Ephesians 4:17-32

(17) В¶ This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, (18) Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (19) Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. (20) But ye have not so learned Christ; (21) If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: (22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; (24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (25) Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. (26) Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: (27) Neither give place to the devil. (28) Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. (29) Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (30) And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (31) Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: (32) And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

The Apostle hath here drawn a striking contrast between the men of the world and the godly, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not. The expressions are so plain, and the truth so very obvious, that I do not think it necessary to enlarge, upon the subject. The putting off the old man, and the putting on the new, very decidedly show the wonderful change wrought by regeneration. The old man is a strong phrase, to denote the corruption of our fallen state in Adam. And, in like manner, so is the new man in Christ. But the putting off the one, and putting on the other, is not man's work, but God's. We are altogether passive in the act of regeneration, as in the original generation. And I pray the Reader to remark yet further, what all the scripture of God teacheth, and what all the experience of the Church of God confirms; the old man, though put off, remains; not dead, but dying; not buried, but crucified. There is no change in the old man; he is the same old man of sin, wholly sin, and all sin, as ever. Hence Paul himself groaned, under the body of sin as long as he remained in the body. And hence he looked only to Jesus for deliverance. Romans 7:24. And hence he told the Church: if Christ be in you (said he) the body, is dead because of sin: but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness. Romans 7:10. Reader! if this were better understood than it is; and men, professing godliness, were better acquainted than they are with the plague of their own heart, we should not hear so much talking of inherent holiness in the creature, while they themselves daily, hourly, if they were to look more closely to what passeth in the old unrenewed nature of their own bodies, manifest that, in them, that is in their flesh, dwelleth no good thing!

On the other hand, putting on the new man, is neither their act, nor their merit. Christ is the new man, formed in the souls of the regenerate, by the Holy Ghost. And every child of God, at his new birth, is formed in Christ's image, and Christ formed in his heart the hope of glory. Hence, united to his person, and having a spiritual union with him, quickened, and brought forth into life, which before was dead in trespasses and sins, the regenerated part the spirit, manifests, in all its breathings, desires, and longings after Christ, that Christ is its life, its portion, its one unceasing pursuit. The child of God, new born in Christ lives upon Christ, and lives to Christ. And Jesus saith: because I live, ye shall live also. Hence, while the Spirit is thus holy in Christ; and the flesh unholy, and nothing but corruption in nature; those opposite principles are perpetually producing those effects the children of God all feel, from such a conflict, and of which they continually complain, Romans 7:21, &c. Galatians 5:17. But most evident it is, that such, more of less, will continue through the whole time-state of the Church here below; and that this competition, in every child of God's own person, from the moment of regeneration, never ceaseth, neither can cease, until the body returns to its original dust, and, the spirit joins the spirits of just men made perfect.

I pause a moment over the verse, in which the Apostle cautions the Church, to an holy weariness against grieving the Holy Spirit of God. And what a blessed thing was it in the Lord, that his servant should add, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. How sweetly gracious was it to hold up the sorrowful soul of a child of God, that would rather die than grieve that Almighty Lord by whose regenerating grace he was first quickened into spiritual life; I say how sweetly gracious was it in the Lord, to assure the timid soul, that amidst all his unworthiness, and backslidings, and departures, the sealing of the Holy Ghost could not lose its efficacy. Oh! Reader! what shall speak his praise, that though we so often change, our God changeth not. Malachi 3:6. Though we fail in our love, Jesus faileth not in his. Our interest in the Covenant arose, not from our obedience; but in God's purposes, and Christ's merits and blood. The everlasting worth and efficacy of Christ's ransom, pleads more for his redeemed than all their sins plead against them. Unworthy as they are in themselves, yet are they everlastingly accepted in the Beloved. And this sweet scripture settles the point: they are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Nevertheless, the Child of God knows, to his sorrow, when the body of sin breaks out into some new transgression the awfulness of the offence. And that solemn scripture conies home directed to the heart, by the Lord in great poignancy of affliction. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee. Know, therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing, and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts! See Psalms 36:1. Reader! if you are a child of God, and renewed by sovereign grace; I need not tell you what these Scriptures mean. You know them, and feel them; and from a conscious sense of the indwelling corruption of nature, you can best say how much you dread the very apprehension of grieving the Holy Spirit! But oh! thou Holy God! when I call to mind what a mass of sin and transgression my whole unrenewed nature is, how am I lost in amazement at thine unchanging love, that while thou makest the bodies of thy people thy temple, so much of evil dwells there. If Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked from day to day, what must be the feeling of God the Holy Ghost, at the daily view of indwelling corruption, and out-breaking sin, in his redeemed ones? Lord, I pray thee! keep thy servant from presumptuous sins! And do thou, O Lord, (for thou truly canst accomplish it), mortify all the corrupt thoughts and deeds of my body, that I may never grieve thee, by whom I am sealed, unto the day of redemption!

The Apostle sweetly closeth the Chapter, in calling upon the Church to the exercise of the fruits of the Spirit, instead of grieving Him. And, he adopts the strongest, and most persuasive of all arguments, to a tender-hearted deportment, among the people of God, when holding forth, as a model of everything that is lovely in mutual forbearance, and charity, he proposeth to their view that Lord Jesus. Oh! what a volume of motives, ariseth from the Person of Christ! And how strong the appeal in God's forgiving the Church for Christ's sake, doth it come home to the heart, to the brethren, to forgive one another ?