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The Apostle Paul's Epistle
to the Ephesians |
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Chapter 4
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1Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord,
implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you
have been called,
The word "therefore" divides the first
three chapters from the last three but also incredibly connects
them. Paul has taken the first half of this epistle to explain the
amazing truths regarding our salvation; now in the last three
chapters, he seeks to show us how to live out that reality. The word
"walk" refers to the daily living out of God's commandments. It
comes from the Hebrew word "halachah" and is used all throughout the
rabbinic literature. The term is idiomatically connected to the
concept of taking on a "yoke." To take on a yoke refers to
submitting to a standard of "halachah." That is, in the context of
Judaism, to submit to an authority - to take on their yoke - means
to submit to the way they have interpreted the Torah's commandments.
As Believers, we have submitted to the yoke of Yeshua and therefore
we also must submit to His rulings on how we are to obey the
commandments of Torah. This is what it means to walk in a manner
worthy of your calling; our calling, as Gentiles, is to join Israel
and become servants of the King. We have embraced His yoke and now
must submit to the way of life He expects us to live.
2with all humility and gentleness, with
patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,
I submit that the specific focus that
Paul has in mind as he exhorts the Gentile Believers to embrace
these virtues is in regards to their interaction and entrance into
the various Jewish communities that were accepting them. Just as he
reminded the Gentile Believers in the Roman communities not to
become arrogant, he now instructs the Ephesians to embrace humility
and gentleness. Specifically, Gentile Believers are to show humility
and gentleness in regards to how they interact with Jewish
Believers. Paul has already taken the time to thoroughly show that
Gentile Believers are not second-class citizens in Israel but, at
the same time, they are not to exalt themselves and thus relegate
the Jewish Believers to a degraded status. The Gentile Believers
must understand that it is they who are entering into the already
existing community of Israel and should respect the traditions and
interpretations handed down over the generations.
Additionally, being new entrants into
the already existing Jewish communities, Gentile Believers are to
exhibit patience, with ourselves and with the ones accepting us into
the community. This is connected with showing tolerance for one
another in love. In other words, there is an initial time of growth
that Gentiles must go through in order to be integrated within the
already existing communities. There will be times when Gentile
Believers will be anxious to learn the life of Torah and may in fact
get ahead of themselves. Believers are to exhibit patience and
tolerance, in love, as we all grow and become more like the Messiah.
3being diligent to preserve the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
What does it mean to "preserve he unity
of the Spirit" and why is it accomplished through peace? In the
Messiah, by the Spirit, we all have the same positional reality.
That is, positionally, we are all holy and blameless in the Messiah.
Therefore we should express this positional reality in our
day-to-day lives. This can only be done through peace. Too often we
think of peace as simply keeping quiet and not rattling each others
feathers. True peace, however, is not devoid of speaking the truth.
True peace can only be achieved when the whole assembly collectively
endeavours to discover and accept the truth. As we all submit to the
truth, we will then display the character of the Messiah to the
world.
4There is one body and one Spirit, just
as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all who is over all and
through all and in all.
Paul's goal is to bring to fruition
what Yeshua prayed in John 17:21-23, which is that we be
unified. For, in reality, there is only one body of the Messiah.
There is only one Holy Spirit through which there is unity. This is
because, by that same Spirit, we were called and there is only one
hope of calling. In other words, by the Spirit's work, we are all
saved the same way and brought into the same community. Furthermore,
we all have the same Master, the Master Yeshua the Messiah. There is
only one faith. The word "faith" is used here in the technical sense
to refer to the content of the Gospel. The content of the Gospel is
nothing short of the entire Word of God. Likewise, there is only one
immersion for which we all experience when we become Believers. This
could refer to both the spiritual immersion that is accomplished
when we become Believers and also the ritual immersion in water that
we are commanded to experience, which symbolizes the spiritual
immersion. Appropriately, Paul encapsulates all that he's said by
declaring that there is only one God and then mirrors his statement
in Romans 1:36 by saying that God is over all (that is, God
is owner of everything), that He is through all (that is, God
sustains everything), and that God is in all (that is, all life
comes from God).
