About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman

Practical
Theology

My commentary
on Paul's letter to the Ephesians

The Biblical text used and quoted for this commentary is the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) as seen in the authorization statement below.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Table of Contents

PART ONE

Introduction

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Preface

The Format of This Book

PART TWO

Background Material

About Paul

Was Paul Ever Married?

Authorship Of Ephesians

The Date Of The Letter

The Destination Of The Letter

The City Of Ephesus

The Religion Of Ephesus

The Setting And Background Of The Letter

Paul's Readers

Theme Of Ephesians

PART THREE

My Commentary

More Books By Stephen Sweetman

Contact Me

PART ONE

Introduction

Dedication

I dedicate this commentary to all those at Harvest Ministries, in Belleville , Ontario , Canada , who have so graciously embraced me and my ministry of teaching the Bible. You are a wonderful group of believers in whom I have been united in the Body of Christ.

I also dedicate this book to my long-time friend and brother in the Lord, Timothy Foster . He has been a support to me over the decades. He was by my side in the spring of 2020 when we led the Bible-study class on Ephesians at Harvest Ministry.

Acknowledgement

I was raised in 1950's and 1960's style Evangelical Christianity with its specific approach to Biblical theology and practice. Even though I was raised on Scripture, I have been a serious student of the Bible since 1970 and have gained my Biblical knowledge from multiple sources. There would be far too many of these sources to name here. However, as I have written this version of my commentary on Paul's letter to the Ephesians, here in 2019 and 2020, there are a couple of sources of Biblical instruction and commentary that I would especially like to acknowledge as having been of assistance to me as I have restudied this portion of the Bible.

I would highly recommend Dr. Bob Utley and his online commentaries on both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Both his written and audio commentaries can be found online at: http://www.freebiblecommentary.org.

I recommend the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on Ephesians. It was published in paperback and hardcover in 2010 and in e-book form in 2011. Its author is Clinton E. Arnold (PhD University of Aberdeen).

I acknowledge John Stott's commentary on Ephesians, entitled "The Message To The Ephesians," published by IVP Academic in 1984. Published in e-book form in 2014.

I acknowledge Richard and Catherine Kroeger and their book entitled "Suffer Not A Woman;" rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11 through 15 in light of ancient evidence. The paperback was published by Baker Academic in 1998. The e-book was published in 2014.

I also recommend Bruce Winter's book entitled "Roman Wives And Roman Widows;" the emergence of the liberated woman in the first century BC. It was published in 2003 by Wm. B. Eardmans Publishing Company.

Another book that has assisted me in writing this commentary is "The Greco-Roman World, written by James S. Jeffers, published by IVP Academics in 1999.

Preface

I have entitled this commentary "Practical Theology" because unlike many these days, I strongly believe that theology is practical. The word "theology" simply means the study of God. I would, then, suggest that anything that we can learn about God through the process of studying, if taken to heart, will produce many practical results in our lives. If, then, you have learned that our God is a generous God, and if that has sunk from your mind into your heart where it forms the conviction by which you live, you will be a generous person. That is practical theology.

It was September, 2019, when I decided to rewrite my commentary on Paul's letter to the Ephesians. This was due to my pastor and friend, Trevor Hoskins. His Sunday morning message series on Ephesians during the spring and summer of 2019 motivated me to look into Ephesians in detail again. So here, in October, 2019, I have put my fingers to the keyboard, open my Bible, and began to work my way through every word the apostle Paul wrote to his Ephesian brothers and sisters in the Lord.

I admit that there are more scholarly and all-encompassing commentaries than mine, and that is fine with me. My hope is to write a commentary that everyone - young, old, educated or uneducated, can easily understand and benefit from. Paul's instructions to the Ephesian Christians are just as important today as they were when this letter was penned, roughly nineteen hundred years ago.

I also admit, that being a student of the Bible, I am always learning what the Bible has to say to us. I, therefore, expect to have a better understanding of Biblical truth next year than I have this year. This is always a problem with a Bible teacher. He, or she, may teach something today, but as time passes, may have a clearer understanding of the subject matter. He, or she, might even change his or her mind on what he or she once taught. I certainly have no problem with that. I have had a change of mind on certain Biblical issues over the years. We all must admit to our errors and move on.

Where the problem lies in writing a commentary is that, at a future date, I will surely have a more accurate understanding of what you will read in this book. The best I can do, or, the best any Bible teacher can do, is to teach what he presently knows, and that I will do in the following pages. The best, then, that you can do, is for you to consider what I say as you study the Bible for yourself, which I hope, you are presently doing.

When Paul penned this letter, or really, had another person pen it for him, he was a man very much used and inspired by God. It, thus, is to our benefit to take seriously what he told his Ephesian readers. What he said in this letter has implications for all of time, and really, for all of eternity. We cannot neglect the inspired word of God that was penned by Paul and his associates.

I do not consider myself to be in the same theological league as the apostle Paul, but I do repeat what he told Timothy, his son in the Lord. 2 Timothy 2:7 says this:

"Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things."

So, consider what you read in this book as you continue to study Biblical truth for yourself. I hope and pray that what you will discover in this commentary will be both instructive and inspiring.

The Format Of This Book

If by chance you have read my book entitled "Theology That Transforms" (my commentary on Ephesians 1, 2 and 3) you will read it again in PART ONE, PART TWO, and half of PART THREE. Unlike "Theology That Transforms," this commentary is on the whole Book of Ephesians.

This book is divided into three parts. PART ONE is introductory. PART TWO is background material to Paul's letter to the Ephesians. PART THREE is my verse by verse commentary.

One important rule of Biblical interpretation, or hermeneutics, as it is called, is that we must first understand to whom the author of any portion of Scripture was directing his thoughts. Once knowing that, we must, then, attempt to understand his thoughts as he wanted them to be understood. Far too often we approach Bible study with a twenty-first century mindset. We define Biblical words and concepts based on our present cultural usages and definitions. This more often than not misrepresents the Biblical author's intent, and thus, we misunderstand, and then misapply, what the text says.

The Bible was written over a span of several centuries in languages and cultural settings few of us know anything about today. For this reason, some knowledge of the relevant ancient languages and the cultures in which they were spoken or written will assist us immensely in our attempt to understand Biblical truth.

Once we feel somewhat confident, if we can ever be fully confident, in knowing what the author was telling his readers, we can then see how it applies to us today. It is for this reason that I have chosen the format of this commentary.

For the text to be studied, I will first quote it from the Christian Standard Bible (CSB). I will then comment on the text. After that, I will comment on the present-day relevance of what was learned from the text.

If you read this book from beginning to end you will note at times I am somewhat repetitious. I repeat myself because, when it comes to reading commentaries, most of us tend to look up a particular verse to read what the commentator has written about that verse. We do not always read the entire commentary from cover to cover. That forces the commentator to be repetitious, since certain words and concepts appear in many verses throughout any portion of Scripture. If I leave a comment out because I have commented on it elsewhere, you will fail to understand the full meaning of the verse you are referencing.

The New Testament was originally written in common, every-day, street-level, first-century, Greek. That Greek is known as Koine Greek. It differed from what has been commonly called "Classical Greek," a more scholarly Greek. At times, therefore, I will make reference to certain Greek words and their meanings to help explain a text. I will also make reference to certain Greek verb tenses in an easy to understand way. Both the meaning of words and verb tenses as they were used in the first-century, Greco-Roman, world help us understand the Biblical text. I will attempt to simplify such issues that some might call complicated.

Here is an example of what I am saying. John 3:16 is one of the most well-known verses in the Bible. In this verse, John said that God loved the world so much that He sent His Son into the world. Whosoever would believe in Jesus, God's Son, would not perish but have everlasting life. Here is John 3:16 from the CSB version of the Bible. It reads:

"For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

If you understand this verse to be referring to "everyone" who mentally acknowledges the reality of Jesus' existence, and especially His divinity, which is the understanding based on today's cultural definition of the word "believe," then you will have misunderstood John 3:16.

The Greek word translated as "believes" in John 3:16 and elsewhere in the New Testament is "pisteuo." This word has little to do with mentally acknowledging the reality of Jesus' existence. This Greek word means "to trust." It does not mean "to give mental assent to" something. Because this Greek word is a present active participle in John 3:16, and don't let that scare you, John was saying that everyone who is a present-day trusting-one in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life. This participle emphasizes one who is a trusting-one and not one who simply trusts from time to time. It emphasizes that one, by his very nature, has become a trusting one. You may have to think that through for a while. One becomes a trusting-one because he has become a new creation in Christ, as seen in 2 Corinthians 5:17. He trusts his life with Jesus because, by virtue of his brand new nature in Christ, he is a trusting-one.

What I have just said is vital to the gospel message we are to proclaim to the culture around us. The emphasis on trusting one's life with Jesus, means more than acknowledging His existence. Mental assent or acknowledgement of the Biblical Jesus saves no one. Even the demons acknowledge Jesus' existence, and they tremble, according to James 2:19. Trusting your life with Jesus is what saves a person. Being a present-day truster-in-Jesus, if I can say it that way, is what saves you. That is what John 3:16 is all about.

Moving onto a new point, Daniel 12:4 says that as this age draws closer to an end, "knowledge will increase." No one will argue over the truth of that statement. Knowledge is increasing exponentially, and that includes historical, cultural, and linguistic knowledge of the days in which the Bible was originally penned. All this new insight helps us to understand the Biblical text today better than we understood it years ago. It is for this reason that you may find some variations between older versions of the Bible and newer versions of the Bible. Hundreds more Biblical manuscripts have been discovered since the King James Bible came into existence in 1611. These additional manuscripts provide us with a more accurate rendering of certain Bible verses. I mention this now because textual issues always arise when we study any book of the Bible. We will first encounter a textual issue that needs some attention in the very first verse of Ephesians.

Studying and interpreting the Bible, as I will do in the following pages, is a matter of what is called "hermeneutics." That word seems to scare people these days, but it shouldn't. Hermeneutics as applied to Biblical study is an attempt to understand the Bible as its original authors meant it to be understood. That is not an easy task. Trying to get into the mind of a man who wrote hundreds of years ago, in a culture and language unfamiliar to most of us, is a difficult task, but it is a task I am attempting to undertake in the following pages.

PART TWO

Background Material

About Paul

There is a misconception among many Christians today concerning Paul's name. Many people think that when Paul became a Christian, Jesus changed his name from Saul to Paul. That was not the case. The simple fact is that Saul was his Hebrew name while Paul was his Roman name. While being raised as a Jew in a Greco-Roman, city, he would have been known by both names. The Roman name Paul means "little," as in "little in stature." The second-century, non-canonical, book entitled "The Acts of Paul and Thecla" describes Paul as short or little in stature. This book also describes him as having crooked legs, a bald head, and eye-brows meeting at his nose. Whether this is an accurate description is debatable, but it became the tradition of the church concerning Paul over the centuries.

From Philippians 3, verses 5 and 6 we learn a few important details concerning Paul. These verses read:

"... circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless."

Paul was a Jew, from the tribe of Benjamin. He was also a Pharisee, the leading religious sect of Judaism. Being a good Pharisee, Paul would have held the Law of Moses and the traditions of the Jews in high esteem. In his own words, he believed himself to be blameless in these matters.

Paul was born in the city of Tarsus , the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia , in Asia Minor . Acts 21:39 says:

"Paul said, 'I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.'"

The city of Tarsus , located in the eastern part of modern-day Turkey , was very much a city of higher education. In today's terminology, you might call Tarsus a university city . After Rome and Alexandria , Tarsus was the third-most scholarly city in which one could be raised during Paul's lifetime. No wonder he was such a scholarly, and well-educated person. He certainly knew his Hebrew history and Scripture, but he was also well informed in Roman and Greek academic and philosophic culture. In Acts 17:16 and following, we see Paul debating with the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers of his day. Paul knew enough about these philosophers to the degree that he could quote them, as we read in the following verses.

Acts 17:28 reads:

"For in him we live and move and have our being ..."

1 Corinthians 15:33 reads:

"Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.'"

Titus 1:12 reads:

"One of their very own prophets said, 'Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.'"

All three of the above quotes are quotes from Greek philosophy.

In his adult life, Paul was a tentmaker by trade. We see that in Acts 18:3, that states:

"... and since they [Pricilla and Aquila ] were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he [Paul] stayed with them and worked."

A study of Greco-Roman history tells us that a boy of around thirteen years of age would have begun his working life as an apprentice. Paul might well have been training as a tentmaker from the age of thirteen to sixteen.

Although Paul was born in Tarsus , he was a Jew. Somewhere around the age of sixteen or so his parents sent him to Jerusalem for his religious training. Acts 22:3 reads:

"He continued, 'I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city [ Jerusalem ], educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.'"

