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Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:17-32
In the previous three chapters we covered the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the producing, the building up, and the existence of the church. We also saw how all the saints, all the constituents of the church, should be in a condition that permits Christ to make His home in their hearts. For this Paul prayed purposely, bowing to the Father and asking Him to strengthen all the saints into their inner man through the Holy Spirit with power according to the riches of God’s glory (Eph. 3:14-16). Our inner man is our regenerated spirit. When we return from all the distracting things to our spirit, Christ will have the opportunity to settle Himself in our heart. By this the Lord will saturate us through the divine dispensing from our spirit into our mind, emotion, will, and conscience until our entire being becomes a wonderful home to the Lord.
We have also seen from the previous chapter that the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — is mingled with the church as the Body of Christ. In the Old Testament there is the type of the meal offering, in which fine flour is mingled with oil (Lev. 2:4). Oil signifies God the Spirit, and fine flour signifies humanity. The mingling of these two elements signifies that the Triune God is mingled with His redeemed people. The result of this mingling is the Body of Christ, in which, out of Christ the Head, the entire Body grows through the joints of the rich supply and through each functioning member unto the building up of itself in love (Eph. 4:16).
Although this revelation is wonderful, the book of Ephesians does not stop here. In 4:17-32 it shows us in a very detailed way the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the believers’ living. This living is related to matters such as not stealing from others and not letting the sun go down on our anger (vv. 28, 26). Although we are a group of people who have been mingled and blended with God, there is still the need for this kind of exhortation concerning our living. It is not easy to have a kind of living that matches, backs, supports, and affords all the needed elements, factors, and essences for the building up of the organic Body of Christ. Merely to have wonderful and exciting conferences is not enough. There is the need to take care of our living in a proper way.
In Ephesians 4:17-32 there are three significant verses that show the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. From these three verses we see that the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity is the base for our daily living. The first is verse 18, which mentions being alienated from the life of God. To be alienated, or separated, from the divine life is a serious matter. The life of God is for the supplying of His children with His riches in His divine dispensing.
The second verse related to the divine dispensing is verse 21, which speaks of the reality in Jesus. The reality in Jesus is just the practicality of the life of God, that is, the practicing of the life of God that took place in Jesus while He lived on earth. In the daily life of Jesus, as recorded in the four Gospels, there was something very real, and that real thing was just God’s divine life realized and practiced as the reality in Jesus’ humanity. This reality in Jesus is for infusing the believers with Christ’s godly living in His humanity.
The third verse concerning the divine dispensing is verse 30, which admonishes us not to grieve the Holy Spirit, in whom we were sealed. This Spirit is the sealing Spirit; He is even the sealing ink with which we have all been sealed. The contents, the elements, and the essence of the sealing ink are the divine life plus Jesus’ practical humanity. This sealing can never become dry; it remains wet forever. While it is wet, it saturates, permeates, and soaks us with the Triune God.
The life of God, the reality in Jesus, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit are the three sources of the divine dispensing. Seemingly, Paul was writing something quite ordinary, but within those ordinary words he put in the wonderful elements and factors of the Divine Trinity — the Father’s life, the Son’s living in His humanity, and the Spirit’s sealing. Life is of the Father. This life must become the reality in our daily living, which reality is in Jesus. This reality as the practicality of the life of the Father becomes the sealing ink, which is the Holy Spirit. While the sealing ink seals, it saturates, permeates, and soaks us with the divine life in the practicality of Jesus’ daily life, making us a “xerox copy” of Jesus’ life, which is the practicality of the Father’s life.
We have the life of the Father in us. We also have a model and an example, which is Jesus’ life in His humanity. This life in His humanity is just the practicality of the divine life seen in the four Gospels. Furthermore, we have the sealing ink, which is constituted with the divine life and with the human living of Jesus. This sealing is wet all the time; it seals, saturates, and permeates us, enabling us to have a daily life that is suitable for the building up of the Body of Christ.