7But to each one of us grace was given
according to the measure of Messiah's gift. 8Therefore it says,
"WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE
GAVE GIFTS TO MEN." 9(Now this expression, "He ascended," what does
it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of
the earth? 10He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far
above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)
The phrase "but to each one of us"
should be understood as a contrastive statement. While previously
Paul emphasized the oneness and unity of Believers, he now states
that each of us have received grace according to the measure of the
Messiah's gift. This refers to our individual unique abilities that
God has given us. While our positional reality is that we are
perfect in God's sight, in our day-to-day lives we need to
diligently work towards that perfection. God has not left us without
the ability to do that.
To illustrate this, Paul midrashically
quotes Psalm 68:18 and applies it to the Messiah. The actual
quote is from Psalm 68, which is a victory hymn celebrating a
military conquest, and is in reference to God. When applied to the
Messiah, the conquest is not a military one but the conquest over
sin and eternal punishment. The phrase "He ascended" refers to the
Messiah's resurrection and victory over death. In this victory, the
Messiah has secured a host of "captives" who were formerly captive
to the power of sin. The Messiah also gave us gifts, which are the
various abilities that allow us to work together to reach the
perfection we are called to attain.
As I alluded to already, "ascended"
refers to resurrection and, therefore, "descended" refers to death.
Paul's singular point is clear: the grace God bestows upon us was
secured through the Messiah's death and resurrection.
11And He gave some as apostles, and
some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and
teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service,
to the building up of the body of Messiah; 13until we all attain to
the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a
mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the
fullness of Messiah.
To assist in reaching the goal of
perfection, God has given Believers apostles, prophets, evangelists
and teaching shepherds. This is not an exhaustive list but these are
certainly some of the more prominent "offices" that God places
people within to equip Believers for the work of service.
apostles
The word "apostolos" means "sent
one" and is used in its Hebrew form throughout the rabbinic
literature. In the Apostolic Writings, it refers to someone who
witnessed the resurrected Messiah. This would exclude anyone living
today but the voice of the actual Apostles has not been lost. The
Apostles live on through their writings. The job of an Apostle was
to testify of the Messiah's resurrection and teach Yeshua's words
either directly or in the form of their own teachings. Through the
Apostolic Scriptures we still have access to this office but no one
actually functions in this office in the technical sense.
prophets
The Greek word "prophetes"
simply means one who "speaks forth." In the Bible, a prophet is one
who speaks a revelation from God. In the Apostolic era, a prophet
was someone who either reiterated a truth from the Tanakh or spoke a
new revelation. With the completion of the book of Revelation,
however, prophecy in the sense of new revelation ceased. Speaking as
a prophet now consists only of simply reiterating a revelation from
the Bible.
evangelists
The word "evangelist" literally refers
to someone who proclaims good news. In the context of the Bible, of
course, this would refer to the act of proclaiming the Good News of
Messiah to unbelievers. The message of the Gospel is nothing short
of repentance and submission to God's Word which begins with placing
one's faith in the Messiah and His atoning work.
shepherds-teachers
The way the Greek is structured
indicates that that "shepherds" and "teachers" are to be understood
as the same office. The word "poimen" is translated in our
English Bibles as "pastors." The word "pastor" carries a connotation
that isn't represented in the original word. As I've already
displayed, the word "poimen" doesn't mean "pastor" in the
sense of a leader of a congregation but actually means "shepherd."
The "shepherd" is the same individual who is the "elder" or
"overseer" within a congregation. None of these terms imply complete
authority but rather refers to an individual who helps guide the
assembly in obedience to God and helps restore people who have gone
astray. This is mainly accomplished by teaching the Word of God,
hence the construct “teaching-shepherd.”
The purpose of any and all of these
offices is to equip Believers in their service before God. The word
"service" carries with it the connotation of the priestly service of
the Temple. In other words, in this context, the service that we as
Believers are to be giving is a life of worship expressed through
our obedience to God's commandments. The goal for which we are
aiming is to become unified and to display who the Messiah is to the
rest of the world. In the grand scheme of things, any activity
within a believing community that isn't focused on this goal is a
waste of time.
14As a result, we are no longer to be
children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every
wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful
scheming; 15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all
aspects into Him who is the head, even Messiah,
If being mature in the Messiah refers
to being properly instructed by the apostles, prophets, evangelists
and teaching-shepherds then the contrast to that is being uninformed
and therefore accepting all kinds of false doctrine. A modern
example of this would be a Believer who simply accepts all sorts of
teaching from the various televangelists that permeate Christian
television. Without legitimate study of the Apostles writings, in
addition to guidance from teaching-shepherds, a Believer can become
susceptible to accepting false doctrine.
