I recently watched a History Channel special on sex. I think it was called “The History of Sex” actually. I didn’t mean to watch it. I actually meant to record something else, but the DVR apparently thought I needed to see this. Occasionally, I think my DVR takes instructions from God, because it was really a rather informative journey through the secular view of sex and the Christian Church.

Basically, the program focused on how sex had been suppressed by the Christian Church. It made ancient Rome with its prostitutes and debauchery look really fun and then made the Christian era seem like one long trip to the analyst’s couch. It misquoted the great minds of Christianity to draw the conclusion that Christians were and are puritanical prudes who think asceticism is the path to enlightenment. It so bothered me that I asked several friends over to watch it a second time and discuss our thoughts on the subject.

What we decided was that the secular world has never understood the Christian attitude toward sex and that because our attitude differs from that of the secular culture they feel it’s fine to accuse us of prudishness when, in fact, what they are witnessing is sexual selectivity for a higher purpose.

The Bible speaks with great clarity on the subject of sexual morality. It makes “love” more than a three-letter word. What may surprise most non-Christians is that the Bible esteems not only love but sex to a high degree. No one should have a greater appreciation for the God-given gift of sex than Christians.

It’s amazing how far the value system of our culture has slipped in a few decades. In my mother’s day (1930-40s) young women feared the stigma of being immoral. If you weren’t a virgin you didn’t want anyone to know and sexually active girls lived in fear of what disclosure of that behavior would do to their reputation. Now the fear is of being known as a virgin. My daughter, who is honest and proud with respect to her virginity, says many of her friends have counseled her not to “be so open” about that. She lovingly ignores them, but it is indicative of the culture in which we live. She recently returned from health class to tell me that nearly 50 percent of 20-somethings are infected with a sexually-transmitted disease. Abortions are down, but teen pregnancies are up (which might explain the rate of STDs). Clearly our nation has a moral problem. A primary reason for the morality problem in our culture is that we have equated “love” with “sex”. Love has become so diluted and perverted a concept that it is considered synonymous with sex. The connection between sexual conduct and Biblical standards has been lost. Many consider sex not even to be related to morality. Our culture is in a state of moral collapse so that our churches discuss AIDS, condoms and abortion rather than morality.

We find that the Bible turns the secular view of love and sex upside-down.

Paul had already written much about the Christian “walk”, a figure of speech referring to one’s lifestyle or conduct. Using the metaphor of walking, Paul described the Christian life as a walk “worthy of our calling” (4:1-16), based upon a renewed mind (4:17-32), in love (5:1-6), in light (5:7-14) and in wisdom (5:15-6:9).

Now Paul called Christians to imitate God. In other words, walk as God walks. Being made in the image of God at creation and remade in the image of Christ upon salvation, our potential for Christ-likeness is a certainty. It’s not something we do, but something God did. However, it is still completed as a matter of our disciplined obedience. Our sanctification involves both divine sovereignty and human responsibility, although both are the work of God. We are the children of God, after all, which is both the motivation and the means by which  God made us His beloved children. We are grateful for the opportunity to be like Him. As His children, we share in His divine nature and it is through this new nature, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that we are able to serve Him and meet His standards (Romans 8:1-4).  The imitation of God, by the way, was often taught in the Old Testament  (Leviticus 19:2). The New Testament merely reiterated an old theme (Matthew 5:43-48; 1 Peter 1:16).

Paul instructed Christians to imitate God only in certain ways, specifically by demonstrating the same kind of love which God has shown us. There are certain dimensions of God’s attributes and character which belong only to Him. Theologians call these God’s incommunicable attributes. Self-sufficiency, sovereignty, and omnipotence belong only to Him; we cannot and should not imitate them. Satan wanted to be “like God” in these ways, after all (Isaiah 14:12-14). He wanted to do so in his own strength to serve his own purposes. He did not seek to bring glory and honor to God, but to usurp these for himself. There are some cults that teach that humans can become “gods”. We never find this in the Bible. We are to be like God in that we love as He first loved us, in Christ (John 13:34; John 15:12; Galatians 2:20; 1 John 4:7-10).

To this end, we can and should imitate God’s communicable attributes; His love, mercy, justice, longsuffering and grace should be evident in our lives.

The love which we are to manifest will not be defined as a three-letter word (sex); it is defined as a nine-letter word: sacrifice. Christ demonstrated His love for us on the cross of Calvary. His love, which sets the standard for biblical love, motivates our love. Christ’s death on the cross of Calvary was a two-fold sacrifice. As a sacrifice for sinners, Christ (in love) died on Calvary for our sins, sacrificing Himself for our benefit. Christ’s sacrificial death was prompted by love for the Father. His sacrifice was “a fragrant aroma,” one that gave the Father pleasure.

Our love is meant to be sacrificial, not self-serving. Christian love is expressed by acts of sacrifice to God. Christian love does not seek its own gratification, but the good of others, Christian love not only imitates God, it seeks to please Him by sacrificially serving others. This is why the Apostle Paul speaks of Christian service as the surrender and service of our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2).

Frequently, we hear love and doctrine spoken of as though they were opposite and opposing entities. Some think of “doctrine” as cold, irrelevant and unloving. They think of “love” as warm, fuzzy and unrelated to doctrine. People arrive at this conclusion through bad experiences, not through study of the Scriptures. Elsewhere, Paul wrote, “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5).

The goal of Paul’s doctrinal instruction was love. 1 Timothy 1 implies that his doctrine was the basis for a “pure heart,” a “good conscience,” and a “sincere faith.” From Ephesians, we can conclude that biblical doctrine defines God and His attributes. We cannot possibly imitate God without knowing God and His attributes. Biblical doctrine is our only reliable source of information concerning the God whom we seek to imitate. We should never consider doctrine and love enemies. Like the old song goes, “You can’t have one without the other.”

The pagan world confuses love with lust and immorality. The Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage and given the land of the Canaanites, one of the most morally depraved cultures of all time. Sexual immorality was rampant, so much so that God commanded the Israelites to kill every living Canaanite, and even their children and their cattle. The world of Paul’s day was little different. It’s been said that chastity was the one new virtue which Christianity introduced into the world. Ancient civilizations regarded sexual immorality so lightly that it was no sin at all. It was expected that a man should have a mistress and in places like Corinth, the great temples were staffed with stables of priestesses who were sacred prostitutes whose earnings supported the Temple. Cicero in his speech Pro Caelio, pled “If there is anyone who thinks that young men should be absolutely forbidden the love of courtesans, he is indeed extremely severe. I am not able to deny the principle that he states. But he is at variance not only with the license of what our own age allows but also with the customs and concessions of our ancestors. When indeed was this not done? When did anyone ever find fault with it? When was such permission denied? When was it that that which is now lawful was not lawful?”

Remember that, in contrast to the God of the Bible, the “gods” of the heathen were often immoral themselves, so that those who “worshipped” them did so by acts of immorality. To be an imitator of the heathen gods was often to be immoral.

Paul adamantly declared that Christian love and sexual impurity are incompatible. Three words are used to describe sexual immorality in this verse. The first (“immorality”) is the most general, referring to “immorality and sexual perversion of almost every kind.” The second (“impurity”) speaks of sexual sins in terms of uncleanness. The third term (“greed”) is somewhat debated among the scholars. Some think the term goes beyond sexual misconduct to material greed. I agree with those who see this as a lust or greed for sexual impurity. Many of us know coworkers or family who live for immoral sex and cannot seem to do without it, bringing Cicero’s words more weight.

Paul forbade Christians to engage in sexual immorality. We cannot pursue love and lust at the same time. One is of the spirit, the other of the flesh. Paul was saying more than this, however. His words imply that while individual saints should avoid immorality, they are also corporately responsible to assure that such sins are not committed by the saints.

We are our “brother’s keeper,” commanded not to allow sexual sins even to be named among us. Paul meant that the church should be characterized by such purity in sexual matters that no accusation or allegation of sexual misconduct can even be raised. Some scholars believe that Paul may have been saying that sexual immorality is not a fit subject for conversation among Christians.  Honestly, folks, there are certain subjects that are simply not edifying. In my opinion, sexual immorality is one of them. It simply does not fit edifying discourse that uplifts others in their faith and Christian conduct at Paul explained in Ephesians 4:29 (see also Philippians 4:8)

I am among those who think that Christians should enjoy sex within marriage. However, I deplore the recent efforts by some to have “an open discussion” of Christian sexuality. Yes, some of us may need to talk about past sexual traumas or current sexual dysfunctions, but we should choose our confessors circumspectly and with an eye always to what is more glorifying to God.  I think Christians should avoid the endless parade of television talk shows that focus on every kind of sexual sin in a most public way. Yeah, it’s curious making, no doubt, but we had best consider the strong words of warning God gave to the Israelites, forbidding them to satisfy their curiosity concerning the evil practices of the Canannites (Deuteronomy 12:29-31).

Ignorance is bliss when it comes to sin. Adam and Eve refused to believe this in the Garden of Eden, and their sons and daughters have ever since sought forbidden knowledge which does not edify, but only destroys.

Unfortunately, those sins which we think we would never commit are those which we will openly discuss. In verse 4 Paul moved from immoral conduct to immoral speech, forbidding his readers to joke about immoral subjects. There’s no real worth in breaking it down, but Paul does indicate that both crude, lowbrow sexual humor and high class dirty talk couched to seem clever are not suitable for saints. What’s wrong with humor that deals with immorality? First, it doesn’t take sin seriously enough, which is a deadly error. Second, it enables us to talk about things we would not dare to discuss seriously. Humor allows us to press the line of appropriateness further than we could normally. If we venture too far, we simply say, “Just kidding.” Third, joking about immorality often is the first step we take toward immorality itself. I wonder how many people “fell” into immorality after joking about it.

Lastly, and perhaps more importantly, joking about sex demeans it. Consider what we joke about. Joking makes “light” of something, mocking and demeaning that which someone else usually holds dear.

Now consider this: sex is a gracious gift from God. We shouldn’t make light of God’s gifts. We mock them when we do so, suggesting that lust, impurity or temptation comes from God when we know that only good things come from God  (James 1:13-17).  Instead of belittling God’s gracious gifts, Paul told his readers to “give thanks.” Thanksgiving is the appropriate response to God’s good gifts. If sin depreciates all that is holy, righteous and good, love appreciates those very items.

Just how seriously does God take immorality? Does He wink at sin?  Hardly! Not only do the sexually immoral not go to heaven, such sinners suffer the wrath of God (verse 6). God hates all sin, including the sin of immorality, and those who practice such sin find that God’s wrath awaits them.

Christians are sometimes accused of being “puritanical” and thus are wrongly charged with failing to hold sexual intimacy in high esteem. It is the unbelieving, immoral world which does not value sex highly enough. The pagan fails to regard sex highly enough, and thus they almost indiscriminately engage in sex with a host of partners. It is only the Christian who can rightly appraise the greatness of this gift from God.  Christians value sex, and thus they restrict its pleasures to one mate, within the context of marriage.

Those tools in our garage which my husband values most are those whose use he most restricts. He doesn’t loan his valuable tools to those who fail to appreciate them or who will not use them carefully and skillfully. Less valuable tools, he will loan almost indiscriminately. It is the same with sexual intimacy. If we value it highly, we will restrict its use.

There are those who would deceive Christians with “empty words” suggesting that sexual immorality, being “natural”, is not really “all that bad”. They suggest that God “winks” at sexual sin. Though the Bible speaks clearly, repeatedly, and emphatically on the subject of sexual morality (Hebrews 13:4; Revelation 21:7-8; Revelation 22:14-15), there are those who seek to obscure its teaching. They appeal to the flesh, urging us to follow our impulses. They tell us that God “wants us to be happy and fulfilled.” They assure us that there will be no judgment on such sin. “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5).  Yikes!  It could hardly be more clear that those who practice sexual immorality aren’t going to heaven. God saved us to deliver us from such sin, not to allow men and women to persist in their sin with impunity (John 8:10-11; Romans 6:1-2). The Bible often warns about such false teachers and not all come from outside the church, either (2 Peter 2:1-3; 2 Peter 2:18-22).

It’s appalling that much of the professing church, in an attempt to be “relevant” to the secular world, has succumbed to the values of a depraved culture rather than to hold fast to Scriptural values. Many mainline denominations not only refuse to call sexual immorality and perversion sin, they ordain those who openly practice such sin. Worse still, they not only practice sin, they openly promote it: “… and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:32). The final straw, as it were, is when immorality is not only tolerated in and by the church, it is done with a certain pride, and often justified in the name of love (1 Corinthians 5:1-2).

If our society has taught us that immorality is “making love,” the Bible exposes this as a lie. Immorality is never an expression of love, but rather of lust. Immorality is not the work of the Spirit, but the fruit of the flesh. Immorality is not to be practiced by Christians or tolerated in the churches. Christian love is defined as sacrifice, emulating the love which Jesus Christ demonstrated in His sacrifice for sinners at Calvary.

It may be that these words of Scripture have pricked your heart, and that you now look back upon previous immorality with remorse. The cross of Christ is the solution for all sin. Jesus forgave the woman caught in the act of adultery. Paul wrote of those who were once immoral, but who have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. That forgiveness is available to you in Christ (John 8:3-11; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

When we treat sex as the gift from God that it is and practice it only within the confines that the Giver has prescribed, we do so to the glory of God. This should be our highest ideal, the standard to which we always strive. It is not for our own selves that we exist, but for the glory of God and that which gives us pleasure is not truly for our own benefit (though benefit we may derive), but for the glory of God.  Whatever we do, we should do for the glory of God.

Stealing is a major problem in our nation. Many businesses suffer economically from theft by employees. People comfortably cheat on their taxes. I’m told that most retailers experience shoplifting rates of around 30 percent of available profit. My church experienced the theft of 700 gallons of heating fuel this year, causing the building to nearly freeze and costing the congregation $2500 dollars in fuel alone. Prisons themselves have a problem with theft, not by the inmates, as one might expect, but by the guards. In the process, prisons act as training grounds to make mediocre thieves more efficient.

Thievery has been around a long time. Paul wasn’t dealing with a new phenomenon in that regard, but he was dealing with new believers who had apparently been thieves in their former lives.

“The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.” Ephesians 4:28

This passage illustrates the dramatic change which faith in Jesus Christ should produce in an individual’s thinking and conduct. Please set aside any notion that this text is only addressed to thieves. It is the declaration of a Christian “work ethic” which every true believer should apply in their employment. Listen well to these words, seeking to understand and apply them to the glory of God, for the edification of the church, and for our own good. Stop Stealing! Let him who steals steal no longer …

There are several significant elements of this command which we must note. Surprisingly for some, Paul was writing to Christians. The proof of this is that he laid down the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith in Chapters 1-3. Anyone still sitting at the reading of this, halfway through the letter, was a Christian. Further, Paul wrote to those who had not yet given up stealing. He used the present tense: “Let him who steals steal no longer …” Strange as it may seem, Paul believed that there were those who continued to practice their former lifestyle as thieves after they became Christians. Apparently Paul believed thieves are not beyond the power of God and His gospel. Thieves can be saved, and Paul assumed they had been saved. This is reminiscent of the thief on the cross who became a believer (Luke 23:39-43). There are no sinners too lost for God to save through the shed blood of Christ (I Corinthians 6:9-11).

Interestingly, unlike many in the churches today, Paul did not believe that salvation automatically or instantly changes a man’s thinking or conduct. I believe God in His grace sometimes delivers sinners from specific sins at the time of their conversion; certainly I’ve heard testimony of radically changed lives, of addicts who received immediate release from their addictions, for example. This is not true of all Christians. As I understand the consistent teaching of Scripture, coming to faith in Christ does not end our struggle with sin, it begins it in earnest (Romans 6 and 7). If every Christian were instantly delivered from sin, the command of Paul here would be meaningless.

