May 25 – Ephesians 4:22-29,31-32; Philemon 8-10,15-18 – Be Ready to Forgive Eph. 4:22-32 – Literal Translation: 20But you yourselves did not thus learn Christ, 21if [or since] indeed you heard him and in him you were taught, accordingly as [this] truth is in Jesus: 22for you to put off according to [your] former conduct the old man corrupted according to the lusts of deception [or illusion], 23and [for you] to be renewed in the spirit of your mind 24and to be clothed [or endued] [with] the new man, the one created according to God in righteousness and holiness of truth. 25Because of which, putting off the lying speak truth each one with his neighbor, because we are members of one another. 26Be angry and sin not; have not the sun go down on your [bitter, begrudging] resentment, 27nor give a place to the devil. 28Have the one stealing steal no more, but rather have him toil, working the good with his hands, in order that he might have [something] to impart to the one having need. 29Have not any rotten [putrid] word go out of your mouth, but if any good [word] for edification of the need, in order that it might give unmerited favor to the ones hearing. 30And pain not the Holy Spirit of God in whom you were sealed for [the] day of redemption. 31Have all bitterness and rage and wrath and shrieking clamor and blasphemy be taken away from you with all evil. 32And become kind toward one another, compassionate, bestowing grace to each other, accordingly as even God in Christ bestowed grace to us. Interpretive Paraphrase: 20But you did not become a Christian living this way, 21since what you heard and found about Jesus Christ is really the truth— 22You must stop living, like you did as sinful, selfish, deceived unbelievers. 23You must begin to think in a new, godly kind of way 24and become a new person that only God can make you, one that is right in His sight and truly set apart for His service. 25So don’t ever lie but be truthful with one another, since we are all brothers in Christ. 26Be righteous in your indignation, but don’t carry it too far, so as to sin. This happens when you develop the bitter resentment of a brooding and begrudging attitude that continues to eat away at you long after the flash of anger has gone. 27Don’t do this and give an opportunity for the Devil to get to you and use you. 28If you have anyone who is a thief, make him stop and help him to learn how to work honestly, so that he then can begin to help others who need help and no longer to hurt others. 29Don’t talk in a filthy or dirty way, but rather in a good, needful way that builds up others, in order that you might give to people who hear you things that they don’t deserve. 30Don’t hurt God’s Holy Spirit who secured you with His special identification for the Rapture. 31Get rid of anything resentful, violent, mean, ragingly loud and gossipy, just anything that is bad. 32Be nice to one another with good, heart-felt feelings by giving to each other what is undeserved, just like God in His grace gave to you what you did not deserve, when you became saved in Christ, and how He still forgives you daily.     Ephesians 4:22 – Based upon our rebirth at salvation, our Christian walk becomes a constant vigilance of our flesh, sinful nature being checked by the presence of Christ and power of the Holy Spirit in us. 23 – The way that we think and feel is a key. This is a continuous action, day-day, moment-by-moment through the spirit-avenue of our mind, our thought life, that God seeks to change us in to a new way of thinking, then a new way of behaving, and then a new way of feeling, in stead of the other way around. 24 – This new kind of person with which God endues us has a connection to eternity beyond this life, as well as, in this life, as a life of a right standing before God and a genuinely being set apart by God for His eternal purposes in this life and the life to come. 25 – To begin with honest and truthfulness are paramount, because in this life and ministry we are all in this together. 26 – To "be angry" here means to have a flash of anger, sanctified anger, righteous indignation that focuses on the sin and not the sinner The term "wrath" refers to a brooding frustrating result of anger that becomes a grudge and bitterness that continues to eat away at you after the flash of anger has gone and focuses more on the sinner than on the sin. The elder brother of the prodigal son in Luke 15:28-32 illustrates this well. The more that you take sin seriously, the more righteous indignation toward sin becomes apart of your being "renewed in the spirit of your mind" (v. 23). But do not let this serious attitude toward sin fester into bitterness and resentment toward others. Such grudges and exasperation can take this too far. This is an issue of how we are to hate the sin and love the sinner. This "anger" turns to "wrath," we our righteous indignation turns from the sin toward the sinner. The line that we are not to pass here is having this attitude toward sin becoming one toward sinners. Sanctified anger is to be channeled – at the right time, in the right way, at the right things. Such anger focuses on the sin and not the sinner. For example, I may find that I am angry with myself…I am angry at what I did not at myself personally. 27 – This pride that can grow in unforgiveness and dealing with sin wrongly is one of Satan’s devices, according to 2 Cor. 2:11, as noted in the context of 2 Cor. 2:3-9. 28 – A biblical basis for workfare versus welfare. 29 – Have not rotten, putrid, spoiled word come out of your mouth. This covers a multitude of foul language, cussin’, bywords, and vulgarity. "Be careful little lips what you say, for the Father up above…" Grace means giving people what they do not deserve, especially in what we say. 30 – This what happens, when a Christian sins – we cause pain to the Holy Spirit. 31 – Keep your fuse long…especially with what you say. 32 – Be kind to, feeling for, and graciously forgiving one another – God has so done this for you in Christ. In the New Testament, there are two main words translated "forgive" – aphiēmi and charizomai. The term, aphiēmi [Strong Concordance No. 863], refers to forgiving someone by absolving them and releasing the sin and its guilt and sending it away, as in Luke 5:20; 11:4; 1 John 1:9; 2:12. The term, charizomai [Strong Concordance No. 5483], which is used here means to forgive by showing and bestowing grace [called charis from which comes charizomai, as a verb] – undeserved and unmerited favor – toward someone, to bestow grace. It is also used in Col. 2:13; 2 Cor. 2:7, 10; 12:13.   Philemon 8-10 – Paul had a wonderful predicament (Onesimus was saved) but a gracious plan (Philemon was also saved). 11 – Onesimus means profitable: he had been "useless" and now was "well-useful." 15-16 – God’s providential design was that Onesimus went away, as a slave, and came back, as a brother in Christ to Philemon…a beloved brother. In the Roman Empire of time of Paul and Jesus, about half of the population was slaves. So generally every other person that was being saved was a slave. Slavery was both legal and immoral. This section of Paul’s letter to Philemon along with what Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Tim. 1:10 where Paul used the term, "manstealer" [KJV] or "kidnapper" [NKJV], which would be better translated "slave-trader." Paul made it quite clear in the 1 Timothy 1:10 and Philemon 16 that slavery was wrong and sinful. Slavery died a slow death in Western Europe up to about 500 AD and was later revived about 1500 AD until the 1830’s in Britain & 1860’s in the US & 1890’s in other parts of the world. Here Paul wanted Philemon to forgive Onesimus of his fugitive wrong with the hint of forgiving his debt of slavery and freeing him, as a beloved brother in the Lord. 17 – Paul was visualizing achievement for Philemon. 18 – Jesus Christ does for us what Paul did for Onesimus.