His dear children. This shews the immense privileges of grace. It is the love of God in the midst of evil, and which, superior to all evil, walks in holiness, and rejoices also together, in a divine way, in the unity of the same joys and the same sentiments. Therefore Christ says (John 17), “as we are,” and “in us.”

[23] It is useful to note here the difference of Romans 12: 1, 2, and this epistle. The Romans, we have seen, contemplates a living man on earth; hence he is to give his body up as a living sacrifice-alive in Christ, he is to yield his members up wholly to God. Here the saints are seen as sitting in heavenly places already, and they are to come out in testimony of God’s character before men, walking as Christ did in love, and light.

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Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Ephesians 4:17-32

December 7, 2008 By admin Leave a Comment

The apostle having gone through his exhortation to mutual love, unity, and concord, in the foregoing verses, there follows in these an exhortation to Christian purity and holiness of heart and life, and that both more general (v. 17-24) and in several particular instances, v. 25-32. This is solemnly introduced: “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord; that is, seeing the matter is as above described, seeing you are members of Christ’s body and partakers of such gifts, this I urge upon your consciences, and bear witness to as your duty in the Lord’s name, and by virtue of the authority I have derived from him.” Consider,

I. The more general exhortation to purity and holiness of heart and life.

1. It begins thus, “That you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk—that for the time to come you do not live, and behave yourselves, as ignorant and unconverted heathens do, who are wholly guided by an understanding employed about vain things, their idols and their worldly possessions, things which are no way profitable to their souls, and which will deceive their expectations.” Converted Gentiles must not live as unconverted Gentiles do. Though they live among them, they must not live like them. Here,

(1.) The apostle takes occasion to describe the wickedness of the Gentile world, out of which regenerate Christians were snatched as brands out of the burning. [1.] Their understandings were darkened, v. 18. They were void of all saving knowledge; yea, ignorant of many things concerning God which the light of nature might have taught them. They sat in darkness, and they loved it rather than light: and by their ignorance they were alienated from the life of God. They were estranged from, and had a dislike and aversion to, a life of holiness, which is not only that way of life which God requires and approves, and by which we live to him, but which resembles God himself, in his purity, righteousness, truth, and goodness. Their wilful ignorance was the cause of their estrangement from this life of God, which begins in light and knowledge. Gross and affected ignorance is destructive to religion and godliness. And what was the cause of their being thus ignorant? It was because of the blindness or the hardness of their heart. It was not because God did not make himself known to them by his works, but because they would not admit the instructive rays of the divine light. They were ignorant because they would be so. Their ignorance proceeded from their obstinacy and the hardness of their hearts, their resisting the light and rejecting all the means of illumination and knowledge. [2.] Their consciences were debauched and seared: Who being past feeling, v. 19. They had no sense of their sin, nor of the misery and danger of their case by means of it; whereupon they gave themselves over unto lasciviousness. They indulged themselves in their filthy lusts; and, yielding themselves up to the dominion of these, they became the slaves and drudges of sin and the devil, working all uncleanness with greediness. They made it their common practice to commit all sorts of uncleanness, and even the most unnatural and monstrous sins, and that with insatiable desires. Observe, When men’s consciences are once seared, there are no bounds to their sins. When they set their hearts upon the gratification of their lusts, what can be expected but the most abominable sensuality and lewdness, and that their horrid enormities will abound? This was the character of the Gentiles; but,

(2.) These Christians must distinguish themselves from such Gentiles: You have not so learned Christ, v. 20. It may be read, But you not so; you have learned Christ. Those who have learned Christ are saved from the darkness and defilement which others lie under; and, as they know more, they are obliged to live in a better manner than others. It is a good argument against sin that we have not so learned Christ. Learn Christ! Is Christ a book, a lesson, a way, a trade? The meaning is, “You have not so learned Christianity—the doctrines of Christ and the rules of life prescribed by him. Not so as to do as others do. If so be, or since, that you have heard him (v. 21), have heard his doctrine preached by us, and have been taught by him, inwardly and effectually, by his Spirit.” Christ is the lesson; we must learn Christ: and Christ is the teacher; we are taught by him. As the truth is in Jesus. This may be understood two ways: either, “You have been taught the real truth, as held forth by Christ himself, both in his doctrine and in his life.” Or thus, “The truth has made such an impression on your hearts, in your measure, as it did upon the heart of Jesus.” The truth of Christ then appears in its beauty and power, when it appears as in Jesus.

