Ephesians 4:27 Commentary and Bible Study

Anger is such a strong emotion that it can easily take control of us, and lead us in entirely the wrong direction. James says, ‘Be slow to wrath’. There is a certain self-satisfaction that comes with anger it makes us feel righteous in comparison to others. People in the world love to get angry and turn on a hate figure, but often their judgment is very flawed, because anger blinds them to and prevents them making a more careful evaluation of the situation.Do not give the devil a foothold. The word ‘devil’ here is ‘slanderer’, ‘accuser’, literally ‘diabolos’. Do not give a foothold to the slanderer. So even if you were right to be indignant, if you turn it into a cause for hatred, you are giving a foothold to the slanderer. That is what the apostle Paul means. In his deceitful hypocrisy the devil urges us on to be angry about things that are evil, and in so doing he gets the advantage over us. It is easy for us to sin in other ways when we are in the grip of anger. Anger overreacts; it takes revenge; it may lead to violence.‘Sin not’, even if the world and unbelievers do things that make you indignant and angry, keep perspective. Our overriding desire is to win souls. We have been saved in spite of our sin and our anger, so we pray for others also, and we maintain the preaching of the gospel. There is a tendency in Christian circles to only run down the world, and the preacher loves to get up steam: ‘This is wrong, that is wrong’, and he never preaches the gospel. Well, it’s quite understandable to condemn things that are sinful and wrong, but the gospel must be preached. Let us have perspective. We have got to have pity for the world – pity has been shown to us – and proclaim the saving gospel of Christ, and pray for people.