Vs. 25 "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another."

The principal part of our study last Wednesday had to do with putting off the old man, and putting on the new man. The "old man", (a metaphorical term for the pre-regenerate life) is to be renounced, and the best way, yea, the only safe way in putting off the "old man" is to vigorously put on the "new man."

A prescription for sure defeat of the ‘old man" is found in Rom. 12:1—2 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

In principle, the "old man" is put off, and the "new man" is put on in the experience of Holy Spirit regeneration. What is True in principle will manifest itself in practice that is what Christ meant when he said, (Matt. 7:16-17), "ye shall know them by their fruits... every good tree bring forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." In order to keep a good tree, good, in practice it needs to be cultivated and pruned. So it is, with the Christian life. Every born again person has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them (1^st Cor. 3:16),

And He brings truth to the mind of the saved person. But if that truth is neglected, the Holy Spirit is quenched, and the "old man" asserts himself. God forbid!

Vs. 25 "Wherefore," is a call to action, and is based on the Fact that the Ephesian church had learned the truth as it is Jesus. Paul proceeds to outline the practices they are to follow in keeping the "old man" subdued. Four classes of sins are listed which grieve the Holy Spirit (Vss. 25 - 30); these sins are lying, uncontrolled anger, stealing, and corrupt language. But bless God, in the same breath, the antidotes are also mentioned. For lying, there is truth. For uncontrolled anger, there is pacification. For stealing, there is good honest labor, for corrupt language, there is edifying conversation.

Vs. 25 "wherefore put away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: For we are members one of another."

"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds" Col. 3:9.

"Ye have put off the old man with his deeds," some have misconstrued these words, and misuse them to teach sinlessness in The flesh, yet, this is not what Paul has in mind. What Paul had in mind is their declaration of faith in the finished work of Christ, and their subsequent baptism into the church.

There is no place for "lying" in the Christian life, lying is part and parcel of the old nature. Psa. 58:3 "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies."
The other side of that axiom is, as soon as the wicked are born again, they go straight, speaking truth.

Lying has never in the history of the world has been more in vogue than it is today. Politics is rife with the spirit of lying, and business spends millions of dollars on false advertising, but a lie is never more hateful to God, than when it is found in one of his blood bought children
"For we are members one of another," of the same body, and there is no reason whatsoever that we should lie one to another seeing that we have the same Lord, and the same ambition, which ambition is to glorify the head of the church.

Vs, 26 "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath,"

There is righteous anger, and holy indignation, and apart from these there is no room for anger in the life of the saint, "be ye angry," it is not wrong to be angry, providing your anger does not degenerate into sin, Paul no sooner says, "be ye angry" than he gives a qualifying clause, "and sin not".

We should be angry with all manner of sin, and this kind of anger is an asset when controlled. But we need to take into account the fact as soon as control is relinquished in the least degree the Devil takes advantage of it, and our anger is pushed beyond bounds. That is the reason Paul says, "Neither give place to the devil" Vs. 28.

"Let not the sun go down upon your wrath," if we could remember this limitation, our sleep would be greatly enhanced. All to of we forget this restriction, and anger becomes deep rooted. When this happens the devil has a field day, and the whole body suffers. Anger that is not soon deposed of, leads downward and the person hurt the most by it is the angry person.

A good example is King Saul, his uncontrolled anger destroyed him.

Vs. 28 "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he have to give to him that needeth."

This text certainly needs no interpretation, it plainly says, he that stole before he was saved, is to cease stealing after he is saved. He is to provide the things whereof he stands in need by working with his hands, and even more, he is to erase the temptation to steal in others, by contributing to the needs.

Vs. 29 "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."

As with the other verses discussed so far, there being a positive and negative side, so it is with this verse. There must not only be a cessation of evil speaking, but there must also be in its place constructive language which strengthens the hearers. A foulmouth is as incongruous to a saint, as prayer is to an infidel. Our old nature is such that it revels in filthy conversation, and television has become the chief means in the propagation of profane language, making it all the more difficult to suppress corrupt communication.

Vs. 30 "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."

Simply, the aforementioned evils, lying, uncontrolled anger, Stealing, and corrupt language, are means of grieving the Holy Spirit of God. We need to be ever on guard against grieving the Holy Spirit, seeing that it is He that has sealed us, "Unto the day of redemption" that is, until the redemption of our bodies. or our glorification Rom. 8:23 & 30.

Vs. 31 "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice." Clamour, or brawling accompanied with evil speaking will be the inevitable result of failing to heed the admonition to abstain from aforementioned evils, failure to do so, causes malice to be born a Perpetuated.

Vs. 32 "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you."

The practice of the things mentioned in this verse will successfully serve to fortify the saint against his evil nature. I would to God, that everyone of us commit this text to memory, for heeding thereunto can do wonders for the soul.

Being obedient to this text insures the health and harmony of the church, and the Christian family.

The requirement is, forgiveness is to be practiced equal to that in which God forgave us. Hot 7 x 7, not, 70 x 7, but every transgression committed against us by our brethren.

While this is true, it is equally true, that we are not to offend our Brothers and Sisters in Christ.