Paul was a Roman citizen. Acts 22:29 confirms this.

"So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him."

Roman citizenship was something that many men in Paul's day would have zealously sought after. Paul's Roman citizenship was most likely due to his father or grandfather, for one reason or another, purchasing, in one form or another, Roman citizenship. This would have made Paul a Roman citizen from birth.

Paul was also a citizen of the city of Tarsus (Acts 22:3). Certain cities in the Roman Empire were permitted by Rome to issue legal citizenship of that city. Tarsus was one of those cities. You could then say that Paul had two legal citizenships, although he would have claimed to be a citizen of heaven, which he considered his most valuable citizenship. Philippians 3:20 reads:

"... but our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."

As I stated above, at an early age Paul's parents sent him to Jerusalem for his religious training. He was thoroughly trained by a very prominent Pharisee named Gamaliel. Acts 22:3 reads:

Although the Bible does not tell us this, extra-Biblical Jewish history tells us that Gamaliel was the grandson of Hillel, the founder of the Hillel school of Jewish theology. This was one of the two main theological Jewish schools of the day. The Hillel school of theology was fairly liberal in some aspects of its thinking, and for this reason, some suggest, and it is only a suggestion, that Gamaliel was also a liberal theologian. This might mean, and I do say, "might mean," that Paul was liberal in his Jewish theology prior to becoming a Christian.

As a zealous Pharisee, Paul persecuted the Christian population throughout Judea and Galilee . He probably had some Christians executed. He made this admission in Acts 22:4. That verse says this:

"I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail,"

Paul stood by in support of Stephen's execution, when he was killed for his association with Jesus. Stephen was the first recorded Christian executed for being a Christian. Acts 7:58 says this:

"They dragged him [Stephen] out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul [Paul]."

Some suggest that Paul might even have been a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling party of the Jews in Jerusalem . Rome had given the Jews in Judea a good measure of autonomy, and the Sanhedrin was thus just as much a political party as it was a religious institution. Many people suggest Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin because it appears that he might have voted as one of its members. Acts 26:10 in the New International Bible reads:

"And that is just what I did in Jerusalem . On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord's people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them."

Paul became a Christian after Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus . He was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians in that city. Acts 9:1 through 19 tells us the story of how Paul became a believer in Jesus.

Paul was an apostle of the Lord, as declared in the opening remarks of many of his letters. An apostle is one whose very life has been set aside by the Lord to proclaim the gospel of Christ wherever Jesus would have him go and preach. Jesus appointed Paul to a specific apostolic mission, as described in Acts 9:15 and 16, which reads as follows.

"But the Lord said to him, 'Go, for this man [Paul] is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.'"

Romans 15:28 shows us Paul's desire to preach the gospel in Spain .

"So when I have finished this and safely delivered the funds to them [Jewish believers in Jerusalem ], I will visit you on the way to Spain ."

Bible teachers have wondered for centuries whether Paul actually went to preach the gospel in Spain , as was his desire. I believe there is some good, second-century, written evidence that Paul did make it to Spain , and then on his return trip he was arrested in Rome .

Although the Bible does not tell us this, Paul was executed under the rule of Emperor Nero, in the city of Rome , somewhere around 64 to 67 AD.

I believe that Paul is the most influential Christian in history. Through him Jesus was preached in the western part of the Roman Empire , but there is more. His influence has come down to us today through his life and teaching. I have always maintained that if Paul got things wrong, then we as Christians are in sad shape because he has defined the gospel and Christian teaching more than any other New Testament personality, and that includes Jesus Himself.

If you read 2 Corinthians 12:1 through 4 you will note that Paul had numerous revelations from the Lord. It seems he had more than most men.

"... but I will move on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man [Paul] in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don’t know; God knows. I know that this man — whether in the body or out of the body I don’t know; God knows — was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a human being is not allowed to speak..."

According to Galatians 1:12, what Paul was taught in the faith came directly from Jesus. He wrote this:

"For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ."

It is a good chance that Paul was taught the gospel by Jesus when he spent considerable time in Arabia after he was saved. Galatians 1:17 says this:

"I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus ."

The book of Acts records that Paul went on three apostolic mission trips. It has been estimated that he would have travelled at least ten thousand miles in his life on these trips.

There is no doubt about it. Paul was, and is, one very important Christian.

Was Paul Ever Married?

For centuries Bible students and theologians alike have wondered, argued, and debated, whether the Apostle Paul had ever been married. There is one thing we know for sure. According to 1 Corinthians 7:7 Paul was a single man when he wrote his letter to the Corinthian believers, but even with that, we have debated over the meaning of what the words "single man" meant in Paul's mind.

Some people suggest that Paul might not have been legally single. They say he might have been married but living apart from his wife for the sake of the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 7:29 he said that the time was short and that from then on those who had wives should live as if they had no wives. Paul might have been following his own advice and thus living as a single man apart from his wife for the sake of the gospel. Maybe he left his wife at home while he was on his mission trips, even though he had the right, like the Apostle Peter, to take a wife with him on his mission trips (1 Corinthians 9:5).

Others say that Paul might have been married prior to his conversion. This assumption is based on the culture in which he was raised. From the earliest age it was ingrained in the Jewish male psyche that young men must marry, have children, and carry on the family lineage. Marriage for a young Jewish man could have taken place as early as the age of sixteen years. It was very important for Jews. That would have been Paul's frame of reference concerning marriage and family.

Another reason why some believe Paul was once married is found in Philippians 3:4 to 6 where he said that when it came to being Jewish, he was blameless. Part of being a blameless male Jew would have included having a wife.

In verse 8 he said that he had lost all things for the sake of Christ. Some suggest that one of the things he lost was a wife who rejected his new life in Jesus.

Acts 26:10 tells us that Paul voted to persecute Christians. To some, voting suggests that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the rulers of Israel . This is possible since he was a disciple of Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a leading member of the Sanhedrin. Membership in this select group of men required being married. So, if Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin, he would have been married.

This next argument is intriguing; at least it is to me. Paul was raised in Tarsus as a child but sent to Jerusalem as a teenager to further his religious education. He became a disciple of the Pharisee, Gamaliel, and "was thoroughly trained by him" (Acts 22:3). Gamaliel was a doctor of the Law and a member of the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:34). He was the grandson of Hillel, the founder of the Hillel School of Theology who interpreted Deuteronomy 24:1 to 4 very liberally. This school of thought believed a man could lawfully divorce his wife for any and every reason. Like his grandfather Hillel, Gamaliel appears to many to have been a liberal scholar, although some suggest that he was more moderate than Hillel because he recommended that the Jews not be too harsh on the Christians. He said that if the Christians were of God they, the Jewish leaders, could not win a fight with God. On the other hand he said, if the Christians were not of God, they would soon disappear into obscurity (Acts 5:38 and 39).

If Gamaliel was a liberal theologian as it pertains to marriage, and since Paul was thoroughly trained by him, this suggests that Paul might have been a liberal theologian as it pertains to marriage prior to his conversion to Jesus. If this is so, Paul would have married and would have had no problem divorcing his wife on a whim. In fact he might have been married more than once, depending on his age at his conversion. That being said, in Acts 7:58 we see that Paul was a young man when he watched Stephen being stoned. The words "young man" can easily give reason for debate. Paul might have been too young to have had more than one wife; maybe too young even to have been married.

I cannot say for sure that Paul was ever married. To date, no one can prove he was or was not married. From my study to date I don't believe we can discount the idea that he might have been married. Until we unearth more details, we will have to wait until the next life to ask Paul about his marriage situation.

Authorship Of Ephesians

Although there are a few who do not believe that Paul wrote this letter, the overwhelming view among Evangelical Christian Bible scholars is that it was penned by the apostle Paul.

There are sufficient second-century writings that attest to the fact that the apostle Paul was the author of this letter. Ignatius (bishop of Antioch - born AD 35 - died AD 108) wrote a letter to the believers in the city of Ephesus near the end of the first or the beginning of the second century. In this letter, as I will repeat in the next section, Ignatius quoted from Ephesians and said that Paul was the author of that letter. Clement of Rome (born 35 AD) wrote a letter in and around 95 AD where he mentioned Paul being the author of the letter to the Ephesians. Polycarp (born 65 - died 155 AD) wrote that Paul was the author of this letter. The Muratorian Fragments, a list of canonical books of the Bible (around 170 AD) attests that Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians.

All the way through the second century and beyond, there was little to no doubt that Paul wrote this letter.

Destination Of The Letter

Although most, but not all, of our English Bibles record this letter to have been written to the church at Ephesus, there is some question about to whom it was really written. In the mid eighteen hundreds there were five manuscripts of this letter discovered. Three of these manuscripts, which have since been deemed to be three of the better manuscripts we presently possess, have no distinct destination mentioned in the letter. That is to say, the words "at Ephesus ," in the phrase "To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus ," in verse 1, do not exist.

Prior to the mid eighteen hundreds, and after the Christian Reformation, in church history, the general consensus was that this letter was written to the Christians in the city of Ephesus . Since the discovery of these five manuscripts, there has been some doubt in the minds of some and much debate over to whom this letter was actually written. That being said, as early as the third century AD there was some, not a lot, of debate over to whom Paul wrote this letter. Irenaeus (born AD 130 - died AD 202) believed Paul wrote this letter to the church at Ephesus .

Tertullian (born AD 155 - died AD 220) made comment on this issue to refute Marcion's (heretic - born AD 85 - died AD 160) claim that Paul did not write this letter to the believers at Ephesus . Tertullian believed this letter was sent to the city of Ephesus .

Origen (born AD 184 - died AD 253) also made some comment concerning the dispute over the destination of this letter. Likewise, Jerome (born AD 347 - died AD 420) made comment concerning the destination of Paul's letter.

One of the more important reasons why we might believe this letter was written to the Ephesian church is that Ignatius (bishop of Antioch - born AD 35 - died AD 108) wrote a letter to the church at Ephesus at the end of the first or the beginning of the second century. His letter reads very similar, in its wording, to what Paul wrote in his letter. Many, thus, conclude that the Ephesian Christians had already seen and had Paul's letter read to them.

Can we be certain that this letter was directed to the church at Ephesus , which would have consisted of a number of home churches? That might be a debatable issue. It is a difficult question to answer. There are probably many credible reasons why some manuscripts omit the words "at Ephesus ," in verse 1, but we cannot know for sure why this omission was made. It is a good possibility that this letter was duplicated for other church communities in and around the city of Ephesus , and for that reason, the words "in Ephesus " might have been left out of Paul's introduction in verse 1.

In my opinion, it does not really matter to whom this letter was written. It had great significance to whoever it was directed to, and, it has the same great significance to us today.

From my understanding I choose to believe that this letter from Paul was written to the believers in Ephesus and surrounding towns and villages.

Date Of The Letter

As with most things when attempting to determine background information about Biblical books and their authors, including the date of their writing, there is some debate over just when Paul penned this letter. The most common dating of this letter is in-or-around AD 60 to AD 62.

Paul said that he penned this letter while in chains (Ephesians 6:20). To help determine, then, the date this letter was written we would have to know when Paul was in prison. 2 Corinthians 11:23 states that he was in prison many times. That verse reads:

"Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman — I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, many times near death."

The book of Acts records Paul being put in prison three times. He was imprisoned in Philippi overnight, as seen in Acts 16:23. He was imprisoned in Caesarea for a couple of years. See Acts 23, 24, and 25. Paul was also in chains, that is, in house-arrest, in Rome (Acts 28:30). Due to many reasons, most Bible teachers believe the appropriate dating would be when Paul was in house arrest in Rome as described in of the book of Acts.

The City Of Ephesus

When Paul wrote this letter, the city of Ephesus , which would include the area just beyond the city's wall, most likely had a population of about two hundred and fifty thousand people. Some even suggest the population could have been as high as four hundred thousand. This would mean that the church at Ephesus consisted of many home groups.

Ephesus was the largest city in the Roman province of Asia . It was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire, was located in Asia Minor, now present-day Turkey . The largest city in the empire was Rome , followed by Alexandria and then Antioch of Syria. Ephesus was probably the third most important city of the first-century Roman Empire . Rome was the most important city while Alexandria would have been the second most important city.

Ephesus came into existence in 1044 BC.

Ephesus is what was called a "free city" in the Roman Empire . There were a few cities in the Roman Empire that Rome allowed to be governed by themselves. Ephesus would have had its own ruling senate that ruled the city.

The province of Asia Minor was one of the most influential and economically prosperous provinces of the day in the Roman Empire . This province was located on the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea in what is presently known as Turkey . Ephesus was located at the far western side of Asia, on the shore of what is now called the Aegean Sea .

The city had an outdoor stadium that is estimated to have seated a minimum of at least twenty-four thousand people. Some suggest it might have sat up to fifty thousand people. The stadium is still in existence today and concerts are sometimes held there.

