STUDY THE BIBLE 25 (STB 25)
“THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS: WALK WORTHY”
Paul’s epistle to the church
at Ephesus is best understood comparing and contrasting the three accounts in the New Testament – his visit in the book of Acts (Acts 18:24-Act 21:38) where he spends
three years between
54- 58AD; what he writes five years to them, being a prisoner in Rome 61-63AD,
with the book of Ephesians; and the account,
written by the apostle
John, around 80AD, in the book of
the Revelation (Rev 2:2-7)
Like all final reports, God outlines the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ in the Revelation account,
where
God commends them on ELEVEN worthy points by saying
“I know thy works, and thy
labour,
and thy patience, and how thou canst not
bear them which are evil:
and thou hast tried
them which say they are apostles,
and are not,
and hast found them liars: And hast
borne, and hast patience, and for my
name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted … But
this thou hast, that
thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” (Rev 2:2-3,6)
However, God has ONE thing against them, and says
Nevertheless I have
somewhat against thee, because
thou hast left thy first love.
So God urges them towards
FOUR things, by saying
REMEMBER therefore from whence thou art fallen, and REPENT, and DO
the first works; and
“…OVERCOMETH … to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of
the paradise of God.” (Rev 2:4-5,7)
REMEMBER
WHAT?
Being once idolatrous, wicked and sinful heathens,
Paul says they are to REMEMBER that
“…you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein
in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience: Among whom
also we all had our conversation (behaviour) in
times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh
and of the mind; and were by nature the
children of wrath, even as
others.”Ephesians 2:1-3
REPENT FOR WHAT and DO WHAT?
It was NOT
to repent of the things brought to remembrance, as these had been
dealt
with when they got saved.
No, they
had fallen into OTHER sinful behaviours since
their salvation, of which they needed to repent, and do something about.
THE MISUNDERSTANDING
Left
their first love (Rev 2:4) is misunderstood
to mean they had stopped loving Jesus. So Pastors today address their congregations with “Well people
we don’t want to be like the Ephesians do we? No Sir, so lets put our
hands in the air and tell him how much we love Jesus.” Now this is all
fine and
good, however we are reminded
by the Saviour himself
who says “If a man love me, he will
KEEP my words …” John 14:23.
WHERE ARE CHRIST’S
WORDS TO BE FOUND?
Paul says If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 14:37. The mistaken
belief by many Christians, is that, because Jesus
fulfilled the law,
we don’t have to, so therefore we are free from the laws that would keep us from liberty. No dear
Reader, to keep Christ’s words, are to obey
the commandments of Paul found
in the epistle
to the Ephesians,
and covered
under the general
heading of “… walk worthy …” (Eph 4:1).
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
It
comes as a complete surprise, for most Christians, to find that Paul
restates the Old Testament Ten Commandments
(minus the 4th
of course).
However there is a difference. Instead of the seemingly harsh “… thou
shalt not … make, take, bow, do, kill, commit, steal, build, lift,
covet, bear,
go, suffer …” (Exodus 20:3-17),
God speaks in a more kindly and fatherly
fashion as is befitting those
who can now call him Abba Father (Rom 8:15) as the
bondage of
the Law created fear, For ye have not
received the spirit of bondage again
to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba,
Father. Romans 8:15. Furthermore,
now being adopted, the Ephesians had God the Father and Jesus dwelling
in them,
as the word says “…and my Father
will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:23, which the Old
Testament saints never
had.
So God LOVINGLY,
and kindly, REASONS with the Ephesians, as children who are now in
the
family, and not as bastards
and the illegitimate (those
children who are born
outside of lawful marriage).
WHAT WORKS NEEDED TO BE DONE?
That ye put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts;
And be renewed in the spirit of your
mind; And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created
in
righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore
putting away lying, speak every man truth with
his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun
go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him
As can be seen, these are some of the Ten Commandments restated with kinder
words and reasons.
HOW AND WHY HAD
THEY LEFT THEIR FIRST LOVE?
There were two reasons – the world
and the Jews.
Firstly, as in the present
day, unless Christians walk according to the word of God, they are in danger
of taking on not just the characteristics of the city in which they live, but indeed,
the whole world, due to the evils of the internet.