Paul did not believe that there is a general, once-for-all, life-transforming event in the life of the Christian, which instantly changes him from a sinner to a sinless saint. In short, Paul rejected perfectionism. There are those who teach that we can have complete victory over sin in this life. Many who do would not claim this victory comes at the time of our salvation, but through a second, life-transforming experience. By whatever means, they speak of a quantum leap in our spiritual life, an instant and total victory over sin. If this were so, Paul would have called for Christians to enter into this experience rather than to deal with sins individually and specifically.

This is not to say that Paul rejected the concept of watershed changes of heart and commitment. In Romans 6:12-14, 12:1-2, Paul urged people to put aside sin and commit to a life without sin. Realistically, though we may make life-long commitments, we must also expect a life-long struggle with sin. The sins which are woven into the fabric of my nature and character will dog my heels all my life. When I think victory finally come, I will find their ugly heads raised once again for me to deal with anew. The struggle with sin is life-long; total victory over sin comes only when we are transformed into the likeness of Jesus in Heaven.  Note that Paul understood the gospel and true Christian conversion requires a radically different way of thinking and behaving. There are some things requiring no change—indeed, should not change—when we come to faith in Christ. For example, our station in life need not change (1 Corinthians 7:17-24). But our former way of thinking and behaving must be set aside. 

Most of us approach the subject of stealing with a narrow mental picture of this evil. In our mind’s eye we see a man with a gun in his hand, a mask over his face, forcibly taking the property of another. Stealing has many more forms than this. Let us explore some of the many forms which stealing takes, broadening the range of practices which can be called stealing. I think we will find the church has more thieves among its members that we might think for stealing persists in the lives of professing Christians in many forms.

Let’s be honest here, folks. Even Christians can find themselves in circumstances where sin is almost the required response. Starving people will be tempted to steal if that is the only way to get food. Others steal for the thrill of it. Some of us are in businesses where making a profit is considered the highest value and cheating the customer is considered good business practice. How many of us have items in our garages and kitchens that were borrowed from someone and never returned? Doesn’t the government already take enough of my money? Why shouldn’t I take advantage of that loophole in the tax code? And that 10 percent of my income does me far more good in my pocket than in the Lord’s collection plate.

Both the Old Testament prophets and John the Baptist spoke against theft by oppression. In Jesus’ day, tax collectors had the power of government behind them. They abused this power by increasing taxes to include a healthy profit for themselves. Those resisting or refusing to pay these inflated taxes placed themselves against the government. Soldiers often abused their power to forcibly take the property of others and make it their own. Who could resist them? When robbed by a bandit, we can call upon the police for help, but who does one call on for help when robbed by the police?  And, make no mistake, I know police officers who take every advantage to get money from the public to put in the government coffers, even if the public is not actually in the wrong. A friend of mine who has a criminal record from a long distant youth is pulled over regularly just so cops can search his car, even though my friend is now a missionary who hasn’t broken even a traffic law in many years. He has, however, been cited many times for broken taillights that weren’t broken before the police pulled him over.

While government is probably the greatest purveyor of oppressive robbery, some of the most despicable examples are done by religious leaders. This was condemned in both the Old and New Testament (Ezekiel 34:2-6; Hosea 6:9; Matthew 23:25; 23:14).  Jesus implied that those who had preceded Him were thieves with intent to rob the sheep. He, on the other hand, came as the Good Shepherd, Who would give His life for the sheep. Some of these “thieves” may have claimed to be the Messiah, but many of them were simply Jewish religious leaders, whose task was to shepherd the flock, but instead abused their authority, taking advantage of foreigners who came to worship at the temple (Matthew 21:11-12), acquiring the houses of widows (Matthew 23:14) and victimizing those they were meant to protect. Many of the religious leaders were thieves. In the 21^st Century there are many who use religion to get rich without actually preaching the gospel.

A commentary I read really exercised my conduct meter because I am guilty of it and I think so are many Christians today. No one gets more pleasure out of finding a “good deal” than I. When I find something of value, which I am able to buy at a fraction of its true value, I pat myself on the back for having done so well. I often brag about my “great buy” to my family and friends. I have even had people say appreciatively in response to one of my bargains: “You didn’t buy that; you stole it!” I used to think this was a compliment. Now, I must consider the possibility that it is really an indictment. Did I knowingly or unknowingly gain at someone else’s expense? Did I buy something at an extremely low price because the seller was vulnerable? Did I avoid paying a fair price because I had power (money) and the other party was powerless (in desperate need)? One of the broad terms which the Bible uses as a synonym for stealing is “unjust gain.” A “just gain” is one where both parties—the buyer and the seller—gain. An unjust gain is one in which one takes advantage of the other. Let us beware that our “good buys” are not a “steal.”

“Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need.” Ephesians 4:28

If Paul’s first command was addressed to Christian thieves, the remainder of the verse applies to everyone. It sets down a work ethic which is diametrically opposed to the thief’s code and should be the standard for every Christian.

It is self-evident that stealing is not a noble occupation, certainly not for the Christian. Paul’s words indicate that stealing should be replaced by sweating. Stealing is the opposite of hard work. There are those who may sincerely wish to work, but cannot find jobs, and thereby feel “compelled” to steal. It’s not justified, but understandable. For most thieves, however, stealing is the lazy way out. When I was involved in our church’s jail ministry, there was a young man who made the comment that he would much rather break into a couple of coin-operated machines than to work as a laborer for unattractive wages. Stealing for him was much easier than work. I guess that’s one way to avoid the consequences of the Fall, but as we know, all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.

Paul wrote thieves should work with their own hands.  I don’t think this forbids “white collar” desk jobs, but I do think it gives dignity to “blue collar” workers. There’s nothing wrong with manual labor; in fact, Paul advocated it as good therapy for thieves.

A Christian work ethic requires more than just hard work. It also requires a worthwhile enterprise. We are commanded to perform with our own hands “what is good”, in other words that which is useful and beneficial. The world has many jobs, often involving hard work, but some jobs do not produce anything of value. The community is not benefited by useless labor. We should not only feel good after a day’s work because we have worked hard, but also because we have done something worthwhile.

We should work so that we will not become a burden to others (2 Thessalonians 3:8) and so that we might support our families rather than make them rely on others (1 Timothy 5:3-8, 16), but we also should work so that we may use what we make to help those who are truly in need.

Charity is a mindset foreign to thieves, but a requirement for the Christian. The criminal mind must be put off because it is part of the old man. In its place we must have our minds renewed, so that we think and act Christianity. The criminal mind is really no different than the fleshly mindset of the unbeliever. The criminal simply takes his self-centeredness outside the bounds of what society accepts. The corrupt mind, criminal or not, focuses on selfish “needs” or desires. Someone else has what I want, I take it. Why work for it if someone else has worked for it and I can take it from him?  The Christian mind should think in exactly the opposite way, focusing on the principle of grace, not greed. Work hard and set aside resources so that you are able to meet the needs of others. The corrupt mind uses its strength to steal from the weak; the Christian mind uses its strength to serve the weak. The corrupt mind seeks to gain at the expense of others. The Christian mind seeks the good of others, at our expense.

It should not come as news to us that robbery is wrong. By seeking to avoid work, robbery forces others to sacrifice to serve our own self-interest. It rebels against the sovereignty of God in the way He has distributed material things, and expresses unbelief, failing to trust God to provide for our needs.

There are far more thieves among Christians than we wish to believe. Ephesians 4 indicates that conversion alone does not eradicate this sin from our lives. It is an evil which must be acknowledged and put aside. If we are to put off stealing, we must replace it with hard work, producing what is good and useful, so that we can support ourselves and earn money to minister to others.

Salvation is a radical change of life as we turn from trusting in our own righteousness to trusting only in the righteousness of Christ. It entails a dramatically different way of thinking and behaving. Rather than seeking to gain at the expense of others, Christians are to give at their expense. They are to willingly accept the toil of work as God’s will, and as a way of earning the means by which they can minister to the needs of others.

Although the emphasis in this text is on the necessity of hard work, let’s be perfectly clear that works in no way contribute to salvation.  The work of Christ on the cross is the only means by which we are saved. This was God’s work, not our own. The gospel is the good news of salvation apart from works. It is a message of grace. As we are saved by grace, we are to serve God and man in a way that manifests grace, so we work that we may give to others freely, expressing to others the same grace that God has shown to us.. The gospel turns crooks into caring Christians and takers into givers.

We live in an angry world. On a recent youth trip to the big city of Anchorage, which is almost 400 miles away from my home town, I sought to save gasoline in the gas-hog van I was driving by making use of cruise control. The side benefit of this was that I could set the speed to right at the speed limit and know I was legal at all times.  There aren’t a lot of cars in the mountain pass between Fairbanks and Anchorage, but even so, we were passed by several angry drivers who were exercising their middle finger. By the time we reached Wasilla, 300 miles into our journey, the teens were wondering why so many drivers were mad at us. I could only shrug and say, “Well, I really don’t know because I’m in the slow lane going the speed limit and they have the option to pass me.” This is just one example of the rage that rules our national discourse. You see it everywhere. People are angry at one another and quite open about it, even when they’ve never seen one another before in their lives.

Paul had something to say about this 2000 years ago and Christians in the 21^st Century should heed his warnings.

“Since you put away lying, Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, ^{[Zch 8:16]} because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. ^{[Jms 1:19–20}; ^{Ps 4:4]} Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the Devil an opportunity.” Ephesians 4:25-27

“All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.” Ephesians 4:31-32

Anger and jealousy are frequently attributed to God in the Bible, so we must concede that not all anger and jealousy are evil. Taken to the logical conclusion, if we are to imitate God, then there must be times when we should be angry. Ephesians 4:27-28 is about righteous anger. There is a difference between righteous and unrighteous anger that is shown in how we can express righteous anger in a way that brings glory to God.

Please note that Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 4 are similar to the Book of Proverbs:

“Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness, or you’ll be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his foolishness, or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.“ Proverbs 26:4; Proverbs 26:12

In Proverbs, we are first instructed not to answer a fool according to his folly. In the very next verse, we are instructed to answer a fool according to his folly. Both statements are true and should be taken seriously. In the first proverb, we are taught that we ought not to allow ourselves to be brought down to the level of a fool by answering him as foolishly as he has spoken. On the other hand, we are to answer the fool in a way that gives him no satisfaction, lest he take himself too seriously. A fool is to be dealt with as a fool, but we should not make ourselves fools in the process.

Similarly, in Ephesians 4 we have two seemingly conflicting statements. Verse 26 seems to command us to be angry while verse 31 seems to command that we not be angry. The solution to this conundrum is, of course, that there are two kinds of anger. The anger which is a manifestation of our old self (the flesh) is to be put off. The anger which is a manifestation of God’s righteousness is to be put on.

The command, “Be angry!” just doesn’t sound right, does it? We are uncomfortable with such a command, seeking to avoid or explain this command away, because anger does not sound godly. Yet there are two kinds of anger. There is the “anger of man” which “does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:20), and the anger which is an expression of God’s righteousness. We are commanded here to be angry in a way that is righteous, which is a reflection of God.

We have many examples of righteous wrath in the Bible.  God was angry at Moses’ unbelief, which caused him to resist obeying God’s command to go to Egypt and confront Pharaoh (Exodus 4:14). God is angered by the mistreatment of those who are helpless, the strangers, the widows, and the orphans (Exodus 22:21-24). God was angered by men turning from trusting and worshipping Him to the worship of idols (Exodus 32:10; Deuteronomy 6:14-15; Judges 2:13-14; Ezra 8:22). God is angered by the grumbling and complaining of His people (Numbers 11:1, 10), which is often expressed by resistance to His appointed leadership (Numbers 12:9).

All of these offenses which arouse God to anger seem reasonable enough, but there are times when men commit offenses which seem minor to us, yet provoke God’s anger. In 2 Samuel 6, the ark of the covenant, captured by the Philistines, was housed in the temple of Dagon, the Philistine god. God shamed their “god”, causing a plague to fall on those in whose city where the ark was kept. Eventually, the ark was returned by the Philistines, transported on an ox cart. The Philistines didn’t know that God had stipulated in the Law that the ark must be carried by the Levites from poles placed through the rings on the ark. One would expect the ignorant Philistines to transport the ark on an ox cart, because they didn’t know any better. The Israelites apparently forgot the proper procedure as well and left the ark on the ox cart. The ox stumbled, the ark seemed in danger of falling off the cart, and Uzzah reached out to stabilize the ark. He was struck dead by God, which angered David, who could not immediately understand this outburst of godly wrath. Only later, upon reflection, did he realize the importance of obedience to God’s instructions.

Jesus was also occasionally angry. The Gospels record His anger at the Pharisees for their hardness of heart (Mark 3:5) and a similar anger expressed in the cleansing of the temple (John 2:13-22). This anger was implied in Jesus’ rebuke of Peter, when he chided Him for speaking of His sacrificial death (Matthew 16:23).

Godly men were also angered by unrighteousness. Moses was angered by Pharoah’s hardness of heart, his refusal to listen to God and let the Israelites go (Exodus 11:8). Moses, initially unshaken by Israel’s worship of the golden calf, became angry when he finally came down from the mountain and saw the extent of Israel’s sin (Exodus 32:1-20). David was later angry when Nathan told him the story of the rich man who stole a poor man’s little lamb, not knowing that he was the villain (2 Samuel 13:21). The whole epistle of Galatians is white hot with Paul’s expressed anger and outrage at the false teachings being broadcast in Galatia and that some Christians were embracing them. When illegally beaten and detained at Philippi, an angry Paul refused to allow his persecutors to simply release him, demanding and receiving a public apology, which probably protected the church at Philippi from future similar injustices (Acts 16:35-39).

Clearly, anger is not always wrong. Righteous anger has certain earmarks, which distinguish it from unholy wrath. Godly anger is God-like anger; godly people are angry when God is angry. It is anger consistent with the holy and righteous character of God. Godly anger is legal anger. It is not vigilante justice; it is legal justice. For example, abortion should make all Christians angry as it is the murder of innocent children. However, we are not permitted by God to burn abortion clinics as an expression of that anger, because such behavior would endanger other lives. Godly anger is not explosive; it is slow to be provoked. Repeatedly throughout the Bible, God warned sinful Israel through the prophets before pouring out His wrath on them. God’s anger does not have a hair trigger.  God does not take pleasure in expressing His anger in the judgment of men. He is patient in exercising His judgment, not “wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  God’s anger is always under control. It is not the result of “losing” His temper. Ungodly anger is excessive and abusive; godly anger never is. It remains under the control of the one expressing it; godly anger does not take control of the one who is angry.

If anger is not always evil, it can easily turn one to evil. Anger, like greed, is often the root of various evils. Ungodly anger may become the root of some of the evils addressed in Ephesians 4 and 5. Anger may prompt one to speak to a brother in a way that is destructive, tearing down and destroying rather than edifying and building up. Anger not properly resolved may lead to slander or false testimony; it has prompted people to steal or be unfaithful to their mate. Even anger that begins as righteous indignation can turn sour, becoming ungodly wrath. Note that immediately after Paul commands us to be angry, he warns us not to sin in our anger. Paul quoted from Psalm 4:4 here, which teaches us the importance of taking the Bible as a whole, as Paul himself did. 

David composed this psalm out of his own distress. Unrighteous men have scoffed at David’s honor, making it a reproach. They loved what is worthless and deceptive. David agonized over the wickedness of such men, and called upon God to deal with them. Beginning with an address to God, David pled that God would hear his prayer and respond. He then rebuked the wicked men who scorned his righteousness, identifying their sin and setting forth God’s truth. David instructed himself to act as a righteous man and not allow his anger to turn sour and become sin. He will not dwell upon his anger. He will leave the judgment of men to God and focus on worshipping God rather than seeking revenge.

In my opinion, Paul’s words, “Do not let the sun go down on your anger,” recorded in Ephesians 4:26, are prompted by his grasp of David’s words in Psalm 4. David would not allow his anger to remain to trouble his sleep and sour his worship of God. While we most often think of this command as an instruction to make our peace with men (usually our mate) before we go to sleep for the night, I think David felt the only real solution to his anger was obtaining peace from God. Unfortunately, confrontation and discussion may not resolve the problem which produces our anger. After having done what we can do, it is only as we turn the problem over to God that we find the rest which David describes in his psalm.