Religion In Ephesus

The citizens of Ephesus were polytheistic pagans, meaning they worshipped multiple gods and goddesses. The prominent god of the city was the goddess of sex and fertility. Her Greek name was Artemis while her Roman name was Diana. The reason why this goddess had both a Greek and Roman name was due to the fact that when Rome conquered Greece , many of the Greek and Roman gods were combined into one god.

The Temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the world back in the first-century, Greco-Roman, world. It was constructed around 350 BC.

Two other important goddesses around Ephesus were Cybele and Isis. Men giving themselves to these goddesses would often castrate themselves, dress like women, and live as best they could as a woman. They would subject themselves to the female priestesses and allow women to dominate their lives. In past centuries some men were actually killed as an act of worship and service to the goddess. In Paul's day, men were symbolically killed as an act of ritual worship.

The teaching of goddess-worship became a problem for the first-generation church because some older Christian women, as seen in extra-Biblical literature, mixed Christian teaching with paganism. This would include Eve being the source of Adam, thus giving woman the right to dominate man. The Hebrew name translated into English as "Eve" means "life."

It has been estimated that there were at least fifty other gods and goddesses that were worshipped in Ephesus . Magic was very much fundamental to pagan worship in Ephesus . If you read Acts 19, you will see this to be the case. Pagan magic was something the first generation church had to confront.

Gnosticism was also prevalent throughout the Roman Empire . The word "Gnostic" comes from the Greek word meaning "to know." Gnostics claimed they had special secret knowledge that others did not have. Gnostics had a philosophical approach to life that was a mixture of paganism and Christianity, with a bit of Judaism mixed in as well. It was birthed in Paul's day but was more formalized in the second century. Gnostics believed their spirits were pure and their flesh was evil, and nothing could change that. For this reason, they gave in to the lusts of their bodies that led to much immorality. They did not believe in the Deity of Christ, that is, that Jesus was fully God and fully human. They could not believe in Jesus' divinity because a pure holy God could not unite Himself with a sinful material body. They believed that Jesus was an angel-like being that was one of many such beings who protected a pure God from an impure humanity. Many more things could be said about Gnosticism, but I will leave it at this. Paul was constantly confronting Gnostic influence on the church.

In short, there were three major religious aspects of life in Ephesus that challenged the church. They were paganism, magic, and Gnosticism.

Setting And Background Of The Letter

From Luke's account in Acts, chapters 17 and 18, we learn that Paul left Corinth and went to Ephesus where he met up with Pricilla, Aquila , and Apollos. He spent three years in the city. The dating of his stay in Ephesus is commonly understood to be around AD 52 to AD 55. Three years would have been a long time for Paul to have stayed in one city.

Paul's Readers

The city of Ephesus was very much a multi-cultural and multi-religious city. It has been estimated that the population of Ephesus might have consisted of ten percent Jews. If that were so, the Christian population of Ephesus might have been anywhere from twenty five thousand to forty thousand people. Paul's readers would have been both Jews and Gentiles.

The Gentile Christians would have come from a polytheistic, pagan, and philosophically-influenced background with all of their immoral and unbiblical lifestyles. You can see that some of what Paul wrote had this Gentile background in mind. On the other hand, there would have been converts from Judaism, and thus, we also see some Jewish considerations in this letter.

Theme Of The Letter

I suppose there are just as many themes to this letter as there are commentators who comment on the letter. If I was pinned down and asked what I thought the theme of this letter is, I would suggest the following.

Since Paul spent the first half of this letter discussing the great and magnificent truths of God, and then spent the last half of his letter explaining how these truths were worked out into the lives of the believers, I suggest the letter's theme to be "A Transformed Identity," and thus the title of my commentary.

Let us now look into the text of Paul's letter to the Ephesian believers.

PART THREE

My Commentary

Ephesians 1:1 - 2

The Text

1 - Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus . ²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

My Commentary

Verse 1

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus ."

As I mentioned in my introductory remarks, the name "Paul" was Paul's Greco-Roman name. "Saul" was Paul's Hebrew name. It only makes sense that Paul would have used his Greco-Roman name while traveling through the Greco-Roman world. People often believe that Jesus changed Saul's name to Paul, but that was not the case. There is no Biblical passage to support this thinking.

Paul said that He was an apostle. The simplest meaning of the word "apostle" is "one who is sent." Paul was called by God to be sent throughout the known world to proclaim the gospel of Christ. You read his calling and mission from God in Acts 9:15 and 16. The text reads:

"But the Lord said to him [Ananias], 'Go, for this man [Paul] is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.'"

Paul had a pretty lofty calling. I am sure you would agree with me on that point. Galatians 1:15 and 16 also show us something of God's call on the life of Paul. It reads:

"But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone."

Even though it was God who called Paul to his apostolic mission, man played a part in the sending of Paul. Acts 13:2 and 3 say this:

"As they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off."

The pronoun "they" in the above passage refers to certain prophets and teachers in the Antioch community of believers, as seen in Acts 13:1. They might well have been the elders, or some of the elders, in the church at Antioch . These men heard the Holy Spirit's call on the lives of Paul and Barnabas, so they sent them on their first missionary trip. I mention this to say that man, or elders, have a part to play in the sending of those whom God has called. You might say that man publically recognizes what God has already determined for a person. God is the one who calls a person to service. Man is the one who recognizes that call and proclaims that appointing, or, as we say it today, publically ordains man to service for all to recognize.

The public acknowledgement of church leadership is important because it is necessary for those in church to know who is leading the church. Such recognition provides the stamp of approval on those recognized so the body of believers can trust and respect their leaders.

Note the name "Jesus" and the title "Christ" in verse 1. "Jesus" means "God is salvation." It was the name the angel Gabriel told Mary her son should have. Luke 1:31 reads:

"Now listen: You [Mary] will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus."

The title "Christ" is not Jesus' last name. It is a title, just as the word "Lord" is a title. "Christ" means "anointed one." An anointed one is one who has been chosen to be someone with a specific mission. Jesus, as His name implies, was chosen to be the Saviour of all who would hand their lives over to Him.

As I said, some people speak as if Christ was Jesus' last name. People did not have last names in that era. In earthly, human, terms, Jesus would have been known as "Jesus of Nazareth" or "Jesus, son of Joseph." It was not until the second century that some began to speak the title Christ as if it was Jesus' last name.

The title Lord is important because of how Paul would have understood that title in his day. Lord would have meant more than a king to Paul and first-century believers. Lord meant God Himself, making Jesus God in a human form.

Note the word "saints" in verse 1. Paul used this word nine times in his letter to the Ephesians. The word "saints" is translated from the Greek word "hagios" that means "separated ones," or, "holy ones." The words "saints" and "holy" do not really have a moral implication as many think. If you are a saint or a holy one, you have been separated, or taken out of the general population as one belonging to God.

The word "saint" has been distorted by Catholicism over the centuries when Catholics deem special Christians to be saints. The Catholic doctrine on this issue is not Biblical. If you are a truly born-again, of the Spirit, Christian, and that is the only kind of Christian there is, then you are a saint.

You can refer to my introductory notes on the words "at Ephesus " that are used in verse 1. These two words are not found in some of the best Greek manuscripts from which we translate our New Testament. Because this letter was probably rewritten for further distribution to other near-by cities, the words "at Ephesus " might well have been omitted.

Verse 2

^"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

In verse 2 Paul opened his letter with a Hebrew greeting by using the words "grace" and "peace." Both of these words each have two meanings, as seen in the Bible.

The most well-known meaning of grace is God's unmerited or undeserved favour that He bestows upon us. That simply means that God extends love and mercy towards us, even though we do not deserve it.

The second meaning of grace is defined to be God's divine ability given to us to accomplish His will in our lives. Here is one example how that meaning of grace is used in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 12:9 reads:

"But he [God] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness.'"

If you think about it, grace, as unmerited favour, does not fit Paul's use of the word in the above verse. Instead, grace, as God's ability to have His will performed in Paul's life, despite his trials, does fit in this verse.

The word "peace" also has two definitions. They are: one having "peace with God," and, one having "peace in, or, of God." Romans 5:1 speaks of having "peace with God," meaning, we are no longer enemies with God. The text reads:

"Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Philippians 4:7 speaks of having peace in God, or, the peace of God in one's heart and life. That verse reads:

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Once we have peace with God, that is, that we are on His side, He, through His Spirit within us, gives us an underlying, inner peace that sustains us through all of life.

The words "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" are vitally important. Linking Jesus with God supports the conclusion that Jesus was divine. If both grace and peace come from, or originate from, both God and Jesus, both God and Jesus are divine.

Paul, and others, always connected Jesus with God His Father. Understanding that God is in fact the Father of Jesus, tells us that Jesus is divine. This is the foundation of the theological term, "the Deity of Christ." If you believe in a Jesus who is not divine, you do not believe in the Jesus of the Bible, and, you cannot be considered a Christian.

I know that I will repeat myself in this paragraph, but it is important. As I said above, the name "Jesus" means "God is Saviour," or similar wording. The title "Christ" tells us that God has anointed, or chosen, Jesus to be the Saviour of all of those who would hand their lives over to Him. The title "Lord," in Biblical terms means more than one being just a king. The equivalent Hebrew term for our English word "Lord" speaks about God, and thus Jesus, as being divine. In other words, when Paul or any other New Testament author used the title "Lord" in reference to Jesus, they were saying that Jesus was God in human form.

More Thoughts

You might think that understanding some of the more technical aspects of Scripture, like meanings of names and titles has no practical use. I strongly disagree. Anything and everything we can learn that helps us understand the Bible will help us understand what our Lord wants us to know. Understanding what Jesus wants us to know is foundational to doing what we are supposed to do.

Believing, or handing your life over to the real Jesus, is what being a Christian is all about. People have debated for two thousand years over whether Jesus was, and is, divine. The Deity of Christ is the most basic thing you can believe about Jesus, and thus, it must be included in the gospel message you proclaim. If you leave out the Deity of Christ from the gospel message, you are not preaching the real Jesus. In fact, you are preaching a different gospel, and look at what Paul wrote about that in Galatians 1:8.

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him!"

It is evident that we must preach the real Jesus, not one who does not fit the description seen in the Bible.

God's grace and peace should be evident in your life. His undeserved favour that He has bestowed on you and flows from God to you, should then flow out of you to others. Giving grace to another fallen human being is primary in building good and healthy relationships.

Knowing the fact that grace also means that God's divine ability has been given to you to accomplish His will is something else that is vitally important for a Christian today. Many Christians do not even think in terms that God has a purpose for their lives, and those who believe God does have a purpose for their lives struggle to both know that purpose and live that purpose out. The fact of the matter is that there is no real excuse, because, grace is the ability that is available for you to both know and to do God's will.

If you are indeed a Christian, you should know that you have peace with God, that is, that you are on His side. You have been reconciled to Him. If this reality is not burned into your heart and soul, you will not mature as a Christian. Your doubts will block your path of maturity. Once understanding your relationship with God, there is an inner peace that is available to you from the Holy Spirit. Without this peace, you will find it difficult to manoeuvre your way through the trials of life.

Understanding the theology of these two introductory verses, and then, allowing that theology to sink into your soul where it becomes the conviction of your life, will transform who you are. This is theology that indeed does transform.

Ephesians 1:3 - 14

The Text

3 - Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. ⁴For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. ⁵He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ ¹⁰as a plan for the right time — to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. ¹¹In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, ¹²so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. ¹³In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. ¹⁴The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

My Commentary

Verse 3

"Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ."

It is noteworthy that this whole section, from verse 3 through verse 14, is one long sentence. Most editors today would reject this sentence and re-write it.

The Greek word "eulogetos" is translated here into English as "blessed." This word finds its roots n a Greek word meaning "speaking well" of someone or something: thus, God is spoken well of. We derive our English word "eulogy" from this Greek word.

Note again that Paul links God the Father with the Lord Jesus Christ. This implies that God is the Father of Jesus, thus making Jesus divine. The divinity of Jesus is the most fundamental fact that you must know about Him. If you do not believe that Jesus is divine, then, you do not believe in the Jesus of the New Testament, and thus, you are not an authentic Christian.

Once again we see the term "the Lord Jesus Christ." This tells us that Jesus is both Lord and Christ, as Peter proclaimed in the very first Christian sermon ever preached. Acts 2:36 in the King James Bible reads:

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."

Note that newer versions of the Bible use the word "Messiah" where the KJV uses the word "Christ." Our English word "Messiah" is rooted in the Hebrew language while our English title "Christ" finds its roots in the Greek language.

As Lord, Jesus is God, to whom we must submit. As Christ, Jesus is the Saviour, from whom we receive salvation. The title "Lord" implies that we give ourselves to Jesus while the title "Christ" implies that He gives Himself to us.

