Responsibilities To One Another
RESPONSIBILITIES TO ONE ANOTHER
EPHESIANS 4:25-29
Paul gives some very specific warnings about how to treat one another in the body of Christ.
Paul just showed the sharp contrast between the old life of pagan futility and the new life of purposefulness in Christ. But he does not content himself with generalities. A series of warnings now clarifies specific areas of conduct in which believers have an obligation to behave responsibly toward one another. The context for what Paul has to say in this section is provided by life in the church: “We are members one of another” (4:25) and the believer’s speech is to be “good for building up … that it may give grace to those who hear” (4:29). The sins of falsehood, anger, theft and inappropriate speech disrupt the fellowship that believers share and obscure the unity that God intends to accomplish through Christ.
The warning to abandon falsehood as a way of life (4:25) is reinforced by a quotation from Zechariah 8:16. Like the parts of the human body, Christians are related to one another and must be able to depend on one another. In 4:15, “speaking the truth” had been qualified by the words “in love” as the condition for reaching maturity in Christ.
Prolonging anger is always dangerous and must be restrained (4:26-27). When quarrels are allowed to continue beyond a day, the devil has an opportunity to make people bitter toward one another and to destroy the evidence of reconciliation brought about by Christ. An indication of a person’s Christian maturity is provided by the way in which they express their anger.
The third warning (4:28) does not imply the existence of professional thieves within the local congregation, but concerns parasites who were attempting to live at the expense of their neighbors. Such people should devote themselves to honest work so that they can assume their responsibility to support members of the fellowship in times of crisis.
The avoidance of worthless, or “corrupting,” speech (4:29) is to be balanced by cultivating subjects in one’s speaking that contribute to the spiritual development of other Christians.
Each of the warnings of this section may be understood as a commentary on 4:3. They clarify what is entailed in an eagerness “to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”