2. Another branch of the general exhortation follows in those words, That you put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, etc., v. 22-24. “This is a great part of the doctrine which has been taught you, and which you have learned.” Here the apostle expresses himself in metaphors taken from garments. The principles, habits, and dispositions of the soul must be changed, before there can be a saving change of the life. There must be sanctification, which consists of these two things:—(1.) The old man must be put off. The corrupt nature is called a man, because, like the human body, it consists of divers parts, mutually supporting and strengthening one another. It is the old man, as old Adam, from whom we derive it. It is bred in the bone, and we brought it into the world with us. It is subtle as the old man; but in all God’s saints decaying and withering as an old man, and ready to pass away. It is said to be corrupt; for sin in the soul is the corruption of its faculties: and, where it is not mortified, it grows daily worse and worse, and so tends to destruction. According to the deceitful lusts. Sinful inclinations and desires are deceitful lusts: they promise men happiness, but render them more miserable, and if not subdued and mortified betray them into destruction. These therefore must be put off as an old garment that we should be ashamed to be seen in: they must be subdued and mortified. These lusts prevailed against them in their former conversation, that is, during their state of unregeneracy and heathenism. (2.) The new man must be put on. It is not enough to shake off corrupt principles, but we must be actuated by gracious ones. We must embrace them, espouse them, and get them written on our hearts: it is not enough to cease to do evil, but we must learn to do well. “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind (v. 23); that is, use the proper and prescribed means in order to have the mind, which is a spirit, renewed more and more.” And that you put on the new man, v. 24. By the new man is meant the new nature, the new creature, which is actuated by a new principle, even regenerating grace, enabling a man to lead a new life, that life of righteousness and holiness which Christianity requires. This new man is created, or produced out of confusion and emptiness, by God’s almighty power, whose workmanship it is, truly excellent and beautiful. After God, in imitation of him, and in conformity to that grand exemplar and pattern. The loss of God’s image upon the soul was both the sinfulness and misery of man’s fallen state; and that resemblance which it bears to God is the beauty, the glory, and the happiness, of the new creature. In righteousness towards men, including all the duties of the second table; and in holiness towards God, signifying a sincere obedience to the commands of the first table; true holiness in opposition to the outward and ceremonial holiness of the Jews. We are said to put on this new man when, in the use of all God’s appointed means, we are endeavouring after this divine nature, this new creature. This is the more general exhortation to purity and holiness of heart and life.

