Eph 4:15 — Speaking the Truth in Love
Introduction
Section titled “Introduction”This is one of those verses that is often quoted out of context. It is usually quoted by those who think that doctrine is divisive will quote it to their doctrinally minded brothers as if to say, “Speak the truth, but make sure you do it lovingly.” The implication seems to be that Paul himself recognized the inherent danger of speaking the truth and so he wanted to soften the exhortation by balancing it with love.
Needless to say, this approach only works if you totally ignore the context. Paul does not pit truth and love against one another, as if they were in tension.
The whole thrust of the passage is about how the risen Christ has given ministers and teachers to the church Their job is to promote the church’s growth in sound doctrine so that we might attain “the unity of the faith” so that we would no longer be immature Christians tossed around by every wind of false doctrine. The goal is unity in the faith. The means is doctrinal instruction. There can be no unity in love unless there is first unity in faith Any claim to love that is indifferent to truth is not true love, because such love becomes a mere feeling that is not rooted and grounded in Christ. This leads me to make an important observation. Notice that the way this verse is often used is to simply quote the first half of the verse, ignoring the second half. The danger of this edited snippet is that it allows us to read into the word “love” all of our misconceptions and assumptions about love. Having already pitted love and doctrine against each other, we think that love basically means trying to be gentle, kind, and friendly when we speak the truth. It’s as if the verse said, “Poke each other in the eye, but to do it gently and lovingly.”
If we had kept on reading the rest of the verse, we would realize that Paul has a very different understanding of the relationship between truth and love. They two are not in conflict - but perfectly harmonious if we keep the goal in view:
that we might reach full maturity in Christ, the church’s Head. This point is highlighted by considering the flow of thought. The thesis statement of the passage is vv. 11-13 Then, in vv. 14-15 Paul adds to purpose clauses Verse 14: THAT we would no longer be infants Verse 15: THAT we would grow up in all aspects into the Head. These two purposes clauses are mirror images of one another. The state of spiritual infancy in v. 14 is contrasted in v. 15 with the state of achieving full grown status in Christ. The state of spiritual infancy is a dangerous one because we are unstable, tossed about by every wind of doctrine, doctrine which is characterized not by love but by cunning deceit, the trickery of false teachers who do not have your best spiritual interests at heart. The state of full grown maturity, by contrast, is achieved by means of speaking the truth in love that is, by forthright declaration of the truth not by deceit and trickery by love, not by scheming that wants to tear down rather than build up When you consider the passage as a whole, then, the exhortation in v. 15 becomes quite clear. We are to speak the truth, that is, the truth of the gospel (see 1:13) to one another in love, that is, in a spirit of seeking the spiritual maturity and growth of the body toward the goal of attaining full grown adulthood in Christ, the Head. A helpful cross-reference is Col. 1:27-28 2:8-10, 18-19. The Headship of Christ here is not being viewed merely from the perspective of Christ’s authority and lordship. The idea here is an organic one Christ is the Head, we are his body. The Head is the source of nourishment and strength for the body. We draw our vitality and spiritual resources from our union with Christ Our growth is not only sustained by the Head but directed toward the Head. You cannot speak the truth in love merely by trying to be loving. It never works!
But if your goal is that your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ would grow up into Christ, reaching full grown status in him by holding fast the Head and being tricked by teachings and practices that are not rooted in Christ then you will speak the truth in love for there is no greater love than to desire that a person be conformed to the image of Christ. Thus, the key to love for others is love for Christ If you love Christ you will love Christ’s people and you will desire with all your heart to see them be made more and more like their Head, even Jesus Christ Approximately 35 years later, however, the church of Ephesus seems to have chopped the second part of the verse off and focused only on speaking the truth MESSAGE TO EPHESUS: Rev. 2:1-7. The commendation that is given to the church of Ephesus is a commendation that we would expect from all that we know about this church. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians focuses on doctrine, and the need for teachers to instruct God’s people in the truth.
When Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, knowing according to the prophecy of Agabus that he would be arrested and perhaps even martyred, he gathered the elders of Ephesus together and he said, “I have labored in your midst for three years, night and day, from house to house. And I am warning you that in the latter days there will be false teachers - grievous wolves who will seek to draw away disciples after themselves.”
This call to doctrinal discernment, to evaluate the teachers who claim to represent the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ, was something that apparently the church of Ephesus maintained even after Paul had died and John took up Paul’s ministry in Asia Minor near the end of the first century. Ephesus maintained their faithfulness to the Gospel. They could not tolerate evil men, those who claimed to be apostles and were found to be liars.
Also, according to v. 6, they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans are explained a little later in the message to Pergamos in v. 14. The doctrine of Balaam is the same as the Nicolaitans, since the word Nicolaitan is simply a Greek translation of the Hebrew term Balaam, which means, “one who overcomes or conquers the people.” This is a reference to the event in Numbers, when Balaam taught Israel to sin by seducing them to commit sexual immorality and idolatry.