The city of Ephesus was
like most cities
today. If ever there was a godless
and depraved city, Ephesus was one. It was a city of
luxury,
fornication, sexual sin, money greed, sorcery, magic arts, Jewish
philosophy, Greek
philosophy, government endorsed
temple prostitution, trade and commerce. They worshipped the goddess Diana, representing
‘sexual
freedom’, and as then, as today, you could buy all sorts of trinkets, figurines, dolls and idols, mostly depicting men in ungodly poses.
Secondly, much to the displeasure of many of the Christians,
those who were
formerly of the Jewish faith at Jerusalem, Paul taught that Christians could
be free from the works bondage
of becoming circumcised. These Christian Jews were bitterly
opposed to uncircumcised Gentiles
taking upon themselves the liberty of having access
to their God, and having
their
Messiah as Saviour.
WHAT HAPPENED AT EPHESUS?
The
people and events mentioned are Apollos; disciples of John’s
baptism; Paul disputes for three months in the synagogue; teaches
in the school of Tyrannus; does miracles
with handkerchiefs; deals with exorcists and vagabond
(wandering) unsaved Jews; delivers the sons of
Sceva; magic
books of scorcery are burned along with the curious
arts; confronts the greed of Demetrius and the silversmiths; the town clerk
deals with the uproar
over Diana; Paul’s warnings to the
church.
They were a very
good church, as they had confronted and overcome all
of the evils of corruption, covetousness,
greed, false apostles, exorcists, vagabond Jews,
Diana worship, sorcery, magic, fornication, Nicolaitanes
and so on. As John’s Revelation points out, they were in danger of not persevering, and this is shown by the word “overcom-eth”
(Rev 2:7), with the ending of “-eth” meaning
overcoming in the present and continuously, all the time with no rest, and into the future.
It is no wonder as he left them “… they all wept sore,
and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, Sorrowing most of all for the words
which he
spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship. Acts 20:37-38. Their best friend and teacher
was going away. He wanted them to
WALK WORTHY
Paul, having been taken to the 3rd heaven, knew what was coming
up for them.
As they were heathens
in the PAST
…in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind; and were by nature
the children of wrath … Ephesians 2:3
They should now live stedfast in
the PRESENT
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro,
and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive; Eph 4:14
As grievous wolves will
enter in the FUTURE
… in
the vanity of their mind, … Having
the understanding darkened, being alienated
from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them, because of
the blindness of their heart: … Who
being past feeling have
given
themselves over unto lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness.
…. Corrupt
according to the deceitful
lusts; Ephesians 4:17-22
Paul’s Ephesian epistle is in THREE PARTS:
They are now in Christ
In Chapter 1 Paul tells them they are in Christ and what that means.
How they got into
Christ
In Chapter 2 Paul says there is no separation between the Jew and the Gentile because of Christ.
As shown before
at Pentecost in the Old Testament, where two loaves
were baked (Lev 23:17), Paul’s
constant
mission was to stress the unity of ONE church in Christ, not two churches.
In chapter 3 Paul reminds
them of his special revelations given to him by God.
How they will act
In Chapters 4,5,6, Paul gives
many instructions on the behaviour and
spiritual armour needed by Christians.
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Ch 1 = Chosen in him (not ‘into’)
The most used word in this
chapter is “in”. Paul hopes the repetition
of this word will sink into the minds of the
church at Ephesus. He uses such phrases as “in Christ
Jesus (V1), “in heavenly
places” (v3,20), “in him” (v4), “in the
beloved” (V6), “in whom
(v7), “in
Christ” (v20), “in his body” (v23) and so
on.
Now the Calvinist utterly fails to have the truth of
verse 4. They read
“According as he hath chosen us IN him before
the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in
love:” (Eph 1:4)
as
“According as he hath chosen us INTO him before
the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” (Eph 1:4).
We are not chosen
into Christ, but once in Christ, this is where we are chosen!
“For what?” you may ask.
Having gotten into Christ, we
are them predestinated to become like him.
Our beginning in Christ is the start,
the pre (the start of the journey that ends with the)
destination of having glorified bodies
in heaven. The predestination does not occur before
the foundation of the world.
It starts once we are in Christ.
Paul then ends with Christ
being the head over
the church which is his body (v23).
“Hello Visitor
to our church, are you a member yet?”
