The Greek word for ‘submit’ (hupotasso) means to place oneself in a lower rank than someone else.

 As we look at Paul’s first set of instructions on the responsibility of mutual submission in marriage, it is important to remember that his writings have divine authority. I know it’s become popular today to dismiss anything that Paul says about women and marriage because his teaching often contradicts popular cultural aspirations about gender and egalitarian concepts of marriage. Nevertheless, we mustn’t forget that Paul’s writings represent the mind of God. As the apostle Peter says, “Paul writes with the wisdom God gave him. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). So Peter makes it clear that the apostles believed Paul’s writings had the status of Scripture.

 When it comes to Paul’s instructions to women, he says that their responsibility within marriage is regulated by the command in 5:21 that all Christians should submit to one another. His command to wives is as follows, “wives to your husbands as to the Lord.” The word ‘submit’ is missing, though it’s clearly implied. This is obviously deliberate on Paul’s part. The fact that he does not repeat the word, ‘submit’, suggests that wives are not being singled out and given a subservient status. Instead, they are simply called to do the same as everyone else in the church, that is, submit to one another.

It should be of interest to us that Paul starts and finishes this short section by specifying whom wives should submit to: “their own husbands” (v24). Paul does not envisage women as a group coming under the authority of men in general, nor are men automatically elevated to a position of authority over all women. There is nothing inherently wrong with a woman being a political, educational or business leader. Paul only speaks of submission in terms of a married woman’s responsibility to her own husband’s headship. In other words, a wife’s submission is seen in the love, service and cooperation that she offers to her husband.

What exactly does a wife’s submission involve? The Greek word for ‘submit’ (hupotasso) means to place oneself in a lower rank than someone else. In other words, it means the wife should seek to please her husband before herself. We should notice that in a Christian marriage, this is a reciprocal responsibility of both the husband and the wife. Each must serve the other. A Christian husband is meant to give himself up for the wife as Christ gave himself up for church. This requires that a husband must not serve himself, but must devote himself to serving the best interests of his wife. The wife’s responsibility, in turn, is to offer her husband cooperation and loving devotion.

I think it’s also worth pointing out that the idea of submission is not exactly the same as that of obedience. The Greek word for ‘obey’ is hupakouo. This is what Paul required of children and slaves (Ephesians 6:1, 5). However, a wife is neither a child nor a slave. She is an equal partner in the most personal and intimate relationship in the world. She is involved in a union where the two parties offer themselves to one another in mutual devotion. They belong to one another and the Christian pattern in the marriage relationship is that both husband and wife should serve each other’s needs before their own, based on the example of the relationship of Christ and the church.

“Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”

(Ephesians 5:25)

 What does Paul mean when he tells husbands to love their wives? The word, ‘love,’ is used in many different ways today and much of this usage betrays an underlying confusion. When Paul talks about love, particularly in reference to a husband’s love for his wife, we need to remember that he speaks about love in a special sense. In the Greek language of the first century there were a number of words that were sometimes used to describe what we commonly call ‘love’. If we are to understand Paul’s instructions to husbands, then we need to understand this and know the different meanings.

Essentially, there are four words in Greek that are used to express the different shades of meaning in the word ‘love’. The first of these, the word eros, from which we get the English word, erotic, refers essentially to love between the sexes. It relates to sexual passion and attraction. The term itself is not actually found in the New Testament, and this has led some Christians to conclude that this kind of love is unworthy of a believer. But is this so? After all, human beings have a physical and emotional nature, so it seems reasonable to think that sexual love is natural, even if at times people express it in perverted ways.

I know that some Christians think that romantic love is irrelevant in marriage. They have the idea that a Christian man can marry any Christian woman. A man once said to me that he felt that he could marry any of the women in his local church. Well, perhaps, but I’m sure there would have been a lot of women heading to the exits when they saw him coming. I don’t think that we can discount the idea of sexual attraction. It seems to be a factor in drawing certain men and women together and some of the resentment that women have for arranged marriages suggests that this is so. If you’ve seen the comedy, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you’ll know exactly what I mean. It’s good and natural that there is a physical attraction between a husband and a wife, but that’s not what Paul is saying here.

