Lesson for June 6, 2021

The Book of Ephesians

Chapter 4:20-32

Verses 20-24

“But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Verse 20 sets up a contrast between reversionism and recovery. The church at Ephesus was dealing with a reversionism problem. The correct and accurate teaching of the Word of God from Paul and others was how they had learned about Christ. This included much more than the Gospel. It included the Doctrine of Christology, why He came to earth, Who Christ was in Hypostatic Union and the entire doctrine of salvation.

If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus means they had heard the accurate teaching of the Word of God. “If” is a first-class condition meaning “if and you have.” Believers hear “Christ” through doctrinal teaching of the pastor-teacher. This is how they come to know Him and how they come to the point of occupation with Him. Truth is doctrine, which indicates that Christology had already been taught by Paul, since doctrine is the mind of Christ. So, these believers had no excuse before God for sliding into reversionism. Of their own free will, they chose to be seduced into believing false doctrine.

Your former manner of life refers to reversionism. Laying aside the old self begins with the Rebound Technique. Laying aside, in effect, becomes the road to reversion recovery. We cannot get away from the sin nature in this life, but we can learn to have control over it. To do this demands that we use the Rebound Technique consistently as a function in the Christian life. Laying aside is a word in Greek that means to remove as in clothing but is used as an analogy for reversionism recovery by replacing human viewpoint thinking, attitudes and actions with divine viewpoint thinking, attitudes and actions. But it begins with getting back into fellowship with God.

Which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.The Greek word for corrupted is “phtheiro,” which means to be depraved, to decay, to rot or to destroy. We all have a corrupt sin nature which needs to be controlled. The sin nature can be controlled by believers, but it will never ever be improved, which is why in our resurrection bodies we will have no sin nature. The sin nature is found in the cell structure of the human body, it was acquired originally by Adam and Eve when they sinned in the Garden of Eden, and we acquire it by physical birth. The sin nature has an area of weakness, an area of strength, a lust pattern, and trends toward both legalism and sensuality. The area of weakness produces personal sins; the area of strength produces human good. The lust pattern explains why some people gravitate to self-righteous arrogance (legalism) and some toward approbation lust (sensuality). The sin nature in the Scriptures is referred to by many names and phrases. In Ephesians 4:22 and Colossians 3:9, “the old man.” Sometimes the word “flesh” is used for the sin nature, as in Galatians 5:16 and Ephesians 2:3. The word “carnal” is used in Romans 7:14 and I Corinthians 3:1-3. One of the most common designations for the sin nature is “sin” in the singular, as in Romans 5:12, I Corinthians 15:56 and I John 1:8.

The sin nature is the source of spiritual death according to Romans 5:12 and Ephesians 2:1,5. The sin nature is perpetuated in the human race through physical birth according to Psalm 51:5; I Timothy 2:13,14. There is no such thing as eradication of the sin nature or sinless perfection in this life. The sin nature stops divine production according to Romans 7:15. The resurrection body of believers have no sin nature according to I Corinthians 15:56; Philippians 3:21; Colossians 3:4 and I Thessalonians 5:23.

And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Renewed means to be restored which is in the present tense indicating that studying accurate doctrine has to be consistent for reversion recovery. It is a process just like sliding into reversionism was a process. The restoration takes place in the mind of believers as they learn and apply accurate Bible doctrine over a period of time. Reversionism recovery takes time. (Romans 12:1-2)

And put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. These were believers who Paul was writing to had rejected truth in favor of false doctrine. Put of the new self refers to getting back on track spiritually. They were new creations in Christ, but they were living like unbelievers with a vacuum in their minds. They had moved away from learning accurate Bible doctrine. Paul was urging them to return to accurate doctrine.

The likeness of God refers to His perfect standard of righteousness, it represents His entire essence and anything that represents the essence of God is absolutely perfect. These reversionistic believers had the righteousness of God positionally, but they were not living that righteousness experientially. Created in righteousness means they had God’s righteousness by way of salvation but had no righteousness in their lives by way of applied doctrine. Practical righteousness can be produced in the life of believers who are in fellowship with God and filled with the Holy Spirit.

And holiness of the truth means the integrity of divine truth found only in the Word of God. Putting on the new self required these believers to start the process of spiritual growth again while rejecting the false doctrine that had seduced them. Integrity is the strength of character that God the Holy Spirit produces in a believer as they consistently take in accurate Bible teaching. This process will eventually lead a believer who has been in a state of reversionism back to living their true spiritual life.

