Proper 14 (19), 11th August 2024

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Put away evil, live in love

4:25So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another.

4:26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

4:27and do not make room for the devil.

4:28Those who steal must give up stealing; rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.

4:29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

4:30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

4:31Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice.

4:32Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

5:1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,

5:2and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians

Chapter 4: 25 ff.

^[25]Διὸ ἀποθέμενοι τὸ ψεῦδος λαλεῖτε ἀλήθειαν ἕκαστος μετὰ τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ· ὅτι ἐσμὲν ἀλλήλων μέλη.

 ^[26]ὀργίζεσθε, καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε· ὁ ἥλιος μὴ ἐπιδυέτω ἐπὶ τῷ παροργισμῷ ὑμῶν, 

^[27]μηδὲ δίδοτε τόπον τῷ διαβόλῳ. 

^[28]ὁ κλέπτων μηκέτι κλεπτέτω, μᾶλλον δὲ κοπιάτω ἐργαζόμενος τὸ ἀγαθὸν ταῖς χερσίν, ἵνα ἔχῃ μεταδιδόναι τῷ χρείαν ἔχοντι. 

^[29]πᾶς λόγος σαπρὸς ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν μὴ ἐκπορευέσθω, ἀλλ᾽ εἴ τις ἀγαθὸς πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν τῆς χρείας, ἵνα δῷ χάριν τοῖς ἀκούουσι.

 ^[30]καὶ μὴ λυπεῖτε τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ῞Αγιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν ᾧ ἐσφραγίσθητε εἰς ἡμέραν ἀπολυτρώσεως.

 ^[31]πᾶσα πικρία καὶ θυμὸς καὶ ὀργὴ καὶ κραυγὴ καὶ βλασφημία ἀρθήτω ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν σὺν πάσῃ κακίᾳ.

 ^[32]γίνεσθε δὲ εἰς ἀλλήλους χρηστοί, εὔσπλαγχνοι, χαριζόμενοι ἑαυτοῖς καθὼς καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἐν Χριστῷ ἐχαρίσατο ἡμῖν.

Chapter 5

^[1]Γίνεσθε οὖν μιμηταὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὡς τέκνα ἀγαπητά, 

^[2]καὶ περιπατεῖτε ἐν ἀγάπῃ, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς καὶ παρέδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν τῷ Θεῷ εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας.

Comments

The pericope is made up of a chain of verbs in the imperative, nearly all of them in the second person plural and present tense, denoting continuous actions, attitudes, or states. This is easily overlooked in English.

Chapter 4

[25] τὸ ψεῦδος: ψεῦδος, ‘falsehood, lie’ (already in Homer). Cf. Engl. pseudo-.

λαλεῖτε:  λαλῶ (έω), ‘speak, talk’. EDNT s.v., p. 335 nicely sums up the semantic shift that seems to have occurred already in the classical period: ‘The original meaning of λαλέω was babble, stammer; it was onomatopoeic for the unassisted expression of small children. Then transferred to adult usage, it came to mean chatter, prattle, in deliberate contrast to reasonable speech (➣ λέγω). However, already in classical Greek λαλέω, like λέγω, meant speak, talk.’  λαλῶ in the sense ‘speak’ continues in use in certain modern Greek dialects, e.g. Cypriot.

[27] τόπον: τόπος, ὁ, ‘place’, cf. Engl. topography, topic.

Here used fig., ‘opportunity, room for’ (EDNT s.v. 3b).

[28] κοπιάτω: κοπιῶ (άω), ‘work hard, toil’, a particular meaning found already in LXX Gk.

[29] λόγος σαπρὸς: σαπρὸς, adj., ‘rotten, putrid’; fig., as here, ‘unsound, bad’ (LSJ s.v.1 & 5). λόγος σαπρὸς = ‘stinking/ rotten word’. The English translation ‘unsound’ or ‘evil’ sounds anodyne.

[31] κραυγὴ καὶ βλασφημία: κραυγή, ή, ‘screaming, shouting’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.), ‘clamour’ (EDNT s.v.). Here = ‘noisy dispute’.

βλασφημία, ή, ‘slander’ (already in cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. 2). In NT, ‘slander, reviling, vile gossip‘ (EDNT s.v. 2)—in a secular sense.

[32] εὔσπλαγχνοι, χαριζόμενοι: an amusing example of semantic shift, εὔσπλαγχνος, adj., means ‘with healthy bowels’ (σπλάγχνα) in Hippocrates (LSJ s.v.1), but ‘compassionate’, of God, in LXX (Muraoka, s.v.).

χαρίζομαι,  here, ‘forgive’.

Chapter 5

[2] περιπατεῖτε ἐν ἀγάπῃ: ‘walk (you [pl.] imper.) in love’. περιπατῶ (άω), ‘I walk’ (in a colonnade) is used in the figurative sense (implying conduct or a way of life) which is common only in St John’s writings and in St Paul (EDNTG, s.v., p. 75). The metaphor can be matched in the OT, and has some analogues in Greek philosophy.

εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας: ὀσμή, ἡ, ‘smell’ (in a neutral sense; already in Homer & cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.). εὐωδία, ἡ, ‘fragrance’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.).

Thus εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας = ‘inhaled fragrance of sacrifices’, LXX Ge 8:21 (Muraoka, s.v.).