I believe the word "our" is significant in verse 3. The word "our" personalizes what Paul is saying. The Lord Jesus Christ is ours. Paul could have written the word "the," as in, "the Lord Jesus Christ," but he did not. In my thinking, there is a major difference between "the Lord Jesus Christ," and "our Lord Jesus Christ." If you are a true Christian, you belong to Jesus and Jesus, in one sense of the word belongs to you. The thought here is possessive. God possesses us, and in the good sense of the word, we possess God. The idea here concerns belonging. God and us form a community whereby we belong to each other, and we do so because 1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us that Jesus has bought us via His death on the cross. He has paid a great price for this purchase. That verse reads:

"… for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body."

The words "who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing" is important. As Christians we often feel the need to ask God for things, such as spiritual blessings. Here, Paul tells his readers that they have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. In fact, they are spiritually-blessed ones. I do not discount that at times we need to ask God for things, but, more often than not, we already have the blessing we are asking for, as seen in this verse. We simply need to get in tune with the Holy Spirit who resides within us and implement the blessing we desire or need. The Biblical fact is that we have these blessings because we have the Holy Spirit within us.

Paul qualified what kind of blessings he is writing about. They are not material blessings. This must be understood in our very materialistic, western-world Christianity. The Greek word translated as "spiritual" is "pneumatikos." You will see the Greek word "pneuma" in this word. It is the word that is translated as "spirit" throughout the New Testament. It is notable that the Greek word "pneumatikos" only occurs in the New Testament after the giving of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Read Acts 2 to see the events that unfolded on the Day of Pentecost. Inherent in this Greek word, then, is the idea that these blessings are invisible to the human eye, and they are from the Holy Spirit. These blessings can be anything from joy and peace in our hearts to the power, authority, and ability, to do God's will.

The phrase, "in the heavens, in Christ" also qualifies these blessings. They come from heaven and they are found in Christ. They originate with Jesus and are given to the believer. They are not earthly nor material. This is where some have gone astray in recent years. When that which has been called the "Prosperity Movement" understands these blessings to include material wealth, they misrepresent Scripture.

Verse 4

"For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him."

The pronoun "He" in verse 4 refers to "God"as it does in verse 3.

Having been chosen ones, by God, we are to be holy and blameless. Holy means that we have been set apart unto God, and once set apart, we are, with the help of the Spirit of God, to live a blameless life.

We often think that holiness is a moral attribute. We think living a holy life means living a good, righteous, and godly life, but that is not exactly the meaning of holiness. Holiness means to be set apart unto God. Only as a result of this setting apart, do you then also live a good moral and godly life.

The words "in him" are in reference to Jesus. Christians have been chosen to, as Paul often puts it, to be "in Him" or to be "in Christ." I believe a simple way of understanding being in Christ is this: because Jesus represents us to God, when God sees Jesus, seeing Him at His side, He in fact sees us as well.

The words "before the foundation of the world" might sound like the doctrine of Predestination. That is to say, God has predetermined some to salvation, or, to be in Christ. He, then, has predetermined others not to be saved, or, to be in Christ. Some Christians do believe in the doctrine of Predestination, but not me. From day one, man has always had free will to choose. Adam was given the freedom to choose whether to eat from the restricted tree or not. He chose to eat.

What I believe Paul was saying here is that God, even before He created the material world, desired a people to be seen by Him as being in Christ. This has nothing to do with predetermining some to be saved and some not to be saved. It has everything to do with God's plan for all to be saved, and, saved through the involvement of Jesus, despite the fact that not all would respond to His salvation.

If you think through what I have just said, it might well cause you to think a bit more differently about what transpired in the first three chapters of Genesis. It was no surprise to God that the serpent tempted Eve and deceived her. It was no surprise to God that Adam sinned. I believe it was all part of God's will and plan prior to creating our material world, including us humans. It is why God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden in the first place. What I am saying, and it is my belief, the fall of man was in the will of God. It demonstrated that a perfect and righteous God can love faulty and unrighteous sinners. Anyone can love the lovely, but not everyone can love the unlovely, but God can, and does.

I believe Romans 8:29 and 30 help explain my view of how God has predetermined, or predestined, certain things. These verses read:

"For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified."

I can certainly understand how you could derive the teaching of predestination (God choosing some, but not all to salvation) from these two verses. In my thinking, Paul is stating things from God's perspective only. He is not stating any of our responses to God's call on our lives. When Paul said that those God predestined, or, predetermined, He called: that means God calls everyone. If any respond to His calling in a positive way, then, God justifies that person, and those He justifies, He will glorify. This way of thinking incorporates all of the "whosoever will believe will be saved" verses that bring the debate over predestination into a balanced way of thinking.

Verse 5

"He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,"

We see the word "predestined" again. You can refer to my notes on this word where it was also found back in verse 4. The specific predetermining by God that Paul sets forth in this verse is that it has always been God's desire to have adopted sons and daughters. The words "for Himself" doubly emphasizes the point that God wants sons and daughters, specifically, that belong to Him, that He can love and cherish. This should add to our understanding of Genesis 1 and 2 in that it gives us at least one reason why God created man in the first place, something we do not read in the Genesis account.

Of course, Jesus is God's One and Only son. He was not adopted. In human terminology, Jesus was God's biological son; because God's spiritual DNA resides in Jesus. Yes, Jesus had an earthly mother, and His father was God. Look at what Romans 8:29 says.

"For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."

According to Paul, God had predetermined to have human beings transformed into the very likeness and image of Jesus. This transformation will occur at the return of Jesus to earth. In a moment of time true believers in Jesus will be instantaneously transformed, or recreated, to be just like who Jesus presently is.

We should note that Adam and Eve were created in the likeness and image of God. Genesis 1:26 reads:

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness..."

As a human being, we are each conceived and born into God's shadowy, image. I used the word "shadowy" because when Genesis 1:26 states that man was created in God's likeness and image, the Hebrew texts suggest a shadowy image, not an exact image. For the Christian, our shadowy image of God will become the exact image of Jesus (1 John 3:2), understanding, that Jesus is still the One and Only Son of God, the only divine being who took on human flesh. 1 John 3:2 reads:

"Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is."

Paul said that our full adoption will happen because of "the good pleasure of His will." It pleases God to have us become like His Son Jesus. Knowing that we, as Christians, bring joy and pleasure to God should cause us to be very humbled.

Verse 6

"… to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One."

We see some very powerful words in this verse. They are; praise, glorious, grace, and lavished.

In some respects the words "praise" and "glorious," or "glory," have similar meaning. In New Testament Greek, praise simply implies "speaking well" of a person or thing. Glory implies "having a high opinion of a person or thing." As Christians, God's grace is both praise-worthy and glorious. We should speak highly of His love towards us, even though we do not deserve His love and His grace.

God, through the life of Jesus, has lavished His grace upon the believer. God's grace flows through Jesus and no one else. If anyone wants to have God's grace lavished, and lavished is a powerful word, upon them, they have to receive it through Jesus. Jesus is the doorway to the grace of God. There is no other door.

The words "in the Beloved One" are in reference to Jesus: thus my analogy of Jesus being the doorway that allows God's grace to flow into us as humans.

The phrase "in the Beloved One" is similar to the phrase "in Christ" that Paul often used throughout his writing. This is how I understand the term "in Christ." Right now, in real time, Jesus is situated alongside God His Father as our representative. Since Jesus represents us to God, when God looks at Jesus, in one sense of the word, He sees us as well as Jesus. In a simple Sunday school way of thinking, God sees the believer "inside of Christ's body," or, "in Christ."

Verse 7

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ..."

We read the word "redemption" here in verse 7. There are two Greek words that have been translated as "redemption" or "redeem" in our English Bible. The Greek word used here is a form of the Greek word "lytroo." This word denotes the purchasing of one's freedom by means of a payment, with the emphasis on the actual release. The other Greek word that is translated into English as "redemption" or "redeem" is "exagorazo." This Greek word places the emphasis on the actual price that was paid for the release.

Paul said that it was the blood of Jesus that purchased our redemption. When you see the term "blood of Jesus" in the New Testament, it is simply referring to the death of Jesus. Jesus experienced death, the punishment of God, and He did so, in our place. You would rightly say, then, that Jesus Himself was the price paid for our freedom, our salvation.

The question must be asked: "What have we been set free from." I maintain that the number one thing we have been set free from is God's wrath that would have doomed us for all of eternity. In one sense of the word, then, you might say that we have been freed from God's wrath in order to be loved by Him. Of course, there are other things that we have been set free from as seen in the New Testament. For example, Romans 3:21 and following verses state that Christians have been set free from the Law of Moses, and in fact, any and all law proposed to make one righteous, or, to be a means of being declared in right standing with God.

The next phrase in this verse is "the forgiveness from our trespasses." Note the word "trespasses." In this instance Paul did not use the word "sin" as he does elsewhere. Although the word "trespass" and the word "sin" are similar in meaning, there is a clear distinction between the two words. The word "trespass" carries the meaning of a misstep, a blunder, or a false move. The word "sin" means "to miss the mark of what God requires for our lives." Paul used both of these words throughout his writings in relation to forgiveness.

God has forgiven, or deleted, our deliberate sin from His records. Most of us understand that, but what many fail to understand is that God has forgiven our trespasses. By that I mean He has forgiven our missteps, our unintentional wrong moves, and our blunders that lead us in the wrong direction, away from God. That is surely good to know. That means God views the born-again of the Spirit believer as having no sin. In other words, as being totally good and righteous.

The word "forgiveness" and the word "forgive" are important, and very misunderstood words in the minds of Christians today. Here is how I understand Biblical forgiveness.

Merriam-Webster defines the word "forgive" this way. To forgive is "to cease to feel resentment." Our western-world, twenty-first century concept of forgiveness is to rid ourselves of anger, hostility, resentment, and other such feelings and emotions we hold against another. I suggest that this is not the meaning of Biblical forgiveness.

The Greek word translated as "forgive" in the New Testament is "aphiemi." Aphiemi means "to send away, cancel, or delete," or something similar. In the first-century, Greco-Roman world, aphiemi was often used as an accounting or bookkeeping term. If you owed a debt, and if the debt was cancelled, that would be aphiemi, or forgiven.

God has an accounting system where our sins are recorded, until such time that He cancels or deletes our sins and transfers our names into the Lamb's Book of Life, where there is no sin associated with our names. Biblical forgiveness is not the sending away, cancelling, or deleting of resentment, anger, hostility, from our lives. Aphiemi, as understood in terms of our relationship with God, is the cancelation or the deletion of our sins from the heavenly record. In God's mind, sin is a debt against Him, as I believe is seen in the Lord's Prayer. Matthew 6:12 reads:

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."

The prerequisite to God forgiving our sins is repentance and faith in Jesus. Luke 13:5 shows the importance of repentance.

"I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

The Bible teaches that there is no forgiveness of sins from God without repentance, so I ask. If God does not cancel sin without repentance, does He expect us to cancel a sin against us without the offender repenting? Does God expect us to do something He Himself does not do? I believe the answer is "no." If, however, our offender repents, we are obligated to cancel that sin in our minds, as if the sin never occurred. Luke 17:4 says this:

"And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him."

Jesus requires us to cancel a debt of sin when the offender repents. If he does not repent, we cannot cancel his sin from our minds.

Revelation 1:6 states that a Christian is a priest. It reads:

"... and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father — to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

As priests of God, we have the priestly authority to proclaim the cancelation of sin on behalf of Jesus. John 20:23 reads:

"If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Jesus has paid the price for sins to be forgiven. He has authorized us to proclaim forgiveness when the sinner repents and believes in Jesus. At that point, the sinner's sins are stricken from the heavenly record.

When it comes to personal relationships, forgiveness is conditional upon repentance. Love, however, is unconditional. We love the offender whether he repents or not. Love is meant to lead the offender to acknowledge his offense and repent of it. Once the offense is forgiven, deleted, as if it had never happened, then, the relationship can be restored because the sin has been removed. Forgiveness always precedes reconciliation. Simply ridding yourself of bitterness due to an offense does not deal with the offense and does not restore the relationship. Reconciliation is a two-way street, involving both the offender and the offended. Repentance and forgiveness are the first steps towards reconciliation.

God has forgiven, or deleted, our trespasses and sins from His heavenly record, and why? He has done so because He is rich in grace. These are powerful words. God is extremely wealthy when it comes to His grace. He has so much grace that He just lavishes it all over us. How amazing that is. If you think about it, it is beyond our imagination to know the riches of His grace that we will experience throughout eternity.

Verse 8

"... that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding."

