It is good to give thanks to Yahweh, and to sing praise concerning your name, O Most High; to declare in the morning your loyal love and your faithfulness in the night. [1]
Live out the life of Jesus that is within you
To know Christ Himself, is the great lesson of the Christian life: this the Ephesians began to learn at their conversion.[2]
Ephesians 4:17-5:2 NRSV
Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Matthew Henry
Do not men, on every side, walk in the vanity of their minds? Must not we then urge the distinction between real and nominal Christians? They were void of all saving knowledge; they sat in darkness and loved it rather than light. They had a dislike and hatred to a life of holiness, which is not only the way of life God requires and approves, and by which we live to him, but which has some likeness to God himself in his purity, righteousness, truth, and goodness. The truth of Christ appears in its beauty and power, when it appears as in Jesus. The corrupt nature is called a man; like the human body, it is of divers parts, supporting and strengthening one another. Sinful desires are deceitful lusts; they promise men happiness but render them more miserable; and bring them to destruction, if not subdued and mortified. These, therefore, must be put off as an old garment, a filthy garment; they must be subdued and mortified. But it is not enough to shake off corrupt principles; we must have gracious ones. By the new man, is meant the new nature, the new creature, directed by a new principle, even regenerating grace, enabling a man to lead a new life of righteousness and holiness. This is created or brought forth by God’s almighty power.[3]
Richard J. Erickson
Just as God has forgiven [us] in Christ—freely, fully, and unilaterally—[we] are to forgive each other (4:32). This forgiveness results from kindness and compassion for one another which enables each person to view life from the perspective of others and to understand that what may motivate another’s behavior may not be all that different from what motivates his own. Imitating God in forgiveness parallels the imitation of the self-sacrificial love of Christ for us, in which we are similarly secure enough in our position and future with God, that we may lay down our own interests as an offering to God on behalf of the interests of other people (5:2). It is uncomfortably threatening to forgive without guarantee of a favorable response or to give up personal anxieties without assurance of provision. But once a person realizes that his or her ultimate worth and final provision rest with a God who has been more than favorably disposed all along, the threat evaporates.[4]
The Gospel Way Catechism
Question #33
What is union with Christ?
Union with Christ is our participation in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Because Christ is in us, and we are in Christ, our identity is defined by our relationship with him.[5]
Question #35
What is sanctification?
Sanctification is the work of the Spirit to make us more and more like Jesus. It is not the pursuit of just being yourself but the project of growing with others in the righteousness God imparts to his people.[6]
Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants; and, that we may receive what we ask, teach us by your Holy Spirit to ask only those things that are pleasing to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the same Spirit lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.[7]
Come, Thou Fount
Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.[8]
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
[1] W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Ps 92:1–2.
[2] Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 351.
[3] Matthew Henry and Thomas Scott, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997), Eph 4:17.
[4] Richard J. Erickson, “Ephesians,” in Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, vol. 3, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1995), 1029.
[5] Trevin Wax and Thomas West, The Gospel Way Catechism, 2025, p. 122.
[6] Trevin Wax and Thomas West, The Gospel Way Catechism, 2025, p. 128.
[7] Collect Proper 10, Anglican Book of Common Prayer, 2019, p. 617.
[8] Matthew 5:16