II. The apostle proceeds to some things more particular. Because generals are not so apt to affect, we are told what are those particular limbs of the old man that must be mortified, those filthy rags of the old nature that must be put off, and what are the peculiar ornaments of the new man wherewith we should adorn our Christian profession. 1. Take heed of lying, and be ever careful to speak the truth (v. 25): “Wherefore, since you have been so well instructed in your duty, and are under such obligations to discharge it, let it appear, in your future behaviour and conduct, that there is a great and real change wrought in you, particularly by putting away lying.” Of this sin the heathen were very guilty, affirming that a profitable lie was better than a hurtful truth; and therefore the apostle exhorts them to cease from lying, from every thing that is contrary to truth. This is a part of the old man that must be put off; and that branch of the new man that must be put on in opposition to it is speaking the truth in all our converse with others. It is the character of God’s people that they are children who will not lie, who dare not lie, who hate and abhor lying. All who have grace make conscience of speaking the truth, and would not tell a deliberate lie for the greatest gain and benefit to themselves. The reason here given for veracity is, We are members one of another. Truth is a debt we owe to one another; and, if we love one another, we shall not deceive nor lie one to another. We belong to the same society or body, which falsehood or lying tends to dissolve; and therefore we should avoid it, and speak truth. Observe, Lying is a very great sin, a peculiar violation of the obligations which Christians are under, and very injurious and hurtful to Christian society. 2. “Take heed of anger and ungoverned passions. Be you angry, and sin not,” v. 26. This is borrowed from the Septuagint translation of Ps. 4:4, where we render it, Stand in awe, and sin not. Here is an easy concession; for as such we should consider it, rather than as a command. Be you angry. This we are apt enough to be, God knows: but we find it difficult enough to observe the restriction, and sin not. “If you have a just occasion to be angry at any time, see that it be without sin; and therefore take heed of excess in your anger.” If we would be angry and not sin (says one), we must be angry at nothing but sin; and we should be more jealous for the glory of God than for any interest or reputation of our own. One great and common sin in anger is to suffer it to burn into wrath, and then to let it rest; and therefore we are here cautioned against that. “If you have been provoked and have had your spirits greatly discomposed, and if you have bitterly resented any affront that has been offered, before night calm and quiet your spirits, be reconciled to the offender, and let all be well agaiLet not the sun go down upon your wrath. If it burn into wrath and bitterness of spirit, O see to it that you suppress it speedily.” Observe, Though anger in itself is not sinful, yet there is the upmost danger of its becoming so if it be not carefully watched and speedily suppressed. And therefore, though anger may come into the bosom of a wise man, it rests only in the bosom of fools. Neither give place to the devil, v. 27. Those who persevere in sinful anger and in wrath let the devil into their hearts, and suffer him to gain upon them, till he bring them to malice, mischievous machinations, etc. “Neither give place to the calumniator, or the false accuser” (so some read the words); that is, “let your ears be deaf to whisperers, talebearers, and slanderers.” 3. We are here warned against the sin of stealing, the breach of the eighth commandment, and advised to honest industry and to beneficence: Let his that stole steal no more, v. 28. It is a caution against all manner of wrong-doing, by force or fraud. “Let those of you who, in the time of your gentilism, have been guilty of this enormity, be no longer guilty of it.” But we must not only take heed of the sin, but conscientiously abound in the opposite duty: not only not steal, but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing that is good. Idleness makes thieves. So Chrysostom, To gar kleptein argias estin—Stealing is the effect of idleness. Those who will not work, and who are ashamed to beg, expose themselves greatly to temptations to thievery. Men should therefore be diligent and industrious, not in any unlawful way, but in some honest calling: Working the thing which is good. Industry, in some honest way, will keep people out of temptation of doing wrong. But there is another reason why men ought to be industrious, namely, that they may be capable of doing some good, as well as that they may be preserved from temptation: That he may have to give to him that needeth. They must labour not only that they may live themselves, and live honestly, but they may distribute for supplying the wants of others. Observe, Even those who get their living by their labour should be charitable out of their little to those who are disabled for labour. So necessary and incumbent a duty is it to be charitable to the poor that even labourers and servants, and those who have but little for themselves, must cast their mite into the treasury. God must have his dues and the poor are his receivers. Observe further, Those alms that are likely to be acceptable to God must not be the produce of unrighteousness and robbery, but of honesty and industry. God hates robbery for burnt-offerings. 4. We are here warned against corrupt communication; and directed to that which is useful and edifying, v. 29. Filthy and unclean words and discourse are poisonous and infectious, as putrid rotten meat: they proceed from and prove a great deal of corruption in the heart of the speaker, and tend to corrupt the minds and manners of others who hear them; and therefore Christians should beware of all such discourse. It may be taken in general for all that which provokes the lusts and passions of others. We must not only put off corrupt communications, but put on that which is good to the use of edifying. The great use of speech is to edify those with whom we converse. Christians should endeavour to promote a useful conversation: that it may minister grace unto the hearers; that it may be good for, and acceptable to, the hearers, in the way of information, counsel, pertinent reproof, or the like. Observe, It is the great duty of Christians to take care that they offend not with their lips, and that they improve discourse and converse, as much as may be, for the good of others. 5. Here is another caution against wrath and anger, with further advice to mutual love and kindly dispositions towards each other, v. 31, 32. By bitterness, wrath, and anger, are meant violent inward resentment and displeasure against others: and, by clamour, big words, loud threatenings, and other intemperate speeches, by which bitterness, wrath, and anger, vent themselves. Christians should not entertain these vile passions in their hearts not be clamorous with their tongues. Evil speaking signifies all railing, reviling, and reproachful speeches, against such as we are angry with. And by malice we are to understand that rooted anger which prompts men to design and to do mischief to others. The contrary to all this follows: Be you kind one to another. This implies the principle of love in the heart, and the outward expressions of it, in an affable, humble, courteous behaviour. It becomes the disciples of Jesus to be kind one to another, as those who have learned, and would teach, the art of obliging. Tender-hearted; that is, merciful, and having tender sense of the distresses and sufferings of others, so as to be quickly moved to compassion and pity. Forgiving one another. Occasions of difference will happen among Christ’s disciples; and therefore they must be placable, and ready to forgive, therein resembling God himself, who for Christ’s sake hath forgiven them, and that more than they can forgive one another. Note, With God there is forgiveness; and he forgives sin for the sake of Jesus Christ, and on account of that atonement which he has made to divine justice. Note again, Those who are forgiven of God should be of a forgiving spirit, and should forgive even as God forgives, sincerely and heartily, readily and cheerfully, universally and for ever, upon the sinner’s sincere repentance, as remembering that they pray, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Now we may observe concerning all these particulars that the apostle has insisted on that they belong to the second table, whence Christians should learn the strict obligations they are under to the duties of the second table, and that he who does not conscientiously discharge them can never fear nor love God in truth and in sincerity, whatever he may pretend to.

In the midst of these exhortations and cautions the apostle interposes that general one, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, v. 30. By looking to what precedes, and to what follows, we may see what it is that grieves the Spirit of God. In the previous verses it is intimated that all lewdness and filthiness, lying, and corrupt communications that stir up filthy appetites and lusts, grieve the Spirit of God. In what follows it is intimated that those corrupt passions of bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, and malice, grieve this good Spirit. By this we are not to understand that this blessed Being could properly be grieved or vexed as we are; but the design of the exhortation is that we act not towards him in such a manner as is wont to be grievous and disquieting to our fellow-creatures: we must not do that which is contrary to his holy nature and his will; we must not refuse to hearken to his counsels, nor rebel against his government, which things would provoke him to act towards us as men are wont to do towards those with whom they are displeased and grieved, withdrawing themselves and their wonted kindness from such, and abandoning them to their enemies. O provoke not the blessed Spirit of God to withdraw his presence and his gracious influences from you! It is a good reason why we should not grieve him that by him we are sealed unto the day of redemption. There is to be a day of redemption; the body is to be redeemed from the power of the grave at the resurrection-day, and then God’s people will be delivered from all the effects of sin, as well as from all sin and misery, which they are not till rescued out of the grave: and then their full and complete happiness commences. All true believers are sealed to that day. God has distinguished them from others, having set his mark upon them; and he gives them the earnest and assurance of a joyful and glorious resurrection; and the Spirit of God is the seal. Wherever that blessed Spirit is as a sanctifier, he is the earnest of all the joys and glories of the redemption-day; and we should be undone should God take away his Holy Spirit from us.

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