Now there are other words in Greek for expressing love as well. One of them is the word phileo, from which we derive the English word ‘philanthropic’.  It refers to fondness or affection for someone. Another word is storge, which has to do with family affection such as a child’s love for its mother or father.

However, when Paul speaks of a husband’s love for his wife, he uses the Greek word, agapao. This word is always used in the Bible to describe God’s love for us. It’s not that the other forms of love don’t come into a Christian marriage – they do. A quick reading of the Song of Solomon should dispel any doubts that romantic love has a central place in marriage. The Bible definitely affirms the physical side of life (1 Timothy 4:4).

Nevertheless, what Paul is saying is this: faith in Christ makes a real difference to a marriage.  Above and beyond the natural attraction that two people may have for each other, and over and above their common interests and companionship, there is an even higher love to which they can rise. A Christian marriage needs to be crowned and glorified by the presence of the divine love that is expressed by the husband to his wife.

We must not forget that this is part of his responsibility of mutual submission in his personal relationships.

“Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”
(Ephesians 5:25)

How should a Christian husband treat his wife? While some men treat their wives as little more than a convenience, the apostle Paul tells us that Christian husbands have a special responsibility to “love their wives as Christ loved the church.”

When we think of a Christian husband’s responsibility to love his wife, we must not forget that this is part of his responsibility of mutual submission in his personal relationships. Of course, it would be easy to think that because a husband is referred to as the ‘head of the wife’ that he thereby gets to impose his will and desires on her whenever he likes. However, this is not so.

It is interesting that Paul doesn’t say, “Husbands, keep your wives in place; order them around and control their lives.” Instead, he says, “Love them just as Christ loved the church.” This means that Christian husbands should love their wives in the same way that the Christ shows His love for the church; sacrificially, tenderly, and with a servant’s heart. There is no suggestion here that a husband can act unilaterally, throw his weight around, or dominate his wife.

I know it’s easy for some men to interpret the idea of headship in terms of power and the right to command. However, if we are ever tempted to think this way, we need to remember that Jesus expressly disavows any ideas of headship, leadership and authority that exclusively focus on command or domination.

I suppose it’s not surprising that men are often confused about this. After all, even the apostles had confused ideas about leadership and authority right up until the time that Jesus died. The Gospels tell us that they generally understood authority in terms of power, control and privilege. On one particular occasion, Jesus challenged these notions: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over their peoples, and their officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But it shall not be so among you. Instead,” He said, “Whoever wants to be great must become a servant and whoever wants to be first must become your slave. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).

On the night on which He was betrayed, Jesus gave a very poignant reminder of this principle by washing the apostle’s feet. In the first century world, washing the feet of houseguests was the work of a menial slave. Although Jesus was their rabbi, He took upon himself a slave’s uniform and performed a slave’s duty for His followers. Afterwards He said, “Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you… Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:12-17).

Do you see Jesus’ point? He’s reminding us that even if we have authority over others, as Christians our task is nevertheless to serve other people selflessly. This means that a Christian husband, while he may be the head of his wife, nevertheless has the responsibility in that position to serve his wife and minister to her needs. For a Christian, authority always requires service.

Jesus made a number of extraordinary promises about the Holy Spirit.

 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery instead be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18)

 Paul’s command to be “filled with the Spirit” is one of the climatic points in his letter to the Ephesians. This command reminds us that one of God’s great aims in redemption is to see us indwelt, empowered, and controlled by the third Person of the Trinity.

Of course, the reason why this command is so important is that it represents one of the final promises that Jesus made to His disciples – the promise that we would possess the Spirit. On the night before He died, wanting to assure us that His death and resurrection would not be to our disadvantage, He made a number of extraordinary promises about the Holy Spirit. For example, in John’s Gospel, He said, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth…  And you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you” (14:16).

This is one of the most amazing statements of the Bible because it reminds us that not only can we know God, which is a wonder in itself, but Jesus is telling us that we can also be filled with God because He will come to live in us. And Paul reminds us of this truth here in Ephesians 5. The great wonder and glory of the Christian faith is that the Creator of the universe, the one who made the heavens and earth, as well as being our Redeemer and Saviour, has planned to come and dwell, not simply with us, but in us. And so, Paul’s command, “be filled with the Spirit” represents, as it were, the climax of his teaching.