Paul’s mention of the devil should provide the Christian with strong motivation to avoid sinful anger. He warned that we are not to “give the devil an opportunity” through our anger. Satan may take advantage of unresolved anger to promote some other sin, such as slander, strife, or even physical violence. Satan would surely seek to use our anger to create divisions within the body of Christ. Many churches have been split over petty differences between two saints (Philippians 4:2-3). Satan, as the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10) will surely use our sin, spawned by anger, as an occasion to accuse us before God, perhaps using us to accuse our brethren. Satan recognizes anger as a fertile field, capable of producing all kinds of sin, and sin is his specialty.

Paul provided only one method to avoid letting righteous anger turn to sin. He instructed his readers not to “let the sun go down on our anger.” While righteous anger should be slow to originate, it should be quickly dispelled. Corrosive in effect, anger is designed to prompt us to act, to get us “off the dime” of passivity, but it is not meant to be our ongoing fuel, for it will destroy us.

How are we to act on our anger, producing a righteous and profitable response without giving Satan an opportunity? Paul did not elaborate here, though other Scriptures do spell out what is usually required of us. “Church discipline” as described in Matthew 18 is the course of action we should take. This process for dealing with our anger toward a brother is Christ is outlined in several texts. The first step is confrontation. The offended one or the one who recognizes that God is being offended is to confront the offender privately without broadcasting the complaint. If the offender repents, the matter is closed. If not, then the matter must become more and more public until it is resolved. If the sinning Christian persists in sin, he must finally be put out of the church and deprived of the benefits of fellowship. If the sinning Christian accepts correction, our anger should be converted to forgiveness. If discipline is necessary, our anger should turn to grief. In any case, our anger should not be allowed to linger and turn into bitterness.

In those cases in which our brother is angry with us, we also have a responsibility to bring matters to a conclusion dispelling anger and reflecting the righteousness of God. We are to go to that brother who has an offense against us, and seek to bring about a reconciliation as quickly as possible (Matthew 5:23-26).

There will be those cases where confrontation is not possible, or advisable. Such seems to have been the case with David in Psalm 4. It is unlikely the sinners described there would have been amendable to godly discipline. The Scriptures provide us with the “ultimate cure” for our futile anger; leave our wrath to Him Who alone can judge men in truth and justice:

Let’s be honest, folks! Most of our anger is the “wrath of man” and not the “holy anger” of God. When someone cuts us off on the freeway or is going “too slow” in “our” lane, we haven’t been sinned against. We’ve merely run up against another human and decided to be angered by their actions. We should want to see less and less of this self-centered anger in our lives.  Conversely, however, this text commands us to more righteous anger than most of us are comfortable with. We all recognize that “road rage” is wrong, but we indulge in it quite often. Yet when it comes to righteous anger, many of us fail to follow God’s commands. If God is angered by sin, then we should be angered by it. We 21^st century Christian, like the saints in Corinth (1 Corinthians 5), seem to be more willing to accommodate sin than to condemn it and we frequently refuse to remove it from our midst. All too often, I see parents—Christian parents—who think of the sinful actions and attitudes of their children as cute rather than something needing correction. Many Christians are not angered by rebellion, irate over injustice, distressed by abortions, immorality and other sin and there are Christian teachers who actually teach that we shouldn’t be angered by these things. We post-modern Americans tend to want to shade sin in hues of gray rather than seeing it as God sees it. If we were to see sin as God does, it would make us very angry.  When we are angry, then we should deal with sin as God has directed us, so that our anger is dispelled and does not lead us to sin. We need to confront the sinner without minimizing the sin and seek its solution in genuine repentance. In many marriages that flounder on the rocks of divorce, the root problem is anger that has not been righteously expressed and dispelled. In many families, division and discord stem from failure to obey Paul’s instructions concerning anger. In many churches, the unity of the body of Christ has been hindered by the lack of righteous anger. Let us seek to be both good and mad to the glory of God and for the health and unity of His body, the church.

My good friend Mark works with runaway teens in the Los Angeles area. The ministry he works with was started by his foster-father more than 30 years ago, but has expanded to include about a dozen full-time missionaries and 40 or so volunteers. They are by no means the only mission group or secular organization reaching out to runaways in that area. Most of the mission organizations cooperate with one another and one or two of the secular organizations cooperate with the faith-based groups.

Not so long ago, Mark encountered a supposedly faith-based group that preaches an unusual gospel. They claim to be Christians, but they tell the teens that they don’t need to change their lifestyle. Just accept Jesus and all will be well. They can continue having sex, selling their bodies and doing drugs. Jesus will still love them and understand their lifestyle choices.

When Mark first heard this message, he thought he had misunderstood. He figured it was an “emergent” group that was focusing on evangelism and only afterward might mention that, oh, yeah, Jesus wants you to live a different sort of life. In curiosity, he asked his teenage son to blend with a crowd or two to find out the specifics. His kid came back with a tale to tell, because he had actually engaged one of these missionaries in conversation and, no, they don’t think Christians need to show a lifestyle change after salvation. “Some of the best witnessing I’ve ever done has been in a bar over a beer or three,” the street evangelist said.

Mark then went to speak with the evangelist privately and came away shaking his head. This man is devoted to the idea of presenting Jesus without “any of the downsides.” He downplays the cross of Christ and Jesus’ death. This, of course, necessitates avoiding discussion of the resurrection. He instead focuses on Jesus’ ascension. He told Mark, who has been working successfully with runaways since grad school and is himself a product of his foster-father’s early ministry, that “the discussion of sin is a millstone around the necks of those who would come to Christ.” He advocates telling people that their life circumstances are God’s way of showing them their mission field. Just accept Christ and tell others about Him. How will runaways hear about Christ unless other runaways stay in the community and tell them?

I think Paul would be surprised to hear this was a “Christian” message. It’s certainly not a message Paul ever preached.

Christ did not save us in order that we may live any way we choose. He saved us to live godly lives, which are radically different from our lifestyles as unbelievers.  As doctrine informs conduct, the general principle of godliness informs the specific patterns of conduct. 

“Since you put away lying, Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, [Zch 8:16] because we are members of one another.  Be angry and do not sin. [Jms 1:19–20; Ps 4:4] Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the Devil an opportunity. The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. No rotten talk should come from your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of someone in need, [Lit for the building up of the need] in order to give grace to those who hear. And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit, who sealed you [Or Spirit, by whom you were sealed] for the day of redemption. All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.” Ephesians 4:25-32

Our goal, as Paul indicated, is to conduct ourselves in a manner that is worthy of our calling in Christ. In Ephesians 4 we find many of the specific issues of conduct in the Christian life.  Do not lie, because for Christians, it is like lying to ourselves. It’s okay to be angry, but not okay to rage. Reconcile with your neighbor before the day is done, so that Satan can’t find an opportunity to let you hang onto that anger. It is acknowledged that thieves steal, but a thief who has become a Christian must stop immediately and find an honest job, so he can feed himself and those who need his help. Watch what comes out of your mouth! Try to be uplifting to those around you. Above all do not grieve the Holy Spirit, Who keeps you for God until the day of redemption. Recognize that what was just said follows into the next list. They are not separate; they are conjoined and dependent upon one another. If one is to “not grieve” the Holy Spirit, one must set aside bitterness, anger, wrath, insult and slander as well as all immorality. Be kind and compassionate with your fellow Christians, forgiving one another, because God forgave you.

The conduct which God requires of Christians should not come as a surprise to new Christians after they have been saved. The gospel, as preached by John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles, called men to repentance as well as to faith in Christ. Men were required to turn from their sin to Christ, and it was clear that this meant a new way of life.

As the example I opened with indicates, the “gospel” of our day is not so clearly stated. It is as though we fear that men will refuse to receive Christ if they know what is involved. The irony is that the gospel, the true gospel, is the power of God unto salvation. The more we seek to rid the gospel of its unappealing aspects (from the unbeliever’s point of view) the more we rob it of its power. We then rely more on our cleverness and deceit than on the power of the Holy Spirit to convince and convert lost sinners. When we share our faith, let’s be honest; let’s tell it like it really is. God can use that!

While salvation and sanctification are the work of God, they require human response. God is sovereign in the salvation and spiritual growth of those whom He has chosen. He also ordained that people are to be informed of the gospel and His standards of conduct. We are to act in obedience to His commands, not in our own strength, but in His. Ephesians does not teach a passive view of our spiritual life. God has made every provision for our sanctification. We are to obediently make use of them for His glory and our good.

In this passage, Paul dealt with three issues that are inter-related: anger, speech and thievery. Because these are such large topics that heavily affect our churches today, I will deal with them separately. Doctrine informs our conduct and, whether we humans like it or not, conduct is our specific actions that are done in the world in which we live. They are our testimony as much as the story we tell of how we came to the Lord. They may be a more visible testimony than anything we might say specifically about God. It is therefore important that we understand what constitutes Christian conduct and how we may show that before the world.

It probably has something to do with living in Alaska most of my growing up, but I hate to throw stuff away. In Alaska, there were higher costs associated with buying almost anything. It had to be shipped through a foreign country, after all. Maybe I just don’t pay that much attention when I’m in the Lower 48, but there seem to be an awful lot of garage sales here and many of us Alaskans have made careers out of “dumpster diving.”  You find some good stuff if you have an eye for reusable junk!

Often when I find someone else’s “garbage”, I do not use it for its originally intended use; I adapt it to some other use. A rusted wheelbarrow in my front yard found new life as a planter. The bottom of an old solvent container is the base of our fire pit. My husband’s fish smoker is an old freezer.

God has done something similar with every Christian. When we were in our natural sinful state, we were fit for nothing but the trash heap because we were useless to God. When God saves us through the work of His Son, He transforms us into something entirely new. Through His Spirit working in us personally and through other members of the body of Christ, He equips us for serving Him. He gives us a new identity and a new function.

“Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more [literally, greedily].”  Ephesians 4:17-19

Faith in Christ demands a radical change in the lifestyle of the believer from the way he once behaved. The words “no longer” indicate that Paul’s readers once lived in the way they are expected to reject now. Paul commanded that they cease living the way they used to live and instead live in a way that glorifies God. This command deals with the Christian’s new relationship to the world. Once, as a part of the world system, we were alienated from God -- strangers to His kingdom. Now, as those in Christ, we are citizens of God’s kingdom and members of His body, but we have become strangers and pilgrims to this world (Hebrews 11:13-16; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:11).

This command also deals with the Christian’s relationship to the culture in which we live. While the Ephesians saints once lived like Gentile heathen, their fellow-Ephesians still lived this way. This probably resulted in the persecution of Gentile saints, since their godliness posed a threat to the sinful ways of their peers (1 Peter 4:1-6). There was likely considerable pressure on the Gentile believers to continue to live as they used to. Paul did more than simply command his readers to cease living like unbelievers; he commanded them not to conduct themselves as their unbelieving Gentile peers. Gentile saints were a part of a Gentile culture and it was this culture that threatened to influence them to live as they formerly had. The “world” is, mostly, the culture in which we live and it seeks to pressure us to conform to its values, standards, goals, and conduct. The “world” which most influences us is the culture in which we have grown up. Christianity, Paul implied, often runs across the grain of our culture, and thus we must determine to follow Christ, ceasing to march to the drum of the world in which we live. Peer pressure, contrary to God’s will and His Word, is expected and should be rejected by Christians, so that we may walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called (4:1).

Paul maintained that the moral conduct of men is the outgrowth of his mental processes. The dominant thought here, as elsewhere in Ephesians, is that doctrine determines conduct. What we believe affects the way we behave.  Francis Shaeffer was a student of philosophy, who noted that immorality was so rampant in western culture because it had been conceived by godless philosophers using colleges and universities as institutes of propaganda. Writing in the 70s and 80s, Shaeffer echoed Paul’s warning about the dangers of philosophy, which can be better understood in the light of his teaching on the relationship between fallen man’s reasoning and his conduct. The way a man thinks does bear heavily on his activities.

The pre-Christian conduct of the Ephesian saints was the outgrowth of wrong doctrine. Paul spoke of their impairment as the “futility of their thoughts.” Futility is not stupidity. Don’t mistake the two. Futile efforts are efforts which do not materialize into something worthwhile. Paul would not call Plato, Aristotle, or Socrates, Gentile men of brilliant intellect, stupid. They were futile because they failed to produce anything of lasting or eternal value. Paul inspected the foundations of human thinking which is the premise that the basis of our thoughts determine the results of our thinking. For example, the unbeliever (as a rule) thinks that life ends with death. Consequently, suffering is avoided and pleasure is pursued (1 Corinthians 15:32). The Christian believes that real life begins with faith in Christ and never ends. Because of this, suffering is joyfully (not necessarily happily) endured for Christ’s sake, with the assurance that we will eternally enjoy the glory which awaits us (2 Corinthians 4:13-18).  The believer in Christ understands that he or she has been chosen for salvation for the purpose of bringing glory to God. Consequently, all that we do should be to His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). The unbeliever, epitomized by the writings of Ayn Rand, sees all of life revolving around his own personal interests; self-interest is always the focus and servanthood is viewed with contempt and considered only useful if it somehow promotes our own self-interest. Furthermore, the thinking of the believer is based upon the revelation of truth in the Scriptures, while the thinking of the unbeliever is based only upon the individual’s subjective perception of truth and reality. It is no wonder that the mind set on the flesh is vastly different from the mind set on the Spirit (Romans 8:5-9). A believer’s mind must be radically transformed (Romans 12:2).

After describing the mental condition of heathen Gentiles, Paul disclosed the causes of their mental dullness. Their thinking was futile because they were ignorant. Ignorance also does not refer to one’s intelligence or knowledge, but to the “knowledge” which unbelievers possess, that in which they place their trust, and from which they base their actions. It may be brilliant, but when compared with God’s truth, it is ignorance.

The mind of man and the heart of man are closely intertwined. When Paul wrote of the “hardness of their heart” he referred to the impact which the hardened heart has on the minds of fallen men. Hardness of heart keeps one from seeing things as they really are. This was true of Pharaoh, who could not see the “finger of God” in the plagues of the Exodus, even when his own servants pointed it out to him (Exodus 8:19). It was even true of the Lord’s disciples, who could not understand what He was teaching them (Mark 6:52; 8:17).  The mental condition of fallen humans ultimately works itself out in the moral lives of these unbelievers. Men who are excluded from the life of God do not reflect the righteousness of God in their conduct. Thus Paul described the moral outcome of the Gentiles’ mental decadence: “They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.” (verse 19). Does this not describe the 21^st century moral environment, when many people change sexual partners more often than they change clothing styles and believe that this is normal behavior?

Those who are mentally blind become morally callused. They lose any sensitivity to what is right or wrong. Consequently, they give themselves over to the pursuit of fleshly pleasure.  2 Timothy 3:1-4 warns that in the end times, things will be difficult, men will love themselves and money, they will become boastful, arrogant and mocking. Children will disobey their parents and become ungrateful. They will be marked by immorality, a lack of love, and malicious gossip. They will lack self-control, hate what is good, be treacherous, reckless and conceited and they will love pleasure rather than God.  Such men are not just overcome by strong fleshly passions, they actively engage in the pursuit of these passions. Rather than dabble in sin, they immerse themselves in it, passionately pursuing the satisfaction of their fleshly appetites. They are greedy for fleshly pleasure, addicted to the pursuit of satisfying their fleshly urges.

“But that is not how you learned about the Messiah, assuming you heard Him and were taught by Him, because the truth is in Jesus,” Ephesians 4:20-21

Paul transitioned from the mental decay of the Gentiles to their moral decadence. He shifted his attention from the Christian’s obligation to resist and reject the ungodly pressures of the world system to their need to identify and resist internal temptation. Before pursuing this fully, Paul reminded his readers that he wasn’t teaching anything all that new, but rather reiterating what they had already learned.  I believe Paul was referring to the Ephesians’ prior conversion experience, seeking to show the continuity between his teaching in this epistle and that which they had already received.

