Ephesians 4:25-32 – Cultivate healthy inter-personal relationships

In Ephesians 4:23, Paul called for the adoption of a new lifestyle, a lifestyle created after God in righteousness and holiness of the truth. In verses 25-32, he then went on to list down a few specifics that believers could work on. In so doing, they would progress in their journey toward holiness and righteousness.   

The first thing he dealt with was falsehood. In verse 25, he encouraged that all falsehoods must be replaced by speaking truth to one another. This ought to be so since we are fellow believers in the Lord. Then in verses 26–27, he was concerned that one would harbor anger to a point that it could lead one into sin. So he urged believers to keep their anger short and to seek resolution to a misunderstanding, soonest possible. It is true that anger has a way of causing us to be bitter toward another. So we ought not to let a day end without resolving our conflicts. In verse 28, the apostle encouraged diligence and generosity, especially time wasters. Here Paul could possibly be dealing with people who stole time from their bosses. Employees who waste time at work are stealing their employers’ time. So instead of being irresponsible, believers ought to put up an honest day work and earn their wages honestly. In verses 29-30, Paul dealt with corrupt conversation. He urged that all conversations should be wholesome and edifying. This would be the opposite of coarse jesting. Believers should speak wholesome edifying words, for speaking otherwise would cause us to grieve the Holy Spirit within us, whom God had given as a mark of His ownership. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption. Then in verse 31, he encouraged compassion to replace hostility. One should not allow hostility to develop and create barrier towards a brethren. Compassion will enable one to be more open and forgiving. In verse 32, he called for magnanimity. Believers must be kind to one another. They must be tender-hearted. It’s so easy to develop a hardened heart. The way to prevent it from happening is to readily forgive, remembering that God in Christ has freely forgiven us. This will ensure that we do not develop a heart that will become bitter.  

These are sound instructions for inter-personal relationship. In God’s new society, we must cultivate a healthy relationship so that as a community we can faithfully witness to the goodness of God. Let us seek to do so to glorify God!