Verses 25-32

^“Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

It is impossible to recover from reversionism if a believer continues to think human viewpoint. There must be a change in thinking before the process of recovery begins. Paul used several examples to illustrate this change in thinking. Laying aside falsehood means reversionism can be a lifestyle characterized by habitual lying to self and to others. When you begin to recover, you are to stop any habit of lying. This does not mean to tell a lie occasionally, but it means a pattern of lying. In place of lying, this recovering believer is to speak the truth which will be an indication that the recovery process has begun.

Be angry and yet do not sin, means that there are right times to be angry without sinning. “Be angry with righteous indignation” is the best translation. Anger without a righteous cause is sin and that may give Satan the opportunity to influence your thinking. This command says that you have the right to be angry without sinning. However, the command includes letting that righteous indignation pass and leave it in the hands of God. Do not give the devil an opportunity means to not give the devil the opportunity to influence you with false doctrine and human viewpoint thinking. Satan and his demons cannot indwell a believer, but satanic doctrine can cause a believer to become reversionistic and abandon their spiritual life.

He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Stealing can be both an overt sin or a mental attitude sin, and the reversionist is commanded to stop it. Stealing can refer to illegal business practices, to taking things that don’t belong to you, to stealing a person’s reputation, to cheating on a test, etc. In this verse, it is referring to dishonest business practices. No longer steal but labor, performing with his own hands means someone was cheating in business in Ephesus. Perhaps there were those who were not giving their employer a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. When you are caught stealing and get fired, you’ll have no income to share with those in need or to provide for your family.

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. But only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

Reversionism recovery means a change in the way we speak to ourselves and others. The Greek word for unwholesome in “sapros,” which means rotten. Rotten words do not edify anyone, but wholesome, doctrinal words do. Rotten words that have no doctrinal influence and are not good for building up a person spiritually. Giving grace to the hearer means being a example of a person who speaks words of encouragement, uplifting words.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Grieving means to bring sorrow, which is against the will of God, takes us out of fellowship with God and we lose the filling of the Holy Spirit. This is a command to stop sinning and persisting in carnality and instead Rebound. This command emphasizes the fact that spirituality and carnality are mutually exclusive. They are absolutes. The recovering reversionist must begin with Rebound before the recovery process can begin. (I John 1:6-10, 2:10-11) The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit is the believer’s guarantee of eternal life. It is through this ministry that believers are secure forever. The Holy Spirit Himself is the seal or down payment of a future inheritance – the time when the believer receives his glorified body. It means that we are permanently identified as God’s own possession. (II Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30)

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. We have five words that describe the reversionist. Bitterness is the Greek word “pikria” meaning antagonism, animosity, hardness and cruelty toward others. The first manifestations of bitterness mentioned are wrath and anger. The Greek word for wrath is “thumos,” meaning emotional upset, tantrums; anger is “orge,” which is mental anger with a view to taking revenge. This is why bitterness is a mental attitude cluster because it produces tantrums and mental type anger. The two types of anger found in this context also produce various categories of misery: a) self-induced misery; b) chain sinning; c) misery to those in the periphery; d) revenge type misery; e) divine discipline. The next manifestations of bitterness are clamor and slander. The Greek word for clamor is “krauge,” which means shouting or verbal brawling. Clamor is offensive loudness, vocal brawling, being blatantly uncontrollable with one’s mouth. It implies rejection of authority plus the expression of mental attitude sins. The Greek word for slander is “blasphemia,” which means character assassination. It means to spread rumors, lies and criticisms of another person. The Greek word for malice is “kakia,” which means a vicious character, meanness or wickedness.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. The Greek word for kindis “chrestos,” which means good, pleasant, or gracious. It is difficult to translate this word because it implies many acts of thoughtfulness, many acts of graciousness, many acts of kindliness. Kindness is often mistaken for weakness, which it isn’t. The Greek word for tender-hearted is “eusplanchnos,” which means compassionate or good heartedness. In your soul you will be thoughtful and courteous to those around. The Greek word for forgiving is “aphiemi,” which means to send forth, send away. It means to forgive on the basis of grace, forgive on the basis of who you are in Christ. It does not mean to condone bad behavior. It means to forgive based on the divine integrity that you have developed in your soul from accurate Bible doctrine. It means to forgive as Christ forgave. (Matthew 18:21-22)

So, we see the illustrations Paul used of what not to do for the most part, with the exception of verse 32, to put these reversionistic believers back on track by beginning the recovery process. In chapter 5, Paul goes into great detail to show believers what to doonce the process of recovery begins. He begins with the phrase, “Be imitators of God.”