In this passage, Paul used some terms that might seem unconventional to 21^st century peoples. “Learning Christ” is not typically the way one describes coming to Christ today. While we do use some Biblical terms like “born again”, we often use nonbiblical terms. For example, we talk of “inviting Christ into our lives,” which is both existential and self-oriented. We talk little of “learning” and we fail to see how closely doctrine and evangelism are related. Many Christians think “Let’s get them saved first and then we can teach them doctrine.” Paul assumed otherwise, perhaps because he was writing to folks who came to faith directly or indirectly through his ministry at Ephesus (Acts 19). Coming to Christ, as Paul believed and practiced, was not just an experience. It was an ongoing process of learning Christ.

Not so long ago, I read a statement by an Emergent leader, “I don’t worship doctrine, I worship Jesus.” Paul would never tolerate such mindless talk. How does one “learn Christ” without learning the doctrines which tell us who He is? Is Christ only a man, or is He also God? The difference is of great importance, and it is only from learning the doctrines of Christ in the Scriptures that we will find the answer.

How biblical is our evangelism compared to that which we find in the Scriptures? Many churches approach evangelizing like a sales presentation, seeking to get to the “bottom line” as quickly as possible. The goal is to get some kind of assent to trusting in Christ. When Jesus evangelized, He taught. Everywhere we find Jesus speaking in the gospels, He taught. It often took a considerable period of time for the truth He was teaching to be grasped, and this was only through the ministry of God’s Holy Spirit (Matthew 16:17). When Paul went to the synagogues, he taught from the Scriptures, demonstrating that Jesus was the promised Messiah (Acts 9:19-22; 13:5, 14).

As I understand Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:20-21, Paul assumed that those who have come to Christ have already learned much about Him, that they understand the nature of the Christian life which should result from trusting in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Suffering should come as no surprise, if our evangelism has been true to the teaching of God’s Word (Luke 9:23-26; Acts 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12). There is no “small print” left out of our gospel which surprises after conversion.

There is a reason why faith in Christ and learning are closely related. This is explained in verse 21: “If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, …”

Jesus is not just a teacher; He is even more than the teacher. Jesus is the truth: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me’” (John 14:6). Jesus is the truth. To come to Him in faith is to come from death to life, from condemnation to justification, from sin to sanctification, and from ignorance to true wisdom. You cannot come to faith in Jesus Christ without changing your thinking. This is what true repentance is all about—changing your mind, and coming to see things as God does. Thus, it is completely natural that Paul would link evangelism with discipleship. Coming to Christ by faith is the result of learning about Him (Romans 10:13-17), just as it is also the beginning of learning.

The lifestyle which Paul set out as God’s standard for Christians should also not come as a surprise to any recent convert to Christianity.  As radically different as it is from our former way of life, the Christian lifestyle is simply the outworking of the gospel which we should already have learned in coming to Christ. If, as may be the case today, some have not learned these general things of which Paul speaks in verses 17-24, then the gospel has not been fully or faithfully proclaimed.

“[Y]ou took off your former way of life, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed [renew (as a command)] in the spirit of your minds; you put on  (as a command) the new man, the one created according to God’s likeness _{^{[Col 3:10]}} in righteousness and purity of the truth.” Ephesians 4:22-24

In Ephesians 2, Paul described the unbeliever as being subject to the world, the flesh, and the devil. In most instances, the devil exercises control over lost men by means of the external pressure of the world and corresponding internal inclinations of the flesh. Paul instructed the Christian to turn from the corrupting influences of the world in which we live (our culture) and to “put off the old man” and put on the new.  Being a writer, I love the metaphor that conjures – taking off the filthy robe of flesh and donning a clean robe of light.

Beginning in general terms, Paul explained that our fleshly behavior is an expression of our inner fleshly nature just as Christian conduct is the expression of the inner man, created and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Paul emphasized the continuity between our conversion to Christ and our conduct in Christ, which should be evident in our manner of life.  In Ephesians 2, Paul had already explained that “in Christ,” our old man has been crucified. Daily, we should crucify our flesh and put aside conduct which springs from fleshly desires. “In Christ” we were made alive, raised from the dead and seated with Him in Heaven. We should therefore walk in newness of life, manifesting the work of the Spirit of God in and through us, for it is by His power that we are both motivated and enabled to live in a way that pleases God (Romans 8:1-4, 10-11)

It is almost impossible to overestimate the importance of the truths conveyed in the passage in this passage. Our commitment to the general exhortations found in verses 22-24 will greatly affect our compliance with the commands that follow.  The Christian lifestyle will not be lived out by those with a pagan mindset. It is the Christian mindset as described in Ephesians 4 that works itself out in the conduct which befits our calling in Christ. Allow me to point out some of the inferences of Paul’s teaching in our text and its implications in our practical daily living.

Our pagan culture believes that the past is the key to the present. What we think and how we act, we are told, is the result of our past. It is only by understanding our past that we can live as we should in the present. In other words, the past controls the present.

The Bible reverses this. Paul taught us that our thinking and conduct in the past was the outworking of our unregenerate thinking. Paul insisted that we refuse to allow our past to control us in the present. Instead, Paul taught us that what we now are, in Christ, is what should override and overrule our past thinking and behavior. What we now are in Christ should cause us to put away what we once thought and did as unbelievers. Our past should not be resurrected, analyzed and dwelled upon, it should be buried in an unmarked grave. It is not what we were that matters, but what we are. Let us ponder what we are, in Christ, and not what we were without Him.

In our culture, what you believe seems to have taken second place to how you feel. The sensitive, intelligent, and probing thing to ask these days is, “How do you feel about that?” Paul would focus us on what we believe. What we feel is often a far cry from what is true, and even from what we believe. Faith, as I understand it, calls upon men to act on the truth God has revealed in His Word, not on how we feel. Abraham did not feel like leaving his homeland and relatives to go to an unnamed place, but he obeyed God. Neither did he feel like offering up his son, Isaac, but he was willing to obey. Jesus did not feel like going to the cross of Calvary, but He obeyed the will of His Father. Let us act on what we know to be the truth as revealed in the Word of God, more than on how we happen to feel. As a rule, faith acts on the facts of God’s Word and disregards our feelings.

If the renewing of our minds is so vital to our Christian life, how is it done? The Bible is not a book of formulas, but I would like to focus your attention on one key element: the Word of God. When a person wants to learn a foreign language, what is the most effective way to do so? It is to enter into that culture and language and become saturated with it. This is how our children learn to talk and to think as we do. If we would desire to have our minds renewed, then we must find God’s thoughts and immerse ourselves in them. His thoughts have been incarnated in Christ, the Living Word, and recorded in the Bible, His inspired written Word.

I observe that most Christians spend more time in front of their television sets, radios, magazines, and books than they do in their Bibles. Even many Christian stations and publications contain much that is secular thinking sprinkled with a smattering of spiritual jargon. If we would think God’s thoughts after Him, we will find them only in His Word. Let us become so saturated with His Word that we begin to reflect His ways, His values, His goals, His methods. This is the renewing of the mind which Paul called for.

I am always amazed at how the human body works. My right hand and my left hand have different functions from one another and yet they work together to accomplish many tasks. My eye definitely doesn’t have the same function as my foot, but the two work together to help me, for example, hike in the woods. If the whole of my body only had one function, I think the body would be very limited indeed, but because my various parts due diverse jobs, everything works together for my benefit.

Similarly, the Christian church is called a body and I don’t think Paul used that metaphor loosely. Hiss call for unity was not a call to create something that had never existed before. Jesus had already created unity when He formed the Jewish and Gentile believers into one body – the Church. Our job, then as now, is to preserve the unity Jesus has already formed by divine design and creation.

Paul had already discussed this unity in the letter.  There is “one body,” the body of Christ, the church. It is in this “one new man” that all who are saved, Jew or Gentile, are reconciled to God and to each other. There is “one Spirit,” the Holy Spirit, who has sealed us (Ephesians 1:13) and who enables us to grasp the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance, and the surpassing greatness of His power (1:17-19). It is through the Spirit that the church is made the dwelling place of God (2:22).

We all share a common (one) hope, the hope of His calling (1:18), the full enjoyment of the blessings which God has brought about in Christ (1:3). We have one Lord, Jesus Christ, Who redeemed us by His blood and Who is the head of the church (1:7, 22). We all share a common faith, all of us being saved in exactly the same way (Romans 3:19-30; 4:1-16; Galatians 2:16). Whether Jew or Gentile, we all have only one baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 6:1-11). We all have one God and Father, the Father of Jesus Christ. With so much in common, we can see why Paul could speak of something which already exists in fact, and which needs to be preserved and promoted. The unity which we share because of salvation should show in our practice.

There is an indicated change of subject in verse 7. In Verses 1-6, Paul wrote of what all Christians possess in common, which is the basis of our unity. In verses 7-16, Paul wrote of what Christians possess individually and uniquely, which also contributes to Christian unity.

How can diversity contribute to unity? Consider Adam and Eve in Eden. In what way would Adam and Eve better become one flesh, by being created exactly alike or by being made very different from each other, but in a way that caused them to correspond to each other? The answer is obvious, isn’t it? The differences between Adam and Eve were by divine design, so that their unity would be complete. Apart from each other, they were not complete. This is why God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable [literally, corresponding to] for him” (Genesis 2:18).

Unity in the Church is of a similar fashion. We share in common all of the things mentioned in verses 4-6. Nevertheless, we also are distinct because God has given each of us different spiritual gifts and different spheres of service. As each believer discovers his place of service and does the tasks assigned to him, the whole body grows and fulfills its mission and ministry. (4:16). While echoed in Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:14, and 1 Peter 4:10-11, the list in Ephesians 4 has some unique areas of emphasis.

Paul linked spiritual gifts with the descent and ascent of Jesus through the use of a psalm. Paul had been writing about the attitudes that reflect Christ in our lives, which are attitudes that build Christian unity. The base attitude is humility. Jesus had to humble Himself to enter hell for us so that He might conquer death. His humility allowed Him to once more ascend into Heaven. This is a clear message to us. If, even for Jesus, the way to Heaven was “down”, then the way to greatness is service. If we want to employ spiritual gifts consistently with the Gospel, we must humble ourselves as Jesus humbled Himself.

Paul didn’t provide a long list of gifts; the ones he touched on are a small and distinct group, differing from any other list in the New Testament.  These are gifts that might be called “foundational”. They are necessary and essential for other gifts and ministries.  The apostles and prophets laid the foundation for the church and ministry by inscribing the teaching and doctrine of our Lord (Ephesians 2:20; 3:5). Evangelists proclaim the gospel defined by the apostles and prophets. They are the obstetricians of the faith. And pastor-teachers are the pediatricians. All Christian ministry is dependent upon the operation of these gifts. Although apostles and prophets are probably not still with us today in the way that they were needed in the New Testament churches prior to the availability of the Bible, the latter two gifts continue to function in the church today.

The emphasis in Paul’s writing is not on identifying your gift, but on finding your place of service for the exercise of the gift(s) God has given you. Romans 12:3-8 and 1 Peter 4:10-11 make it seem impossible to be a good steward of God’s grace without knowing what our gift(s) are, but this often becomes an excuse to delay service until one has discovered their gift. Here in Ephesians we find a happy solution. Paul does not urge the saints to “discover their gift”, but to find their place of service in the body of Christ. I believe that when we seek to find a place of service, the gift(s) God has given us will manifest themselves. Identifying our gift(s) might seem difficult, but finding a place of service is not. We know, generally, what God has commanded Christians to do – care for orphans and widows (James 1:27), contribute to the needs of the saints and practice hospitality (Romans 12:13), admonish the unruly and encourage the fainthearted (1 Thessalonians 5:14). If we look around, we’ll find those things that need doing. We should give high prior to those things which we do best, so that we are good stewards of God’s gifts. He’s given us them to enable us to serve. While we serve, we will discover them.

The emphasis here is also not on the individual serving, but on the contribution the individual makes to the corporate body of Christ. Yes, individuals are addressed here and each believer has his/her own unique set of gifts, but the emphasis falls on the church. Often lessons on spiritual gifts are directed so as to put the gifted person in the place of prominence. Thus status is attached to the gift and people find themselves becoming haughty and superior because of the significance of their gifts. While significance is an important motivator for people, the focus is wrong when we’re considering ministry. Spiritual gifts are not given to us for our benefit; they are given to build up the body of Christ through our service. They facilitate church ministry for the church is Christ’s visible manifestation on the earth.

Not so long ago, I had a conversation with a local pastor who left Southern Baptist circles to become a non-denominational minister at a large church. He must have said 25 times in the course of an hour lunch “How is your church ministering to you?” This betrays a problem for me, because I believe that believers today go to church, often, to be ministered to rather than to minister. They seek a blessing, rather than becoming the blessing. They care less about whether Christ was exalted in the church service or others edified, and ask instead “Was I blessed?” They use their gifts to glorify themselves rather than to glorify Jesus.

Every spiritual gift has its own particular function. Paul set forth the goal of every gift functioning in the corporate body for the maturity of the church. When each member of the body ministers to the body of Christ, the church is built up toward the goal of Christ-likeness.

Paul contrasted maturity and immaturity within the church. The early church passed through its stage of infancy and individual churches also began at the “child” stage and grew to maturity. The same is true of individual believers. We all start out in need of aid in our walk. Paul focused on the instability and vulnerability of children, who have short attention spans and innocent spirits. Children are gullible. An immature church is unstable, given to doctrinal shifts based upon the latest fad and easily seduced by religious con artists.

Paul didn’t want this for the Ephesian church. His goal was for the church to grow up to maturity through the active involvement and ministry of the individual members who were also in the act of maturing. A mature church is marked by doctrinal purity and stability and by members who are able to discern when someone holds a different doctrine and refuse to turn away from the truth. A mature church is growing in Christlikeness. Not that any individual or body of believers ever reaches complete maturity, but we should be marked as growing toward that goal. A hallmark of the mature church would be a commitment to the truth of God’s revealed Word and a desire to be more like Jesus every day. An acceptance of His Headship would require an acknowledgment that we are not, nor will we ever be, the head of the Church. Jesus is the only Head of His church.

A Christian’s conduct is supposed to be based upon and consistent with his calling in Christ. We are called to become active, functioning members of the body of Christ. As the church is the dwelling place of God in the Spirit, Christians should demonstrate their obedience as we fulfill our calling. Christian unity is not optional; it’s a mandate. We possess it and we are called to preserve it, but we are also called to strive for more of it. It is preserved through a servant spirit, whereby believers respond to God by being gracious to our fellow Christians, recognizing that none of us is perfect.

It is important to answer a couple of questions for yourself. Are you in the body of Christ? I don’t mean do you belong to a church or denomination, although I think these are important. What I am asking is – have you trusted Jesus as God’s only way to salvation? Have you received eternal life by trusting that Jesus died in your place, suffered for your sins, and rose from the dead? This is the mark of one who is “born again” – a member of His church. Nothing else buys you a ticket on the salvation train.

The second question is similar. Are you an active part of a local church? The Bible never shows anyone coming to faith in Christ apart from an association with a local church where they could find a place of service to the body of Christ. This does not mean that your primary service will only be within a local church, but every saint should be associated and involved in a local church. This will aid you in your maturity in Christ, but it will also allow you to strengthen Christ’s body as well.

The individual and the corporate body work hand in hand. This is an important relationship that many modern Christians try to negate, but if you are to grow in Christ the way that He would have you to grow, you must first come to Him by faith and then associate yourself with others who have come to Him by faith. It is in this association that you find accountability, support, correction, admonishment, a place to use the gifts God has given you, and praise for your growth. Just as an infant does not start out living on its own, a new Christian was meant to join a local congregation of Christ’s family. The primary purpose for doing so, however, is not to be fed, but to feed. We are meant to be ministers for Jesus Christ.

