Words and Deeds

Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another. Ephesians 4:25  NASB

Ridding yourself of falsehood – Speak the truth!  Ah, not always so easy, is it?  We don’t typically outright lie.  We just modify things a bit to fit the occasion.  We don’t want to offend.  We don’t want to be seen in a bad light.  We want approval.  So we change things—just a bit.  Then Paul comes along and writes, “rid yourself of falsehood.”  Does he demand the truth and nothing but the truth in every situation?  Or does he have something else in mind?

We can start to answer this question to noticing the vocabulary and the verb tense.  First, the verb.  apŏtithēmi literally means, “to place away.”  Metaphorically, it means “to cast off” or “to lay aside.”  In the NASB, the translators have chosen “to rid.”  It is an aorist, middle, participle.  That means it is an action taken once for all by the actor affecting himself.  This is not a continuous process of sanctification.  It’s a one-time choice of the person with direct personal consequences.  So, I choose to change myself with regard to pseúdos, translated as “falsehood,” but literally anything  false, deceptive, or untrue.  Paul’s instruction to lay aside anything untrue includes a great deal more than words.  We can misrepresent ourselves without saying a thing, can’t we?  We know how to use small deceptions to create a different picture.  It’s kind of like photo retouching.  Just remove this little blemish, change a bit of the skin tone, erase a wrinkle or two—what’s the harm?  You might say that the yetzer ha’ra is well-practiced in the art of personality retouching.  It’s not just what we say; it’s also what we do.  If I were less charitable, I might argue that hypocrisy is one of humanity’s greatest sins.  Of course, the Greek idea behind this word is wearing a mask to shield the real person.  Paul would concur.  Anything that masks who we really are, that is, how we really act, is pseúdos.  It takes a truly fearless moral inventory to expose the subtleties of the yetzer ha’ra.  He’s so good at hiding himself.

Notice Paul’s communal cure.  “Speak truth with your neighbor.”  Investigating the Hebrew background of this term tells us something important.  In the LXX, the Greek plēsíos (one close by) is the equivalent of the Hebrew rēaʿ.  “rēaʿ comes from a verb meaning ‘to have dealings,’ ‘to associate.’ The noun reflects the range of possible dealings from the ‘friend’ of the king to stereotyped use in a phrase like ‘one another.’ Thus it covers the friend, lover, companion, neighbor, or fellow human being.”^[1]  Most importantly, since we are following the Torah interpretation of the Messiah, rēaʿ is the term used in the second great commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  And, of course, no one wants to lie to himself.  Usually.

Why does Paul insist that the measure of self-truthfulness is determined by communication with a neighbor?  The answer is obvious.  We do lie to ourselves.  We pretend.  We think of ourselves better than what we are.  The yetzer ha’ra is a master of self-deception.  But it’s much harder to fool an outsider.  Just as the fruit of the spirit is not measured by looking in the mirror, so integrity and truthfulness are not determined by self-reflection.  It wasn’t good for Adam to be alone.  He needed an outsider to see who he really was.  So do we.  I am reminded of the insight of Bessel van der Kolk, “Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health”.[2]

Topical Index: apŏtithēmi, lay aside, pseúdos, falsehood, lie, neighbor, Ephesians 4:25

^[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 872). W.B. Eerdmans.

[2] Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score, p. 79.