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!
