Ephesians 4:17 English Standard Version (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.

Picking up where we left off yesterday please note that there was no comment of a personal nature in that posting.

Some things in scriptures are so complete that adding a comment only detracts from the quality of the message. Granted there is always an opportunity to elaborate but to what end? Yesterday’s scriptures are so plainly understood that nothing should have been added.

Here Paul shifts gears and addresses others, outside the body of Christ. It is so easy to comment about things which have no relationship to us. We might have been as they were at one time and these gentile behaviors do need to be addressed. They address issue that do not apply to us any longer.

Paul says in verse 22 “put off your old self” as a reminder that the old life is dead and we walk in newness of life. It is not an accusation of the saints as some would like to say. God does not accuse, He forgives. Exhortations to right behavior should not be thrown about as accusations at one another. We would do better to have no comment than to judge another’s walk in the Lord.

Romans 14:1 English Standard Version

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

Encouragement to do better does not have to begin with pointing out anyone’s faults.

The ability to communicate in a manner which is acceptable and taken correctly must come from a place of personal relationship. Knowing a person’s boundaries comes from experience and we should know when we are approaching those boundaries.

Sometimes no comment allows others to hear God, which is always better for both parties.

Ephesians 4:1-16 English Standard Version

Unity in the Body of Christ

¹ I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ⁷ But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
    and he gave gifts to men.”

⁹ (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.