The doctrine of Balaam, or of the Nicolaitans, then, is the teaching that it is not necessary for Christians to resist the temptation to participate in the emperor worship being promoted by the Roman government at this time. When the local governor brings in an image of the emperor, all he’s asking you to do is to take just a pinch of incense and to throw it in the fire before the image. In your own mind you can say you are simply worshipping the Lord. Don’t make such a big deal out of a small little ceremony. It’s nothing. If you go with the flow, you will be able to participate in society without being considered an outcast or being subject to the possibility of persecution.
Just as Balaam, therefore, overcame the people of Israel, by seducing them to break the first commandment - the key issue of loyalty to God, to love the Lord your God with all your heart - so also the Nicolaitans were teaching the New Covenant people of God that their relationship with Jesus Christ, their commitment to him alone, was something that could be played with, something that could be finessed and explained away, and that therefore it was not necessary for them to uphold first commandment faithfulness in this particular area of their lives. The church of Ephesus hated this doctrine. They hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans. They were doctrinally sound. They did not tolerate false teachers.
And yet, notice, that in spite of all of these wonderful characteristics that commended them, Jesus Christ says, “Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” There is something lacking in the midst of all of this doctrinal discernment and concern to uphold the truth of God’s Word and the commandments of Christ. What is lacking? The proper motive for obedience to the Lord - love for Jesus Christ.
John as a representative of the risen Christ brings to bear the claims of the New Covenant upon the people of God. This phrase, “your first love” is an echo of Jer. 2:2. Recall that Jeremiah was the prophet who prophesied of the New Covenant. And Jeremiah also had a similar concern about Israel.
Moreover the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus, says the LORD: “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holiness to the LORD, the firstfruits of his increase. All that devour him will offend; disaster will come upon them,” says the LORD.’” (Jer. 2:1-3) You see, back then in the wilderness, when Israel had just been redeemed out of Egypt, and God came and established his covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai - that was the time of Israel’s betrothal, when God and Israel were first engaged to be married. They loved one another in the freshness of their love - as Jeremiah calls it, “the love of your betrothal.” Now God is saying, “What has happened since then?” Look at v. 5: “What injustice have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, have followed idols, and have become idolaters?” Back in the wilderness, when you first experienced the warmth of your love for me, you loved me with an intense love. But now, years and generations later, what has changed? I haven’t changed! And now you’re going after false gods, and you have become unfaithful to me! You are no longer loving me with your whole heart, but other gods have stolen your heart! You have become a spiritual harlot!
This is what Jesus says to the church of Ephesus. He calls upon the church of Ephesus to remember her first love, to remember the kindness of her youth, the love of her betrothal, when she went after the Lord in the wilderness and served and loved him with her whole heart.
Notice back in v. 6, that Jesus connects their concern for doctrinal purity and discernment with their love for himself: “But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” Jesus is saying, “You hate the Nicolaitans; you have shown your profound concern for false teaching - which you hate and despise. I also have an attitude of hatred toward those who are saying that it doesn’t matter whether you serve and love me alone.” You see, then, that Jesus wants Ephesus to realize that Jesus also hates what they hate. The thing that is lacking in Ephesus is not a zeal for doctrinal purity, but rather the proper motive for such zeal. “In your zealous hatred of false teaching, remember that I also hate it; remember that I also am standing in the midst of the seven churches; remember that your hatred of that which is false should flow out of a love of that which is true, out of love for ME, out of a deep heart-felt commitment to ME.”
It is impossible to do these works that the Lord Jesus calls us to - works of doctrinal discernment, of testing false apostles and rejecting the teachers that reject Christ - it is impossible to do this in a manner that is truly pleasing to Christ unless it flows out of love for Jesus Christ. For what is this discernment, this concern for true, pure doctrine, if it is not based on such love for Christ? What does it become then? Only an expression of our own concern for our own righteousness. Perhaps Ephesus wanted to maintain the purity of their own congregation. Maybe they desired to put themselves in a position of superiority: “Look how doctrinally accurate and zealous we are!”
But such zeal for doctrinal purity becomes a work not born out of love for Christ, and as such it is a work that had no value in his eyes. Why should the Ephesian Christians hate the doctrine of the Nicolaitans? Merely because it is outside the boundaries they have established for their own community? No, they should hate the doctrine of the Nicolaitans because the Nicolaitans hate Christ! The Nicolaitans are saying it doesn’t matter whether or not you worship and love the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
How do can we grow in our love for Christ? By faith. Ephesians 1:18-23.
Have we lost our first love? It may be because we have forgotten our great sinfulness, our need of Christ. Has our refutation of false teaching become a work of pride, of merit, a righteousness we wear as a badge to demonstrate our superiority to other churches? Look at the church of Pergamos and Thyatira - allowing these false teachers like Jezebel to run around! See how much better we are! Because we no longer need Christ, we no longer love him. We are doing very well without him in maintaining the boundaries of our orthodoxy.
The irony of this is that the very commandment the Ephesian Christians thought they were upholding so faithfully - the first commandment to love the Lord alone and to not allow anyone, such as the Nicolaitans, to lead them into idolatrous compromise - that commandment which they pursued with such zeal and rigor, was the very commandment they were breaking! They had lost their first love. They did not love the Lord with all their heart and soul.