4:24
Our purpose is to be like God “in true holiness and righteousness”. Everyone knows Rom 8:28 where it says that God works through all things for the good of those who love Him, but far fewer know the next verse where it says that He predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. Being saved does not mean we are “let off”, we were saved for a purpose, we were saved to be like Christ. Again, while it is God who does this He actively involves us in the process. So as well as taking off the old self, we are to put on the new self, which is a Christlike self.
4:25
Paul now fleshes out what he means by putting off the old self, and putting on the new. We are tp put off falsehood and instead speak truthfully. Falsehood can characterise so much of what goes on in the world. The more corrupt a system becomes, the greater part falsehood has to play in it. Politics is perhaps the most obvious example, but that, for most of us at least, is something other people do. What about ourselves? Today on social media how many people represent a true picture of themselves? There are many reports about young people in particular feeling pressured because they cannot live up to the image that social media seems to demand of them. “For we are all members of the one body”. Paul’s immediate area of application seems to be within the church. We are not competing against each other within the church, for we are all part of the one body. We are meant to work together.
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