Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Ephesians 4:32

32. St Paul passes from the discord to sketch in a few pregnant lines the nature and the ground of the Christian harmony.

γίνεσθε. ‘Show yourselves in thought and word and deed,’ ‘live according to your true nature.’ No doubt in a real sense the character is acquired (we win our souls, Luke 21:19) as the habit of living in accordance with it is formed by repeated acts. But the result is never represented in the N.T. as the reward of effort self-directed and self-supported. That would be to make it what St Paul describes as a ‘righteousness of our own rooted in law’ Philippians 3:9. It is always the appropriation of what is already ours by the free gift of God in and through Jesus Christ. So we are told to ‘become’ sons of our Father in Heaven by following the laws of His action Matthew 5:45. Cf. the use of γίνεσθαι in 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Peter 3:6 with Hort’s note.

χρηστοί, kindness shown in helpful action, a constant attribute of God both in O. and N.T.

εὔσπλαγχνοι. According to its biblical sense ‘tender-hearted’ = σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ, Colossians 3:12.

χαριζόμενοι ‘forgiving.’ The final antithesis to the spirit of bitterness.

ἑαυτοῖς. The change from εἰς� in the opening phrase should be noticed, but as Robinson shows (after Blass, Gr. N.T. § 48, 49) too much must not be made of it. The same change is found in Colossians 3:13; Colossians 3:16; 1 Peter 4:8; 1 Peter 4:10 and Luke 23:12. Certainly in this last passage the change can only be due to the love of variety.

καθὼς καὶ ὁ θεὸς. St Paul here writes out at length the thought implied in κατὰ θεὸν in Ephesians 4:24. The Divine Example as the ultimate standard and as a constraining motive in the Christian life, appears in its clearest form in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:48; Luke 6:36). The Gospel of St John helps us to realize the character of a life lived continuously in submission to this law. For the O.T. background for the thought and the Gentile aspirations in the same direction, see Hort on 1 Peter 1:15. For the special application of the example to the duty of forgiveness cf. Matthew 18:32 f. and Luke 6:35. The sight of Stephen praying for his murderers must have been St Paul’s first introduction to this side of the activity of the Christian Spirit.

ἐν Χριστῷ. See pp. lxii–lxxvi. Christ is both the message and: the reality of God’s forgiveness for men.

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Ephesians 4:32

Old Testament

New Testament