Ephesians Chapter 4 & 5 Walk in the New Life Part 2

This personal walk in the New Life (in Christ) covers from Eph 4:17 to Eph 5:21.
It can be divided into two main parts

1. Put OFF the Old Self
2. Put ON the New Life

1 Put OFF the Old Self
The Old-Self consists of the old worldly mindset and the bodily desires. The spirit part of man has been rebirth anew in Christ. But the old mindset and body remains. They are to be consecrated and sanctified. This is the journey of growth - transforming mind and body for the glory of God.
What are the old things, old beliefs, old passions to be put OFF?

1. Old worldview of without God Eph 4:17-18
2. Hardness of heart to refuse to accept and acknowledge God.
3. The sinful desires of lust, greed, impurity (Eph 4:19) and so forth....

This reminds me of the frequently mentioned "Seven Deadly Sins" and prompted me to a mapping. Here is result:

The original sin is 'Pride' - I know what is good and bad for me. There is no need for me to listen to any others to tell me that I'm wrong. I am my own judge. A sign of this sin is disobedience especially to God (since I am God myself). The subsequent sin is Envy - I must be like or better than anyone since I think I am the best. If I cannot, I will use other means, such as lies, slander, malice, strife and eventually even murder (like Cain on Abel) to remove those better than me.

The detail list of 'put away' is shown below for completeless:

2 Put ON the New Life
How does a Christian with a New Life behave? It should start from the inside with the mind. The mind is to be renewed with the truth that is revealed and taught in Jesus Eph 4:21-23. The method is to be filled with Spirit (Eph 5:18). We be, like Christ in us, holy and righteous, tenderhearted, kind, forgiving (as Christ has forgave us) and be wise in using our time by knowing the will of God for the present time. Knowing God's will save us the wasted effort of chasing things that are futile.

Then we go on with the outside - our mouth - our speech. Our speech are to be fitting to the occasion, for building up, giving grace and giving thanks. We are to celebrate with and to the Lord with singing, speech and music.

Then comes the tougher one, exposing and reproving the wrongs and deeds of darkness. Most people do not want to expose or correct others for fear of the wrath and bad reactions. Most of us would like to keep quiet in the name of maintaining peace and unity and let the disease remains like leprosy until the body is eaten up without any feelings. Exposing and Correcting need to be done in love and with care. We must be able to gain the trust first else any correction will be seen as an attack and will not result in true repentance and change.

Questions

1.   Create a Put-Off and Put-On list of behavior that reflect our New life in Christ
2.   What are the seven deadly sins? Is this a complete list of sins? If not, what are missing?
3.   How are we to overcome the deadly sins?
4.   Is anger a sin? How should we handle anger?
5.   How can one be freed from bondage of any kind?