We are in that part of his letter where Paul tells us that Christians live differently from other people. They behave in a certain way towards each other, and this we considered when we studied 4:1-16, which dealt with the unity of the church. In the passage before us, and also as far as 5:21, the apostle tells us how believers live in the world. He will cover such themes as their personal standards, their attitudes and their speech. We can put the whole of what he says under the general title of 'Christian living'.
Why this teaching is to be taken seriously
'This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord...' (4:17) is how Paul introduces this subject. The word translated 'testify' can just as well be rendered 'insist'. 'I am speaking to you and insist in the name of the Lord that you pay attention to what I say,' says Paul.
It is the apostle to the Gentiles who is speaking. He did not give himself this office, but was appointed to it by none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a right to give dogmatic teaching and to insist that we listen, for he speaks with the full authority of the Lord. As we have seen more than once, to listen to his teaching is to listen to Christ speaking; but to reject or ignore him is to do the same to the one who sent him.
Take this teaching seriously! Here is the will of the Lord Jesus Christ for your daily life! One of the sins of our day is that many people give more attention to what they see in visions than they do to the plain teaching given by Christ in his Word. But God's will is never now revealed in visions, however convincing they may be. If you want to know how to please Christ in this world, you must come to such passages as the one we have just opened.
Another reason for taking this teaching seriously is found in verse 30: 'And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.' We learned about this sealing in chapter 1. We saw that a seal is a sign of ownership. Sealing is not something the Holy Spirit does. He is himself the seal. God has put his sign of ownership on all believers without exception by giving to them his Spirit.
If some believers had been sealed while others had not, this verse would be nonsense. We would have to assume that the only believers capable of grieving the Spirit were those who had experienced some superior blessing! As it is, all who are heading for the 'day of redemption' have been sealed. That day is the end of the world when believers will receive their resurrected bodies, be acquitted at the judgement and will enter into the full and unspoilt enjoyment of the heavenly blessings that Christ's redeeming blood has obtained for them. This will be the privilege of all those who carry God's mark of ownership. The seal guarantees that no child of God will be overlooked on that day. Every Christian will arrive safely in heaven!
Yes, each Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It follows that whenever he thinks, speaks or acts in an unholy way, he grieves that glorious person. What! Grieve the one who convinced us of our sin and misery, enlightened our minds to understand the gospel, brought us safely to the Saviour in repentance and faith, has kept us believing to this hour, inspires our hope of heaven and will give life to our dead bodies at the last day? Who would want to do such a thing?
Years ago, the streets of our large British cities were teeming with homeless children whose experience of life could be summed up in two words: grime and crime. Let's say you took one of these children into your family, surrounded him with love and godliness, educated him, and taught him to be clean, courteous and honest. How would you feel if he still sometimes found pleasure in grime and crime? And what if he went back to it altogether? Do we now understand why Paul's teaching must be taken seriously?
Why Christians cannot live as other people do (4:17-24)
In fact, Christians simply cannot live the same way as other people do. A Christian at school just cannot behave like his non-Christian friends. In the office or factory, in the home and neighbourhood, in public or in private, no believer is able to live in the same way as his unbelieving counterparts. It cannot be done.
Why is this? Paul's teaching can be summarized in a single sentence: You cannot be the same as other people because you are not the same as other people! It is as simple as that. The Bible does not say to us, 'Become something different!' Rather, it says, 'You are different. Be in practice what you are in fact.'
It is because unconverted people have a certain sort of mind that they live in the way they do. But we have had our minds changed. We are new people. It is clear, then, that we just have to live in a new way. Let us see how Paul brings all this out.
1. He looks at the unconverted (4:17-19)
v. 17: 'Don't walk like the other Gentiles. What are they like? Well, their chief characteristic is that they have futile minds. Their minds are set on things of no real value.'
It is true, isn't it? What unconverted people want more than anything is an untroubled life with an abundant supply of money and pleasurable experiences. But when we all come to stand before God's judgement seat, it will be seen that none of these things is of any real worth at all. So we, as believers, have a different scale of values. We simply cannot live like those whose values are worthless. This is the force of the apostle's argument.
v. 18: 'Their understanding is darkened by sin. They cannot see what is staring them in the face–for example, that creation declares the existence and power of the invisible God. Therefore they are far, far away from him, and deprived of spiritual blessings and privileges. This is because of the ignorance which is in them. It is not that they became benighted. They have been like this since birth. They are like this by nature. And they cannot change themselves, for they have hearts of stone.'