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The contrast to that, and therefore the
parallel to being properly equipped, is speaking the truth in love.
To speak the truth in love is to be frank with one another in
regards to the truths of the Bible but at the same time doing it
with humility, meekness and patience. The result will be that we
will become mature and more like the Messiah.
16from whom the whole body, being
fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to
the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the
body for the building up of itself in love.
Paul continues to metaphorically
describe Believers as a body. Only, when each individual Believer is
living their life in obedience to God's commandments and in response
to their own specific gifting can the whole body properly display
the Messiah to the world.
17So this I say, and affirm together
with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also
walk, in the futility of their mind, 18being darkened in their
understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the
ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
Paul exhorts the Gentiles to no longer
walk as the Gentiles walk. If Gentiles aren't supposed to live like
Gentiles, who are they supposed to live like? Obviously, Paul is
contrasting the pagan Gentile nations with Israel because he has
already stated in chapter 2 that Gentile Believers now have
citizenship in Israel. Specifically, Gentile Believers are to join
the Jewish Believers in devoting their lives in becoming like
Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah. Notice again that Paul uses the word
"walk" and here it's obvious he's referring to daily living and
practices of pagan Gentiles. Paul, like in chapter 2, goes on to
describe the reality of life as an unbelieving Gentile.
futility of their mind
Being unregenerate, the Gentile is dead
in their sins and therefore lives their life in futility. In regards
to spiritual matters, the sinner's depraved mind cannot produce
anything godly. Paul parallels this phrase immediately with the
phrase "being darkened in their understanding."
excluded from the life of God
It's my contention that Paul is
paralleling "excluded from the life of God" with the phrase
"excluded from citizenship in Israel" from chapter 2. Paul has
already exhorted the Gentile Believers to discontinue living the
life of a pagan Gentile. In Paul's day, the contrast to living a
pagan lifestyle was living the life of a faithful Israelite.
Citizenship in Israel - that is, living the life of an Israelite -
does not make a Gentile Jewish but it does mean they are living out
the life of God. To be excluded from the life of God is further
defined by being ignorant and having a hard heart. The opposite of
that, of course, is to be enlightened and to have a soft heart. This
alludes to the Ezekiel 36 New Covenant passage where God promises
salvation to Israel by removing the heart of stone (a hardened
heart) and giving a heart of flesh (a softened heart) with the
inevitable result being that all of Israel is obedient to God's
commandments. The same is true of any Believer in any generation;
when God softens our heart, it's only so that we can become obedient
to His commandments. God does not work in a vacuum; Believers must
study the Bible to know what it says and then submit to obeying it.
19and they, having become callous, have
given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind
of impurity with greediness. 20But you did not learn Messiah in this
way, 21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him,
just as truth is in Yeshua,
Paul continues his description of
unbelieving Gentiles, referring to their hardness of heart. Having a
hard heart results in being callous; being callous refers to losing
all feeling in terms of conviction and remorse over sin. For feeling
no conviction or remorse over sin will only give way to all kinds of
sexual impurity along with greediness. One doesn't have to look far
in our own day to see how this is true. The bombardment of sexual
temptation, all for the sake of money, was just as prevalent in the
pagan Gentile culture of Paul's day as it is in ours. For as
Ecclesiastes says: "there is nothing new under the sun."
Learning about Messiah and being His
disciple does not stem from a hardened heart but rather a softened
heart. If you are consistently seeking to submit to the Word of God
then that's probably an indication that God has softened your heart.
In other words, Paul is describing a way for Gentiles to test
whether they truly have been transformed. If Gentiles have truly
accepted the truth of the Gospel then their lives will be
characterized by the opposite of the attributes he's just been
describing. Living the Messiah-centered life does not consist of
obeying our natural, sinful desires but rather the Word of God,
which is illuminated by the Spirit.
22that, in reference to your former
manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted
in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in
the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the
likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of
the truth.