Modern Christians tend to skip the phrase “for the training of the saints in the work of ministry”. We bring our own theology to this passage, hoping we can leave the ministry to the apostles, prophets, evangelists, preachers and teachers. God doesn’t give us that option. The last group of people involved in ministry is the saints, (hagioi, holy ones). It does not mean “those who are holier than thou.” It does not mean the super-bionic spiritual ones in a congregation. “Saints” is the most popular word in the New Testament to represent Christians (believers, followers of Christ). If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, then you are a saint, scripturally speaking. We have a dilemma in this passage. Think with me about the implications of this passage. For many of you, this will require a paradigm shift in your thinking about how church works.

According to this passage, a church does not hire full-time, paid pastoral staff to do the work of ministry. Huh!?? You mean, when we pass the collection plate, we aren’t paying the pastor, etc., to do the work we’re too busy to do? Then what are we paying them for?!!!!

For many of us, this is a major paradigm shift. You pay pastors, etc. to equip you -- to prepare you, the saints, to do the work of ministry. Okay, breathe into the paper bag a few times while it sinks in. Christ has given gifts to individuals so that those individuals can EQUIP THE SAINTS (who have other gifts) to do the work of the ministry.

Many of us stand back and watch the “leaders” minister, but we are the ministers. Christ has given us that job. Where do you stand? If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you should at least be in the growing stage, focusing on your relationship with the Lord. Eventually, you should outgrow that stage, eating the “solid food” of doctrine rather than the “milk” of the gospel alone. It is time to move on to the serving stage, accomplished by taking your gaze off yourself while continuing to grow, and focusing outward in serving others.

It is not acceptable for Christians to remain spiritual babies. There is an expectation of personal and corporate growth. We are not children at the mercy of trickery and fancy arguments. We are growing up (verses 15 and 16) “in all things … into Christ, Who is the head.” In verses 15 and 16, the phrase “growing up” is repeated three times. Maturity is the purpose of ministry.

Christ gave these five gifts to the church to equip/train the saints for the work of ministry, which is to aid the body of Christ in order to grow up collectively. What does a healthy, growing body of Christ look like? The specifics will depend on the size of the congregation and the location of the building, plus a number of other factors, but generally what you will find in a healthy congregation is a sizeable group of unpaid volunteers who are busy growing together to provide services to the congregation and any visitors, plus people outside of the congregation. Rather than people standing about gossiping about one another or complaining about politics or the weather, you’ll find people busy about the Lord’s work. That will differ with every congregation, with the ministry or ministries God has given to that group of believers. If you find a church that is pastor-driven and staffed by a large group of paid ministers, you should probably be wary because it is likely the leaders are not equipping the lay people to be the true ministers of Christ they are commanded to be.

The body of Christ, functioning and collectively growing as a community, is a glorious thing to see! Each individual involved has the same 24-hour clock and the same time restrictions as the pew-sitters, yet each has looked at their schedule and found opportunities for service to the body – within the building of meeting as well as outside of the walls. Each has come to understand that the ministry of Christ was meant to be done by Christians working individually and in community and that if individual Christians stop doing their job, the church might as well turn out the lights and go home because true ministry is no longer happening.

Look in the mirror! If you are a Christian, you are meant to be a minister. Discover what gifts God has given you, find out how to best develop those gifts, and then get busy for the gospel of Jesus Christ! 

In John Chapter 5, Jesus found a man waiting by the pool of Bethesda. He’d been coming there for 38 years, hoping for a miracle, to be healed of paralysis. The man believed he could be healed if he could just enter the water at the right time, but somebody else always got there before him. Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed. You have to wonder if the man thought “What a silly question? Of course, I’ve been waiting here for 38 years to be healed. What do you think I’ve been trying to do?” Still, he responded to Jesus with an explanation and then Jesus told him “Arise, pick up your pallet and walk.”

A miracle occurred, but that didn’t impress the Jews one bit. They cared only that this man had broken one of their 613 laws by carrying his bed on the Sabbath. The man blamed it on “the one who made me well.” Now, you’d think the Jews would want to find this miracle-worker to praise Him, but they didn’t. They just wanted to stop Jesus from breaking their rules.

It’s doubtful this healed man came to know the Lord that day, simply because when he found out Who Jesus was He went to the authorities and told them. However, he had one thing right. He recognized that if Jesus had the authority to heal him, He also had the authority to command the man he healed to break the Jewish laws. Keep that in mind, but also note that the man didn’t hesitate when Jesus healed him. Feeling the power to walk course through his body, he immediately sprang up and walked.

Unlike some of the other silly breaks between chapters of the Bible, this one is perfectly placed. In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul addressed doctrinal issues while in the last three he addressed “practical” Christian living. Although it makes for a handy breaking point, we should recognize that doctrine should flow naturally into practice as easily as the man went from paralyzed to walking when Jesus healed him.

Doctrine should inform practice.

The instructions Paul gave in chapters 4-6 are not mere required performance standards. They are the outworking of salvation in Jesus Christ. Our obedience to His commands are the “good work which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). These actions are born of God’s grace, which also empowers us to perform them. We should desire to do them gladly, out of gratitude for what He has done for us.

Verse 1 reiterates a principle that underlies the entire epistle. A person’s calling sets the standard for their conduct. The higher one’s calling, the higher one’s conduct must be. The Constitution sets a minimal standard of conduct, which all residents of our country are obliged to obey. Certain occupations in life set the standard of conduct at this minimal level. However a nominee for Supreme Court Justice is expected to maintain a higher standard of conduct. Inappropriate behavior toward the opposite sex or racially prejudiced comments would be cause for serious investigation because the standard is higher for Supreme Court justices than for janitors.

There is no higher calling than to become a part of the church over which Christ is the Head and through which God brings glory to Himself. Think about how honored an institution the Christian Church in all its locations and permutations truly is. God has honored us with that which He wants most – the work of giving Him glory. Consequently, we find a lot of instructions in the Bible to live in a way that is consistent with our faith (Exodus 19:1-6; 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 4:32-40; Philippians 1:27; Colossians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:12).  As Paul depicted our high calling in Chapters 1-3, he now set out to challenge the Ephesians (and us) to that conduct which befits our calling.

At the gate to Ft. Richardson Army Base in Anchorage, Alaska is an engraved statement “Privileged to Serve.” Being a wordsmith and a smart-aleck I always point out that privileged has two meanings: pleased and arrogant. Which meaning you attach to that word dictates your attitude. If I am privileged as in pleased and honored, I am humbly grateful for being allowed to serve you. If I feel that I am privileged as in set upon a pedestal – well, why would I serve you?

A high calling does not justify a haughty attitude. We have been called to a position of blessing and privilege, but this must not be distorted to promote pride. We are not any better than those who are lost. In our former condition as lost sinners we were just like the rest of mankind. In our new condition in Christ we are righteous and forgiven only because of what He has done. Our salvation by grace should produce humility and gratitude, but never pride. Thus, Paul spelled out the attitudes which truly befit Christians.

These first set of attitudes which Paul set forth are the attitudes of Jesus Himself (Philippians 2:5-8). If we are to reflect Jesus Christ to the world in which we live, then we must model His attitudes. Furthermore, these attitudes promote Christian harmony and unity. We are discussing attitudes, not techniques or methods. In the world, and even in evangelical circles, people are more interested in techniques than in attitudes. They buy books written by people who appear successful hoping they will tell them how to be successful, too. The Bible has little to say about techniques and methods. It has much to say about obedience and attitudes which are conducive to godly conduct. It was Simon Magus, you will recall, who was interested in techniques (Acts 8:1-24) and was rebuked for his attitude.

The descriptions of the churches in Acts, the epistles, and in Revelation 2 and 3 all bear witness to the present imperfection of the Church. One does not need to be patient with perfect people, yet here Paul called for patience because the saints are not yet perfect, so grace is required for us to live in peace and unity.

The second set of attitudes is the outgrowth of our comparing ourselves with others in the church. The opposite of the attitudes Paul called for (pride, impatience, pushiness, intolerance) are evidence of the fact that we think ourselves better than others. We read in Proverbs, “The poor man utters supplications, But the rich man answers roughly” (Proverbs 18:23). Why is this true? Because the poor man sees himself as dependent upon others, while the rich man thinks others need him. We are imminently rich in blessing from God, but it is only when we take the place of the servant, like Jesus did (John 13; Philippians 2:1-8) that we evidence the attitudes required of Christians.

Paul’s words remind us that Christian unity does not come naturally or automatically. Christian unity must be diligently preserved and promoted. We must commit to the preservation and practice of Christian unity if it is ever going to be evident to the world about us. It is one of the sure signs that God is at work in and through us.

While we are examining the virtues Jesus showed during His earthly life, virtues which we should evidence as well, they are not regarded as virtues by the world. Indeed, the world sees these as weaknesses which should be set aside or overcome. Have you seen many seminars on humility?  No, but there are plenty on self-esteem and self-confidence. The world teaches gentleness leads to abuse, then gives instruction in assertiveness. The attitudes which Paul proposed are those which the world opposes.

Attitudes that promote Christian unity can never be found in the flesh, for they are the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. These attitudes are the fruit of the flesh and the opposing fruits of the Spirit:

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:19-23).

No, there is nothing wrong with drawing from something Paul had already written. We see in the “anti” column that the works of the flesh are evidence of our fleshly nature. We’ve previously discussing this list when we studied Galatians, but it never hurts to go over it again. Whether a “deed of the flesh” is listed early or late in the list is really immaterial. God doesn’t rank sins. However, neither does He skip some we’d rather not deal with.  Sexual immorality is no more or less evil than losing one’s temper or getting drunk. Paul had previously warned the Galatians that those who practice such things would not inherit the kingdom of God. This does not mean that if we sin once we’ve blown it, but those who claim the title Christian should quickly become aware that this list applies to Christians.

Similarly, the fruit “list” applies to us as well. Some of these balance the negative column. If I truly love you, I won’t ask you to violate God’s law by committing adultery with me, for example. If I have joy in the Spirit, my angry outbursts ought to become rarer. If I have self-control, a whole host of behaviors ought to cease as I gain control over self. There are no laws against exercising these attributes of character.

This list is a more detailed example of the sort of behaviors God is looking for in His people. They are behaviors that He gives us strength to perform. We are not alone in carrying out the proper Christian lifestyle. If our eyes are set on Jesus, we will find that the Christian lifestyle is far from a Mission Impossible. It is simply that we must always remember that it is not us who will and do what is proper before God, but Jesus working in us Who does what God wants. We are successful in living the Christian lifestyle only in as far as we are submitted to allowing Jesus to help us with that commitment.

We have finished the first half of Ephesians with its clear and blessed revelation of the design and calling of the Church. We learned how God planned the Church before the foundation of the world, how Jesus purchased it with His blood, and finally, how the Holy Spirit came as the deposit, or pledge, that the whole transaction will be satisfactorily completed.

The first part of Ephesians is doctrinal. It focuses on the love of God directed toward us before we were even born. The doctrines of salvation are discussed. Now Paul turned his attention to the duties of Christians.

Duty springs from doctrine as works flows from faith. Dr. N. B. Harrison wrote “To harangue people into better living is one thing; to root our appeal in a relationship we sustain to Christ through the eternal purposes of grace is quite another.” A new Christian must allow God to teach him of the significance of his relationship with Jesus before he can truly understand his duty as a Christian.

Paul often focused first on doctrine and then, having established the faith basis, moved on to discuss conduct. Some who preach works-based religion get the cart before the horse. Paul did not. Works are useful in the Christian life, but they flow from our relationship with Jesus; they do not lead us to that relationship.

Certain distinguishing traits of character mark the believer in Christ. Having set forth the believer’s position doctrinally, Paul now called upon him to prove the reality of his salvation through right conduct: Wherever there is faith, there will works be found also. If you accept doctrinal Christianity, you will desire practical Christianity. If your heart said, “Amen” (3:21), to the doctrine, you will readily yield to the deportment.

A significant feature of Paul’s letters is that he didn’t dictate to the churches. Those who are enamored of ecclesiastic top-down religious structures have not read Paul carefully enough. In many cases Paul had a clear right of an elder to dictate to his readers; he was essentially the spiritual father of many of the churches to which he wrote. Yet, he didn’t dictate. He persuaded often, sometimes pleaded, but he didn’t truly command. For this reason, he presented doctrine before discussing conduct. The doctrine persuaded toward the conduct. Christianity is not about an authority structure flowing from one more highly-placed man to another lowlier believer. It is about an inward transformation that flows outward into conduct and it is aimed at an individual within a group rather than a group of individuals. Christians are each individually responsible before God to walk according to the dictates of doctrine. To better encourage us to right living, we are encouraged to gather with like-minded individuals, but no where in the Bible do we see “higher ecclesiastic authorities” dictating to the “mere” Christian. Even Paul did not take such authority, recognizing that Christ is the head of His Church and lives in the individual hearts of believers. He sought to persuade the Ephesians to good conduct based on right doctrine rather than command good conduct because he said so.

Paul urged the Ephesians to walk worthy of the vocation to which they were called. As recipients of God’s mercies, miraculously transformed, the Ephesians should desire to conduct themselves consistently with their high position. We use that church word “walk” and we should beware that it doesn’t lose its meaning for us. What is meant is obedience to God’s Word. Christian “walk” means nothing more or less than obedience to God.

The Christian walk is characterized by obedience to God which leads to unity, usefulness, consistency, love, light, thought, submission and courage. All this conduct is aimed at the goal of giving glory to God.  Contrary to some popular teaching, the goal of our conduct is not primarily our own success or happiness. It’s not fashionable to urge husbands to love their wives like Christ loved the church because marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. We are told rather that if we obey Ephesians 5 our marriages will be exciting and fulfilling and we will be happier for our obedience. There is truth there, but it misses the focus of Paul’s teaching. Marriage, like the church, is an institution created by God to portray a spiritual relationship and to give glory to God.  1 Corinthians 7 shows the simple reality that being a godly husband or wife may result in a divorce, precipitated by an ungodly and unbelieving wife or husband. When Paul carried out his calling, he ended up in prison. A good time was NOT had by all.  Ephesians 1-3 emphasizes the eternal purposes of God in providing salvation in Christ for the praise of His grace. We are blessed by this, but it is not God’s primary purpose. God’s primary purpose is to display His splendor and glory that He might be praised. Our primary purpose, Christians, is to seek to bring glory to God through what we do and what we choose not to do. “For whether you eat or drink or what you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Chapters 1-3 set forth doctrine pertaining to what we were when we were apart from Christ and what we become when we are in Him. Our identity change in identity necessitates and produces some alienation with the world. Chapters 4-6 spell out some of the changes required by our new identity.

The church is the body of Jesus Christ, the temple in which He dwells. As Jesus is the means God provided for our salvation and blessing, He is also the standard for our spirituality and conduct.  When we were apart from Christ, dead in our sins, the world, our flesh, and the devil taught our value system and enforced our conduct. When we came to faith in Jesus, we ceased to be strangers, alienated from God and we became instead strangers in this world. We no longer fit here because both our identity and our conduct are opposed to the goals of the world.

My father-in-law, who is not a Christian, proclaimed once (in my presence at least, I’m sure he’s imparted his “wisdom” to others) that the “Christian life is impossible”. What do you know? The man was right about something in the spiritual realm. The standards of Christianity are too high; the forces which control our flesh are too strong. Paul discussed this extensively in Romans 7, acknowledging the frustration found in trying to live a godly life in his own strength. Yet in Ephesians 1-3, Paul not only set forth the goal and standard of our Christian conduct, but also presented the means to live up to these standards. We don’t serve God in our own strength and striving. We do so in the power of Jesus and through the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1-3 deals amply with God’s power which is at work in us.

Because God’s power has worked this transformation in us, we are motivated in our Christian conduct by gratitude for all that God has done for us. We are grateful for His grace and for the assurance we have that He will fulfill His future promises. We are grateful for our eternal security (Ephesians 1:13) and that God’s grace remains with us so that we may serve God.

We also stand in awe at the majesty of God’s eternal purposes. We wouldn’t be aware of what God was doing if He had not revealed it to us. For this we should be honored and amazed.

While the first three chapters deal with salvation, the last three chapters deal with sanctification. Salvation changed us from dead sinners to alive sinners, but sanctification continually works in us to make us more like Christ. Our heavenly calling (salvation) is the basis for our earthly conduct (sanctification).