This is a very profound analysis of the unconverted heart. How is it that an unconverted scientist, examining this universe with all its intricacy and balance, can remain unmoved, while one who is a Christian falls before his Maker, admiring his wisdom, design and loveliness? How is it that unbelievers look at the cross, and walk away, while we gaze through our tears at what the Lord Jesus Christ did there? It is because of the petrification of their hearts – hearts which are incapable of beating in a spiritual world. Devoid of God in their understanding, unbelievers are devoid of him in their living. We are not like that, and we cannot live as they do.
v. 19: 'What is inside shows itself outside. Having hearts of stone, they have no spiritual sensitivity. Nothing holds them back from doing whatever appeals to their physical appetites. They do whatever they want, even if it is unclean. They live to satisfy and to please themselves, however impure it may be. When they have had what they want, they then want more of it.'
If you doubt the truth of what Paul is saying, consider the television programmes which people watch in their own homes and family circle. Think of the language they tolerate and the immorality which is watched, supposedly for entertainment. This is what they feed their minds on, even if social pressures keep them from doing many of the things themselves. They even derive pleasure from witnessing gratuitous violence. The scale of values and code of behaviour to which they expose themselves is one which leaves God out completely. He is not there in their lives, even when they are being pleasant and neighbourly.
There is nothing in the Bible which suggests that a believer may not own a television. We must not let this area of Christian liberty lead us off the subject. Paul's point is that the unconverted leave God out of all they think and speak and do. We are not like that. So we cannot behave as they do.
2. He looks at Christians (4:20-24)vv. 20-21: 'Being a Christian isn't just a matter of 'learning propositions but of learning Christ, the very embodiment of truth. If you have truly learned him, you will not have learned from him to live in the way we have been talking about.'
There is a world of difference between learning a lesson and learning a person. Christianity is more than grasping a set of truths which can be written on paper. It is all to do with knowing a person – trusting, following and loving him. It is neither from our fallen nature nor from others that we learn how to behave. We learn it from him. And those who have not learnt it from him must doubt whether they belong to him at all.
v. 22: 'Well then, when you came to Christ, what did you learn? The first thing you learned was repentance. You learned to put off the old way of living. You ceased to be the person that you were. You can talk about your pre-conversion life as your "old self' or "old man". What a corrupt life that was, dominated as it was by strong and deceitful desires to which you constantly gave in!'
v. 23: 'Then you were made new inwardly. You were changed inside. The very spirit of your mind was transformed, making it impossible to be again what you once were.'
v. 24: 'At conversion you put off the old self and put on the new one. The "old man" has gone and the new one has come. Just as Adam was first made in the image of God, so you were remade in his image. The new "you" is one that longs for righteousness and holiness. Changed so wonderfully by God, you want to be like him.'
There are no imperatives in these verses. Paul gives no commands and makes no suggestions. Those who read the passage quickly, or who come to it with set ideas, often fail to realize this. The apostle is not telling us what should happen, but what has happened! Conversion is a moral transformation. The proof that you are converted is that your life has been changed. And it is precisely because it has changed that you can no longer live like those who remain unconverted.
The specific ways in which Christian behaviour is different (4:25-32)
It is one thing to say that a Christian's life is changed; it is another to spell out precisely what this means in practice. This is what Paul does now. Every Christian is a new person. But not every Christian is living exactly as he should do. He needs to be told and reminded what he must finish with and what should be found in its place.
v. 25: 'Finish with lying. Put it away, in all its forms, for ever. Replace it with the truth. Every believer is to speak only truth to every person he meets...'
Lying is speaking untruthfully, with the intention of misleading or deceiving, and it has many forms. Any words which set out to convey a false impression are lies. This includes exaggeration, half-truths, and so-called 'white lies' -- falsehoods uttered in the interest of tact or politeness. It also includes casuistry, that is, reasoning which is apparently correct, but actually false. Christians have been remade after the image of the God of truth. Their speech is to be taken up with what is true, genuine, actual and factual.
