Giving Place To The Devil

Ephesians 4:26-27: “Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil”.

Popular Interpretation

The devil is a person trying to gain access to our hearts and we must resist.

Comments

1. Anger and wrath are works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-20) and proceed out of our evil heart (Mk. 7: 21-23).

2. Letting them develop by being bitter-hearted at the end of a day is the same as giving “place to the devil”. It is the devil, therefore, that causes these things. But we have shown in comment1, that it is the flesh and evil heart which do, therefore they are the “devil”.

3. To “give place to the devil” implies that the devil enters us. “The lusts of other (sinful) things entering in” (Mk. 4:19) cause us to sin. Our lusts are described several times as physically moving into our heart from our evil nature where they are stored (see “When the tempter came to him” - “Suggested Explanation” No. 6 in the notes for Matt. 4:1-11 ).

4. Verse 28 continues with a warning not to steal, which is a result of our evil desires suggesting wrong things to us. Doing such a thing is thus giving way to the devil in the sense of our evil desires.

5. See Comments on 1 Timothy 5: 14-15.

Ephesians 4:26-27