Paul’s emphasis on the fact that every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit is a reminder that one of the central promises of the New Covenant has been fulfilled. The prophet Ezekiel spoke of a coming age in which God would give His people new hearts. “How?” you ask. Ezekiel tells us that God promised His people to “put my Spirit in you and move you to keep my decrees” (Ezekiel 36:26). “Well,” says Paul, “that moment has now dawned.” And this is why at the beginning of his letter he tells the Ephesians that he is praying that the eyes of their hearts might be enlightened so that they may know the hope to which they have been called… and God’s incomparably great power for those who believe” (1:18-19). What exactly is he praying for here?

I think one of the things that is uppermost in his mind is that these believers will realise that God has come to dwell in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and that this marks the major turning-point in their lives. Before they received the Holy Spirit, they were powerless to love God and serve him. Now they are filled with the Holy Spirit, they have the incomparably great power of Christ’s resurrection at work within them. This is what makes it possible for the Christian to live life in a new dimension. I can imagine Paul saying to the Ephesians, “If the Spirit of God dwells in you, then that means that God’s mighty power which He exerted in raising Christ from the dead isat work in your hearts.”

In other words, there is no experience or event in our lives which is more transformative or holds out greater potential for the present as well as the future than to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. So the great question facing us all is this: “Has the Spirit come to dwell in your heart? Is He controlling and directing it?”

William Wilberforce - author of 'A Practical View of Christianity.'

“Do not be drunk on wine which leads to debauchery; instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

(Ephesians 5:18)

William Wilberforce, the British social reformer, says in his book, A Practical View of Christianity, that nowhere is the difference between nominal Christianity and the true faith more apparent than in a person’s awareness and experience of the Holy Spirit. What struck him as he read the New Testament is that it is our experience of the Holy Spirit that is the dividing line between true and false religion. As Paul says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9).

Clearly, it is the possession of the Holy Spirit that sets true Christians apart. And that’s why Paul’s statement, “be filled with the Spirit,” in a sense is one of the critical statements in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, because without it, Christianity would be nothing more than a set of rules without the power to fulfil them. It would be like engine with no fuel. Without the Holy Spirit, the Christian life goes precisely nowhere.

Now, what exactly does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Does it mean that we begin the Christian life with an ecstatic experience of tongues-speaking? Or does it mean that we can just relax and let God do everything? We should notice, first of all, that Paul draws a distinction between “being filled with the Spirit” and “being drunk with wine.” Why does he do this?

It was characteristic of religion in the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world that people sought to have heightened ecstatic experiences of God through various rituals and artificially induced states of mind. This is where alcohol came into the picture and why Paul mentions the possibility of being drunk with wine. People believed that they could achieve a higher state of religious consciousness through such things as self-hypnosis, wine, frenzied sexual behaviour and suggestive music. This kind of behaviour was characteristic of Greek mystical religion that was associated with the religious worship of the god, Dionysius. People used alcohol and drugs, wild music, eating raw flesh and drinking blood as well as sexual orgies to achieve a spiritual ‘high.’

The important thing to note here is that Paul is not simply making a moral point about the use of alcohol. He’s actually telling us the truth about how we are meant to commune with God. “Don’t use pagan means to seek an experience with the Lord,” he’s saying, “you won’t find true spiritual enlightenment or fulfilment that way. Sex, drugs and suggestive music won’t bring you close to God – you need to be filled with the Spirit.”

In other words, being ‘filled with the Spirit’ is the way to commune with God and experience Him. However, if we don’t initiate this experience with drugs, or other means, how do we make contact with God? “Well,” Paul says, “we establish contact with God through his Word.” A genuine experience is always based upon the word of God. This explains why Paul says, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (5:19). Elsewhere he tells the Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another, with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (3:16). It is through the Word of God that we establish communion with the Lord, and it is through meditation upon it and submission to it that we are filled with the Spirit.