Not only does God have an over-abundance of grace, He pours out His grace upon us in much abundance. Just because someone is financially rich does not mean he gives a lot of his money away. This is not so with God. He is rich in grace and He gives His grace in liberal abundance. I believe this is what Jesus meant when He told His disciples that they could experience the abundant life. John 10:10 says this:

"A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance."

Some believers understand John 10:10 to be material abundance, but that is incorrect. If Peter, for example, thought Jesus was speaking about material abundance he would have been severely disappointed, because His association with Jesus did not produce material abundance. It actually made him poorer. Peter was a successful businessman in the local fishing industry. He left much material potential to follow Jesus.

Note the qualifying words "wisdom and understanding" in verse 8. God does not just pour out His grace on us because it feels good to do so. This pouring out of the abundance of grace is premised upon His divine wisdom and understanding. Much thought has gone into the cross of Christ and the love and grace He has to offer us. The giving of His grace to us has a divine purpose.

You might think about what I have just said this way. You see a poor beggar. It is easy to simply throw a couple of dollars his way, but that giving is not in relationship to wisdom. Giving in accordance with wisdom will go beyond the couple of dollars thrown at him. It will determine why he is poor, and then, help him out of his poverty.

When thinking of all this tremendous grace God lavishes on us, I ask this question. Do we accept or receive this grace or are we so busy with life that we fail to receive what Jesus has for us? Our western-world Christian lives are so busy working our way through our cluttered lives that we do not benefit from the grace God is presently offering us.

Verse 9

"He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ ..."

I believe the pronoun "us" would refer to Paul and the first generation of believers. This would mean that God's will, that was once a mystery in Old Testament times, had then been revealed in New Testament times. Paul, because of his multitude of visions and personal interactions with the Lord, had these mysteries made known to him, and thus, he passed them along to the believers. Paul will explain these mysteries in the next few verses.

Much of Christian theology is based on the teachings of Paul. Paul based his teaching on his understanding of the Old Testament and the revelation of God given to Him. I maintain that if Paul got it wrong, then we, as Christians, are in one huge mess. Of course, I certainly do not believe that Paul got anything wrong.

The rest of verse 9 tells us two things. The first thing is that it pleased God in these New Testament times to reveal His will to believers. It is something that God has been anticipating. It is something that He really wanted to do. He just had to wait until the right time.

The second thing we learn from the second part of this verse is that these mysteries have everything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is what the Jewish leadership in Paul's day could not accept. To them, these so-called mysteries that Paul was teaching were considered blasphemous. They were the product of Paul's corrupted, heretical mind, a mind that needed to be done away with. Of course, for the Christian, all that Paul taught about these mysteries are the foundation of Christian doctrine.

Verse 10

"... as a plan for the right time — to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him."

We see part of the mystery that has now been revealed to us, and I might add, through Paul. It is to bring all things together, just at the right time, under the authority and management of Jesus. That day has not yet come, but at some future point, when Jesus returns to earth, we will experience what Paul wrote about here.

The Greek word "oikonomia" is translated as "bringing everything together." This Greek word is made up of two Greek words meaning, "house" and "management." Thus, just at the right time, Jesus will have put all things under His management. When that time comes, as 1 Corinthians 15:28 states, Jesus will hand all things over to God, His Father. That verse reads:

"When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all."

Note that it is not just the earthly creation that will come under the management of Jesus. It is all that is in the heavenly realm as well that will submit to Jesus. That would include the demonic world that Paul spoke about later in this letter. At this present time, Jesus is the Lord of all there is, both material and spiritual, but, not all things in both realms are under His full management. There will come a day, when all things in heaven and earth will be subject to Jesus. At that time, Jesus will hand all things over to God, His Father, and that includes Himself. That day might be the day when the unbeliever is thrown into the Lake of Fire , along with the demonic world. It is then that, as Revelation 21:1 says, God will create a new heaven and a new earth. That verse reads:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more."

There are some who understand this verse to say that in the end, all will be saved, both human beings and spirit beings, which, would include the devil. They derive this thinking from the word "subject," as in; all things will be subject to Jesus. Just because all things are subject under the rule of Jesus does not mean all things have been redeemed into compliant subjects. The devil, the demons, and the unsaved, will be subject, under the control of Jesus, while they spend eternity in the Lake of Fire .

Verse 11

"In him [Jesus] we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one [God] who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his [God's] will..."

I understand the pronoun "him" in the first phrase of this verse to be in reference to Jesus because I believe "him" refers back to the previous verse that speaks of Jesus.

The first part of this verse, the part about the "inheritance" presents us with a problem. That is because of the Greek grammatical construction of the phrase. Some scholars say that we, as Christians, have received an inheritance, as the CSB version of this verse implies. Other scholars and translations of the Bible say that we, as Christians, are God's inheritance. I believe both views are theologically correct, but, only one of these views can be what Paul was meaning in this particular instance.

At the moment, I lean towards how the CSB translates this verse. As Christians, we have an inheritance, which is yet to come at a future date. That being said, we have the down-payment of this inheritance, which is, the Holy Spirit, as we will see when we come to the next few verses.

We see the word "predestined" once again in this verse. As I have said, this word has caused mush debate and division over the centuries. It divided the Reformation Movement of the fifteen hundreds into two camps. Some people believe that God has predestined, or predetermined, who would be saved and who would not be saved. The main problem with this thinking is that it ignores the concept of individual choice, that I believe is seen in all of the "whosoever will believe will be saved verses," and there are many of those verses.

I will certainly not end the debate here, but look at what Paul is saying in this verse. The very concept that we have received an inheritance, or if you believe, we are God's inheritance, was what was predestined by God. That which was predetermined by God was to have a people belonging to Himself. What was not predetermined by God was who would become members of God's people. That, in part, is our choice.

The verb "who works" is in the present tense. This tells me, right now, whatever things may be looking like in the world, God is working out His universal plan for all that He has created. That means we as Christians should not get bent out of shape over all that we see happening in our surrounding culture. Far too often we get overly involved in cultural concerns that distract us from our mission at hand, and that is, to introduce Jesus to the world around us.

What I see in the last half of this verse is that God is more active in the affairs of His creation, and that includes the affairs of men and nations, than what we might think. Christians are not Deists. A Deist is one who believes in the existence of God, but does not believe God has any interaction with His creation. Deists believe that God created all things and then stepped back from creation and let creation evolve over time. A Christian cannot be a Deist because that would mean God did not interact with His creation by becoming human, in the form of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 12

"... so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory."

The words "we who had already" is what is a present infinitive active Greek verb. An infinitive verb is a verbal noun that is meant to convey a goal that has been reached by a prior action. Paul was saying that "we," he and those to whom he was writing, had already put their hope in Jesus. The goal of that action was to be people who would exhibit praise to God in their lives. This is an aspect of the revealed mystery Paul has been writing about. That is to say, both Jews and Gentiles alike, as one unified body, can be recognized by their lifestyle that gives praise to God.

Note the word "hope" in this verse. It is my opinion that hope is often overshadowed by faith in Christian theology. I define hope as a certain expectation of a future reality. Biblical hope has nothing to do with the idea conveyed when we say; "I hope to win the lottery." In that sense of the word, hope implies doubt. Biblical hope does not imply doubt. Biblical hope is an assurance that God will fulfill each and every promise that He has made, concerning our personal future, the future of the church, and really, the future of all creation.

Verse 13

"In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed."

What Paul wrote here is vitally important in knowing that one is truly a Christian. The word "sealed" in this verse means the stamp of God's approval on your life that you are, in deed, a true Christian. You, in all certainty, belong to Jesus. The seal is the Holy Spirit Himself. If you are truly a born-again-of-the-Spirit Christian, there would have been a moment in time when the Holy Spirit came into your very being. It is that point in your life that Paul was writing about here. It is when you actually crossed the line from being an unsaved person to being a saved person.

The concept of a seal would have been well understood by Paul's readers. Slaves were branded with a seal that meant they belonged to their owner. In like fashion, the Holy Spirit is the branding seal that confirms the Christian as belonging to God. You might even compare this seal to a lawyer's seal today that validates the legitimacy of a document.

For these Ephesian believers, Paul said when they heard the gospel preached to them, and, when they first believed, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit. This tells me that the general rule for this sealing is that one must first repent and believe. If one has genuine faith, that one should then subsequently receive the Holy Spirit into his life. That means, as with the Samaritan's in Acts 8, sometimes when one first believes and when one receives the Holy Spirit into his life, are at different times. For this reason, I say that initial salvation is a process, a process of the Holy Spirit drawing you to Jesus, to repenting, to trusting Jesus, and finally, receiving the Holy Spirit.

Note too that the specific aspect of the gospel Paul was writing about was the gospel of "truth." That would have been a dramatic way to have put it, as it would be today. In our day, when truth is relative, varying from person to person, from place to place, and from time to time, saying that the gospel of Christ is the absolute universal truth, is not culturally or religiously correct. In Paul's day, the belief in multiple gods would suggest that there were varying truths, similar to our relativism today.

Verse 14

"The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory."

The one thing we know for sure from this verse is that the Holy Spirit given to the believer is in fact a down payment of a future reality. The future reality is when we will actually be recreated into the likeness and form that Jesus is right now. 1 John 3:2 states that some day, we will be as Jesus is. It reads:

"Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is."

In Romans 8:29 Paul also told his readers that Jesus is the first born among the dead. This means that Christians will follow Jesus as being second, third, fourth, and so on, born from the dead people who have been raised from the dead just as Jesus was raised from the dead. Once raised from death, we will be born into a new state of being. Romans 8:29 reads:

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren."

The words "until the redemption" is in reference to the day we are completely and fully redeemed; the very day written about in these above two verses.

There are two aspects to redemption as seen in the New Testament and they are based on two different Greek words translated as "redeemed" in our English New Testament. One aspect emphasizes the payment that Jesus made to release (redeem) us from bondage. The other aspect emphasizes the actual release from bondage that Jesus paid for. The Greek word used here, in this verse, emphasizes the actual release from bondage that Jesus paid for.

This question needs to be asked at this point. From what is the Christian released? I would suggest that we have been released from many things, not the least of which, is the wrath of God that is seen in the Book of Revelation. We are released from the eternal suffering of the Lake of Fire .

We have also been released from the inherent tendency to serve self. This release takes the form of a transformation in our lives by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God being made real in our lives. This means that we have been released from serving self so we can serve Jesus.

We have been released from any satanic hold that might be upon on lives. We have been released from the community of the world in order to be placed into the Community of Christ. The list could go on, but, the most basic release is that we have been released from the wrath of God that will be experienced by the unbeliever in what the book of Revelation calls the Lake of Fire ; that place of eternal divine judgment.

According to the way the CSB reads, the Christian has a future inheritance. Some Bible scholars say it should read that Christians are in fact the inheritance of God. Whatever way you think, both concepts are Biblical.

More Thoughts

Paul said a lot in this portion of his letter to the Ephesian believers. It is hard to summarize all that he wrote in just a couple of paragraphs. Much of what Paul wrote in this section concerns how the believer benefits from belonging to God. As Christians, we tend to ask Jesus for many things to help us mature as Christians. The fact of the matter is that much of what we ask for, as Paul lists here, is already in our possession. This is one Biblical truth that Christians often miss. Peter, in 2 Peter 1:3 makes this point by saying the following:

"His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."

Both Paul and Peter agree. We already have what we need to live as Christians. We simply need to be in fellowship with Jesus, through His Spirit, to have worked out in our lives that which we already have.

Here is the list of benefits we possess in our lives that Paul said we have in Christ in this section of his letter.

We have all kinds of spiritual blessings.
We exist in the heavenly realm.

We have been chosen by God prior to creation.

We are adopted sons and daughters of God.

We are to the praise and glory of God.

We are recipients of God's abundant grace.

We have been redeemed, released from God's wrath.

We have forgiveness of sins.

We belong to God's new community of people.

We are a vital part of God's universal plans.

We have received the Spirit of the Almighty God

We have been marked as belonging to God.

We are God's inheritance.

God has given us a down payment of our inheritance.

Now that is quite a list to ponder over. When these theological truths enter your mind, and then, sink deep within your soul, they will transform your life. Without these truths you will not live the life you should live as a Christian, which I believe, is the sad fact for many western-world Christians today.

This is the theology that does transform.

Ephesians 1:15 - 23

The Text

15 - This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. ¹⁷I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. ¹⁸I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength. ²⁰He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens — ²¹far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²²And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

My Commentary

Verse 15

"This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,"

In this verse Paul spoke about the Ephesian believers' faith, in the Lord, that he had heard about. We should know that the word "faith" is translated from the Greek word "pistis" that means "to trust." This means that Paul had heard of the Ephesian believers’ trust that they had in Jesus, a trust that was not just for their salvation, but for their very lives, their very daily existence.

