Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Read Ephesians 4:17-32 (ESV):
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. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
- Throughout this passage, what does Paul say about the importance of our mindset? How does following Christ change our mindset?
- Paul describes two ages: Describe the first age, which Paul calls “this present age” or “the age of this world.” Describe what Paul calls “the coming age.”
- How did Christ’s coming bring on the new age?
- In what ways does the coming of God’s new age impact how we live?
- Paul describes the means of Christian life-change with the verbs: “put off” and “put on.” What do we “put off” as Christ followers? What do we “put on” as Christ followers? What enables us to do this?
- Share how you have experienced the tension of the overlap of these two ages.
- How is this similar to what adopted children often feel?
- In verse 23, sandwiched between the actions of “putting off” and “putting on,” Paul writes: “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” In contrast to “putting off” and “putting on” this statement is in the passive voice. What is Paul communicating?How do we experience this renewal?
- Thomas Merton wrote, “The beginning of the fight against hatred…is not the commandment to love…it is a prior commandment to believe. The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the faith that one is loved. The faith that one is loved by God. The faith that one is loved by God although unworthy – or rather irrespective of one’s worth.” Explain what Merton means here.
- What did you sense God saying to you through this passage and this message?
