"25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
Ephesians 4:25-32
The 'marriage' illustration mentioned in yesterday's Note is a good one, from many points of view, for we can see all the more clearly the force of Paul's word about grieving the Holy Spirit of God (30). He, the Holy Spirit, is the bond that binds the believer to Christ, and when things go wrong in this marriage it is He Who is grieved. This is how we are to think of Paul's teaching in these verses - in relation to the marriage of the soul with the Saviour. There is a threefold emphasis in that teaching (from 19 to the end of the chapter): i) sins of action - lasciviousness, uncleanness (19), corrupt behaviour (22), stealing (28); ii) sins of word - lying (25), corrupt communication (29), evil speaking (31); iii) sins of thought - anger (26), bitterness, malice (31). In 25 if we have the expression of two possibilities of living, with each succeeding sentence presenting two possibilities - lying/truth (25), anger/righteous indignation (26), stealing/labouring and giving (28), corrupt communication/edifying (29), bitterness/kindness, forgiveness (31/32). These are all expressions of 'the old man' and the 'new man' respectively. It can hardly be questioned that these contrasts have a great deal to say to our modern, decadent society today, and it will be worthwhile spending a little more time in spelling out in some detail their implications, and the principles that underlie them, in tomorrow's Note.