Paul had also learned that these Ephesian believers had love for the saints. The Greek word "agape" is translated here as "love." Agape is one of about six Greek words that could be translated into "love" in English. All six of these words have a different kind of love in mind. The word "agape," meaning sacrificial love, is the most common Greek word that we read in the Greek New Testament. These believers were, thus, exhibiting sacrificial love for one another. Agape is the very kind of love that Jesus showed us. It is that love which causes us to sacrifice ourselves for our brothers and sisters in Christ. As Jesus has sacrificed His life for us, so we ought to sacrifice our lives for each other as Christians.

Note the word "saints" in this verse. We should not understand the word "saints" as it is understood in Catholicism. Saints are not a special, more holy, sector of Christians. All true Christians are saints. The Greek word "hagios" is translated as "saints" here, and that word simply means those who have been separated from the general public, and thus, belong to Jesus.

The word "separated" is all what being holy is about. We often think that the word "holy" suggests some kind of moral quality, but that is not the basic meaning of the word. All Christians are holy, and thus are saints, because Jesus has separated them from the general public so that they now belong to Him. Once separated, via the indwelling Holy Spirit, a saint should live a good moral life, but that life is a by-product of being holy. It is not holiness in itself.

Verse 16

"I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers."

We see the sincerity of Paul here, especially as it has to do with his prayer life. Paul is always praying for those God has given him the responsibility to care for.

A study of the concept of prayer in the Bible shows us that there are different kinds of prayer, from simple heart-felt requests, that may or may not be the will of God, to heavy-duty intercession on behalf of someone or something. I would think that the type of prayer Paul is writing about here is more the intercessory type of prayer. I say that because it is based on his genuine love and concern for those he has been given responsibility to pray for.

The specific type of prayer Paul mentioned here is a prayer of thanksgiving. This tells us something of Paul's love and affection for these believers. I wonder how many Christian leaders today thank God for those they have been called to lead.

The verbal phrase "never stop giving thanks" is a middle voice, Greek verb. A middle voice verb is an action that is both being done to the subject of the sentence, and also by the subject of the sentence. This suggests that the motivation for these prayers has come upon him from without which in turns motivates Paul from within to pray. The mere fact of knowing these believers as Paul would have known them, would cause Paul to pray for them. These prayers would have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is these kinds of prayers that should be clearly evident in all of our lives, especially those, like Paul who are leaders in the church.

Verse 17

"I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him."

The first thing we note from this verse is the God to whom Christians have given themselves. Specifically speaking, He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians do not believe in one generic god. We believe in one God, who is both the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That would clearly distinguish the god of Islam, or the gods of other world religions, from the God of Christians.

I have maintained over the years that as western-world Christians we have come to speak more about God than Jesus. This is problematic in that if we do not define what God we speak about, our culture is left to guess what god we are talking about, and, they will often guess wrong. We need to be specific and clear in the way in which we speak. We need to make known that we have given our lives to the God, who is the Father of Jesus, who is both Lord and Christ.

Our culture allows us to speak about God as much as we like, but, our culture gets upset when we say that there is only one God and He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is Jesus that separates the Christian from all other people, and when you insert the name of Jesus into the cultural conversation, that creates a problem for Christians. We are seen as being intolerant and divisive in a so-called tolerant world.

In parts of what we call church in the western world, some leaders are promoting the concept that all world religions eventually lead to the same God. Biblically speaking, and even logically speaking, that cannot be true. This thinking actually takes us back to the first-century, Greco-Roman, world of polytheism, the belief in multiple gods. For Prophetic Futurists who believe in the re-emergence of the Roman Empire as the last great empire of the age, this prevalent concept of multiple gods would fit in that end-time scenario.

When it comes to uniting Islam with Christianity, saying, both religions worship the same God; that is not true. Islam believes that god does not have a son. Christians believe that their God has a son, and He is Jesus. This fact alone tells us that Islam and Christianity do not serve the same God.

We see the word "spirit" in this verse. I don't believe Paul was talking about the Holy Spirit in here, although the Holy Spirit plays a very important part in that which Paul was writing about.

The word "spirit" can be understood in two ways. Spirit can be thought of in terms of "a being," like an angel or the Holy Spirit. The word "spirit" can also be understood in terms of "the spirit or nature of the matter." In this sense we are not thinking of some kind of spiritual being.

You might think that because the CSB version of the Bible capitalizes the word "Spirit" that Paul was in fact thinking in terms of the Holy Spirit. The capitalization of the word "Spirit" is an arbitrary decision that the translators made. There are no capital letters in the Greek text. The problem with thinking that the spirit here is the Holy Spirit is that Paul was praying for them to receive the spirit, something these people already had in their lives. One cannot receive the Spirit when he already has the Spirit. There is no logic in thinking that "spirit" should be capitalized in this verse. Most versions of the Bible, including the KJV and newer versions of the NIV correctly do not capitalize the word "spirit" in this verse.

Paul was praying that these believers would receive the "spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of Him." Although it might be debatable, I think the context suggests that the pronoun "him" refers to God. Therefore, a spirit of revelation, meaning, revealing Jesus to the believers in all wisdom, will help the believer come to a better knowledge and understanding of the God they serve, a God that cannot be known apart from such a spiritual revelation. Revelation, here, is in the sense of an uncovering, or an unveiling of something that has not been known or understood.

Paul's prayer for these Ephesian believers should be our prayer for our lives. God is so far beyond our human comprehension that we constantly need our understanding and knowledge of Him updated, and that only comes from the Holy Spirit giving to us the spirit of wisdom and knowledge that we need to mature in our relationship with God.

Knowledge and wisdom are two completely separate things. Knowledge is knowing about something, while wisdom is understanding how to implement what you know. Far too often Christians do not wisely implement what we know, assuming they do actually know what they claim to know.

I believe that knowledge precedes wisdom. That is to say, we first know something and then we can wisely implement what we know. It is difficult to believe that some one could be very wise but be ignorant of the facts at the same time. There is no logic to that.

Verse 18

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,"

This verse opens with the words "I pray." There is no corresponding Greek word in the Greek text for the words "I pray." Due to their context, these words are assumed, and probably rightly so, to be in the mind of Paul as he penned this letter.

The term "eyes of your heart" is a metamorphic term. It is picture language that is meant to convey the thought that part of you, that is, your heart, is that part that perceives issues. Paul wants that part of his readers' lives that perceives and understands issues to be clearly working. He wants no dullness in their understanding; a dullness that I believe prevails throughout western-world Christianity these days.

The words "may be enlightened" are a Greek perfect passive participle. The word "perfect" suggests a completed action. The word "passive" suggests an action that is done to a person. The person is not doing the action. A participle modifies either a noun or a verb in the sentence. The way our English text reads seems to suggest that Paul is praying that his readers' capability to know will find its completion through the enlightening process from God Himself.

The Greek word "photizo" that is translated into English as "enlightened" finds its roots in the Greek word "phos," meaning light. This is where our English word "photo" originates. Phos means light. Our hearts and our understanding need God's light to shine into them in order to bring clarity to our lives.

The specific knowing that Paul is writing about is twofold. It concerns our calling and inheritance as Christians. Christians are called, or invited, by God to many things, not the least of which is Jesus Himself. We also have an inheritance, and that we will fully realize in the next life.

The word "hope" is associated with the word "calling" in this verse. These words would naturally be linked to each other. If someone is called to do something or be something, there is a hope that this calling would be realized in the life of the one called.

Biblically speaking, Christians are called to many things. We are called both to be and to do. We are called to be sons and daughters of God and all of what that means. For example we are called to be righteous. We have also been called, or invited, to a mission while we exist on earth. For example, we have been called to proclaim the gospel. All of that which the words "call" and "calling" represent, and that is a lot, Paul wanted realized in his readers lives. The same would apply to you and me today, and all who have been invited to participate in the service of the Lord.

Note the word "saints." Once again, all true believers are saints. A saint is simply one who has been set aside from the world and belongs to Jesus. There is no inherent moral quality associated with the word "saints." That is to say, Catholics are in error when they view certain Christians to be more holy than others. We cannot separate Christians into two classes, saints and ordinary Christians.

There is a problem concerning the word "inheritance" in this verse and it has to do with the somewhat obscure grammatical construction of this verse. Some suggest that Christians are the inheritance Paul is referencing here. That is to say, that we, as Christians, are God's inheritance. The other view is that God has given Christians an inheritance, as seems to be expressed in the CSB version of the New Testament. Although both concepts are Biblically correct, I cannot say for sure which concept Paul had in mind when he penned these words. It is somewhat of a matter of the translator's presuppositions and thinking as he translates this verse.

Verse 19

"and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength."

Paul spoke about the "immeasurable greatness of His power." The word "immeasurable" is a pretty lofty word, but a very good word to use in this context. The Greek word "hyperballo" is translated into English here as "immeasurable." This Greek word comes from the Greek word "hyper," meaning over, as in "over the top." It is also from "ballo," meaning "to throw." There are two things you might notice here. Our English word "hyper" comes from the Greek word "hyper" while our English word "ball" comes from the Greek word "ballo."

Our English word "great" here is translated from the Greek word "megethos" that is rooted in the Greek word "megas." You can see that our English word "mega" comes from this Greek word.

Our English word "power" in this verse is translated from the Greek word "dynamis." Our English word "dynamite" comes from this Greek word. Dynamite suggests what this Greek word means. That is to say, "dynamis" is one very explosive power.

To put all of the above together, Paul was telling his readers, and us too, that the massive explosion of God's dynamic power is beyond our ability to measure. Really, our human, finite minds cannot understand all of who God is and what He is capable of doing.

Paul does not stop at commenting on God's immeasurable power. He says that it has been directed towards us who believe. That would mean, all of who God is, right now, in real time, is available for us in order to work out His will, not our will.

Paul is not the only one that made mention of God's ability being directed towards us. The apostle Peter says something similar. 2 Peter 1:3 reads:

"His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."

Paul continued in the same thought process to finish this verse. He wrote, "according to the mighty working of His strength." The English word "working" is translated from the Greek word "energeia," from which we derive our English word "energy." Simply put, God has a tremendous amount of energy and it is powerfully strong. The creation of the material and spiritual universe shows this to be true. I might even add that God's very essence is pure energy. You can read the book of Revelation, and there, you will see God's energy expressed in divine judgment.

Verse 20

"He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens —"

The pronoun "He" in the beginning of this verse refers to God.

The verb "He exercised" is a Greek aorist, active, indicative verb. As an aorist verb this exercising of power took place at one given time in human history. As an active verb, it was God's doing. He actively exercised His power. As indicative, this exercising of power was a certain fact.

Our English word "exercised" is translated from the Greek word "energeia" that I wrote about above. This exercising was in fact a release of Godly energy. As humans, we cannot fully understand the nature of God, even though we make many attempts. You might say, and maybe this is more scientific than anything else, but part of who God is, is pure energy. If that is true, then this exercising of power, is in fact, God exercising Himself in Jesus' resurrection.

It is quite possible that the earthquake mentioned in Matthew 28:2 was due to God's exercising of His great explosive energy. Matthew 28:2 reads:

"There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it."

We see this same explosive power when Jesus gave up His last human breath. Matthew 27:54 reads:

"When the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!"

The resurrection of Jesus is a central truth of Christian doctrine, but the scenario does not end there. As we read in Acts 1, Jesus ascended through the clouds. Here, in Ephesians, Paul told his readers that Jesus ascended right up to heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God.

The term "right hand" had a metamorphic meaning in the first-century Greco-Roman world. If someone was seated at the right hand of one in authority, it meant the one so seated shared the authority with the one he was seated beside. This tells us that Jesus has just as much authority as God Himself, and, as Matthew 28:18 states, Jesus has been given ultimate, universal, authority. Matthew 28:18 reads:

"Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth."

Jesus will exercise this authority until such time that He has conquered all things and put all things in order under His rule and authority. At that time, He will hand all things, including Himself, over to God, His Father. 1 Corinthians 15:28 states that fact. It reads:

"When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all."

Whether Jesus is actually seated in a throne beside God in a physical sense might well be debatable. This might well be picture language to help us understand that right now, in real time, Jesus rules alongside of God.

You might want to ask yourself a couple of questions at this point. Does God, who is spirit, have a right hand? Does He sit on a throne that a human would sit on? Does Jesus sit on a throne as a human would sit on? I believe this is picture language, symbolism, that makes a point, and I believe the first-century, Greco-Roman usage of the term "right hand" makes that point clear.

Verse 21

"... far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come."

In this verse Paul tells us of the extent of Jesus' rule. Jesus' rule and His authority are over every ruler, every authority, every power, and every dominion. We have four words listed here, each of which, I believe, represents an aspect of human and spiritual authority. There is debate whether these are four separate realms of authority or just four different aspects of one authority. I believe Paul had four different realms of authority in his mind when he penned these words.

