: Ruth: 3:10-13; A community without lies. The God who cannot lie; the Christian who cannot lie.

Wednesday April 18, 2018

 

 Ruth: 3:10-13; A community without lies. The God who cannot lie; the Christian who cannot lie.

 

MAT 13:1-2

On that day Jesus went out of the house, and was sitting by the sea. And great multitudes gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole multitude was standing on the beach.

 

EPH 4:17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

 

EPH 4:18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

 

EPH 4:19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

 

EPH 4:20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,

 

EPH 4:21 if indeed you have heard Him [and I assume you all have] and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

 

EPH 4:22 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,

 

EPH 4:23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

 

EPH 4:24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

 

“Put on” and “lay aside” are infinitives which can be either imperatives (commands) or indicatives (you have laid aside and put on). Be and live as you are in Christ.

 

The fact that this is left open is not a mistake. Eph 4-6 is all about the life of the believer in Christ. He is a new man and he is to walk in such a manner because it is the only life for him. To be a new man and to not live as a new man would be a great inner contradiction that would mean death instead of life. It would be like a fish wanting to live on land.

 

The old man is crucified and the new man has been put on. The same expression in COL 3:9-10 emphatically states that. There are no other options for the Christian.

 

By using the infinitive in vv. 22 and 24 Paul seems to be drawing our attention to the fact of our new nature as well as the purposeful way in which we are to walk, which would bring together truth and reality within us. To be Christians with our minds set on the flesh would be a lie and a conflict within. To be Christians and to live as Christ would be truth and reality harmonized within us. We would be whole, without conflict, and unified (mind, spirit, body) within.

 

As we noted last night, a similar expression in the NT, in Rom 13, is to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” which is a command. Yet it is written in Gal 3 that all who have been baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ (aorist indicative = fact).

 

EPH 4:22 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,

 

EPH 4:23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

 

EPH 4:24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

 

EPH 4:25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

 

“laying aside falsehood” is corrected to: “having put away (aorist participle) the (def. article) lie.” “The lie” is the same in ROM 1:25 and 2TH 2:11.

 

We have the definite article plus pseudei (lie) in three passages in the NT. Two of them speak of the unbeliever who has bought the lie and one speaks of the believer who is to put it away for good.

 

The reality is that the lie is all around us and still kicking, though dead, within us. It will tempt us and tempt us in many ways and often subtle ways and we must be determined in know that we have put it away and we must reckon that truth when it tempts us to consider its validity again.

 

Don’t miss the fact that the participle used by Paul is aorist. It means that we have put away the lie in the same way we laid aside the old man.

 

At the moment of faith in Christ we were baptized into Christ, into His death and resurrection. Falsehood was laid aside. The work of Christ was made effective in us and we were made righteous and justified (ROM 5:12-6:10).

 

COL 3:9 Do not lie to one another [command], since you laid aside [aorist] the old self with its evil practices,

 

COL 3:10 and have put on [aorist] the new self who is being renewed [present passive] to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him

 

Paul writes to the Colossians that they have laid aside the old man and that this means its deeds as well. This doesn’t mean that believers are sinless, but after hearing from Epaphras of their faith and love, he was confident that the laying aside of the old self was true in deeds as well. They have also put on the new man and then he confidently states that they are continually being renewed in the truth. When Paul was in prison in Rome, he was informed by Epaphras of their love in the Spirit. 

 

EPH 4:25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

 

EPH 4:26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

 

EPH 4:27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.

 

The devil is a prime promoter of sin leading to discord. He exploits temptation and deceives so that Christian communities are fractured.

 

Paul writes to the Corinthians that forgiveness of our brethren when they fail keeps Satan from gaining an advantage over us, 2CO 2:10-11.