Oh, what a feeling!

“Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16)

I remember when I was very young that one of my mother’s more common sayings was this: “Peter, would you stop acting the fool!” I can still recall her plaintive and sometimes exasperated tones in the face of my behaviour. Mothers know only too well that, “foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child” (Proverbs 22:15), and according to my mother, it was found frequently in small boys, especially me.

Here in Ephesians 5, we discover that the temptation to foolishness is not simply confined to small boys, although undoubtedly they have a major share in it, but it’s a problem facing us all. This explains why Paul concludes this section of his letter with the command, “See that you walk carefully, not as unwise or fools, but as wise” (5:15).

Now it’s certainly the case that Christians face the temptation to act in ways that we might describe as ‘foolish.’ This is so because everyone born into this world is born in a state of congenital foolishness. According to the book of Proverbs, foolishness is in our hearts from the very beginning. Now, what do we mean by that? Does it mean that we are unintelligent and stupid? Not really. When the Bible speaks about a ‘fool,’ it’s referring to someone who lives as though God does not exist. In other words, such a person is not interested in living according to Scripture.

Instead, they live on the basis of their feelings, instincts and impulses. More often than not, the reason why they act the way they do is that they feel like it. And our culture certainly panders to this way of thinking. Advertisers encourage us to buy on the basis of our feelings. One car manufacturer suggests that the reason why we should buy its cars is because when we get behind the wheel of one of their vehicles, our immediate response will be “Oh, what a feeling!” Never mind other important issues like fuel consumption, safety and handling. It’s the feeling that counts. Again, other products are hawked to us on the basis of impulse. One famous shoe manufacturer tells us, “Just do it!” In other words, don’t sit around thinking about the consequences of your actions, or how they might affect other people. If you get a strong urge, just do it.

Now when Paul tells us to be wise he means that we shouldn’t live simply by our instincts and feelings. Instead, we should think about whether our actions will bring honour to God and how they will affect others. And further, he adds that the wise person will, “make the most of every opportunity,” or “make the most of the time.” Here Paul uses an expression that is composed of a couple of Greek words that mean ‘buy out of the market place’ – the verb is in the middle voice, which renders the meaning ‘buy up for yourself.’ Probably the best meaning is to ‘make the most out of every situation’. As far as the Christian is concerned, life in this world is a great opportunity to serve the Lord and to help others.

The non-Christian sees life quite differently. For an unbeliever, life in this world means to get ahead, make as much as you can, settle down, live a life of pleasure and watch the world go by. Christians, on the other hand, realise that life is temporary and the wisest thing to do is to be engaged in activities that prepare ourselves and others for life in the world to come.

When a plant receives light, it comes to life and begins to yield fruit.

“Live as children of light (for the fruit are the light, consisting all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them.” (Ephesians 5:8, 11)

One thing that becomes clear in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is that Christian holiness is no easy thing. It’s a struggle, which is why Paul sees it as necessary to motivate us to holiness through a number of different approaches. Incidentally, each of these approaches relates to a certain way of thinking.

Already he has called us to holiness because we are God’s ‘dearly loved children’.  It is a characteristic of children that they imitate their parents, which means that we must strive to be holy like God. However, he also appeals to us as ‘children of light.’ It is a characteristic of light that it is pure, so it is a fitting symbol to represent a Christian’s holiness. When Paul calls us to ‘live as children of light’, he is simply following the example of Jesus who said to his disciples, “You are the light of the world… let your light so shine before me that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16). It is clear in the New Testament that Christians become holy by remembering their identity as children of God and understanding that God has transformed our natures by renewing them – “once you were darkness… but now you are light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8).

Here Paul uses a natural metaphor to make the point that our transformed nature produces a certain kind of fruit. When a plant receives light, it comes to life and begins to yield fruit. “Well,” says Paul, “if God has shone into your heart with the Gospel, you have received new life and will produce a fruit that is consistent with God’s character.” This new life will be characterised by goodness, righteousness and truth. This means that believers will become active in doing good things, not simply as a way of earning God’s favour, but rather as an act of gratitude towards Him.  Further, we will develop an intense interest in righteousness and the character of God. This will not only affect our relationship with God but also with other people. Just as God deals righteously with us, so we will extend righteousness and grace to other people.

