Then serves to connect what follows with what precedes. Since we are new beings we must act like it. This verse forbids lying, literally “putting off the lie, speak the truth.” The verb “put off” is the same one used in verse 22. Colossians 3.9 expresses the same command more directly: “Do not lie to one another.” The language here “but speak the truth each one with his neighbor” is derived from Zechariah 8.16; here “neighbor” has the meaning fellow Christian, fellow believer. The reason for the injunction is clear: “because we are members of one another” (see in 5.30 for we are members of his body); see Romans 12.5. The emphasis here is on the unity and interdependence of Christians; because they all belong to the body of Christ, the church, they must do all that is necessary for the good of the body; whatever hurts one member hurts the whole body.

Since the statement everyone must tell the truth to his fellow believer is in complete contrast to the negative statement which precedes, it must be marked as such in some languages. The transitional particle may be equivalent to something like “rather.” In reality, the two statements are supplementary in that one is negative and the other positive.

In some instances it is impossible to use a noun such as truth, and so in this particular context one may need to translate the first clause of the second sentence of verse 25 as “what you say to your fellow believer must be what really happened” or “what every one of you tells his fellow believer must agree with what happened.”

There may be some difficulty in speaking of all members … in the body of Christ, so that the last clause of verse 25 may be rendered as “because all of us are parts of the body of Christ.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .