Ephesians: Life Together In Christ | New Identity, New Character (4:25-5:2)
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
“A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world—and might even be more difficult to save. For mere improvement is not redemption… God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man. It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better but like turning a horse into a winged creature. Of course, once it has got its wings, it will soar over fences which could never have been jumped and thus beat the natural horse at its own game.” — C.S. Lewis
Since we are putting on the new self, remade in the image of God, our spiritual transformation should flow out of deep consideration and intentional imitation of the character of God, particularly in our relationships with one another.
- Above all, God loves us and determines to do good to us, not based on our merit, but on His glorious and benevolent nature.
Psalm 23:3, 79:9, 109:21, 115:1 // 1 John 4:19
- Having every right to maintain His anger over our sin and crush us for it, God has determined the most effective way to initiate and preserve our reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:21 // Hebrews 9:12 // 1 John 1:9
- God has communicated the whole truth to us in love, even the challenging and painful parts, so that our relationship can be intimate, not superficial.
John 15:15 // Revelation 3:19