Interestingly, Paul also makes the point that as Christians, we will be deeply concerned about the truth. Elsewhere he says to the Corinthians, “For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (2 Cor 13:8). While people in our world question the possibility of knowing such a thing as truth, the Bible says that God is the source of it and Jesus Christ is its fullest expression of it. Truth is knowable and its fullest expression is found in Jesus Christ.

Finally, Paul reminds us that Christian holiness not only means that we do not engage in ungodly behaviour, but it also means that we show no interest in it. It is one thing to engage in sexual immorality, for example, but it is another to find a vicarious pleasure in it. What Paul means is that Christians are not only meant to avoid fornication and other sexual sins (which, of course, involve another person), but we are not to take pleasure in sins that others commit. This means that not only should we avoid sexual immorality, but we shouldn’t enjoy reading about it, watching it, or even making jokes about it.

Paul uses the Greek word, mimetai, here to make his point.

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love just as Christ loved us as gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

One thing we must never lose sight of is that the primary object of the Christian faith is to make us holy, blameless and full of love in the presence of God. Paul makes this clear in various places in his writings. He tells us that Christ didn’t come into the world simply to forgive our sins or to save us from eternal judgment. God’s ultimate goal was to purify for Himself a people who would dwell forever in His glorious and holy presence. And this is Paul’s point here: the great goal of the Christian life is fellowship with God in holiness and love.

Paul uses the Greek word, mimetai, here to make his point. It is from this word that we get the English word ‘mimic’. Essentially, what Paul is saying is, “be mimics of God”. In other words, we are to reproduce certain qualities of God’s own moral nature in our lives. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48).

Now if we are to mimic God successfully, the first thing we must do is make an intense study of His character. We can hardly imitate Him if we do not understand who He is and what He has done. Again, it is impossible to imitate God unless, and until, our sin is taken away by Christ. So before we can imitate Him, we need to mourn over our sin, seek God’s forgiveness and rest upon Christ’s atoning work. Then we need to ask God to renew us by His Holy Spirit. Until we do this, we cannot move off first base in trying to imitate Him.

I think it’s interesting that the main area in which we are to imitate God involves living a life of love, patterned on the love that Christ has for us. What Paul means is that everything we say and do must be based on the same kind of love that Christ had for us when He gave Himself up for our sins. Christ died for His enemies and His love was unconditional. If we are to imitate Him, we must be able to show unconditional forgiveness to others. The question is, “Do we harbour grudges and resentment? Do we forget injuries?” Further, remember that God’s love is indiscriminate: “He makes the sun rise on the evil and the good and sends the rain on the just and the unjust.” In other words, God doesn’t confine His blessings to the deserving; He extends His kindness to everyone. Do you? Are you kind to people you don’t like at work? Are you sympathetic to strangers? This is what it means to mimic Christ.

Paul goes on to say that Christian love not only expresses itself in forgiving others, but it regulates our sexual relationships, our attitude towards money and our speech. With respect to sexual relationships, Christian love always respects boundaries and refuses to take advantage of others. If we are to imitate Christ, then we regard it as unspeakably selfish to take sexual advantage of someone else or to breach another’s trust. We should always act in their highest interests.

With respect to money and things, Paul says we must restrain our self-centredness and desire for self-gratification by being generous. With respect to our speech, he says that our language must not be profane but must be controlled by a spirit of intelligent thankfulness. This is what it means to imitate God.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Eph 4:29)

Many people these days seem quite unaware that becoming a Christian requires a complete change of life. Lady Gaga is a case in point. In a recent interview she was asked about her religious convictions. She said that she was a good Catholic but saw nothing inconsistent with claiming to be a Christian and her support for alternative sexual lifestyles.

Lady Gaga said that she was a good Catholic but saw nothing inconsistent with claiming to be a Christian and her support for alternative sexual lifestyles.

