Eph 4:25–28 — Members of One Another

Introduction

Two weeks ago we looked at Paul’s wonderful discussion of the two Adams in the preceding paragraph - verses 17-24. In that paragraph Paul speaks of our fallen existence under the covenant headship of Adam, which he calls “the old man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit” (v. 22). He then contrasts our former life in sin under Adam with our new life under the covenant headship of Christ, which he refers to as “the new man, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

What is interesting about Paul’s use of the two Adams motif here is that it he is using it not in reference to justification, as in Romans 5, but in reference to sanctification. According to Paul, you see, sanctification is grounded in the same covenant basis as justification. This is not to confuse the two aspects of our salvation in Christ. Justification and sanctification are distinct. Justification is a once-for-all judicial declaration that we are accounted as righteous in the sight of God only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.

Sanctification, on the other hand, is a progressive transformation. It is the work of God’s Spirit making us more and more like Jesus Christ, so that our lives - even our very character - reflect the glory and holiness of God. Therefore, there are these two aspects of salvation: justification and sanctification, the judicial and the progressive. And yet both are grounded in our covenantal union with Christ. Just as we cannot be declared righteous in God’s sight unless we are in Christ, under his covenant headship, and thus legally made partakers of Christ’s righteousness, so we cannot be progressively sanctified unless we are in Christ, under his covenant headship, and thus legally made partakers of Christ’s life-giving, life-changing Spirit.

The Spirit of Christ is the resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead, thus constituting him as the new man, the inaugurator of a new humanity. That very Spirit of resurrection power is Christ’s reward for his completion of the covenant of works. As those who are united to Christ by faith, covenantally joined to him and under his headship as the second Adam, we are partakers of Christ’s reward, that is, of Christ’s Spirit. The Spirit is the chief and highest benefit of the new covenant. All who belong to Christ are partakers of the life-giving Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of resurrection life, the Spirit of the glory of the age to come, the downpayment of heaven.

What does this Spirit do? Since he is the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead and constituted him as the head of a new humanity, the very power that gave Christ life is also giving us life, renewing us into the very image of the risen Christ himself. Jesus Christ is the model. He is the new man. He is the one in whom the goal of our humanity has reached its zenith and fulfillment. And the Spirit of this risen Christ, the Spirit of the new man, has incorporated us into Christ through the gospel, and is transforming us from glory to glory into the image of the new man, who is created in the image of God.

To be an imitator of God means to be God-like, to reflect God’s own holy and righteous and loving character in our own lives. Man was made in the image of God to begin with, made to reflect on a creaturely level the uprightness and integrity of the divine perfections. After the fall, we are being renewed in the image of God by being conformed to the only human being who perfectly reflects that image, namely, Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn son of God, the effulgence of his glory, the exact representation of the divine nature. This is because we have been united to him by the Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel, we are under the covenant headship and authority of a new Adam. We not only share in Christ’s righteousness in a judicial sense, so that we are justified and right with God. We also share in Christ’s righteousness by the transforming power of the Spirit, so that we are being sanctified and will one day be presented to him in total, ethical, Christ-like maturity. This is “the mature man” that Paul referred to in Eph. 4:13. We are growing up to full maturity, into him who is the head, even Christ.

Overview of our text

The inauguration of this new humanity in Christ is what Paul has been laboring to explain in vv. 22-24. He says that we have put off the old man. In Christ we have now been clothed with the glory of the new man. Now, in verses 25-32 Paul now proceeds to set forth the imperatives that flow from these indicatives. Since we have put off the old man, we are to put off lying, sinful anger, stealing, and unedifying speech. Since we have put on the new man, we are to put on truth-speaking, a kind and forgiving spirit, working hard to help those in need, and speech that edifies and gives grace to the hearer. The movement is from the indicative to the imperative, from the reality of the new creation to giving concrete expression to the new creation.

Notice that the corporate dimension is the real focus of this paragraph (vv. 25-32). Each of the imperatives in this paragraph have to do with our relationships with one another in the body of Christ. The corporate, covenantal nature of the imperative flows from the corporate, covenantal nature of the indicative. The new humanity, the new society of heaven, has been inaugurated in Christ, and because we are participants in this new humanity, this new society, by virtue of union with Christ, the new man. It follows that the nature of what we are called to in this new arena is by definition a corporate thing, for it is inexorably connected with union with Christ, and by extension it is inexorably connected with our fellow brothers and sisters who are also united to Christ, and partakers with us in this new society that has been initiated in the resurrection of Christ and his transformation by the power of the Spirit.

