Ephesians 4:17-24 - Homiletics

Contrasted principles of Gentile and Christian character.

We now come more explicitly to the details of Christian duty. The apostle had presented a very high standard of Christian privilege in the preceding chapters, and now he presents an equally high standard of Christian duty . What God gives in the one form is to be given back in the other, and in corresponding proportion. The importance of the subject is indicated by the formula, "This I say, and testify in the Lord." The apostle contrasts the Christian with the Gentile walk, and indicates wherein the latter is to differ from the former,

I.

1. In the vanity of their mind.

2. In the darkness of their understanding.

3. In their alienation from the life of God.

4. In their abandonment to lasciviousness.

Thus even Christian converts need to remember the duty to keep themselves unspotted by the world. There is a world of guilt and godlessness from which it is necessary for them to keep themselves unstained.

II. POSITIVE RULES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE .

1. Their Source. "Ye have not so learned Christ, if so be ye heard him," etc. ( Ephesians 4:20 ). The whole tenor of Christ's teaching and influence is against these things. Only make sure that you have come under it.

2. What they are.

Verse 25-Eph 5:2

Rags of the old man and robes of the new.

The Christian Ephesians somewhat resembled Joshua the high priest, when standing before the angel of the Lord, and when Satan was standing at his right hand to resist him. Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and the angel spake to those that stood before him, "Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, "Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment." Rags of the old man still hang about these Ephesians, disfiguring their persons and giving them a very different appearance from that which befits the regenerated sons of God. The apostle is giving directions to take away each filthy rag and substitute for it the fair raiment of the new man. And he is doing this under a solemn sense of danger and responsibility, and with the feeling that two great spirits are also interested in the work and actively concerned in it—the one, the spirit of evil, who is trying cunningly but earnestly to spoil the process, and induce the Ephesians to cling to their own garments; the other, the blessed Spirit of God, who in his infinite love is seeking to clothe the Corinthians in the garments of purity, to seal them unto the day of redemption, so that by the brightness of their appearance they shall be known to be God's in the day when he makes up his jewels. And what makes the whole matter so solemn and momentous is that, unless they are ever on their guard, the subjects of this process are ever liable to give place to the one spirit and to grieve the other; the awful danger lying in this, that the spirit to whom they are prone to yield is the spirit of evil, and the Spirit they are apt to grieve is the Holy Spirit of God.

1. The rags of the old man to be put off are lying, anger, stealing, coarse language, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil-speaking, and malice (see Exposition). Three reasons are given, more or less explicitly, why such things should be put away.

2. The robes of the new man to be put on are truthfulness, honest industry, edifying speech, kindness, tenderness of heart, forgiveness, imitation of God, and the loving walk which becomes his followers. Three reasons are given likewise why these robes should be put on.

This is one of the most comprehensive and beautiful summaries of the Christian life. It is the quintessence of practical Christianity. It furnishes an admirable rule for self-examination, and an admirable incentive to progress in the life of God. It is a passage, not only to be got by heart, but written on the heart. We may well say, as we read these verses, "This is Christianity; this is the walk worthy of our vocation." If the writer of the hundred and nineteenth psalm had such boundless delight in the Law of God, though it had not to him the delightful evangelical aroma it has to us, what ought our feelings to be? Under all dispensations of the covenant, the Law is still the rule of our life, though salvation is of grace; and the prayer that continually becomes us is, "Incline my heart unto thy testimonies; quicken thou me, that I may keep thy Law." Rags or robes: why should any hesitate between them?

To most men rags are most repulsive. To wear literal rags—to appear shabby, dirty, untidy, is very unpleasant. How much more, in the eyes of God and the saints and angels, to wear moral rags! Many a one clothed in purple and fine linen wears the filthiest rags of the old man; and some, on the other hand, in the plainest and coarsest attire, have put on the beautiful robes of righteousness, and shall be crowns of glory in the hands of the Lord and royal diadems in the hands of their God.