Paul Describes What Putting on the New Man looks
like Part 3
Ephesians
4:30-32 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the
day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and
evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake
hath forgiven you. KJVPaul now states directly to these Ephesian believers and to we true believers today the thing which he desires for them/us not to occur or happen in their/our individual lives and their/our collective lives as a local body walking with Christ Jesus our Lord and that is “grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). Paul sandwiches this statement in between the sins (especially those of the spirit) that he warns them against allowing to be a persistent part of their/our conduct and behavior for the result of doing so will be the third Person of the Holy Trinity being grieved the same way as we could and would grieve an earthly father and mother or a close friend with our ill treatment or disrespectful behavior to them. The English word grieve Paul uses here is translated by the Greek word lupeo which means to distress; reflexively or passively to be sad: - to cause someone to be in heaviness, or to be sorrowful. Paul reminds them and us again that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit “in Christ” eternally and while they/we continue to sojourn down here on the earth, He (the Holy Spirit) is determined to work “in us” and “through us” the sweet smelling fragrance of our Lord Jesus Christ having been rescued from darkness, depravity, and death as Paul declared in this manner with these words to the Corinthian believers, “But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory] and through us spreads {and} makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere. For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved {and} among those who are perishing:” (2 Corinthians 2:14-15).
Therefore, as we examine these words by Paul, we then see what he means here by us grieving the Holy Spirit who indwells us and earnestly desires us to yield to His leading and guiding of us into all truth and away from error, lies, sin, disobedience, and rebellion. Listen to the words written by the Apostle James also warning and rebuking believers who were grieving God’s Holy Spirit with their rebellious behavior, “What leads to strife (discord and feuds) {and} how do conflicts (quarrels and fightings) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members? You are jealous {and} covet [what others have] and your desires go unfulfilled; [so] you become murderers. [To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned.] You burn with envy {and} anger and are not able to obtain [the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek], so you fight and war. You do not have, because you do not ask. [Or] you do ask [God for them] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is [when you get what you desire] to spend it in sensual pleasures. You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us {and} He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?” (James 4:1-5).
We are stamped, sealed, and secured by the indwelling presence of God the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13) in each one of us that have been redeemed spiritually and will be finally redeemed physically when we receive our new glorified bodies made just like our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ, but the process of our growing in the grace and knowledge of God requires our cooperating with our Divine Helper and when we refuse to cooperate and resist cooperation by these various sins in our lives, then He is sad for us because He knows the end result of our sinful disobedience and rebellion will hurt us spiritually and even physically. This is exactly what the people of Israel did after they were delivered from the bondage of enslavement to Egypt for over 400 years as the Psalmist documents for us with these words, “How often they defied {and} rebelled against Him in the wilderness {and} grieved Him in the desert! And time and again they turned back {and} tempted God, provoking {and} incensing the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not [seriously the miracles of the working of] His hand, nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy” (Psalm 78:40-42). Paul knows that the same God who delivered Israel is the same God who delivers each soul that trust Jesus Christ death, burial, and resurrection from the dead by the shedding of His perfect, precious, and powerful Blood is likewise grieved when we live in a manner of willful rebellion against His Will found in His Holy Word.
Therefore, Paul adds this additional list of sins to what he has previously mentioned earlier to make it clear to these Ephesians and to us the things that grieve the Holy Spirit. The first is bitterness which simply means harboring hard feelings or ill-feelings toward someone. The next in the sequence is wrath and anger which is possible to spring forth from bitterness and wrath simply means intense anger aroused by a supposed wrong done to you. Paul now moves back again to our speech by warning against clamour which simply means making demands loudly which is always done in anger. Then evil speaking which means exactly what it says and that is to speak evil and vicious words about someone or directly to someone in order to hurt them emotionally. Paul declares that these Ephesian believers and we believers “in Christ” today must put these things away from us as one would take an old damaged, dingy, and dusty garment of clothing and put it away up in the attic or loft or in the basement of their home never to wear again.
Now, Paul gives these Ephesians and us the contrast of the previous behavior and attitudes that must be put away from us to these that will be produced “in us” and “through us” by God the Holy Spirit when we cooperate with Him and not grieve Him with the other behavior. The Spirit of God will not and does not force our compliance, but we must by an act of our will submit, submerge, and surrender our will to Him and then we can be “be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). The English word kind is translated by the Greek word chrestos which means employed, that is, (by implication) useful (in manner or morals): - better, easy, good and gracious. The English word tenderhearted is translated by the Greek word eusplagchnos which means well compassioned, that is, sympathetic: - pitiful. In other words, our behavior to “one another” in Christ Body should be at all times characterized by long-suffering with each other “in love” which is exactly how our loving Heavenly Father deals with each of us individually because of what Christ Blood has done for us eternally in our inner man and inner woman and before our Father’s Throne in Heaven. We do not deserve His forgiveness or His Goodness and Kindness to us, but because of Christ we have it always and therefore, we who have offended God in far greater manner than any human could ever offend us must then show the same forgiveness we have received which cost us nothing to give, but it cost our Heavenly Father everything, His darling precious One and Only Son’s Life on the Cross.
My own Personal Note: “We are not robots that are wound up by God to worship and serve Him with precision each and every moment of every day, but we are His redeemed sons and daughters bought back to Him by the Blood of His Son Jesus Christ and therefore, we ought to be so grateful for eternal forgiveness that we would want to please Him who forgave us instead of destroying us, this is the same attitude we must cultivate with ‘one another’ because we are a part of each other just as every finger is a part of the hand which is a part of the arm which is a part of the torso which all are a part of the body, so then we should do as the Apostle Peter urges us to with these words, ‘Finally, all [of you] should be of one {and} the same mind (united in spirit), sympathizing [with one another], loving [each other] as brethren [of one household], compassionate {and} courteous (tenderhearted and humble). Never return evil for evil or insult for insult (scolding, tongue-lashing, berating), but on the contrary blessing [praying for their welfare, happiness, and protection, and truly pitying and loving them]. For {know that} to this you have been called, that you may yourselves inherit a blessing [from God--that you may obtain a blessing as heirs, bringing welfare and happiness and protection].’ (1 Peter 3:8-9).”
“Nothing here about irresistible grace; nothing here about a power that lays hold upon a man, and makes him good, he lying passive in its hands like clay in the hands of the potter! You will not be made holy without the Divine Spirit, but you will not be made holy without your working along with Him. There is a possibility of resisting, and there is a possibility of co-operating. Man is left free. God does not lay hold of any one by the hair of his head, and drag him into paths of righteousness whether he will or no. But whilst there is the necessity for co-operation, which involves the possibility of resistance, we must also remember that that new life which comes into a man, and molds his will as well as the rest of his nature, is itself the gift of God. We do not get into a contradiction when we thus speak, we only touch the edge of a great ocean in which our plummets can find no bottom. The same unravel able knot as to the co-operation of the divine and the creatural is found in the natural world, as in the experiences of the Christian soul. You have to work, and your work largely consists in yielding yourselves to the work of God upon you. ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you.’ Brethren! If you and I are Christian people, we have put into our hearts and spirits the talent. It depends on us whether we wrap it in a napkin, and stow it away underground somewhere, or whether we use it, and fructify and increase it.” Alexander MacLaren
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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