Let us then look at the specific applications that Paul draws out of his teaching, the imperatives that are but the necessary implication of the indicative of our “new man” status in Christ. This morning we are going to look at the first three commands in vv. 25-28. Next week, Lord willing, we’ll finish the paragraph by looking at vv. 29-32.

Verse 25: Truth

Those who have been brought under the sway of the second Adam, and who are thereby being recreated in the image of God, must put off falsehood and speak the truth instead.

It is not enough to put off lying. We must put on the new way of life, which is characterized by the truth, just as the new man is created in righteousness and holiness “of the truth.”

Paul appeals to Zechariah 8:16 to support this exhortation: “Speak the truth each one of you with his neighbor.” Paul’s use of Zechariah 8 is based on his Christo-centric, redemptive historical interpretation of prophecy. The original context of this command in Zech. 8 is a divine promise regarding the New Jerusalem. The command in v. 16 is given to the remnant of God’s people, the remnant that will dwell in Zion, the City of Truth. Zechariah, under the inspiration of the Spirit, is therefore looking ahead to the eschatological restoration of Israel, which will involve the formation of a new people inhabiting a new Jerusalem and characterized by speaking the truth.

This prophecy is ultimately fulfilled in the new heavens and the new earth. But Paul applies now to the new covenant people of God, since the present age is the inaugurated form of the eschatological fulfillment. Even now we are to be living as if we are in the eschatological age to come, for the church is a colony of heaven, an outpost on earth of the heavenly new Jerusalem that will come down out of heaven from God. The new community that is presently being formed around Jesus Christ, grounded in our common faith in him, is the already dimension of the not-yet. The city of truth that will be erected in the age to come is already in the process of being built here and now. Let us therefore express that reality in our concrete relationships with one another in the body of Christ.

“For we are members of one another.” In addition to the initial fulfillment of eschatological prophecy, Paul appeals to our mutual dependence in the body of Christ as the ground for his exhortation to stop deceiving and speak the truth. We are not saved as individuals but as a community. This is because our salvation is totally dependent on our union with Christ. And since we are all joined to Christ by the Spirit and partakers of the new creation, it follows that we are automatically joined to one another. We are a corporate new man. This fact is a spiritual reality that we must reckon to be true by faith, and it must determine how we act, how we speak, and how we relate to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Verses 26-27: Anger

In God’s new society believers are not to indulge in anger, for in addition to lying and deception, this is another obstacle to harmony and unity in the body.

Again, Paul appeals to the Old Testament, this time Psalm 4:4. David has been falsely accused of some crime. This makes him angry at his accusers. But David knows that he is innocent before God. He quiets his heart before the Lord and seeks his grace and peace. David therefore admonishes his hearers to follow his own example: be angry, but in your anger do not sin, do not indulge in feelings of self-pity or revenge. Instead, turn your anger over to the heavenly Judge, and let him be the arbiter of your case.

Does this verse imply that there are times when it is appropriate to express righteous indignation? Yes, but remember what James said, “Everyone should be slow to become angry, for human anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:19-20).

In order to prevent anger from degenerating into sin, Paul recommends that a strict time limit be put on our anger: “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” This is a warning against brooding in anger or nursing our hurt feelings. We must deal with it promptly.

This can be accomplished in one of two ways. The first option is that we can attempt to be reconciled to our brother. If you have been offended by something he has done, go to him, show him his fault and be ready to grant forgiveness if he repents. This is what Jesus is referring to in Matthew 18 (verse 15).

But sometimes this process isn’t necessary, if you are willing to let love cover over your brother’s fault. Thus, the second option is to let it go in your own heart. This is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:5, “Love does not take into account a wrong suffered,” and 1 Peter 4:8, “Love covers a multitude of sins.”

Whichever option you choose, however, Paul warns against letting the anger continue. At first it may seem like a small ember, but if it is allowed to smolder it can turn into a raging fire.