Metaphorically speaking, the first half of the epistle deals with the birth of Christians while the second half deals with how we grow up as Christians. My DNA was set by my parents at conception. I am the height I am and have the hair and eye color I have because of the unique combination of my parents’ genes. My character, however, was not shaped by their genes so much as by the environment in which they raised me. It is the same in the Christian life. We move from foundation principles to issues of conduct.

We now know why we live. Let us turn our attention to how we should live.

Many people mistakenly characterize faith as belief in the absence of reason. Nothing could be further from the truth. Spend some time in Paul’s letters, particularly Romans or our current subject book, Ephesians, and you quickly find that one of the greatest men of faith the Church has ever known was a man also well-reasoned. Paul had thought out his subject matter. His letters were not just the ramblings of a mystic, but the rational discourse of a learned man fascinated with a treasure that is not beyond all comprehension, but definitely stretches beyond human intellect.

Even in prayer, Paul employed reason.

By beginning his prayer with “for this reason”, Paul told his readers that his prayer was based upon organized thought.  Paul had been considering the purpose of God and now, he prayed that the Ephesians might understand the purposes of God. To understand the purposes of Deity would require something more than human intelligence normally allows. God is above us and outside of our experience in some fundamentally important ways. To understand Paul’s prayer, one must first remember the purposes of God.

God had purposed to redeem fallen men, both Jews and Gentiles to praise of His glory and grace (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14). Prompted by His kind intentions, God provided redemption for sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He seals those whom He saves with His Holy Spirit, securing our salvation for all eternity. He gives Christians the blessed hope of dwelling in His presence forever, holy and blameless.

God has purposed to save and sanctify both Jews and Gentiles, and to reconcile them to Himself in one body. He has purposed to “sum up all things in Christ” (1:10), who indwells His church, Who serves as its Head, and Who fills it with all of His fullness (1:22-23). Because God has purposed and provided for the salvation and sanctification of Gentiles and Jews, and had called Paul to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles, Paul now prayed for the Ephesian saints a prayer that is consistent with God’s purpose.

Paul’s prayer was directed to the Father, Whom Paul was confident would answer a righteously offered prayer.  How could Paul be so certain that there was a “Father in heaven”? Well, Paul’s denial had been swept aside when he met the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus. If he’d ever questioned before that time that there was a Father in heaven, I think he was unable to deny it after.  We are told repeatedly throughout the gospels by Jesus Himself to direct our prayers to the Father and this is why Paul reminded his readers of the Fatherhood of God. He is not just the “Father” of the Jews, but the “Father” of all who call upon Him through faith in the person and work of His Son.

Paul’s prayer does not sound very similar to many of the petitions which we address to the Father. The reason is that Paul’s prayer is shaped by the purposes of God, as revealed in the earlier chapters of Ephesians. Note the things for which Paul does not pray, the very things for which we often pray. Paul does not pray for material prosperity for the Ephesians, their physical health and well-being, their protection from persecution, their mental health or for them to have a transforming or ecstatic spiritual experience.  It is not that these things have no value, but that they are often inconsistent with God’s purposes and the way in which He works in the lives of Christians ( Romans 5:1-11; 2 Corinthians 4-5, 11; 2 Timothy 3:10-12; Hebrews 11-12; 1 Peter 4). Paul could pray for that which God has purposed, promised and assured us He will accomplish, to His glory and for our good.

Paul prayed for the spiritual strengthening of the believers in the power of the Holy Spirit. We often pray for the “outer man,” which is mere existential flesh; Paul prayed for the “inner man,” which is being renewed daily. The outer man perishes while the inner man gains strength.

Paul prayed also that, as a result of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Christ would dwell in the hearts of his readers, by faith. Every Christian has been united with Christ, by faith. Every believer is “in Christ,” (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 6:1-11) and yet our Lord instructs His disciples to “abide in Him” (John 15:1-11). Christ is in every true believer, but Paul prayed that His dwelling in us might be enhanced. Paul desired spiritual growth, so that each day God is more evident in our lives, so we are more aware of and devoted to Him.

A prominent feature of this prayer is Paul’s request for the Ephesian saints to come to a greater knowledge, appreciation, and manifestation of the love of God (verses 17-19).  God’s love is always the starting point. The first cause of His concern for us, it is also the life-long pursuit of Christians. Somewhat paradoxically, it is also the goal. The love of God is infinite, boundless, meaning that exploration of the love of God is something like studying the universe. The more we know, the more we find still unmapped and unexplored. We can spend our whole lives exploring its boundaries, then discover that we have not pressed its true boundaries at all. When we explore God’s love we find that it has no limits and that the more we explore it, the more love we find. Reading this section of the letter, you can sense Paul’s fascination with the love of Christ that just keeps going on into eternity.

Finally, Paul prayed that the Ephesian saints would be “filled with all the fullness of God” (verse 19). Paul had previously written of the relationship which exists between Jesus Christ and the Church. The Church is the “body of Christ” and He is its “head.” The Church is the fullness of Christ, Who fills it completely. Thus, it isn’t surprising that Paul continued his prayer for the church here, requesting that we would be filled with all the fullness of God in Christ. Jesus should be the most important thing in our lives, that which we cannot look anywhere without seeing.

Praying for the spiritual growth and edification of other saints, Paul acts as a model for our own prayers. His prayer concerned God’s will for all creation. Paul’s requests were focused on infinite things that were already true in that God was and is working them out. Christ does abide in us, yet Paul prayed that He will abide in our hearts, indicating that He could abide more fully if we are open to it. We are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, Who has sealed us and constantly indwells us, and yet Paul prayed that we will be strengthened. Paul prayed here, not for something which we do not possess, but for something we already possess, that we might have it more abundantly as we grow in Christ.

“Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think—according to the power that works in you— to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

These last two verses are a benediction of praise. Here is the close of the first half of Paul’s epistle. Paul’s words remind me of Jesus’ words at the close of the Model Prayer (what some call the Lord’s Prayer) “For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen” (Matthew 6:13). Note the emphasis of this benediction is God-centered and focused on the goal of the church – giving glory to God. The ultimate goal of the church and every Christian is to bring glory to God. In this we differ from unbelievers. They, too, will bring glory to God, not by their obedience, but by their disobedience (Romans 9:17). But while God’s purpose is to glorify Himself through sinners, it is only the saint who has the glory of God as his goal. Christians should strive to bring glory to God as our ultimate goal (1 Corinthians 10:31). Unbelievers unwittingly glorify God, in spite of themselves.

Also note, Paul’s words focus attention on the power of God which is at work in Christians, giving us the means to achieve His glory. The power of God is infinite. The power of God is at work in us. The infinite power of God is at work in us to bring glory to Him. To God be the glory! This should be the theme of our lives, as it was in Paul’s.

Think of all the times in the Bible when the people of God were called upon to act solely on the basis of God’s Word and God’s faithfulness. Adam and Eve were commanded not to eat of one tree, when that tree would have given them the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). Abraham was directed to leave his homeland and family, and was not even told where he was going (Genesis 12:1). He was promised a son through Sarah, when this couple was way too old to have children by natural means (Romans 4:17-22). By faith, Abraham was ready to take the life of this child, when all of God’s promises rested on him (Hebrews 11:17-19). All of the Old Testament saints lived as though God’s promises were true even though they did not receive them in their own lifetime (Hebrews 11:13-16).

You and I are called upon to live in time in the light of eternity, living on earth with our hearts set on heaven. We are commanded not to lay up treasures on earth, but to lay up treasure in heaven. We are told not to take revenge, but to leave justice to God. We are to walk by faith, not by sight.

How we do this is a hard thing for most humans. The Bible tells us we should care less for the particulars of God’s plan, focusing instead on His overall design as He has revealed it. To this end, we should live consistent with that plan. Most modern Christians, myself included, are far too self-centered! We sit around contemplating “God’s will for MY life” while ignoring God’s plan for His universe. Paul conversely sought to understand God’s plan – the big picture – and to live a life consistent with that plan. In Ephesians 5:15-17 he warned that Christians should be spiritually wise, “understanding what the will of the Lord is.” Few 21^st Century Christians are truly Biblical in how we live our lives or interact with God.

You find few if any examples of 1^st century Christians sitting down to contemplate God’s will for their life. Instead, they were overcome by the love of God that was transforming their lives and they set about to spread that love and knowledge of God to those around them, considering the glory of God (as manifested in the spreading of His gospel) to be God’s will for their lives. These were “big picture” Christians whose focus was set upon Jesus and not upon themselves. This is the example we were meant to follow. We see the apostles leaving the upper room to tell the Jerusalem crowds about Jesus. We see Peter leaving his comfort zone to tell Cornelius about Jesus. We see the Antioch Christians sending a missionary team to evangelize Asia Minor. These Christians faced hardship and sometimes death, but they did it with their eyes firmly fixed on Jesus and not on themselves. We need to set aside our self-centered me-generation thinking and realize that the gospel really has nothing to do with making us feel good. It has everything to do with Jesus. And those of us who follow Jesus should desire more than silver and gold to sound forth the good news that Jesus has come in the flesh, died and risen again for the sins of all humankind and thus provided a way of escape. This should be our first thought and our last thought and the majority of our thoughts in between.

God is a mysterious Deity. Unlike the gods of many pagan cultures who appeared to be pretty much like immortal human beings with big egos, throughout history, the God of the Bible has had both men and angels scratching their heads, trying to figure out how He would accomplish what He promised. The things God has prepared for His children are those which our eyes have not seen and our ears have not heard. They have not entered the hearts of men (1 Corinthians 1:9) and we cannot wrap our minds around them. When the plans and purposes are completed, we must marvel at the wisdom which He has displayed, a wisdom which did not require our counsel, but was conceived and accomplished by God alone (Romans 11:33-36).

In Ephesians, Paul wrote of the mystery which centers on Jesus Christ and His church. Because God is a mysterious God we need to understand what a mystery is. Contrary to popular thinking, a mystery is not something which has never been the subject of biblical revelation. A biblical mystery is something like a treasure hunt. In a treasure hunt, you are given clues. You must figure out one clue in order to discover the next. Finally, after finding all the clues, you arrive at the treasure. It is not until you find the treasure that the mystery is solved.

Jesus is the treasure for which God supplied many clues in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, men did not understand how all the clues fit together, like pieces of a puzzle, to make a complete picture of the Messiah. Even the Old Testament prophets did not understand their own prophecies, and thus found them to be a mystery (1 Peter 1:10-12). There was much about Jesus that only became clear after His first coming with inspired commentary on His life by the apostles in fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies. Specifically, it was not understood that in Christ Jews and Gentiles would become one, and that all racial distinctions would be nullified in the church.

Genesis introduced us to death as the penalty for sin. After disobeying God, Adam and all people afterward died spiritually and eventually physically. Yet in the very same chapter of Genesis, we find the promise that salvation will be provided through the offspring of Eve. Who would have ever imagined that this salvation would come about by God’s death? And when the Old Testament prophecies began to foretell the death of Messiah (Psalm 22; Isaiah 52:13–53:12), no one could understand it. Even the disciples thought it defied logic (Matthew 16:21-22). It was not until after Jesus’ mysterious resurrection from the dead that they came to understand the significance of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, which explained the Old Testament prophecies. The pieces of the puzzle were revealed, but the big picture was still a mystery, until after these prophecies were fulfilled.

Paul started the letter with a reference to mystery, and now he returned to the subject. There was a great spiritual mystery that deeply affected Paul’s life and will also affect our own lives, if we allow it.

We know from the first three words of chapter 3 that this chapter is directly related to chapter 2 because Paul began, “For this reason …” We find the same expression in verse 14. Paul is about to pray, as he has already done in chapter 1. Something reminded Paul of his imprisonment and prompted concern for the impact of his incarceration on his readers. They certainly knew that he is writing from prison. The letter to the Philippians was probably written earlier than Ephesians and we learn in the first chapter there that some were using Paul’s imprisonment to divide the churches, suggesting that his suffering was spiritual discipline. Seeking to draw away from his ministry, they wanted it to appear that God was chastening him for some wrong. They could then claim to be right and to be more than happy to give the saints the “truth”. In mentioning his own personal situation, Paul did not seek sympathy, but rather to enable to Ephesians to share the truth of the gospel. He didn’t want the Ephesians to be discouraged by his imprisonment, but for it to give them courage. Paul’s chains were the result of his faithfulness to his calling to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. There was no doubt in Paul’s mind as to his calling being a stewardship of God’s grace (verse 2), because he understood it came by the grace of God, for He had taken a former persecutor of the Church and made him a preacher of the gospel he’d sought to destroy.

Paul’s ministry was also stewardship of a mystery. Broadly-speaking, the mystery was about Christ and the salvation which He accomplished on the cross for both Jews and Gentiles. Although foreshadowed in the Old Testament, these concepts had not been fully understood. Moreover, the mystery of the reconciliation of man to God was light compared to the complete mystery of how God had reconciled the Jews to the Gentiles. It was not a welcome thought to unbelieving Jews and was only reluctantly accepted by Jewish believers.

When Jesus introduced Himself to the nation Israel as its Messiah, He made it clear that He had come to save Jews and Gentiles, which was a message the Jews, even believing ones, did not embrace eagerly (Luke 4:16-30). The Great Commission, given to the apostles by Jesus right before His ascension, was a command to take the gospel to all nations (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). Nevertheless, the Jewish apostles were reluctant to carry out this command.

No church program commenced the belated work of Gentile evangelism; it came about through the sovereign work of God. God gave Peter a vision that prompted him to take the gospel to the household of Cornelius, a Gentile. As a result, the leaders in the church at Jerusalem came to acknowledge the work God was doing among the Gentiles (Acts 10:1–11:18). The stoning of Stephen brought about great persecution on the church in Jerusalem, causing those saints to scatter abroad. Most of the Jewish saints shared the good news only with their fellow-Jews, but a few intrepid souls began to evangelize the Gentiles, which brought about the birth of the church at Antioch (Acts 11:19-26). Before long, the Holy Spirit instructed the First Church of Antioch to send Barnabas and Paul to evangelize among the Gentiles (Acts 13:1-4).  As the number of Gentile converts increased, certain Jewish legalists began to insist that the Gentile believers must become Jewish proselytes, which included circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses.  The Jerusalem Council was convened to determine what was required of Gentile saints. Determining that since the Jews were not able to be justified by the law, but only by grace, the delegates agreed that Gentile believers should not be burdened with keeping the law either (Acts 15:6-29).

Despite this decision, some Jewish believers (?, using the word “believers” loosely) resisted Gentile evangelism or sought to “Judaize” Gentiles as much as possible. The epistles of Paul to Timothy, among others, warn of the speculative and heretical teachings of such Jews (1 Timothy 1:5-11). Peter, followed by Barnabas and others, was intimidated by certain Jewish brethren, and began to disassociate with the Gentile believers, and Paul strongly rebuked them for this (Galatians 2:11-21). The centuries- old hostility between the Jews and the Gentiles would not quickly or completely be eradicated. And so it is that Paul found it necessary to write this epistle to the Ephesians, describing the new unity of Jews and Gentiles in Christ.

Stewardship demanded that Paul proclaim the mystery of unity of Jews and Gentiles in Christ. Though it involved suffering (Colossians 1:24-29), Paul saw it as a privilege, a gift of God’s grace, both to Paul and, through him, to the Gentiles. He wanted his readers to rejoice in the privilege he felt at doing God’s work and not misinterpret his imprisonment as a deterrent to sharing the gospel.

That God used a prisoner to proclaim the gospel of freedom is yet another mystery. Jewish hatred had put Paul in a Gentile prison.  Is that not ironic? And, yet, here Paul wrote on the mystery of church unity – that Jews and Gentiles could kneel before the same God on the same level, both guilty of their individual sins and have Jesus take those sins away by the same means – grace pointing toward faith and faith resulting in salvation.

No, we don’t wholly understand the Bible. We can, however, with study, prayer and fellowship with other Christians, understand most of it. There are mysteries we will finally understand only when we reach heaven, but we who are of faith understand mysteries that the Jewish prophets could only puzzle over. For this, we should praise God, Who revealed these mysteries to us.

