Be Angry & Don't Sin

This week as we went through our study over Ephesians 4:17-32, it was a good heart check. We should judge no one and examine ourselves. As I discussed these verses this week with a fellow brother and sister in Christ, I was reminded not to carry on with anger. Ephesians 4:26 says BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger. In this passage, the Apostle Paul quotes Psalms 4:4, saying Be angry and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah. I’m reminded that we can feel anger but anger in such a way where it turns to sorrow. The only anger we should feel is anger for the sin that leads to sorrow for the person committing it, not in a judgmental way but in a way that you know displeases God. We should approach in love with a kind gentleness toward your brother or sister, which leads them to repentance. This anger we have is for evil and sin.

Another point from these verses in Ephesians 4:17-32 is what a new creation in Christ DOESN’T LOOK LIKE. We see that we are to put off the old man and put on the new man. An image of this would be going to a job that is extremely dirty and coming home, taking a bath, getting clean, and then throwing those clothes away that you took off and putting on new clothes. We have a new heart and new love; we no longer walk in the lust, uncleanliness, passion, evil desires, anger, wrath, malice, or blasphemy and no longer have filthy languages out of our mouth. Another image of this would be being born again like Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:3. We are no longer born of the flesh and have the desires of the flesh, but we have a new nature, a new heart. We now are a slave of righteousness rather than a slave to sin. My encouragement to you this week is to renew your minds in the Word of God, as we read in Colossians 3:2, 3:10, 3:16; Romans 12:1-2; and Ephesians 4:20-21, 23. Put off the old man and put on the new man daily; renew your mind in the Word of God. Sola Scriptura for Soli Deo Gloria