In verse 27, Paul provides the motivation for dealing with anger promptly: “Do not give the devil a foothold.” If we allow ourselves to nurse anger in our hearts against a brother or a sister, we are giving the devil an opportunity to exert his influence in the church. Satan wants nothing more than to destroy the unity of the church, the bonds of our fellowship in Christ. Unresolved bitterness between brothers is one of his prime tools for sowing discord and disunity within the body.

This warning is important, because it reminds us, as Paul will go on to say later in chapter 6, that our conflict is not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers in the spiritual realm. Spiritual warfare isn’t always the grand, heroic type of thing that is touted by many today, whereby Christians hurl spiritual hand grenades at demons out to get us and take away our Christian heritage. The most challenging spiritual battles occur in our hearts, on the mundane level of treating one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

This command may not seem as important today as it was in the first century. But it is actually very relevant any time Christians are living in poverty. The great majority of the first century Christians were poor day laborers whose ability to find work varied from season to season or even day to day. Since there wasn’t much of a public welfare system, they were often tempted to steal from the wealthy in order to survive.

But Paul rejects any such Robin Hood type of argument. Instead, of using their hands to steal, believers are to put them to good use through hard work. And the proper motive for hard work is that they will have money left over to share with other needy believers. Generosity and sharing are often emphasized as one of the outstanding virtues of the early church. The book of Acts informs us that they had all things in common. This attitude of generous sharing stands in total contrast with the attitude that they formerly had in their pagan days, when stealing was a way of life. The converted thief is to be a hard working contributor to the needs of the saints. What a radical change from the old way of life to the new, from the self-centered behavior that characterized the old man, to a life modeled after the second Adam, Jesus Christ, whose ministry was characterized by serving others.

Do you struggle with the meaning of your daily work? What is the point of working 40 hours or more per week? Is it just to pay the bills? Paul here gives you a Christ-centered incentive for work: you should work hard at your job in order to have additional resources to give to those in the church who are in need. This incentive is Christ-centered because you are doing it as unto Christ, seeking to use your time, energy, and talents for the edification of Christ’s people.

Members of one another

What do these three commands have in common? Notice that they are directed to believers, not unbelievers. Paul is describing the life that ought to characterize the new community, the body of Christ, the new society of the age to come. This is why Paul does not appeal to the eternal moral law written on the heart of all men. Although the moral law forbids lying, anger, and stealing, it cannot rise to the level of the eschatological, new covenant ethic described here. It is inherently limited, since the moral law flows from the demands grounded in the original creation and man’s ethical requirements under the covenant of works.

The ethic of the new creation is continuous with this original creation ethic. The righteous demands for speaking the truth, for avoiding sinful anger, and for hard work instead of thievery, remain in the new creation. But in the new creation they come to us in and through our union with Christ. We have been transferred out of the powerful sway of the old Adam into the all-embracing covenant headship of the second Adam. In Christ a new humanity is progressively being fashioned to be the eschatological community of the age to come, the new Israel.

In keeping, then, with this new reality that has dawned in Christ, this new community or society called the body of Christ, our attitudes and ways of relating to one another cannot remain the same. We are now members of one another. My spiritual life is not a separate, individual affair. I am connected organically to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. My actions impinge upon you, and your actions impinge upon me. We must therefore treat one another as fellow members of Christ’s body. We must not lie to one another, for we cannot lie to Christ or to the members of Christ. We must not harbor bitterness and anger against Christ or against the members of Christ. We must not steal and think only of what we need for our own survival. Instead, we must work hard so that we will have the resources to care for the members of Christ, to express our love for one another in tangible service to Christ and his people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you are new society, the new humanity of heaven. Heaven can’t wait. It has broken into this present evil age. Even now, here in our own congregation, we are an outpost, a colony of heaven, a little foretaste of the eschatological city of truth that will constitute the social fellowship of the new humanity forever in heaven with God. Let us, then, in accordance with this reality that is ours in Christ, live as is fitting for the community of heaven on earth. Stop thinking about yourself only. Start thinking about others in the congregation, how you can serve them, how you can meet their needs. Get rid of all anger. Be reconciled to those who have wronged you. Do all of this, because you are a spiritual, heavenly community of redeemed sinners in Christ, and because as members of Christ, you are therefore also members of one another.