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At the start of chapter 4, Paul counseled his readers to walk worthily; He admonished them to godliness. In verse 17 he says stop walking unworthily. In our lives and communities, there are ways Christians are to live and ways they must abandon: green lights, red lights. The Bible could be considered as filled with traffic signals. Let us now look at the red light part of this chapter.
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. (Ephesians 4:17–ESV)
Recall that Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesian Christians. When he says, “You must no longer walk,” we must infer that there were some in Ephesus who despite casting their allegiance with Jesus Christ did not fashion their behavior after his mold.
To Christians, he says, “Stop walking as the Gentiles do. Your lifestyles must change.” Paul was not alone addressing the sins of Christians. James asked, “Can both fresh water and salty come from the same spring?” Only in humans, it seems, but that does not make it right, helpful, proper. James went on to say, “Brothers, this should not be.” In 1 John 5, we see how John the Apostle found the same problem and counseled fellow Christians to pray for the Christians the see sinning around them.
These three fathers of the early Christian church are all addressing similar issues with slightly different emphases. James appeals to the individual chiding them toward self-assessment. “You are out of bounds. Look at what you are doing. It does not make any sense.” John appeals to others admonishing them to pray for their fellow sinning Christians. Paul goes straight to the guilty saying, “Stop it!”
Paul does not only say stop living in sin; he throws emphasis behind it by calling the Lord as his witness. The translators of the NIV used the word insist. There is no wiggle-room here in Paul’s admonition. Christlikeness is non-negotiable; it is all important. The Christians in Ephesus surely knew this but had been lax in living this. Paul affirms its importance. He brings it to the foreground saying, “Your behavior must change!”
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