Put on the new self in the likeness of God

Ephesians 4:17-32 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, ¹⁸ being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; ¹⁹ and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. ²⁰ But you did not learn Christ in this way, ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, ²² that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, ²³ and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

²⁵ Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. ²⁶ Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷ and do not give the devil an opportunity. ²⁸ He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. ²⁹ Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. ³⁰ Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³² Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

In today’s text it says:  Laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.   We are to speak truth, not our version or perception of truth, but absolute truth. Numbers 23:19 says:  God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?   In today’s text Paul says:  Just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.   God does not repent, but we are to repent and become like God, recreated in righteousness and holiness; telling the truth. We are to be like Jesus. In John 14:6 Jesus says:  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  We too should speak the truth in all things, especially the things of God and Christ.

The text says we should be angry and not sin. We often equate anger with sin. Galatians 5:19-21 says:   Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.   How is it possible then to be angry and not sin?   In Matthew 21:12-13 it says:  Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”   Jesus did not sin, yet obviously He was angry with those who desecrated the temple. When He was on the cross, suffering at the hands of those who crucified Him, He said: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)  So again, Jesus is our model, we are to be like Him. We should forgive the things that hurt or offend us and be angry at the things that anger or offend God. The text says we should not give the devil an opportunity. When we allow our anger to manifest in enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts, disputes, dissensions, factions or envying we play into the devil’s hand and we allow our anger to become sin. The text says:  Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Psalm 30:5 says:  His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning. Lamentations 3:22-23 says:  The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.    In Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus says:   “if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”   The only sure way to wake to the favor and the mercy of God each morning, is to forgive those who have sinned against us each night.

Paul concludes today’s text saying:  Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.  Proverbs 18:21 says:  Death and life are in the power of the tongue.  Like the psalmist in Psalm 141:3, we should say:   Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.  Still, we need to speak the truth in love.

May the prayer of Saint Francis be our prayer today: 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.