But when we paraphrased verse 25 a few moments ago, we did not finish it. It closes with a reason. We are not to lie, asserts Paul, 'for we are members of one another'.
What does he mean? John Chrysostom, the golden-mouthed preacher of the fourth century, explained it like this: 'If the eye sees a serpent, does it deceive the foot? If the tongue tastes what is bitter, does it deceive the stomach?' When your eye sees a snake on the footpath it does not tell lies to the foot which is about to tread on it. It does not say that it is just a walking stick that someone has dropped. It tells the foot to turn round in a hurry and run the other way!
If the eye lied the body would die. If the tongue, tasting poison, told the stomach to expect a sweet delicacy, both tongue and stomach would perish. Every time we are untruthful, we destroy not only the person we are speaking to, but ourselves, too, 'for we are members of one another'.
vv. 26-27: 'Lying is not the only thing that is to be put away for ever. So is sinful anger. By all means be angry, but never in a sinful way, and never for long. Anger must certainly never be carried over from one day to the next. Don't ever play into the hands of the devil.'
Anger, in and of itself, is not wrong. Our Lord Jesus Christ was angry on a number of occasions during his public ministry. But we may only be angry at the things with which God is angry, and only ever for the same reason – that holiness has been outraged and God's universe spoiled even further.
Anger which is pure is a very rare thing. Even our holiest emotions and words are spoiled by sin. But even where anger is legitimate, it is not to last for long. We are not to go to bed and brood. Righteous anger, like the manna from heaven, breeds worms if it is kept overnight. There are too many worms to count – bitterness, revenge, malice, spite, an unforgiving spirit, sharpness, grudges, hostility, irritability ... the list could go on and on. We are to wake each morning with no feelings of hurt at all carried over from the day before. If not, we shall be in a situation which the devil will definitely exploit. Unchristlikeness and unbrotherliness will take up residence in our hearts, and who knows where that will lead? No Christian is ever to let this happen, says the inspired apostle.
v. 28: 'And there is something else that you must finish with: stealing. Don't ever do it again! But it is not enough to stop something bad; you must start something good. Get to work, and meet your needs by honest toil. Stop looking for an easy life. And remember this: God expects you not only to meet your own needs, but also to use your earnings to help those in want.'
vv. 29-31: 'Not only actions must be put right, but words too. Get rid of the idea that your mouth exists for your benefit. No! It exists for the betterment and benefit of others. That is why God gave it and that is how it should be used. Nothing bad should ever come out of it. You should speak with your hearers in mind, and always and only with a view to doing them good and to advancing them spiritually. Bitterness, rage, annoyance, aggressiveness, defamation, malice–these things, in all their forms, are permanent outlaws to Christian speech.'
v. 32: 'Don't stop at getting just your words right. The Christian is to be distinguished by a whole new set of attitudes. Let every believer be friendly and affectionate to every other believer. Be warm and gentle with each other, not just outwardly but in your hearts. Others will certainly wrong you and I am not asking you to forget what they have done. Instead of forgetting, forgive. Behave towards them as if they had never done it, just as God in Christ also forgave you.'
Christian character is a very down-to-earth affair. The new man or woman whom God has made does not have a shining face and walk around with an ethereal goldfish bowl over his head. He does not send a tingle down the spine of those who meet him. He is not known for his sweet smile and marvellous charm. Integrity is his hallmark. In his life he is truthful, self-controlled, unselfish, honest, hard-working and wholesome. He enriches others wherever he goes. The attitudes which inspire him are markedly different to those he nursed in his unconverted days. This is because he has now been to the cross. God has forgiven him every sin that he ever committed against him w but, oh, at what cost! Forgiveness is his solely because of the shed blood of Christ.
The believer remembers how kind God has been to him, how very, very tender! His crimes are certainly written in the memory of the omniscient God. But this God treats him as if he had never sinned at all! He does not blame the Christian for anything! How then can this Christian continue to bear grudges against those who have wronged him? When he looks at the cross, he can only forgive them, just as he himself has been forgiven.
Christ has died, and the Christian's 'old self' died with him. Christ has risen, and with him the Christian rose to newness of life. Union with Christ is what makes a Christian a Christian. It is also what makes it impossible for him to live as he used to.