Although this speaks to unity of the church in all our many factions, it seemed like a good idea to focus on the exact meaning of these two sentences. What did Paul mean by this?

I grew up around construction sites. Alaska is always under construction. My husband is a construction worker. I’ve worked for construction companies. I have, with my own two hands, built decks, porches, a shed and a greenhouse that still are standing years later. Foundations are REALLY important. My parents once lived in a house that had a wood foundation. I’m sure it was cheap and easy to build, but eventually the foundation needed to be replaced, which was neither cheap nor easy, but was necessary if they didn’t want the house to fall down.

When we looked at this passage last time, it was in a discussion of unity of all believers into the invisible, universal (to coin an old and misused term “catholic) body of believers called the church and the topic really hasn’t changed, I’m just focusing more narrowly.

“So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is being fitted together in Him and is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22

Jews and Gentiles became fellow citizens of one church, members of God’s household.  As both grew closer to God, both grew closer to one another. They were no longer strangers to one another, but brothers and sisters. They had once been illegal aliens in the commonwealth of Israel, but now they had all the rights and privileges of children of God. The Jewish and Gentile Christians were building a single church that would not be divisible.

Construction metaphors make sense when one remembers that Jesus was a carpenter and Paul was a tent maker. These were men who needed to know how buildings worked. Every building must have a foundation. In Paul’s day, more houses were built on the ground and their foundation was really the walls that held the roof up. Vaults accomplished this by stacking up stones one upon another until they were high enough to allow a man to pass under any ceiling. At that point, the builders would fit wedge-shaped stones together to create an arch. At the very middle of the arch would be a slightly larger wedge that would hold the whole thing together. We in the west call it a “keystone”. Paul called it a corner-stone in his letter.

Paul characterized the apostles and prophets as the foundations of the Church. Like the side blocks and wedge-shapes that created the walls of a building, the apostles helped to build of the church. They were not the most important building stones in the foundation. They played second-fiddle to Jesus, who was the keystone. In Him both Jews and Gentiles meet, constituting one church. Christ supports the building with His strength. This strong and indivisible building was constructed as God’s dwelling place, a place where the Spirit would be made manifest.

Of course, we’re not talking about a building or even an institution. We’re talking about the worldwide Church, the individual members of each congregation that make up the whole of the Body of Christ.

It is tempting to believe that these men were somehow imbued with special powers that they could pass onto succeeding generations, but there’s no real evidence for that. There is an ordination ceremony of sorts in Acts, where the 12, minus Judas, selected Matthias as a replacement “apostle”.  I’m not going to say they were wrong to do this. However, I will note that you never read of Matthias again in the Bible. Catholic tradition from a couple of centuries later has him doing some stuff, but as far as Acts and the epistles go, he was the “silent apostle”. Some scholars suggest that this was a first sign of later trouble, of the apostles thinking their office was somehow transferrable from them to someone else, rather than something that Jesus does directly. I’m merely going to note the silence of Matthias and let people decide for themselves.

The apostles and the prophets provided the theology, the beliefs, that tell us as Christians who we are. This did not come from them. It came from Jesus, Whom they had followed and learned from during His lifetime, watched crucified and encountered after the Resurrection. They were uniquely able to know what Jesus had taught. Moreover, the Holy Spirit had come upon them (and others) at Pentecost and this indwelling inspired them in their teaching, which was eventually down so that we might remember it for all eternity. It is these teachings that are the foundational beliefs of Christianity and all of these are found in the Bible. Once that was accomplished, history shows us that the churches began to reject more recent writings, considering them to not be of apostolic origin. The canon we have today, officially approved in the 4^th century AD was practically decided by the churches through acceptance and usage by the late 2^nd century. Writings from a later period, which could not have been written by the original apostles or Paul were rejected by the churches or held in a less prominent position as worthy to study, but not considered Scripture. This indicates that the churches understood very early the uniqueness of Jesus’ called apostles and the ministry they had upon this earth and that they accepted that ministry as having faded away with the death of these men, replaced by their body of permanent work – the New Testament.

Moreover, we should never forget or try to alter that Jesus is the keystone of the Church and without Him, our human structures cannot stand. As the walls of a Romanesque building cannot stand without the keystone, the apostles and the prophets would have been nothing without Christ. This seems to indicate that the apostles and prophets played their parts, but they certainly cannot supersede Jesus. We should always be wary of placing any man or man-made thing, by institution, tradition, ceremony or anything else, in the place that only Jesus should occupy. Jesus must always remain the keystone of the Church. When we put anyone in the place that Jesus alone should occupy, we deny Christ’s right to sit upon His own throne and to reign as Head of His Church. In doing so, we error as Satan and, in turn, Adam, erred, seeking to be equal to God.

The message of Ephesians is clear. It is all about God – all about what He did, what He accomplished, how He loves us, how He provided the means for our salvation, how He called the prophets and later the apostles to provide the Scripture for us and teach us the way in which we are to walk.

It really is NOT about us! It is all about Jesus!

Jacob was a man who thought rules existed to be broken. He spent much of his life trying to twist the world to his liking rather than letting God provide for him. The Bible’s very own con man met his nemesis in his future father-in-law, a man every bit as manipulative as Jacob. Falling in love with Rachel from the moment of their meeting, Jacob worked for seven years to earn her. On the night of their wedding, as was customary, it was dark when Jacob took her to his tent. Imagine his surprise when he could see her face in the morning and realized he’d just had sex with her sister, Leah!

With the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Church was born. The Jews had spent centuries pursuing another version of God from Jesus and though some of them gratefully embraced Him, Jewish Christians found themselves “married” to Gentile believers. As in Jacob’s family, this alliance of two “brides” has, from the birth of the church to the present, caused friction between Jewish and Gentile saints. In the Book of Acts, we find the Jewish believers resistant to the evangelization of the Gentiles (Acts 10-11). Even once the Jewish believers accepted that God really did intend for Gentiles to become Christians, some insisted that Gentile converts must become Jewish proselytes, involving circumcision and law-keeping, in order to be saved (Acts 15). Not surprisingly, just as the Jewish saints were inclined to condescend to their Gentile brethren, Gentile believers were tempted to look down on the Jews for their unbelief and rejection of Jesus as Messiah (Romans 11:13-24).

Uncomfortable bedfellows indeed!

“So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called “the uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised,” done by hand in the flesh. At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world.” Ephesians 2:11-12

We could turn to many New Testament texts to find apostolic instructions concerning Christian unity. A vitally important truth affecting both belief and practice, Paul and other New Testament writers addressed the issue often. Other texts deal with the matter of unity as a Christian necessity and those attitudes and actions which are appropriate to it, but no other text in the New Testament speaks more clearly and emphatically for Christian unity than Ephesians 2. Here Paul addressed the essence of unity while other texts focused on the expression of unity. Ephesians 2:1-10 deals with the reconciliation God has brought between Himself and fallen humans through Jesus Christ. Now, Paul turned his attention to the reconciliation God has accomplished between Jews and Gentiles through the work of Jesus Christ.

Paul began by urging his Gentile readers to remember what they once were. Why do we need to remember that we were once “dead in our transgressions and sin”? Ah! We would like to forget what we once were and, in many ways, we can forget. We live in a world dominated by flesh and sin, and we still battle these forces, so we have a constant reminder of who we once were and yet, somehow, our condition as sinners can slip from our memory. It’s a natural desire to forget that which is sordid in our past. When we forget who we were once were, it can make us haughty and self-righteous. This is why we must remember!

Paul described the Gentiles’ former condition from two very different perspectives. The first is from the point of view of the self-righteous Jew. The second is from the perspective of God Himself in relation to His word. The first perspective is external, physical and inconsequential; the second is internal, spiritual and eternally significant. Self-righteous Judaism tended to look only at the outside, judging by external appearances (Luke 16:15).  Judaism and the “Judaizers” (those who sought to enslave Gentile converts under the yoke of Judaism) judged a man on the basis of whether or not he was physically circumcised. Circumcision was, in their minds, a seal of divine blessing; therefore, to be uncircumcised was to be destined for God’s eternal wrath. In Romans 4, Paul had reminded his readers that Abraham himself had not been circumcised at the time he became a true believer of God. In the letter to the Galatians, Paul had taught that circumcision didn’t benefit Gentiles. True circumcision is the circumcision of the heart. The external sign has no value apart from genuine faith in God and obedience to His commands.

It shouldn’t surprise Christians that faith in Jesus Christ is a new beginning. Old things pass away and new things are created. Paul had addressed this individually in 2 Corinthians 5, but here he wrote corporately. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul told us that we become a new person when we are born again. In Ephesians 2, Paul wrote that in Christ Jews and Gentiles lose their distinctive ethnic identities and are fashioned into one new entity, the Church.

In the Old Testament times, a Gentile usually expressed faith in Messiah by identifying with the Jews. We can think of women like Ruth, who left her family and people and went with Naomi to the land of Israel, where she later married Boaz. We know of Rahab, the Canaanite woman who placed her faith in the God of Israel and became an Israelite. Both Ruth and Rahab were women who became of part of the messianic line (Matthew 1:4-5).  There were also those who came to faith in the God of Israel who did not become Jewish proselytes. One early believer was Naaman, the Syrian captain (2 Kings 5) and there was the populace of Nineveh, who heeded the warning of Jonah and repented (Jonah chapter 3). Probably the great majority of the Jews believed that a Gentile must first become a Jewish proselyte before he/she could enter into the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Law of Moses became a kind of invisible barrier, separating Jews and Gentiles. The Jews felt that they possessed the Law, and they disdained the Gentiles because of their ignorance of and disregard for the Law.  The Jew had an immense contempt for the Gentile. It was not even lawful to render help to a Gentile woman in childbirth, for that would be to bring another Gentile into the world. The barrier between Jew and Gentile was absolute. If a Jew married a Gentile, the family held a funeral for the Jew that same day. Such contact with a Gentile was the equivalent of death. Gentiles were permitted to enter certain portions of the Jerusalem temple, but they were not permitted beyond certain barriers. Paul well knew the barriers, for his arrest at Jerusalem, which led to his final imprisonment and death, was due to the fact that he had been wrongly accused of bringing Trophimus, an Ephesian Gentile, into the Temple beyond the barrier (Acts 21:28,29).

The cross of Jesus Christ was a monumental event. Matthew 27 recorded that when our Lord died on the cross, the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom, symbolizing the removal of the barrier between man and God. Paul also taught that the separating wall between Jewish and Gentile believers was removed. Before Christ the barriers were up; after Christ the barriers were down.

This put us in the “same soup”, so to speak. As unbelievers, both Jews and Gentles were “dead in sin” and “children of wrath” facing the penalty of death. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God reconciled all who are in Christ to Himself. The Jews might have started out “nearer” for having the Scriptures, but they rejected Jesus as their Messiah and so only a remnant can now be called “sons of Abraham”. Gentiles, though they started “far off” were brought near to God through faith in Christ. Gentile saints are not merely given membership in Judaism; both Jews and Gentile are reconciled to God in a way which removes the barrier which for so long divided them. God reconciled Jews and Gentiles to Himself as one entity.

Doubtless, no Old Testament saint ever imagined the new unity which God accomplished through His Son on the cross. Paul described this entity in several ways. All believers are one because they are saved in the same way, through the same person, Jesus Christ. Jews and Gentiles are saved by obtaining a new identity in Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles are reconciled as “one new man” (verse 15). He has created us anew as “one body” (verse 16). When Christ came, He preached the same message of peace to both Jews and to Gentiles (verse 17). Jewish and Gentile saints are one because both have the same access to God through the same means, the Holy Spirit (verse 18). As a result of the work of God on our behalf, Jews and Gentiles are being built up into a temple in which God Himself dwells (verses 19-22). Gentiles are no longer strangers, they are citizens and members of God’s own household (verse 19). God no longer dwells in a building made with human hands, He dwells in the Church, of which Jesus Christ is the Head. The apostles and prophets laid the foundation for the Church, which continues be constructed as our Lord establishes His kingdom on earth. There are not two walls, one Jewish and the other Gentile that will form one temple, but the walls are made up of Jewish and Gentile saints, made one in Christ.

God created something entirely new in the birth of the Church. Jews are no longer distinguished from Gentiles and Gentiles need not become Jews to be saved and enter into the Abrahamic covenant. The Church is a new entity, both of Christ’s death and resurrection. Everyone who believes in Christ is part of His body.

Reconciled to God, all believers are also reconciled to each other. When you become a Christian, you join His family. There is no such thing as an autonomous Christian. The early Church has no examples of saints living in isolation. The shed blood of Jesus Christ not only joins us to God, but it joins every Christian to every other Christian.

This has profound impact for us in the 21^st century, as it should have, (and in some cases, did) to the entirety of Church history.

Racism and discrimination cannot be tolerated in the Church of Jesus Christ. Every believer has equal standing before God as we are all redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

Some contemporary church growth strategies and practices require realignment with the Bible. Some are rooted in secular “theology” like customer service models based upon the observance of non-church practices. This emphasis on making the Church more appealing to non-Christians can lead to some dangerous trends.  For most of the history of my home church, we have been a mixture of several different racial groups. In a middling-sized frontier community, we have found that financially it works for us all to remain together, but we’ve also found it a good ministry ground for mixed-raced couples and their children. In this, we do not fit the Southern Baptist Church model, which is for a “white” church to start an ethnic or language-based mission, train them up and send them out into the world to be a grown-up church of their own. Every few years the North American Mission Board will notice our trend-bucking and ask when we were planning to split up into different “homogeneous” church congregations. After all, churches grow faster if they cater to a particular segment of society, they tell us. The problem being, aside from the fact that what we do seems to work, this “ideal” violates the unity principal of Ephesians 2. Paul strongly rebuked the Galatian churches for hypocrisy in excluding uncircumcised Gentile believers. I strongly feel and think Paul would agree with me that “ethnic” churches that exclude other ethnicities are denying the unity of Christ. Is it more work for us to remain as a mixed-ethnic church? Yes. Are the rewards greater? Oh, yeah!

Finding a new identity in Christ, our old identification with the world should change. Christ was hated and rejected by the world, so Christian churches should be wary when the world praises us (Hebrews 11:13-17, 32-40; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:11-17; 4:12-19). I love a good praise band as much as anyone. Love to rock out with the Lord! (Handy if you’re a youth leader). However, I always wonder when someone mentions a large local church and all they can talk about is the great worship band on Saturday nights. What is the preacher preaching? What about the Sunday School? What about ministry? Worship is a great thing, but we were called to go out from worship to evangelize the world. That won’t make us popular with people who would rather not hear that they’re sinners. If the world is praising your worship service, maybe you should check to see if the gospel is being preached.

There are no Biblical examples of an individual coming to personal faith in Jesus and not becoming intimately associated with a church. The “autonomous Christian” who confidently claims Jesus as Savior but who feels free to live his/her life independently of the church is living inconsistently with the gospel. Jesus is the Head of His Church. You can be a part of the visible church without being a Christian, but you cannot be a Christian without being part of His church.

Unity does not, however, mean adherence to a single denomination. Our task as Christians is to follow Jesus, not the institutions of men, even those institutions that claim to be founded on or by the apostles or Jesus Himself. Institutions can claim many things rightly or wrongly, but the proof of such organizations’ unity with Christ is adherence to the Bible. A Christian should align himself with a local church body that can best disciple him and then best use the gifts God gives him for ministry, but always remember that where the denomination does not align itself with the Bible, it does not align itself with Jesus and therefore, Christians within those denominations must either work diligently to correct the errors found there or move to a denomination that is more correctly aligned. To do less is to deny God and the importance of His Word. Being human representations of Jesus’ Church, denominations will likely never be perfectly aligned with Christ, but we should strive for as close an alignment as the Bible provides and our culture allows.