In order to live such a life, there are a number of principles and details that we need to pay attention to.
The first principle is that we should not walk as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind (v. 17). Everyone in the world, both young and old, male and female, lingers in his or her mind. Even while they are sleeping, they remain in their mind. This is why so many people have dreams. If someone thinks about having a big house or a good car, he will dream about these things at night. This is to walk in the vanity of the mind. Whatever is in the mind is vanity. The wise King Solomon said that everything under the sun is vanity of vanities (Eccl. 1:2). As a saved person, we should never walk in the vanity of our mind.
The second principle is that we should not be alienated from the life of God (Eph. 4:18). We the believers have the life of God within us. But even we are quite often alienated from the life of God. We do not keep ourselves linked, connected, and joined to the divine life. We have this life, but we do not use it or depend on it. Instead, we put it aside. It is a serious thing to be alienated from the life of God.
Electricity may be installed in a building, but if even a thin piece of paper is inserted between the wires, the electricity will be stopped. It is easy to stop the electrical current. If we stop the electrical current, electricity will still be here, but there will be no way to apply it to us. In such a case, we will be alienated from electricity. It is the same with the life of God. Although we have the life of God, we can easily be alienated from it.
The third principle is that we must not cease from caring for the feeling of our conscience (v. 19). Our conscience must be very keen. It must be in a good condition. Whenever we sense condemnation in our conscience, we need to take care of it immediately (Acts 24:16). It is a dangerous thing to ignore the conscience.
The fourth principle is that we need to learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus (Eph. 4:20-21). The Bible is not a book of vain teaching. It teaches us something real. In particular, it teaches us a person, Jesus Christ, who is divine as well as human. He is the complete God and the perfect man. In Him we can see the wonderful, excellent, divine attributes, such as the divine love, light, and patience, lived out through the human virtues. We need to learn of this reality. Jesus is humble, kind, and patient. This is the reality in Jesus. To have the reality that is in Jesus is just to have God the Father as the reality living through our own humanity. Our love is like a glove, and Christ’s love is like the hand. Without the hand the glove is empty and has no reality. But when the hand with the fingers enters into and fills the glove, the glove is filled with reality.
In order to learn of this truth in Jesus, we need to adjust our own humanity. We should not remain in our Chinese or American disposition, taking it as an excuse. We should adjust our humanity to that of Jesus. Jesus lived the Father’s life. In the same way, we need to live His life. Some brothers may be slow, whereas their wives may be quick. Both need to adjust themselves according to the humanity of Jesus. If we live out our old humanity, there will always be arguments. Among couples today, divorce does not come mainly from big things but from an accumulation of small things. If we live a life according to the reality as it is in Jesus, there will be no divorce.
The fifth principle is that we must put off, as regards our former manner of life, the old man (v. 22). We have lived in our former manner of life for many years. Today we must cease and put it off. To put off the old man is just to put off our old habits. We need to put off this old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit. Paul refers to deceit here as a personified thing, which is just Satan. Satan is the totality of deceit in the entire universe. Whatever he proposes is a deceit. The Lord Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). He is the aggregate of deceit. This deceit is fully related to the old manner of life, which in its totality is a deceit. Hence, to put off the old man is to put off Satan.
After this, we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind (Eph. 4:23). This means that our mind should be filled with, saturated by, and under the control and direction of the spirit. In this way our spirit will become the spirit of our mind. It is by this spirit, which controls our mind, that we are being renewed.
Finally, we need to put on the new man (v. 24). The way to put on the new man is in the divine dispensing. We should not live according to the old habits and the old manner of life but should live according to the present, up-to-date divine dispensing. This is to put on the new man. This new man was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality. Reality here also is personified. Deceit is Satan, and reality is the Triune God.
Now we come to the details of the believers’ living. The first point is that as members of the Body, we need to speak truth one with another (v. 25). We should never lie to our fellow members. To lie is absolutely wrong. Any kind of lie, whether wild or cultured, is wrong. Often the highly educated people lie in a cultured way. They hide their lies in a nice cloak. But this is wrong. We should speak only truth with one another.
