Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Ephesians · About this commentary
Let Him Labor with His Hands
Ephesians 4:25-28
25 Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. · WEB
Each instruction replaces rather than forbids, and the reason attached to the first one is anatomical.
The pattern of these verses is consistent and worth naming: nothing is merely prohibited. Falsehood is put away and truth is spoken. Anger is bounded and the devil given no place. Stealing stops and work begins. Every command has a positive half.
Verse 25 gives the reason for truthfulness, and it is not that lying is dishonorable: for we are members of one another. The body image from earlier in the chapter Ephesians 4:16 is applied to speech. Lying to a fellow believer is described as a limb misinforming the body it belongs to.
Verse 26 quotes a line about anger and then bounds it: do not let the sun go down on your wrath. The letter does not forbid the emotion; it puts a clock on it. And verse 27 names what the delay would provide — do not give place to the devil, a foothold, the same unseen opposition the letter has named twice already Ephesians 2:2 Ephesians 6:12.
Then verse 28, and it is the most complete example of the pattern. Let him who stole steal no more — the prohibition. But rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good — the replacement. And then a third clause that most readers do not expect: that he may have something to give to him who has need.
The thief is not directed toward self-sufficiency. He is directed through honest work toward generosity — the opposite end of the same transaction he used to be on. A man who took from others is told to work so that he has surplus for others.
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