Jesus is the key to reconciliation. The hostility between Jews and Gentiles was and remains deep-rooted and intense. World peace efforts today fail to grasp the depth of this division, failing to comprehend that only Jesus Christ can make enemies fellow-saints. Christ alone is the key to reconciliation. Apart from Him, there can and will be no real and lasting peace. Peace will not be arbitrated or negotiated by diplomats; peace has already been accomplished by Christ. All those in Him are reconciled.

We see a similar divide currently with regards to Islam. Christians possess the word of God and we know that the Truth can set all mankind free from hatred. There are brave and bold missionaries working in many countries to bring the gospel message to Muslims. Somewhere in the Middle East Afshin Ziafat, an American of Muslim Iranian descent who became a Christian in his teens, trains Christian men from Iraq to become ministers within a culture that is ostensibly closed to Christians. These men return to their country with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the message that the grace of God can reconcile us to Him and to others. It is efforts like this and not any political process known to man that will bring about peace in the Middle East. The grace of God changing the hearts of people brings peace with God and a resulting peace with those around us.

There is coming a day and it is already here when Christians will have to make room for Muslim Christians just as Jewish Christians had to make room for Gentile believers. We cannot do this by trying to make Muslim believers into Western-style Christians. Their culture dictates that their Christianity will have a different methodology and a different flavor than ours. Our unity should be in doctrine rather than rituals. Let us hope we accomplish this new phase of Christian growth better for having had the example of the struggle the Jewish believers had with accepting Gentile believers. We need to look at our central beliefs – faith in Jesus Christ based upon the record in the Scripture – and learn to ignore the cultural differences.

There is no alienation so great, no hatred so strong, that the cross of Calvary cannot reconcile men with men or men with God. The cross of Christ reconciles sinners to God and sinners with one another. The church should be a living testimony to the reconciliation which God has accomplished on the cross. As He opened His arms wide to accept us, the churches should open our arms wide to accept those He is preparing to add to His Church.

May our lives demonstrate reconciliation!

Good News!

Although He had died for the sins of the world, God raised Jesus from the dead. Taking Him back into heaven where He seated Him at His right hand, He invested Him with authority and power greater than all other authorities. Along with this authority and power, He was appointed as Head of the Church, which is the earthly manifestation of His presence and invested with what remains of His ministry on earth before His return.

In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul focused our attention on the purpose and power of God, which assure the believer of the blessings which God has provided in Christ. The final verses of this section concern the vast power of God which He has vested in Jesus Christ, through His resurrection and ascension.

After assuring his readers that God is the center of the universe, Paul turned his attention to the object of God’s love – human beings.

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to this worldly age, according to the ruler of the atmospheric domain, the spirit now working in the disobedient [Literally sons of disobedience]. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and by nature we were children under wrath, as the others were also.” Ephesians 2:1-3

If Ephesians 1:19-23 explores the heights of Jesus’ power and authority, Ephesians 2:1-3 delves the depths of human sinfulness.  In today’s passage Paul expounded on the powerless and lifeless condition of sinners, enslaved by their material desires in a world that does everything it can to point away from God.

Paul often worked in balanced statements. Consider this and now consider its opposite. We see a great deal of it in Romans, his other great theological work. Consider the contrast between Christ’s position and ours. Christ is alive because of His righteousness, but we are dead because of our sins. Christ is exalted, seated in the heavens; we are on and of the earth. Christ has been given power and authority over all other powers and authorities; we were subject to the powers and authorities.

Ironically, we sinners don’t even realize our condition until we’ve been saved. Lost people, deceived by Satan, think that by living in sin we are enjoying life to its fullest, but we are not. Imagine slaves who suppose they are free and subject to no man, yet subject to a cruel master? And we wonder why life beats us up when we’re outside of God’s will!

Paul summed up the condition of lost people in one word: dead. As in lifeless, helpless, absolutely powerless and beyond hope! Death is the ultimate result of sin. Paul examined some of the contributing factors to our sin.

First, we are sinners because we are born that way. We were “by nature, children of wrath.” We were sinners, subject to the wrath of God because of our sin nature, which we obtained at birth. The unbelieving world looks at children as innocent, contaminated only by their environment, but the Bible informs us that we were born in sin, having inherited the fallen nature of our forefather, Adam (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12).

Second, men sin and are therefore sinners because they follow the world which deals in rebellion. Sinners willingly seek companions (co-sinners) to share in the excitement, thus also sharing the penalty of sin (Proverbs 1:8-19).

Third, unbelievers sin because they are unwittingly subject to the influence of Satan (1 Corinthians 12:1-2), (2 Timothy 2:24-26), (1 John 3:8), (1 John 5:19).

Finally, humans are sinners because they follow the dictates of the flesh. In Romans 7:7-25 and Galatians 5:16-21 Paul more fully explained the role of the flesh in relation to sin. These are the natural, self-serving impulses and desires of fallen men. The flesh includes not only the sinful passions of the body, but also of the mind.

Interestingly, Paul chose to unite the Jews and the Gentiles in the common condition of sin and death. In verses 1 and 2, he used the pronoun “you” referring to the Gentiles, but in verse 3 Paul changed to “we” in reference to the Jews.  Verse 3 is critical to our understanding of the gospel. No Jew would disagree with Paul concerning the Gentiles, but Paul ignited controversy by saying the same things about the Jews, who thought that they were born “special” because of their physical descent from Abraham (Matthew 3:9).

The self-righteous claim of the Jews, “We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles” (Galatians 2:15), is not only challenged, but reversed by Paul, when he writes, “We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and by nature we were children under wrath, as the others were also (Ephesians 2:3). In some ways it was true that the Jews were less enamored of the fleshly sins of sexual immorality and idolatry compared to the Gentiles. In the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere, Jesus indicted the Jews of guilty of committing many of the fleshly sins mentally, if not literally (Matthew 5:21-32). Often times, the Jews were guilty of the same sins, but found pious ways of justifying them (Matthew 23).  The self-righteous often pride themselves for living in a way that is socially respectable, but which is sin in the eyes of God (Luke 16:15). Hearkening back to Romans 1-3, Paul demonstrated here that the Jews, like the Gentiles are “dead” in their transgressions and sins, born under condemnation, and desperately in need of divine grace. Outside of God’s race, Jews and Gentiles are equally guilty, condemned, and hopeless.

On our own devices and apart from God, we are hopelessly lost. This is not mere “sin sickness”. We are “dead”, without life, hope, or value. Any worth we may have must come from outside of us and if we are in Christ, it does.

Having established the fallen condition of all mankind, Paul shared the good news of the gospel.

“But God, who is abundant in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us,^[3] Lit love with which He loved us made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. By grace you are saved! He also raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavens,^[4] [Eph 1:3,20; 3:10; 6:12] in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace in [His]^* The bracketed text has been added for clarity. kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7

Paul painted a pretty grim picture of mankind’s condition and then threw a light into the darkness. “But God…” is a beacon of hope in a sea of despair. Man’s sin condition is not terminal because God provided rescues through Jesus. Motivated by His mercy and love for us, God sent His Son to die for us.

God’s love is not a response, but a cause. God’s mercy was and is not prompted by our potential or by any qualities we think we possess. Grace was not bestowed on us because we were so worthy or because God found anything good in us. It flowed from the goodness which is God Himself. It had nothing to do with the recipient and everything to do with the giver. God sent Jesus Christ to the world, to suffer and to die in the sinner’s place not because we earned it, but because He saw He saw we were in terrible shape and He could demonstrate His grace and power in transforming a “dead” man or woman into a living sacrifice. Christians are a living testimony of His grace and power. God’s motivation in saving us should not flatter us, but it does glorify Him.

God is not a short-order cook! His grace and salvation does not come to us in various forms, from which we may choose. His grace has been poured out to us lavishly in Christ, and in Him alone. Our union with Him transforms us from what we were to what He is. Our separation from God through sin has made us what we were in Ephesians 2:1-3. Our identification with Christ, through faith, makes us all that Christ is, as described in Ephesians 1:19-23.

We were dead because of our sin (disobedience to God). In Christ we are made alive (verse 5). Though we were formerly dead, we have been raised up in Him (verse 6). And although we were formerly enslaved to our own passions, to the world, and to Satan, in Christ we are seated in the heavenly places, now free from all heavenly and earthly powers that oppose God, and have become enslaved to Him who by love delivered us from our bondage to sin and to death.

“[S]o that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace in [His]^* The bracketed text has been added for clarity. kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For by grace [Rm 3:24; 6:14; 11:6; Gl 2:21; 2 Tm 1:9] you are saved through faith, [Rm 3:28; 5:1] and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation—created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:7-10

Yeah, I broke the verses oddly and repeated verse 7 because although the natural thought starts in verse 8, verse 7 is a transitional verse on which the whole section of Scripture hinges. My friend Alan pointed it out, but it took me a while to accept that, yes, verse 7 actually belongs to both sections and needs to be addressed in both. Verses 8-10 are the two primary explanations of what he meant by his primary statement in verse 7. Paul discussed future matters here and it is important to acknowledge that. God’s primary purpose for sending His Son to die in the sinner’s place was not to produce the happiness of the sinner, but to the demonstration of the grace of God for all eternity.

God doesn’t live in time and space, so His purposes are not merely temporal. His focus is eternal. God’s purpose in saving sinners is not just to make us happy, provide blessings, or enable us to escape the torments of hell. Honestly, God is just as glorified by the punishment of the wicked as He is by the salvation of those whom He makes righteous (Romans 9:14-23; 1 Peter 2:12; Revelation 16:4-7). All things, even the things we consider to be negative (like the punishment of the wicked) God uses for His own glory. Salvation of sinners is therefore subordinate to His ultimate purpose of bringing glory to Himself.  Salvation showcases God’s grace; judgment show cases His holiness and justice. Paul writes that it is the riches of grace that will be displayed for all eternity. Salvation is all of God’s doing and none of ours. Grace is a divine favor given to the undeserving. God doesn’t share His glory and salvation is entirely His work to claim.

In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul wrote the most significant line of theology in the entire New Testament. “For by grace^[5] Rm 3:24; 6:14; 11:6; Gl 2:21; 2 Tm 1:9 you are saved through faith,^[6] Rm 3:28; 5:1 and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast.” Humans are saved by grace, not by works! This certainly shocked the Jews when they heard that no one can enter eternal life because of their good deeds. Only God’s goodness, given through Christ, allows us to enter. Salvation is God’s gift and not wages for our efforts. This prevents us from boasting, but brings glory to God. Verse 9 cleared up any claim we might have to good deeds after our salvation. Any such evidenced in our lives are the result of our salvation and stem also from God’s grace.

As saints, we are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), but we are His creation. He created us in Jesus Christ. Any good works which we might do as Christians are the works which He foreordained, which He planned and prepared in eternity past. We dare not take credit for them. We are simply to “walk in them.” Good works will not save us, nor can we boast in them after the fact. We can only boast in what God has done and He would have done that for anyone.

In John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6). There’s no way to God except through Jesus. Fortunately, Christ died for our sins, so that we don’t have to suffer death as a penalty for our disobedience. Christ rose from the dead so that we too are assured of our resurrection from the dead, when we will take our place with Him in Heaven. All that is required is that we agree with God concerning our condition (Ephesians 2:1-3) and receive Jesus as our Savior (Ephesians 2:4-6) In Christ we cease to be what we once were and become forever what Christ is.

The good new of the gospel is that we need not remain dead in our sin, separated from God and destined for wrath. God has provided a way of salvation. It’s a narrow, singular path and it is the “way” of Christ.

The Pauline letters are distinguished for the prayers offered to God in the interest of his readers. The greatness of the man and his ministry can be attributed in a large part to his prayer life.

Paul records two prayers in Ephesians. We’re looking at the first one now; the second one is found in 3:14-19. If prayer for others is an evidence of one’s own spiritual life, Paul ranks high among the godly leaders in the history of the Church. Most of our prayers are taken up with ourselves or with those nearest and dearest to us while the needs of others occupy a small place in our prayer life. Paul’s prayers are included by the Holy Spirit as a corporate part of the epistle.

Paul wanted the Ephesians and all Christians to increase in wisdom so that they might know the hope of God’s calling, the riches of the glory of God’s inheritance, and the greatness of the power that He makes available to us.

Paul prayed that we might have a full appreciation of our worth to God Who made us His heritage that the world might praise Him (1:11-12). God’s inheritance is in His saints. Everything in the universes are His already, but the saints that He purchased at the infinite cost of His only Son are His greatest treasure. Often we think about what we can get from God when we should be thinking about what we mean to God! The Christian Church is precious to God for He purchased it with the blood of His Son. This gives us great dignity that sadly far too many Christians do fully appreciate.

“He demonstrated this power The bracketed text has been added for clarity. in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens [Eph 1:3; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12] — far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, [Lit every name named] not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put everything under His feet [Ps 8:6] and appointed Him as head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.” Ephesians 1:20-23

Paul prayed that men might know the measure of God’s power. Christians need supernatural power, and God would have us see the breadth of His power to accomplish His purposes in us. The power that God has made available to the believer is “according to the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.” Consider the inexhaustible strength of God in taking His crucified Son, dead and buried, and raising Him to His present majestic position in heaven. What power! The same continuous current of His mighty power stands available to the faithful, to all who will believe. The power which raised Christ from the grave, lifted Him to heaven, put all things under His feet and made Him the Head over all to the Church, is available to Christians. Truly, there is no excuse for Christian failure!

“And He [God] put everything under His [Jesus] feet [Ps 8:6] and appointed Him as head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.” (1:22-23). Jesus Christ has been exalted to absolute authority over His Church. He is the exalted Head over all. The purpose of the Church must be His will and every activity must exalt Him because He is at the Head of the Church. When the members of the Church recognize this, then there will be no lack, for the Church will receive its fullness from Him. As the recognized Head, He imparts the needed strength to accomplish every task. When the visible body of Christ on earth recognizes the invisible Head in heaven, the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. Popes, cardinals, and bishops are merely men; when any man sets himself up as the head of Christ’s Church, it is sacrilege. Christians are required to take our position in submission to our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may enjoy victory in everything, for we cannot be complete without Him (Col. 2:9-10).

Paul stepped out of the hymn of praise for the blessings God has given Christians to direct communication with the Ephesians, thus directly applying the hymnology to believers in Christ.

Because Paul knew that the Ephesians were Christians, he taught them about the majesty and power of God and all the blessings He had provided them with through their relationship with Jesus Christ.

The word “redemption” appears three times in Ephesians, and it means to set free by the payment of a ransom. The ransom price of the slave is the blood of Jesus Christ, and release from the power and penalty of sin is only “through His blood.” The penalty for sin is death (Gen. 2:17). Death is sin’s wages (Rom. 6:23). Only a substitute life will satisfy the righteous demands of God. Since the life of the flesh is in the blood (Lev. 17:11), and the Son of man gave His life as “ransom” (Matt. 20:28), all who trust in Him are assured of release from sin’s penalty, but only “through His blood.” In the first stanza, the Father plans our redemption (1:4-6); in the second, the Son provides it. We shall never be able to overestimate the worth of Jesus’ death. God displayed His wisdom and power in creation, but only in the death of His Son do we see a manifestation of divine compassion for sinners, and the only responsibility imposed upon sinners is that of believing. Redemption is a present fact: “we have redemption.”

We find also that God has given us all wisdom and prudence. How did He manage that? The truths of God are deep truths, not easy to be understood. Yet, Paul provided the answer. God made know to us the mystery of His will.

Wow! Thus the second stanza of this wonderful hymn of praise concludes “to the praise of His [Christ’s] glory.”

The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to “quicken us”. In Ephesians it is called “the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” Elsewhere we are reminded that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). Paul wrote: “You heard,” and “you believed.” It is through the Word that men are born again, “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12). When we hear the gospel, the Holy Spirit has the opportunity to work on us toward becoming born again. (John 3:5, I Pet. 1:23). The written Word of God is the living, active, sharp, penetrating, discerning sword of the Spirit by which men are brought face to face with God’s plan of salvation. The duty of the sword of the Spirit is to bring life, but all who refuse it are slain by it. There is no adequate explanation of our salvation apart from the Spirit’s ministry through the Word.