Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Ephesians 4:25

Διὸ ἀποθέμενοι τὸ ψεῦδος, λαλεῖτε ἀλήθειαν ἕκαστος μετὰ τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ : Wherefore, putting off falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his neighbour. διό, with the enlarged forms διότι, διόπερ, is rare in the NT except in Luke and Paul, but frequent with these, especially with the latter. It is = quamobrem, on which account, and refers here to what was said about the new man and his creation κατὰ Θεόν as the ground for what follows. τὸ ψεῦδος includes falsehood in every form, of which lying τὸ ψεύδεσθαι (Colossians 3:8) is one chief instance. The partic. has its proper aor. force, expressing a thing understood to be done, completely and finally, = “having put off then once for all falsehood in its every form”. λαλεῖτε, the continuous pres. following on the past act, has the force of “speak truth and speak it continually,” as the result of that prior “putting off”. The prep. μετά is appropriate here as the prep. of personal association and mutual action (Win.-Moult., pp. 470, 471). It is truth in intercourse between Christian brethren (τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ), not between Christians and their fellowmen in general, that is in view here (cf. Zechariah 8:16). ὅτι ἐσμὲν ἀλλήλων μέλη : for we are members one of another. Reason for this practice of truth a reason drawn not from the common conceptions of duty or social weal, but from the profound Christian idea of union one with another through union with Christ. As in the human body each member is of the other in connection and for the other in service, so in the spiritual body of which Christ is the Head the members belong one to another and each serves the other; cf. Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:15. But can untruth consist with a union in which each is of and for the other? Why the sin of falsehood is first named, and why the sins of anger, dishonesty and corrupt speech are next dealt with, we have no means of determining. The explanation lies no doubt in local and congregational circumstances which Paul did not need to particularise.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Ephesians 4:25

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