Ephesians 4:1-16
EXHORTATION TO ONENESS (4:1-16). Paul calls on them therefore now to be as one, and walk worthily of their calling.... [ Continue Reading ]
EXHORTATION TO ONENESS (4:1-16). Paul calls on them therefore now to be as one, and walk worthily of their calling.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you have been called. With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' Paul continues his theme of th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.' It may well be that this sevenfold list was regularly recited in some form in a recognised creed... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.' Having stressed the oneness Paul now stresses the individuality. ‘To each one of us.' Every Christian has his part to play in the ministry of the church. It is a ‘gathering' of living people acting in unity... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Which is why he says, ‘When he ascended on high he led captivity (or ‘prisoners of war') captive and gave gifts to men.' ‘He says.' Some see this as meaning simply ‘it is said'. But there are good grounds in seeing this as demonstrating Paul's view that the Scriptures were the voice of God (a view... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now this “he ascended”, what does it indicate but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth.' Paul then takes the opportunity for a small digression in order to exalt Christ. He points out that for this Giver to have ascended there must first have been a descent, for the Psalmist was... [ Continue Reading ]
‘He who descended is the same also who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things.' But having descended He then ascended far above all the heavens (compare Ephesians 1:20) with the purpose of ‘filling all things'. In other words that He may become Lord of all. We can compare... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he gave some Apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of serving, unto the building up of the body of Christ.' Having ascended on high Jesus now gave His gifts to men. The gifts are interesting in illustratin... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Until we all attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.' The final aim is that we may attain to that unity to which he has earlier exhorted us (Ephesians 4:3) and to a deeper understand... [ Continue Reading ]
‘That we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men in craftiness after the wiles of error.' The result of being full grown in this way will be freedom from being led astray by false teaching because we are no longer children. T... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But speaking truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the Head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in due measure of every part, makes the increase of the body unto the building up of... [ Continue Reading ]
EXHORTATION TO RIGHTEOUS LIVING (4:17-32). ‘This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind. Being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.' Their desire for fleshly pleasures having deadened their feelings they gave themselves up to every kind of vice. They have become callous and their lives were epitomised by sexual misbehaviour an... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But you did not so learn Christ.' This is one of Paul's ‘buts' (compare Ephesians 2:4). It heralds a reference to a life transforming change. This kind of behaviour was not the kind that they had been taught about by those who brought Christ to them. They had been taught that their meeting up with... [ Continue Reading ]
‘If so be that you heard him, and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, which waxes corrupt after the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which after God has been... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Wherefore, putting away falsehood, each one of you speak truth with his neighbour, for we are members of one another. The first test of whether we know the truth and have put on the new man is that we are truthful, especially with fellow-Christians, for ‘we are members one of another'. To sin by fa... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your angry mood. Neither give place to the Devil.' The first phrase is taken from the LXX of Psalms 4:5. It recognises that anger in itself is not necessarily wrong. Indeed it tells us that we need to be angry if the cause is good. But it is... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Let him who stole steal no more, but rather let him work hard, working with his hands what is good, that he may have the means to give to the one who is in need.' The Christian must ensure that his hands work what is good and not what is evil, and the motive of his life should be the blessing of o... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption.' The word for grieve may be rendered ‘make sorry, fill with regret'. That the Holy Spirit can be grieved emphasises His personality and the depths of God's concern for His people. The fact of His grief over s... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger and clamour, and railing, be put away from you with all malice, and you be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you.' Paul now sums up this section by including further things to be avoided, the signs... [ Continue Reading ]