Ephesians 4:25-32

Ephesians 4:25-32 … Here we have continuing application of what it means to live “in Christ,” which is a church expression that means: living out our belief that Christ lives within us. The passage before us says a great deal about Christian character traits … developing standards that will be persistent and unfailing such as truthfulness, hard work, fairness, honesty, charity (v.28b), and speech that is not only cleansed of impurity but also edifies others and builds them in such a way that it imparts the grace of God to them (v.29). What a high calling this is! Every other endeavor of life pales in comparison. It’s starkly different. For illustration, imagine being asked why you’re working so hard. Would the answer be: so you’ll have something to share with those in need? Chapter 4 ends in a great memory verse(s): Ephesians 4:30-32, which concerns grieving the Holy Spirit. The verses here are filled with doctrine:

1. The Holy Spirit seals us for
2. The Holy Spirit can be grieved by our
3. And so we put away all the vestiges of the unregenerate man … bitterness, anger,

And put on the attributes of Christ: kindness, tenderness and a forgiving spirit. The application portion of every epistle is filled with wonderful ways to renew our minds in the ways of Christ as we’ll see as we move forward in Ephesians.