Old man and corruption; renew the mind; truth and anger (Eph 4:22–26)
Call this the old man's life of sin. By the former walk and by deceitful desires—always sinning, never doing anything of incorruption, working only what belongs to decay—he is continually being corrupted. Those desires and that old walk drive the corruption. He is not yet wholly ruined while he still does these things; he is in the process of corruption.
God's Word does not corrupt him. It kills the old man in order to make him live. Scripture says, "I kill and I make alive"; and when he had killed them, then they sought him.
Ask next how someone grown old in vice is called an "old man." Perhaps as virtue renews and recreates, the opposite vice ages the soul, so wrinkles of oldness appear on it as on aging bodies. That is why Christ presents the church to himself in glory, without spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind. While marks of oldness remain, the wrinkle remains; when the old man is put off, everything is in full strength and every wrinkle disappears. "Desire of deceit" means a wicked, base desire.
Ephesians 4:23 "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind." The wording does not say renewal simply in spirit or simply in mind, but in the spirit of your mind. So ask what our mind is, and what its spirit is. Hear also, "I will sing with the spirit and with the mind; I will pray with the spirit and with the mind." If many spirits exist, each akin to someone, there may be a spirit akin to our mind; when the mind is cleansed and the mist cleared, that kin spirit renews us.
Ephesians 4:24 "Put on the new man created according to God." To wear that new man, take to heart "Become imitators of me, as I also of Christ," and "I live, yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me." When Christ is wholly formed in us in every deed, we show the new creation.
Ephesians 4:25 "Putting away the lie, speak truth each with his neighbor." The simple hear only a moral rule. We take "lie" as what stands against truth—false opinion opposite the truth spoken fittingly to the neighbor. Saving truth stands against that lie of false opinions. To put the lie away is no small work: one must be an approved money-changer, test everything, hold what is good, and abstain from every form of evil. Paul takes "speak truth each with his neighbor" from Zechariah.
Ephesians 4:26 "Be angry and do not sin" comes from Psalm 4. "Be angry" has two senses. One is involuntary—the pre-passion even the mature may feel when circumstances provoke anger. The other is assent that it is right to punish the person one thinks has wronged you; that assent is in our power, and the apostle commands us to put it away. So the first sense of the verse means: even if anger once entered, leave it without effect.
Ephesians 4:26 "Let the sun not set on your provocation." If this meant the visible sun, we would only sin when we keep anger past sunset—which is absurd. Better to hear the true sun, which sets on wicked prophets, as the next lines continue.
Greek
ἁμαρτίας λέγεσθαι νομιστέον· οὗτος γὰρ κατὰ τὴν προτέραν ἀναστροφὴν καὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης, διὰ τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν καὶ μηδέποτε ἀφθαρσίας τι ποιεῖν ἀλλ' ὅλα τὰ τῆς φθορᾶς ἐργάζεσθαι, ἀεὶ φθείρεται. αἱ μὲν οὖν ἐπιθυμίαι τῆς ἀπάτης καὶ ἡ προτέρα ἀναστροφὴ ἐνεργοῦσι τὸ φθείρεσθαι αὐτόν, καὶ οὐδέπω πάντῃ ἔφθαρται ὅσον ταῦτα ποιεῖ, ἀλλὰ φθείρεται· ὁ δὲ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐ φθείρει ἀλλὰ ἀποκτένει τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ τῷ ζωοποιῆσαι, ἐγὼ γάρ, φησίν, ἀποκτένω καὶ ζῇν ποιή ω, καὶ ὅταν ἀπέκτενεν αὐτοὺ τότε ἐξεζήτουν αὐτόν. ἔτι ζητήσεις πῶς ὁ κατὰ τὴν κακίαν πεπαλαιωμένος παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος λέγεται. καὶ μήποτε ὥσπερ ἀνακαινοῖ καὶ ἀνακτίζει ἡ ἀρετή, οὕτως ἡ ἐναντία αὐτῇ κακία παλαιοῖ, ὡς καὶ τῆς παλαιότητος σημεῖα γίνεσθαι περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν οἱονεὶ τὰς ῥυτίδας, ὥσπερ γίνεται ἐπὶ τῶν γηρασκόντων σωμάτων. διὰ τοῦτο ἔνδοξον αὐτῷ παρί τη ι τὴν ἐκκλη ίαν Χριστός, μὴ ἔχου αν πίλον ἢ ῥυτίδα ἤ τι τῶν τοιούτων· ὅσον μὲν γὰρ ἔχει σημεῖα τῆς παλαιότητος, ἔχει καὶ τὴν ῥυτίδα· ὅταν δὲ ἀπόθηται τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἅπαντα ἀκμάζει καὶ πᾶσα ῥυτὶς ἐξαφανίζεται. ἀπάτης δέ ἐστιν ἐπιθυμία ἡ μοχθηρὰ ἐπιθυμία καὶ ἡ φαύλη. [ iv 23] ἀνανεοῦσθε δὲ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ νοὸς ὑμῶν. εἰ χρὴ ἀνανεοῦσθαι κατὰ τὴν λέξιν ταύτην οὔτε ἁπλῶς ἐν τῷ πνεύματι οὔτε ἐν τῷ νοΐ, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ νοὸς ὑμῶν, ζητητέον ἰδίᾳ τίς ὁ νοῦς ἡμῶν καὶ τί τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ. πρόσχες δὲ καὶ τῷ ψαλῶ τῷ πνεύματι ψαλῶ δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ, προ εύξομαι τῷ πνεύματι προ εύξομαι καὶ τῷ νοΐ. ἐπιστήσεις οὖν εἰ, ὥσπερ ἔστι πολλὰ πνεύματα καὶ ἕκαστόν τινι ᾠκείωται, οὕτως ἔστιν τι πνεῦμα ᾠκειωμένον ἡμῶν τῷ νοΐ, ὅπερ τοῦ νοὸς ἡμῶν ἀποκαθαιρομένου καὶ πᾶσαν ἀποβαλόντος ἀχλὺν ᾠκειωμένον αὐτῷ ἀνανεοῖ ἡμᾶς. [ iv 24a. καὶ ἐνδύσασθε τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν κατὰ Θεὸν κτισθέντα.] εἰ θέλομεν ἐνδύσασθαι τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν κατὰ Θεὸν κτισθέντα, νοήσωμεν τὸ μιμηταί μου γίνε θε καθὼ κἀγὼ Χρι τοῦ καὶ τὸ ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγὼ ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χρι τό · καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς μορφωθέντα τὸν Χρι τὸν ἐν ἡμῖν ὅλον καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν πρᾶξιν δείξομεν. [ iv 25a] διὸ ἀποθέμενοι τὸ ψεῦδος λαλεῖτε ἀλήθειαν ἕκαστος μετὰ τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ. οἱ μὲν ἁπλούστεροι πλέον τοῦ ἠθικοῦ οὐδὲν οἰήσονται λέγεσθαι ἐκ τοῦ λεγομένου· ἡμεῖς δέ, ἐναντίον εἶναι πειθόμενοι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τὸ ψεῦδος, τὸ ἐναντίον τῇ καθηκόντως λαλουμένῃ ἀληθείᾳ πρὸς μόνον τὸν πλησίον ζητοῦμεν ψεῦδος ἀποθέσθαι ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ ψευδοδοξία (ἔργον δὲ οὐ τὸ τυχόν ἐστι πρὸς τ<ῷ> ἀποθέσθαι ἐκεῖνο τὸ ψεῦδος καὶ τὸ οὕτως ψεῦδος ἀποθέσθαι, καὶ γὰρ δόκιμον δεῖ εἶναι τραπεζίτην καὶ πάντα δοκιμάζειν ἱκανόν, ἵνα μόνον κατέχωμεν τὸ καλὸν ἀπὸ δὲ παντὸ εἴδου πονηροῦ ἀπεχώμεθα)· ἐναντίον δὲ τῷ κατὰ τὰς ψευδοδοξίας ψεύδει ἐστὶν ἡ σωτήριος ἀλήθεια. τὸ δὲ λαλεῖτε ἀλήθειαν ἕκαστος μετὰ τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ εἴληπται ἀπὸ τοῦ Ζαχαρίου. [ iv 26a] ὀργίζεσθε καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε. ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ τετάρτου ψαλμοῦ τοῦτο εἴληπται δῆλόν ἐστιν. δύο δὲ σημαίνεται ἐκ τῆς ὀργίζεσθαι φωνῆς· ἢ τὸ ἀπροαίρετον, ὅπερ τινὲς ἐκάλεσαν προ<σ>πάθειαν, ἥτις συμβήσεται καὶ τοῖς τελείοις ἀπροαίρετόν τι πάσχουσι κατὰ τὰ τοιάδε εἰς ὀργὴν προκαλούμενα συμπτώματα· ἕτερον δέ, ὅταν ἤδη ἡ συγκατάθεσις παραδέχηται τὸ καθήκειν τιμωρεῖσθαι τὸν ἠδικη <κ>έν<αι> νομιζόμενον, ὅπερ ὡς ἐφ' ἡμῖν τυγχάνον κελεύει ἀποθέσθαι ὁ ἀπό στολος ἡμᾶς. τὸ πρότερον οὖν τῶν σημαινομένων δηλοῦται ἐν τῷ ὀργίζεσθε καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε ἀντὶ τοῦ «εἰ καὶ παρεδέξασθέ ποτε τὴν ὀργήν, ἀλλὰ ἄπρακτον καταλείψατε.» [ iv 26b] ὁ ἥλιος μὴ ἐπιδυέτω ἐπὶ τῷ παροργισμῷ ὑμῶν. ἐὰν τὸν αἰσθητὸν ἥλιον ἀκούσωμεν λέγεσθαι, ἁμαρτησόμεθα ὅτε ὀργιζόμεθα καὶ τηροῦμεν τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ ἡλίου δύνοντος, ὅπερ ἄτοπον εἶναι νομίζω. μήποτ' οὖν ὁ ἀληθινὸς ἥλιος, ὥσπερ δύσεται ἐπὶ τοὺς πονηροὺς προφήτας κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον
About this text
Origen of Alexandria, Fragmenta ex commentariis in epistulam ad Ephesios (Greek).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 14 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.