Making Right Decisions - Dealing With Sin

Making Right Decisions - Dealing With Sin
Ephesians 4:26-27

We are to deal with sin in the body quickly and Biblically

There are a lot of us who have taken the phrase “let not the sun go down upon your wrath” and used it as a formula for dealing with our relationships with other people. For instance, you and your spouse may have made a commitment that you won’t go to bed until you have dealt with any conflict that you might have with each other. While that may very well be a valuable practice, I don’t think that is what Paul is getting at in this passage.

If we’re going to uncover the principle that Paul intended for his readers to understand, we need to go back to some of the background work we’ve already done:
• This is directed toward the body as a whole and not individuals.
• The word translated “wrath” is a word that refers to that which caused the provocation and anger.

In the Jewish culture of Paul’s day, sunset was actually considered to be the beginning of a new day. So the idea of handling anger before the sun sets means that we aren’t to begin a new day without handling the source of our anger. But it doesn’t seem that Paul is attempting to place a definite time limit on handling our anger as much as he is making the point that we need to deal with the cause or source of our anger quickly and not allow it to fester. This would be very consistent with Jesus’ teaching about how to handle sin within the body:

"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ’every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” Matthew 18:15-17 (NIV)

Jesus makes it clear that as a body we are to deal with the cause of our anger – the sin within the body that robs God of His glory – and that we are to do it as quickly as possible. But it is also evident that the process required to do that can’t always be completed before the day is over.

Secondly, Sin that is allowed to remain in the body gives the Devil an Opportunity to Act

It’s interesting how all the different translations handle verse 27. But this is one of those places where looking at all the different translations together actually give us a deeper understanding of the passage. Several translations warn us against giving the devil a “foothold”, while the NASB cautions against giving him an “opportunity” and the KJV counsels us not to give him a “place”.

The Greek word is the word “topos” from which we get our English word “topography”. It originally referred to a defined territory or piece of land, but was also used figuratively to describe a place, an occasion or an opportunity. Paul is warning us here that if we don’t deal with sin within the body that it gives the devil a base of operations from which he can infiltrate and attack the church.

In almost every military operation, the invading army starts by establishing a place of operation from which they can stage their attack. And in the spiritual battle that is going on in our world, the devil is always looking for a place within the body of Christ where he can establish a base of operations from which to launch his attacks. And when we allow sin to remain in the body without dealing with it we provide the devil with that opportunity.

Dealing with evident, continual, unrepentant sin within our body is not pleasant or easy. But if we want to prevent the devil from getting a foothold in the spiritual battle we are in, it is certainly necessary. You can now see why Ephesians 6 is so important as Paul talks about putting on the whole armor of God. You are loved!