The word "power" suggests a slightly different thing than the other three words. It's translated from the Greek word "dynamis" that I have mentioned earlier. This power is an explosion of dynamite-style energy. It could mean an authority figure with some kind of weaponry.

The words "ruler and authority" could mean a number of different kinds of local or regional authorities. The word "dominion" suggests a king or an emperor.

All of the above being said, if you read other passages of Paul's, like Ephesians 6:10 and following, you will note that these four words can also apply to spiritual beings as well as human beings.

With the addition of the words "every title given," we learn that Paul could have listed other titles given to people or spirit beings with some kind of authority. Paul was covering all of the bases here.

Paul went on to say, that no matter what authority there is, whether in this age or the next, Jesus rules supreme.

There might be debate over what the next age is that Paul had in mind. If you are a Prophetic Futurist, you might think the next age is the thousand year rule of Christ on earth, and that might well have been Paul's thinking. On the other hand, if you do not believe in a literal thousand-year rule of Jesus on earth, you might think that the next age is in fact the age of the new earth, as seen at the end of the book of Revelation. Verse 21:1 reads:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more."

I tend to believe at the moment, the next age is the thousand-year rule of Jesus on earth as you also see in the book of Revelation. Revelation 20:4 reads:

"Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."

Verse 22

"And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church,"

Paul said that God subjected everything under the feet of Jesus. Again, we saw this above. Matthew 28:18 tells us that all authority had been given to Jesus, which would have been given Him by God, His Father.

The Greek word "hypotaso" is translated here as "subjected." This word will come up again in our study of Ephesians in connection with wives submitting to their husbands. "Hypotaso" simply means "to rank under the authority of another." It was often used in military circles where one soldier would fall under the authority of another. In practical terms, this word in its common usage was somewhat of a cold-hearted, harsh, dictatorial word, as seen in its military use. It is important to know, as I will remind us of later, that some Greek words have a slightly different meaning in their New Testament context.

When "hypotaso" is used in a Christian sense, when it is used in relation to Jesus and His authority, it is a much softer, kind-hearted word. So, as Paul said here, all things are now subject to Jesus, but, as His authority applies to believers, He does not rule from a cold-hearted, harsh, dictatorial fashion. He rules from love, and that is agape, sacrificial love. He rules from a motivation where He wants the best for that which He rules over.

Paul said that Jesus is head over everything. Here again there is some debate over the word "head." Some believe this means that Jesus is the source over all things while others believe He is the brain, or, the mastermind over all things. I lean to Jesus being the brain over all things. That would mean that Jesus has more input over all of creation than what we probably think. Christians are not Deists. We do not believe that God is creator and then He stepped back from His creation and no longer interacts with that which He created. Christians believe that God does interact with His creation, as seen, for example, in God becoming human in the form of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also see this in the fact that God has given His Spirit to the believer.

I believe the word "head" here suggests that place where direction, instruction, and wisdom originates, thus, as the church, and as believers, our direction for life comes from our head, who is Jesus. We are instructed by Him and find our wisdom in Him.

On the other hand, there is no doubt about it. Jesus is in fact the head, or, the source of the church. Again, it has been debated over what concept of headship Paul had in mind. Both views could apply to this passage. You can choose for yourself.

It is really hard to get into the mind of Paul, or any other Biblical author. When it comes to the word "head" in this verse and other verses in Paul's writing, both concepts of head - mastermind and source - are correct concepts concerning Jesus. Just which concept Paul exactly had in mind is debatable.

The words "for the church" are hard to understand. Some versions say "to the church." The New Living Translation says "for the benefit of the church," even though there is no corresponding Greek word for the English word "benefit." That being said, the NLT Bible might correctly portray Paul's thought here. Jesus has been given final authority over all things, whether material or spiritual, for the benefit of those who belong to Him.

The English word "church" is translated from the Greek word "ekklesia" here, and elsewhere throughout the New Testament. An ekklesia was simply a group of people taken out of a larger group of people for a specific reason; to fulfill a specific purpose. A senate or a parliament could be considered an ekklesia. The church is Jesus' ekklesia. It is His ekklesia because the church is people who Jesus has taken out of the general population of the world to serve Him and His cause.

Verse 23

"... which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way."

In the previous verse, Paul spoke of the church. Here, Paul wrote that the church is in fact Jesus' body. We see the word "body" in 1 Corinthians 12 as well in relation to the church. Paul taught that the church, people belonging to Jesus and to each other, is the present-day body of Jesus on earth. I like to say it this way. Since Jesus is no longer on earth in the physical form of a human body, He is now on earth in His new physical form, that is, the body of people who are collectively known as the Body of Christ, the church.

The concept of the Body of Christ is important because it clearly states what church is all about. As Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 12, each believer has been immersed, by the Spirit of God, into the lives of those with whom Jesus has placed him in the Body of Christ, the church. We have been joined to others in supportive relationships in order to function as parts of a healthy body. As in one's physical body, when each body part does his or her job in the Body of Christ, the church will function healthily as it is meant to function. Our difficulty in the western-world church is that we do not see ourselves as that living, replacement body that Jesus lives in. For that reason, much of the western church is disabled and dysfunctional.

The words "the fullness of the one who fills all things" needs some thought. This phrase comes right after Paul speaks of the present-day Body of Christ, wherein lies the fullness of the one, God, who fills all things. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere at all times. He fills all things everywhere. In the Body of Christ, the church, is found the full nature of God. The sad fact is that the western church does not exhibit the reality of this. Jesus is the head of the church, and, His Spirit fills His present-day earthly body. We do Jesus and ourselves a disservice by neglecting the soul of the church, that is, Jesus Himself.

More Thoughts

There is so much in this particular passage that it is very difficult to provide a brief summary, but I will try.

The Ephesian believers, like believers today, were those who had the Holy Spirit living within them. He is the down payment of a future reality when we will become like Jesus presently is. Even though Paul's readers have the Holy Spirit, he still continually prayed for them that they will receive a spirit (not the Holy Spirit – but spirit in a generic sense) of revelation and wisdom. If you are truly a born-again of the Spirit believer, then what Paul taught these Ephesians, he is teaching you as you read his words.

When a person receives the Holy Spirit into his life, that event is just the beginning of a life-long relationship where he continues to receive from God more knowledge, more wisdom, and more enlightenment of the One he serves. This process never ends until the day we are recreated into the very likeness of who Jesus presently is.

At this present time, Jesus sits alongside His Father, where He has been given universal authority over all things spiritual and all things material. He will rule until such time that He hands all that He has ruled over, back to God, His Father.

Knowing that Jesus sits in this place of final authority is important because Paul taught that, right now, we as Christians sit with Him in the heavenly realm. We, thus, should understand our victorious position as believers and live accordingly. We have all that is necessary to live the life that Jesus requires of us. If we fail in this matter, it is our own fault. We are to live as those who have been elevated far above the mundane and sinful in which our surrounding culture exists.

If you can understand the theology that Paul taught in this section of his letter to the Ephesians, and, if you allow it to sink into your soul, it will be theology that transforms your life.

Ephesians 2:1 - 10

The Text

1 - And you were dead in your trespasses and sins ²in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. ³We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. ⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, ⁵made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! ⁶He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— ⁹not from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

My Commentary

Verse 1

"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins..."

Paul points out to his Ephesian readers that in the past they were dead. They were not physically dead, but they were spiritually dead because of both their trespasses and their sins. A human is not only a material being. He has been created to also be a spiritual being. If your spirit is dead, then you, as a human, are not fully alive. In Paul's mind, you are dead. It is sin and trespasses that have killed your spirit.

The Greek word "paraptoma" is translated here as "trespasses." This Greek word simply means "a misstep," as when one trips over something and falls. A misstep is not an act of one's will. One does not mean to trip over something. Tripping is simply a matter of us being fallen people, living in a fallen world. Missteps lead us away from where we want to go. They sidetrack us. They lead us away from God. They put us on the wrong path of life, separating us from the spiritual life which we were intended to live.

The Greek word "hamartia" is translated as "sin." This Greek word means "to miss the mark." As fallen human beings, meaning that we are born apart from God, we consistently miss the mark of a godly life that He requires of us. This missing the mark can be deliberate or we can miss the mark without even knowing it. This has often been called known and unknown sin. Some sin we know we commit. Other sins we don't know we commit, that is, we act intentionally but not understanding that it is sin.

Beyond this basic meaning of "sin" that is derived from the Greek word "hamartia" there are some sub-definitions defined by the New Testament. One such definition is found in Romans 14:23. It reads:

"But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin."

Paul said that anything done apart from faith, that is, from trusting Jesus, is sin. This is quite a broad definition of sin and includes more than most think. Many simply believe that just disobeying the Ten Commandments is sin, but that is not the case. One may not outwardly commit adultery, but one can inwardly lust after another of the opposite sex. Jesus called that lust adultery of the heart. Matthew 5:28 reads:

"But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

The apostle John also provides a sub-definition of sin. 1 John 5:17 reads:

"All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that doesn't lead to death."

I will not comment on John's point that there is sin that does not lead to death. You can read my commentary on 1 John to see my remarks about that. I simply point out that John agrees with Paul when he said that all unrighteousness, or, everything done apart from right relationship with God, is sin. That too is a broad definition of sin and includes more than most think.

The basic meaning of the word "righteousness" as it pertains to God is to be in right relationship with Him. We often think that righteousness is a moral issue, but that is not its fundamental definition. Moral righteousness is a by-product, a result, of being in right relationship with God.

Romans 6:23 reads:

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

In Romans 6:23 Paul said what he said here in Ephesians 2:1. Sin leads to death. It results in death. Sin is associated with death all the way through the Bible. That is clearly seen in the very first command that God gave to a human. In connection with God commanding Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Genesis 2:16 reads:

"... but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die."

The simple Biblical fact is that sin, or in Adam's case, disobedience which is sin, leads to death. Adam did not die physically right away, but he did die spiritually right away, and he did eventually die physically as well.

Verse 2

"... in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient."

Paul reminded his readers that the way they used to live, that is, in sin and trespasses, is the way of the world. The non-Christian culture that surrounds us all is consumed with sin and trespasses, and it is so, more than most of us think. Our culture is sinful because all human beings, at the core of who they are, are corrupt and sinful. Jeremiah 17:9 makes that clear.

"The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable - who can understand it?"

Our culture believes that everyone is inherently good, or, that at least most people are inherently good. The Bible says otherwise.

The second half of verse 2 makes it clear who is behind cultural wickedness. It is the "ruler of the power of the air who is working in the disobedient." That ruler is the devil. He is the ruler of the power of the air. The word "air" speaks about the spiritual atmosphere that surrounds any culture. The word "power" is translated from the Greek word "exousia," which means "authority." Our English word "working" is translated from the Greek word "energeo." We derive our English word "energy" from this Greek word. Putting all of this together, Satan is the authority figure who powerfully energizes all cultures, cultures that consist of disobedient people.

In my thinking, Paul is saying that if one is disobedient, he is susceptible to satanic influence. The opposite would, thus, be true. If you are obedient to the Lord, you will not fall prey to the devil's devices.

Verse 3

"We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also."

Paul recognized that he and his associates, like the Ephesian believers, once lived their lives according to their fleshly desire. The Greek verb "previously lived" in the Greek text is a passive Greek verb. This means that Paul's flesh, not his newly created in Christ being, was doing the action to Paul. It means that Paul gave into the desires of his sinful flesh so those desires could do whatever they wanted with Paul.

The word "flesh" is a broad term to denote anything that has to do with one's body and mind. The word "desires" suggests lust or a covetousness. Our human, fallen, bodies, which includes our minds, crave things that kill our relationship with God. Paul wrote about this in Romans 7, where, he called the flesh his sinful nature. We all, from birth, have a nature that drives us to sin in one form or another.

Notice the word "thoughts" in this verse. Our thoughts are included when thinking of our flesh. Christians may think they live a somewhat good moral life because they do not do certain things. I have heard Christian men say that they have never committed adultery, but in their thoughts, they have. What you think really is who you are. Life, whether good or bad, begins in our thoughts. Paul would have said that everyone's thoughts are a product of a sinful, fallen, nature.

Concerning our thoughts, look at what Paul said about our thought life in 2 Corinthians 10:5.

"... and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ."

According to the above verse, every thought that we have in our minds should be made captive to Jesus. That is, our thought life should be in the process of being put into submission to Jesus, which in turn will show up in the way you live life here on earth.

Paul spoke about our sinful nature when he said that "we were by nature children of wrath." From the moment that Adam disobeyed God, inherent in everyone ever to be born is a sinful nature. The very core of who we are is sinful and is in defiance of God, our creator. It is for this reason that we "are children of wrath." Children of wrath means that all non-Christians are under, and subject to, the wrath of God that sends people to the Lake of Fire, as seen at the end of the Book of Revelation. Becoming a true born-again-of-the-Spirit Christian rescues us from God's wrath that will eventually culminate in the Lake of Fire .