Imagine the acts of “laying aside the
old self” and “putting on the new self” are like taking off and
putting on clothes. The old self refers to sinful activity which
comes from a depraved mind. The old self is only concerned with
lust. Lust, here, refers not only to sexual lust but to the broader,
uncontrollable desire to simply be selfish. It's not that a sinner
can't do nice things but, overall, a sinner's life is characterized
by living for themselves. This is the height of deception for, as
Yeshua said, "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it;
but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." The Gospel
is all about denying self, recognizing our inherent sinfulness and
living for God. Properly living for God can only come as you "renew
the spirit of your mind." Being renewed in the spirit of your mind
refers to studying the Scriptures and submitting your life to
commandments therein. This refers back to verse 17 because instead
of having a futile mind or having a darkened understanding, Paul
exhorts Gentile Believers to be renewed in the spirit of their mind.
In Romans 12:2, Paul exhorts that we be transformed by the
renewing of our minds. Again, the only way we can become transformed
by the renewing of our minds is to study the Scriptures and through
the illumination that comes from the Holy Spirit, we submit to the
commandments.
25Therefore, laying aside falsehood,
SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of
one another. 26BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go
down on your anger, 27and do not give the devil an opportunity.
The rest of the chapter consists of
ways that we can "lay aside the old self." These are some of the old
"clothes" that we are to "take off." Paul is not making these
precepts up as they are all derived from Leviticus 19.
Firstly, a Believer's life should be characterized by truth and
honesty, as it says in Leviticus 19:11: "You shall not steal, nor
deal falsely, nor lie to one another." The world's system is
based upon dishonesty but as a Believer we need to speak the truth,
for only in truth are we able to grow and become like the Messiah.
According to verse 26, it's not a sin
to be angry. In fact, this is actually indicating that there are
times when we can be angry. We know that Yeshua became angry when He
overturned the money changers’ tables. There is such a thing as
righteous anger but that anger must never lead to sin. It says in Leviticus
19:17: "...you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur
sin because of him." Righteous anger could be a motivator for
obedience but it can very easily turn into pride or some other form
of sin. Knowing this, we must not leave issues of anger unresolved.
You might be able to leave the situation and cool down but the issue
must be resolved by the end of the day to the point where anger is
turned into a desire to do what's right. If you don't, Satan will
have an opening to entice you to become bitter.
28He who steals must steal no longer;
but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is
good, so that he will have something to share with one who has
need.
Paul summarized a whole host of Torah
principles here. Firstly, Believers should not steal, for it says
in Leviticus 19:11: "You shall not steal." Instead we
must labour, just as the Torah says "for six days you shall work"
(Exodus 20:9). The produce of our labour should be shared, for Leviticus
19:9-10 says: "Now when you reap the harvest of your land,
you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you
gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your
vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard;
you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the
LORD your God." We should always remember that we are part of a
greater body of Believers.
29Let no unwholesome word proceed from
your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification
according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to
those who hear.
There is nothing more detrimental to
the unity of Believers than slander and gossip. Leviticus
19:16-17 says: "You shall not go about as a slanderer among
your people, and you are not to act against the life of your
neighbor; I am the LORD. You shall not hate your fellow countryman
in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not
incur sin because of him." When we speak to each other and about
each other, it should at all times be for edification and the
building up of each other in God; our speech, especially about other
people's sins should never result in sinning ourselves. This means
that when speaking to or about each other about sin it must always
be done with humility, meekness and with discretion.
30Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
When we sin, we grieve the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit is grieved, it leaves the Believer in a state
of misery. In other words the Holy Spirit will not let us enjoy our
sin because He has sealed us for redemption. This is the Holy
Spirit's sanctifying work. We can't act as if God isn't real and
He's not living within us. In this life, we will sin but it should
never be something we're comfortable with. In fact, a good
indication that you are not saved is if you're comfortable with sin.
31Let all bitterness and wrath and
anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all
malice. 32Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each
other, just as God in Messiah also has forgiven you.
It appears that verse 31 is a
summarization of the prohibitions of Leviticus 19:16-17,
among other passages in the Torah. Notice that Paul says that we are
to put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour and slander. This
is because these things are like cancer. If you were to remove just
some of the cancer, it will eventually grow back. When you remove
all the cancer, there's a good chance you'll remain healthy. How do
we remove these cancerous attitudes and practices? Verse 32 provides
the antidotes to the things of verse 31. Being kind to one another,
tender-hearted and forgiving each other can all be summed up by
saying "treat others the way God has treated you in the Messiah."
Just imagine if God was bitter towards us! What if God bestowed His
righteous anger and wrath upon us? What if God somehow told everyone
about your sin? God has shown His kindness towards us and has
forgiven us. The least we can do is treat others the same way. |
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