We should not let the sun go down on our indignation (v. 26). We should not “lose” to the sunset but should “beat” the sunset by letting our indignation go before the sun sets. Furthermore, we should never give place to the devil (v. 27). If we do not let our anger go but rather keep our anger, we will give the devil a place. In our marriage a little anger is like a little kindling. If we do not quench it, it will bring in a big fire that can burn our entire marriage.
The same thing is true in the church life. As Christians, we meet together often. It is very easy for us to offend one another. We need to let these offenses go. Anger that is due to offenses is very damaging to us. It is even damaging to our stomach; we may develop an ulcer because of it. If we let go of our anger before the sun goes down, we will be free and will be able to sing and praise the Lord.
The third point is that we should not steal (v. 28). We may think that we have never stolen, but actually, everyone steals. Whether we are a gentleman or a lady, a boy or a girl, in God’s eyes we have all stolen from others. A teacher may bring home a piece of chalk from school, and a worker may bring home some things from his office. We may say that this is not stealing, but in God’s eyes this is stealing. All young girls have stolen from their mothers. If we check with ourselves, we will find that there are many different kinds of stealings in us. But we should steal no more.
The fourth point is that we should let no corrupt word proceed out of our mouth (v. 29). Today, because of the turmoil, many times we hear corrupt words, that is, words that bring death to us. When we hear these words, we should not consider whether they are right or wrong. Rather, we should check whether they enliven us or kill us. As long as a word kills us, it is a corrupt word. We should not allow this kind of word to proceed out of our mouth. Instead, we should speak only words that are good for needful building up. If we do this, we will give grace, another form of what God is, in the dispensing of the divine life, to the hearers.
The fifth point is that we should not grieve the Holy Spirit (v. 30). If the Holy Spirit is grieved, we will not be happy. If we are not happy, that is a sign that the Holy Spirit within us is not happy. This Holy Spirit is sealing us. This sealing is the dispensing of the Divine Trinity, and it is unto the day of the redemption of our body. In Greek the word unto can also mean “for.” We are sealed not merely unto the day of redemption but also for the day of redemption. This means that through the soaking and saturating of the sealing, we will be qualified to be redeemed on that day. The sealing is for that day. If we are not sealed and permeated by the sealing ink of the Holy Spirit today, we cannot expect to be redeemed on that day. Our daily sealing today is to qualify us for the redemption on that day.
The sixth point is that we must abstain from all bitterness, anger, wrath, clamor, and evil speaking, with all malice (v. 31). The word all modifies all the succeeding items. This means that we should abstain not only from all bitterness but also from all anger, all wrath, all clamor, all evil speaking, and all malice. In other words, we need to keep ourselves pure from all these dirty things.
Last, we should be kind to one another (v. 32). We must learn to always give in. In Taipei, more than thirty years ago, we made benches that could seat four or five persons. Sometimes two husky persons would occupy so much space that it became impossible for the other three to sit comfortably. This is not being kind. In the church life, on the one hand, we should treat others kindly, and on the other hand, we should not fight with others but should always give in. We should also be tenderhearted, forgiving one another.
Brother Nee once wrote a proverb for married couples. Among the many items that he mentioned, he told the husbands and the wives that from the day of the wedding they needed to learn to say two words: “I’m sorry” and “forgive me.” If we say these two words every day, there will be no divorce or separation. Separation and divorce come because people are too proud to say “I’m sorry” or “forgive me” to their spouse.
In the church life we are close to each other every day. Often we say things or do things that offend others. We all need to learn to say “I’m sorry” and “forgive me” to each other. But we must not say these words from our lips only; we must first pray, confess to the Lord, and deal with the Lord properly concerning the offenses. Then we can go to the ones whom we have wronged and make restitution. If we do this, there will be no friction between the saints. There will be peace, and we will have a proper church life that is good for the building up of the Body of Christ.
