The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 190

must result in the ejection of Christ and, with him, of peace and right guidance. ~. The positive of Chrutia11ity. "Be ye angry." And wo need not wonder nt tho injunction when we take into account that anger is a hundred times in Soripture attri- buted to God, and also that it is said of Christ that he looked round about on the hypocrites among his hearers with anger. "We are so made that pity is not moro natural!)'. ~wakened by the s)ght of suffering, fear by the approach of danger, delight Ly the v1s10n of beauty, gratitude by deeds of generous kindness, than anger by many kinds of wrong-doing. 'l'he men whose hearts never glow with enthusiasm at witnessing lofty self-sacrifice, never burn with indignation against cowardice, falsehood, and profli- gacy; the men whose eyes never flash, whose pulse never quickens, whose words move on in an unbroken flow, and never rush along tumultuously like a cataract, either in praise or blame,-never yet did any work worth doing either for God or man" (Dale). But, as if special danger attended anger, the injunction to it is followed up, and thrown into a certain subordination, by the caution-" And sin not." (1) Anger is to be pro- porlicmed to the offence.. There must be justice in our anger. 'l'he passionate man is often causelessly an..,o-ry. His passion is roused by a mere inconvenience to himself for which no one is to blame, or by a hasty new of the action at which he takes offence. A mere personal slight is not a sufficient cause for anger, especially when we remember him wh.:i was led a.s a lamb co the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so be opened not his mouth. Rather are we to reserve our anger for what hurts the truth in us or in others. Let our indignation be poured out on the attempt to corrupt our principles, to steal our fair fame, on the cowardice that keeps a man from standing b}' his convictions, on the selfishness that can keep a wife and family miserable, on the dishonour that is done to God by our want of faith and niggardliness in supporting his cause. "It does not appear,'' says Butler, "that the feelin~ of indignatior,, generally speaking, is at all too high amongst mankind." "Yea, what indignatiou ! " says the apostle, in enumerating the fruits of godly sorrow. (2) Anger is not to interfere with l,ove. "While Christ looked round on the hypocrites with anger he was at the same time grieved because of the hardening of their hearts. And we must ever draw this dis- tinction between the sinner and his sin. Grievedness of heart for the sinner and strong condemnation of his sin can and shonld go hand-in-hand. Even as we love him we must show him how we regard his conduct so far as that is calculated to do him good. Such going forth of anger (havin~ justice in it) is fitted to sustain love. III. STEALI!\G. 1. The negative of Christianity. "Let him that stole steal no more." Whether we translate the first part of the injunction "him that stole," or, as is often done, "him that steals," the latter part, "steal no more," implies that there was dan.,,uer of some in the Ephesian Church falling into this sin. And we need not wonder at this, when we consider their pre-Christian state. They were accustomed, in heathen society, to theft being punished (which would keep up a certain moral sentiment against it), but at the same time, they were brought up in a certain laxity with regard to what was theirs and what was their neighbour's. And is not the Ephesian Church in this respect representative? While there are very_few connected "ith our Churche.s who will steal, so as to expose themselves to the punishment of the law, there are those who are chargeable with what, if stri~tly looked into, is dis- honesty. They do not give value in labour for money received. Or they contract debts or come under obli"'ations which they have no reasonable expectation of ineeting; or th~y are not doincr their utmost, in the way of exertion and economy, to get out of debt. Or under the pressure of competition, they fall in with the evil custom of the trade a~d adulterate. There are many ways of unjustly hindering the wealth or outwa;d estate of our neighbour. There may be dishonesty even in the desire to have what does not belon"' to us. But nothiug could be more emphatic than the decla- ration here that, whatev:'r our temptations, whatever losses it may entail, we are not to steal at all. 2. The positive of Ohristianity. "But rather let him labour, working wit,h his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need." There is presented here the Christian as~ct of labollf,. I~ i~ ac~ording to the role of Christ that we should work and not be idle. And if 1t 1e m literally working with our hands that we spend our energies, yet is that not demeaning, for Chri;t sanctified 6Uch work by working as a carpenter. It is further according to the rwe 0r Christ that we should work the thing that is good, that is to say, have an honest  OH, lV, 1-32.] THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 189