The apostle Paul thinks otherwise. In his letter to the Ephesians he tells believers that “with regard to your former way of life, you must put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires and be made new in the attitude of your minds” (4:22, 23).  When Paul says that we must ‘put off’ our old self, he uses a word which is normally associated with the taking off of our clothes. To ‘take off’ or remove one’s clothes is always a deliberate decision. Of course, we remove our clothes for various reasons but one obvious reason is when they become stained or dirty.

I remember a conversation I had many years ago with a local funeral director. He told me he had just bought a new suit. However it came into contact with some human remains and he couldn’t get rid of the smell. His wife told him to dry clean the suit a couple of times but it made no difference. The suit had to be thrown out.

Paul makes the same point about our old manner of life. We need to throw it out as deliberately as we would throw out stained and soiled clothes. However, in its place we need to adopt the dress code of the new life in Christ. One aspect of this new life which we must ‘put on’ is the way we communicate with others. Paul says a great deal about our communication in this section of his letter to the Ephesians. Obviously, in his mind, the way we speak to one another is of the uttermost importance. This is so because our ability to speak is the most significant gift that God has given us. God speaks and we, being made in his image, speak as well. It is therefore important that the way we speak is consistent with God’s plans and purposes for us.

First, Paul tells us that we must do away with unwholesome speech. The word ‘unwholesome’ (sapros) means rotten or worthless. It was often used by the Greeks to describe fruit that could no longer be eaten. Paul reminds us that there is such a thing as rotten or useless speech. This kind of speech includes coarse language, swearing, off-coloured jokes, innuendo and double entendre. Paul says that this kind of language is unseemly for Christians.

On the contrary, one distinctive of Christian speech is that it ‘builds others up according to their needs’. This means that our words should encourage people to be full of faith, love and godliness. Our comments should be strengthening and refreshing. Do your words pass this test? Unfortunately, it seems to be a custom in Australia that we prefer to tear people down or humiliate them. We call it “cutting down tall poppies.” It sometimes happens at 21st birthdays or wedding speeches. However, it shouldn’t happen at Christian functions. We should ‘build others up according to their needs.’

Paul emphasises the point by reminding us that our speech should “benefit those who listen.” Does your speech help to bring out the best in others or honour the occasion? That’s the question.

Satan manipulated words to convince Adam that life was no longer meant to be seen from God’s perspective.

“And the serpent said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)

In Genesis 1 speech is a precious gift that enables us to understand the truth about God, ourselves and the world. It is also the means whereby we communicate with one another in love.

However, in Genesis 3 we discover another speaker enters the scene – Satan, masquerading in the form of a serpent. Satan wants to destroy our relationship with God and he does this by undermining our confidence in God’s word. His attack on it is the first strike in a great struggle involving our use of words. From then on, our ability to use words and understand them, as well as using words in a way that pleases God, has come under challenge.

This first becomes obvious when language is used to challenge God’s authority. “Did God really say?” Imagine what our lives would be like if our words were flawless and spoken in submission to God. One of the reasons we have so many communication problems is that we want to deal with issues in our own way. We are unwilling to allow God to control our thoughts and speech. This is what happened in the Garden of Eden. The result was death and chaos.

Again, we see another problem arising from our use of words in the Garden. This time it involves our use of words to describe reality. Satan manipulated words to convince Adam that life was no longer meant to be seen from God’s perspective. “You will not die,” he said, contradicting God’s view on the situation. Since that time we have found ourselves mired in communication difficulties because our understanding of our circumstances is based on a lie. We always think our views are right, but often they are wrong. When we give expression to them they simply complicate the situation and get us deeper into trouble.

Again, a further instance of the damage that Satan’s words caused in the Garden is seen in the way that Adam and Eve spoke against each other. Up to this point they had related to one another in truth and love; they never spoke selfishly. But now they engaged in hurtful accusations and put downs. We do the same. We pass blame on to others: “You make me so angry!” “I was never like this until I met you.” We trade insults.

The result is that we live in a world where speech is marked by lies, false interpretations of reality, blame and insult. No longer are words used in the way that God intended; they bear all the marks of Satan’s influence. But Christ can deliver us from the curse upon our speech. Our hope lies in His ability to renew our hearts and change our communication (2 Corinthians 5:17)