“Oh, you’re talking
about membership. Oh yes, I am a member of Christ’s
body. I am in him.”
If the reader
is looking for excellent examples of how to pray for
people, we can look no further than here in this chapter (v16-23) and also Ephesians 3:14-19, Philippians 1:9-11 and Colossians 1:9-12.
Paul sets out all the blessings of being in Christ.
C2 = Quickened in Christ Dead
in
trespasses and sins (v1) Were children
of disobedience (v2)
Fulfilling the lusts of the flesh (v3)
But he is rich in mercy (v4)
We are quickened (v5)
Seated in heavenly
places (v6)
Saved not of works but saved unto good works (v8-10)
For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any
man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should
walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10
Were without hope & without
God in the
world (v12) Made nigh by the blood of Christ (v13)
The dividing wall has been broken (v14)
In Paul’s journeys, there were certain
false Jewish teachers that
would come along on his coat-tail, insisting that Gentiles could not become Christians without keeping the laws of Moses eg days, times and festivals (Gal 4:10), and in
particular, circumcision (Acts 15:1). As Paul says “…certain men which came down from Judaea
taught the brethren, and said, Except ye
be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.”
(Acts 15:1)
These false
teachers, Judaizers, were not
willing to accept Paul’s doctrine of getting saved, and staying saved, without the works of
the law. They
insisted that a Gentile could not become a Christian unless he first adhered
to Moses’ laws. They made it their
business to trouble
and vex Christian
churches, being fixed
in their determination to make
Christianity a sect
and a branch of Judaism. Much like today, certain Jews, and Jew loving people, are
infiltrating churches
with their demonstrations of Jewish rites and festivals. They are intent on stamping “Moses”
on everything and drawing believers away from the sufficiency of Christ.
Slain the curse and demands
of the Law (v15) Access
to the Father (v18)
No longer strangers
but saints (v19)
Framed into God’s building (v21-22)
The foundation of the building
are the apostles and prophets
The cornerstone is Jesus Christ
(v
To be “quickened” simply means to be brought alive, from being dead in sins.
You are not saved
by works but you saved to
do good works.
C3 = Mystery
of the church
Paul explains his credentials
as the leader
(v1-5, 7-8) Gentiles are to be fellow heirs in Christ
(v6)
Mystery
of the church in Christ (v9) The love of
Christ (v17-19)
C4 = Walking worthy as
Christians - the
Ten Commandments restated for Christians Walk worthy (v1)
With lowliness, meekness,
longsuffering and forbearing in love (v2) With unity
of the Spirit (v3)
One baptism
(not water) with the Spirit (v4-5)
Christ went to hell and took
the OT saints
back to heaven (v8-10) Offices needed to perfect
the church (v11-12)
Don’t be tossed around like
children with
different doctrines (v13-17) You were blind and walked in the lusts of the flesh (v18-19)
The new man is renewed
(21-24)
Ten Commandments (numbers 3, 6, 8,
9) restated no lying (#9 in v25)
no anger (#6 in v26) no stealing (#8 in v28)
speak what is good (#3 in
v29)
Put away bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour
and evil speaking
(v31) Be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving to one another (v32)
You will note that the Ten
Commandments are
more than covered in the above passages except the one about keeping the Sabbath (Saturday).
The Ten Commandments are delivered more harshly with “Thou
shalt not….”
You will note that the language of God through
Paul is more kindly in keeping the commandments.
Put it this way,
as a child in God’s family, he speaks
to us, who are saved,
as you would to your own children
– kindly and gently hoping
that they will respond out of love.
Although
the Jews were chosen by God they are still not
born again. God hopes that they will obey
him out of love all the way through.
|
Ten Commandments |
Paul’s Commandments |
Number 9 |
Exo 20:16“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” |
Eph
4:25 “Wherefore putting
away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.” |
Number 8 |
Exo 20:15“Thou shalt not steal” |
Eph
4:28 “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” |
C5 = Walking worthy as
Christians - the
Ten Commandments restated
for Christians be followers of God (#1 in v1)
no fornication
#3 in v3)
no covetousness (#3 in v3)
C6 = Walking
worthy as Christians with the armour of God
**** ****
Harley Hitchcock
This
website’s front page is:
www.
Australian Bible Ministries, PO
Box 5058 Mt. Gravatt East 4122 Qld, Australia
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com