After Paul reveals our calling and walks us through how to live up to it (verses 1 through 4) he begins a discussion of the body and how it relates to the head which is Jesus. So there are no misunderstandings he again emphasises the Trinity (“one spirit… one Lord… one God and Father of all”) and our calling (“one faith, one baptism”). Our faith is in the one God and our baptism in the one name above all, Jesus Christ. Our faith and baptism are a result of the grace extended to us by the Messiah. Here Paul quotes a verse, a verse likely from a hymn rather than Scripture despite the similarities it shares with Psalm 68.18. This would have resonated with the believer’s at Ephesus and he uses it to show that God fortold the Messiah’s nature as being one with God, for he was with God in Heaven before he decended and ascended once more.

Because Jesus is both Messiah and Lord he alone has the authority to promote some to various offices such as apostles, prophets evangelists pastors and teachers. And what is the duty of these various offices? To equipe the rest of the body for service and to lead the body into a unity and maturity and Christ-likeness. If we stay immature in our belief then the whole body suffers. How odd indeed would be a body that has a strong and muscular right arn but a pathetically weak and scrawny left one? Or arms like Popeye the Sailor with hands no bigger than an infants? You get the picture, and it isn’t pretty. By staying immature in our belief the body is weakened and incapable of doing everything it should be able to do.

What does spiritual immaturity look like? It looks a lot like an unbeliever. Paul says that by not changing our lifestyle to match the new man or woman God has created inside us we are no better than infants in Christ. That is not the goal of our salvation, the goal is to become like Jesus so that we can minister to and love all people.

Paul then makes a couple surprising remarks I never hear preached. In verse 26 he tells us that there is such a thing as righteous anger, and not to let the sun go down on your anger. The first part of that I’ve heard preached often and well, but the second half I’ve yet to hear a proper representation of. If you’re like me, and I know I am, you’ve heard that this verse teaches us to make up with those we’ve argued with before the sun goes down. This is a wonderful teaching and a mature attitude toward conflict but is not what this verse is teaching. The best translation of this passage is “do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger.” We know from the first half of the verse that the anger you have expressed is righteous and therefore needs no apology. What unrighteousness was the cause of your righteous anger? It could be many things including witnessing an injustice, finding out about a friends secret sin, or even uncovering something wicked inside ourselves that needs to be brought under the authority of Jesus to name but a few. Now that we’ve identified it, what do we do with it? Do we stew in our anger? Do we remain silent and tuck the information away for later? Do we procrastinate in dealing with it because of the discomfort of what we now we should do? Paul urges us to take care of the matter immediately! Do not let the sun go down before you have exposed and dealt with the issue in a loving and gracious manner.

The second surprising remark is what Paul has to say about stealing. He doesn’t romantacise it. We often excuse theives who steal food, for example. Paul does not. First, he recognizes people steal for themselves, not to make life better for others. Second, stealing food only provides one meal, get a job and you can provide several meals for yourself and others. All sin, regardless of one’s circumstances, grieves the Holy Spirit who lives inside you. Don’t excuse bad behavior in yourself or others, instead correct it immediately. By doing so you will come to know just how much grace God has and extends to you and, in doing so, you will grow up strong in the Lord.