Ephesians 4:25

Wherefore putting away lying,.... Which is one of the deeds of the old man, and a branch of the former conversation agreeable to him: a lie is a voluntary disagreement of the mind and speech, with a

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Wherefore. From the general character of "the new man," there necessarily result the particular features which he details.

Wherefore putting away lying; all fraudulency and dissimulation, and whatever is contrary to truth. Speak every man truth; not only speak as things are, but act sincerely and candidly. For we are members one of another; i.e. to or for one another, and therefore must be helpful to each other.

25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Ver. 25. Wherefore putting away lying] A base tinkerly sin, as Plutarch calls it, shameful and hateful: therefore the liar denies his own lie, as ashamed to be taken with it. Cicero indeed alloweth his orator the liberty of a merry lie sometimes; but Vives utterly disliketh it in him at any time. And the apostle, Galatians 1:10, shows that we must not speak truth to please men, much less lie; no, though we could win a soul by it, Romans 3:7. Where then will the Jesuits appear with their piae fraudes, holy delusions, as they call them? and Jacobus de Voragine, that loud liar; with his golden legend? It were much to be wished that that golden age would return, that the argument might proceed, Sacerdos est, non fallet. Christianus est, non mentietur. For we are members] Of the same holy society. Shall we not be true one to another? shall we not abhor sleights and slipperiness in contracts and covenants? Lib. 2, de Oratore. Lib. 4, de trad. discip.

(25) For we are members.—Accordingly the reason given for “putting away lying” is that “we are members one of another.” Truth is the first condition of the mutual confidence which is the basis of all unity. Hence it is the first duty of that “membership one of another,” which follows from our being “one body in Christ” (Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:27). No doubt it is also the first duty to our own humanity, and to the God “who hateth a lie.” But these views, though true in themselves, would not be relevant to St. Paul’s great subject here.

Verse 25. Wherefore putting away lying] All falsity, all prevarication, because this is opposite to the truth as it is in Jesus, Ephesians 4:21, and to the holiness of truth, Ephesians 4:24. Speak every man truth with his neighbour] Truth was but of small account among many of even the best heathens, for they taught that on many occasions a lie was to be preferred to the truth itself. Dr. Whitby collects some of their maxims on this head. Κρειττονδεελεσθαιψευδος, ηαληθεςκακον· "A lie is better than a hurtful truth."-Menander. Τογαραγαθονκρειττονεστιτηςαληθειας· "Good is better than truth."-Proclus. Ενθαγαρτιδεικαιψευδοςλεγεσθαι, λεγεσθω. "When telling a lie will be profitable, let it be told."-Darius in Herodotus, lib. iii. p. 101. "He may lie who knows how to do it ενδεοντικαιρῳ, in a suitable time."-Plato apud Stob., ser. 12. "There is nothing decorous in truth but when it is profitable; yea, sometimes καιψευδοςωνησενανθρωπους, καιτ' αληθεςεβλαψεν, truth is hurtful, and lying is profitable to men."-Maximus Tyrius, Diss. 3, p. 29. Having been brought up in such a loose system of morality, these converted Gentiles had need of these apostolic directions; Put away lying; speak the truth: Let lying never come near you; let truth be ever present with you. We are members one of another.] Consider yourselves as one body, of which Jesus Christ is the head; and as a man's right hand would not deceive or wrong his left hand, so deal honestly with each other; for ye are members one of another.

25–32. The subject pursued: the revolution coming out in truthfulness, kindness, honesty, purity, patience, forgivingness25. Wherefore] From these deep principles come now the more detailed inferences of holy practice, and these fill most of the rest of the Epistle. Here and there (as in this verse, and in ch. Ephesians 5:23) the basis of the whole in the relations of the Church to Christ appears explicitly.putting away lying] Cp. Colossians 3:9-10, for a suggestive parallel. There, as here, truthfulness is connected with “new creation.” He who is “in Christ” is, above all things, in a region of light and of right, whose first result will be the aim to do and speak truth; the truth of entire and unselfish sincerity.—“Putting away” carries on the imagery of Eph 4:22. For the phrase, in reference to a definite break with sinful principle and practice, cp. Colossians 3:8; Hebrews 12:1; James 1:21; 1 Peter 2:1 (A.V., “lay aside,” in the last three places). And see below, Ephesians 4:31.—This “putting away” may be viewed either as a thing done, in principle, for the member of Christ has, in respect of that union, definitely “done with sin”; or as a thing to be done (Colossians 3:8, imperative), in each application of sinless principle. The Gr. is an aorist participle, and thus, grammatically, allows either view. We recommend the former, as most in harmony with the previous context.speak … truth] The application of the decisively accepted principle of truth. Observe the sober and humbling practicality of the Apostle’s precepts; as necessary now as ever. And earnestly observe the uncompromising condemnation, by the Gospel, of all kinds and phases of dishonesty. Nothing untruthful can possibly be holy. A pious fraud is, in the light of true Christianity, a most grievous sin.—The emphasis laid on truthfulness in Scripture is all the more significant of the character and origin of Scripture when we remember the proverbial Oriental laxity about truth. Lying is a vice deeply characteristic of heathenism. An Indian missionary said of his first convert, “he would often come to me with tears in his eyes, saying, ‘I told you a falsehood, but it seemed nature to me to say yes when I should say no, and no when I should say yes’.” (Communicated by the Dean of Peterborough).—Contrast Psalms 15:2-3.his neighbour] Primarily, the fellow-Christian is in view; see the next clause. But this first bearing of such a precept is pregnant with a universal reference. For to the believer his fellow-Christian is a fellow-member of Christ, his fellow-man may be.—On the word “neighbour” it is obvious thus to compare the Lord’s parable, Luke 10:29 &c.for we are members one of another] Each vitally and directly joined to the Head (see on Ephesians 4:16) and so, through Him, incorporated into one another. And thus comes a profound correction to that selfishness which inheres in falsehood. The interests of each member centre not in itself but in the Head, and the Head is equally related to and interested in each member.

Wherefore putting away lying - It may seem strange that the apostle should seriously exhort Christians to put away “lying,” implying that they were in the habit of indulging in falsehood.