God is just, and because He is just, sin must be accounted for and punished. If God did not account for our sin, then, He would not be just. Inherent in the meaning of justice is the fact that wrong must be recognized, accounted for, and punished. The Biblical fact of the matter is that Jesus became accountable for our sin. It was Jesus who took our punishment on our behalf. He suffered the wrath of God in our place. Those who reject what Jesus has done for them will suffer an intense form of God's wrath in the next life. Rejecting Jesus' supreme act of love is the worst sin anyone can commit.

I distinguish between anger and wrath. I believe that wrath is an explosive, more intense, form of anger, something that Christians will not experience in the next life because Jesus has suffered God's wrath while on the cross in our place. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 makes this point.

"For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,"

Verse 4

^"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,"

Paul said that God is "rich in mercy." The Greek word "elios" is translated here as mercy. The concept of mercy is the practical display of pity on one who has a need. It implies that the one who has pity on the needy has the ability to supple the need of the needy. Human beings are very needy, needier than we ever will know, at least in this life. It is God, who has great abundance of whatever is necessary to help us in our need.

Why does God have such pity on us? There are many reasons that could be given to answer this question but the one Paul provides here is that God loves us. The Greek word "agape" is translated here as "love." Agape is sacrificial love. It is the setting aside of one's self to give to another. It's the love that is demonstrated through sacrifice. By His very nature, God is, sacrificial love.

The English verb "he had" in the Greek text is actually "He loved" and "He loved" is an aorist active indicative verb. This suggests a specific act of sacrificial love that has been completed by God Himself, and there is no doubt about its reality. Paul might well have had Jesus’ one time-death on the cross in mind when he penned these words.

Verse 5

"... made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!"

God, who is rich in both mercy and love, made us alive with Christ. One becomes alive with Christ when one receives the Spirit of Christ into his very being. In Evangelical vernacular, it is called being born again of the Spirit. Paul's view of our existence apart from the Holy Spirit in our lives is that it is death. We may be physically alive, but without the Holy Spirit in our lives, it is not much of a life. Of course, this is hard for one without the Holy Spirit to comprehend. To him, this makes absolutely no sense, but it is Biblical truth. Those without the Holy Spirit within them have nothing to compare life with. That is to say, a Christian knows both what it is like to live without the Holy Spirit and to live with the Holy Spirit. He experiences a clear difference in his life, something that the non-Christian cannot comprehend.

Paul then said that even when we were dead in trespasses, God made us alive. That shows us how much mercy God has for us. He sees our need and does something about it. Our need here is described in terms of living in trespasses. The word "trespass" means a misstep, or, a slip-up. We trip and fall in life and get off the track that God would have us on. Once off the track we cannot get back on it so God, picks us up and does what is necessary, by His Spirit, and puts us on His path, the path of real life.

All of this is a matter of grace. There are two definitions of grace. The first is more common, and that is God's love demonstrated to us who do not deserve His love. It's called "unmerited favour." The second definition is God's divine ability to do His will. A person apart from Jesus is in sad shape. He has no ability to be as he was created to be. So, God's love is demonstrated to that person, who does not deserve God's love. God's sacrificial love reaches down, places the needy on the right path and then enables him to stay on the right path.

In the next few verses Paul will explain what being alive in Christ is all about.

Verse 6

"He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,"

In the last verse Paul said that we, the believers, have been made alive in Christ, but here he clarifies this a bit. We have been both made alive in Christ by being raised from the dead in Him, and we also, beyond that, have been raised up with Him into the heavenly realm. This is something that modern Christian understanding seems to be missing. If you have the Holy Spirit living within you, and you must have Him within you, or else you are not a Christian, then you live in two worlds. In physical form you live in the material world. In spiritual form, you are seated alongside Jesus in the heavenly world. Yes, right now, it is just as much a reality to be seated alongside Jesus as it is to be seated beside a person here on earth. If you do not understand this, you are not living the life of a Christian. If you do understand this present reality but fail to live it, you also are not living the life of a real Christian.

Right now, Jesus is sitting beside His Father. Whatever that may look like, it means that Jesus is ruling all things material and all things spiritual alongside of God. Read what Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1.

"So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God."

Paul clearly said that Jesus sits at God's right hand. In the first-century Greco-Roman world, to sit at someone's right hand was a metamorphic term, picture language, to mean one rules with the one he sits beside. Right now, Jesus rules at God's side, and, because we sit beside Jesus, we rule with Jesus. The true Christian has been authorized by Jesus to perform certain tasks on behalf of Jesus, here on earth. We see this expressed to a degree in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18 and 19, which reads:

"Jesus came near and said to them, 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."

The Biblical fact from verse 6 is that as Christians we exist in the heavenly world just as much as we exist in the material world. From this heavenly world, we have been given the responsibility to perform certain tasks on behalf of Jesus. We are not just seated with Jesus for the enjoyment of fellowshipping with Him. We are seated with Him to receive instructions and the ability to do His will here in the material world.

My point is simple. Jesus has His job to do and we have our job to do. If we do not do our job, we limit Jesus in doing His job. We are co-workers with Jesus. It is about mutual co-operation.

Verse 7

"... so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

Note the word "ages" in this verse. It is the plural form of the Greek word "ion," that signifies an era. We should understand this Greek word, not in terms of a specific duration of time but time as it relates to some kind of character trait.

The Jews understood that there were only two ages. Those were the present age and the next age, that is, the age of the Messiah. Here Paul wrote about multiple ages. It is difficult to get into the mind of Paul, but it seems that he was saying that God's great and immeasurable grace and kindness would be demonstrated to us forever. The character traits of these ages, however long they are, are God's love and grace, being given to those who belong to Him.

The Greek word "charis" is translated here and elsewhere in the New Testament as grace. This means God's love given to us who do not deserve His love. It also means God's divine ability given to the believer to accomplish God's will.

Paul spoke about God's grace and kindness as being immeasurable and rich. We have seen the words "immeasurable" and "rich" earlier in this letter. The word "immeasurable" is translated from the Greek word "hyperballo," meaning, "to throw over the top." We derive our English word "ball" from the Greek word "ballo." The word "rich" is translated from the Greek word "ploutus." It denotes any kind of abundance, either spiritual or material.

Paul's point in this verse is this: God's grace and kindness, which are really beyond our knowing, will be shown to those who belong to Him forever and ever. This is something to meditate on, especially when we understand the sinfulness of our human nature and the perfect righteousness of who God is. We certainly do not deserve anything that God's gives us through His provision of grace.

Verse 8

"For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift,"

Verse 8 is one of the most well-known verses in the Bible. The important words in this verse are, "saved," "grace," "faith," and "gift."

We should understand being saved, or, salvation, is a broad term that expresses many things. It incorporates the idea that all of creation will be saved, in as much as the book of Revelation closes with the creation of a new heaven and earth. In this instance, in verse 8, Paul was writing about what I call personal salvation. There are many things that the Christian is saved from, but the primary thing is that he is saved from God's wrath that will be exhibited in the Lake of Fire .

This personal salvation is a result of God's grace and our faith. God's grace was seen in the cross of Christ where Jesus paid the price for our salvation. It is through our faith, or, our trust in Jesus and what He has done for us, that we receive this personal salvation. We should understand the word "faith" to mean "trust" because that is what its Greek equivalent "pistis" means. We should also understand that we do not have the ability to fully put our trust in both Jesus and what He has done for us. We, thus, need His help in the process of trusting Him. Look at what Romans 12:3 says.

"For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one."

According to the above verse, it is God, not us, who generates faith. It is God who distributes faith, or the ability to trust Him, into the life of the believer.

Verse 9

"… not from works, so that no one can boast."

Paul had just told his readers that salvation was a matter of faith, or, trusting, in God's grace. It is my thinking that the word "faith," so basic to Christian belief and doctrine, demands our attention. It is sad to say, but many western-world Christians do not even understand one of the basic words that they claim to be a vital word in the Christian vocabulary. Faith is trust. It is not a commodity that you can get more of. If you want more faith, or, more trust, with the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, you trust Jesus more. In fact, one does not just trust Jesus for his salvation, one trusts Jesus for his entire life, which includes one's salvation.

In verse 9, Paul tells us why our salvation is not a matter of works, which is, our own ability. If we could obtain salvation through anything we could do, then sinful, human nature would boast about our own efforts in obtaining salvation.

The word "works" in this particular context can be understood in broad terms. Works, would thus be, any activity we as human beings would do in the attempt to receive salvation from God. In a more narrow sense of the word, which I don't believe Paul was using here, works can be considered works of the Law of Moses that the Jews understood must be obeyed in order to be made right in the sight of God.

Paul was speaking to a community of believers that consisted of more Gentiles than Jews. Jews would have been taught that by obedience to the Law of Moses, and, to the rabbinical laws that were added to the Law of Moses, one could be accounted righteous in the sight of God. In Paul's day some were teaching that salvation was a product of both obeying the Law of Moses and Jesus. Paul maintained that was not the case. Salvation was strictly a matter of the believer trusting in God's grace, and nothing else.

The concept that no human effort was needed to obtain favour from the gods was a foreign idea in the Gentile world also. Polytheistic (belief in multiple gods) paganism was full of human effort. The pagans had to do all sorts of things to appease their pagan gods and remove the wrath of their gods from their lives.

So, the broad definition of the word "works" would fit the religious thinking of both the Jews and the Gentiles in Paul's day. I believe it would also fit into the definition of works as seen in much of the Evangelical Christian world in times past, as well as today, when it was thought church rules would have to have been maintained in order to stay saved.

Verse 10

^"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do."

Paul is not finished with the idea of good works. He wrote more about it, here in verse 10, but before we get to that, let us look at the word "workmanship." This word is translated from the Greek word "poiema." This word means "to make or to create." We derive our English word "poem" from this Greek word.

Paul said that we are, right now in the present time, His, or God's, workmanship. We are God's creation. We are God's tool, but from the creation account of Genesis 1 and 2 on, we as humans have failed miserably as God's tool. It is for this reason that we have been recreated, or, reborn, in Christ Jesus. This recreation takes place when the Holy Spirit comes into one's life. Paul mentioned this in 2 Corinthians 5:17. That verse reads:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!"

When the Holy Spirit comes into one's life, it is the Holy Spirit that enables us to do good works. We do not do these good works in our own human strength, and if we do, they may be meaningful to the recipients of the good works, but they will do nothing in relation to your standing before God. The good works that Paul was writing about here were good works inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Paul then said that our Holy Spirit-empowered good works was something that God had planned for the believer prior to his salvation. I believe this was in the mind of God when He created man in the first place.

It was no mistake on God's part that Adam disobeyed God and brought all of creation, including man, into a need for ultimate salvation. When God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden, He did so for a purpose. I speculate that God knew Adam would fall from His grace and that might well have been His plan in order for Him to enter sinful humanity and to demonstrate sacrificial love to a sinful world.

More Thoughts

As a Christian you should remember that prior to being born again of the Spirit of God, you were dead. You were obviously physically alive, but without the Spirit of God in your life, life as you were meant to experience was dead. You were, in fact, a slave to both yourself and to the demonic world around you. This is how you should view your pre-Christian life. It is also how you should view all of those that you know have not been born again of the Holy Spirit. This may not sound culturally correct these days, but according to the above passage, it is Biblically correct.

If you do not experience a noticeable difference between your pre-Christian life and your Christian life, one of two things might be taking place. First, you may not actually be a born-again Christian. If you are indeed a born-again Christian, then you are not living in the realm of the Holy Spirit as you should be. Your life is grievous to God, meaning, you are grieving the Spirit as Paul said we should not do, in Ephesians 4:30. That verse reads:

"And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption."

We should also know that while dead in sin, before we gave our lives to Jesus, we were "objects of God's wrath," as Paul put it. All that changed when you became a Christian. True Christians do not, and never will, experience God's wrath. By trusting in the love and grace of Jesus, which is what the word "faith" means, we have been set free from experiencing the wrath of God as the unbeliever will experience it in the Lake of Fire.

You were saved, totally by God's grace. There is nothing that you can do to get saved and there is nothing you can do to stay saved. Just think about it. What possibly can a sinner, who is a sinner at the core of who he is, do to find acceptance of God.

Christianity has struggled over the years with its concept of staying saved. Our human nature causes us to think that staying saved is a matter of obeying rules, whether they are God's rules or our own man-made ecclesiastical rules. No rule can keep you saved. If you attempt to stay saved by what Paul called "human effort" in Galatians 3, you will surely fail at being a Christian.

In contrast to our inability to get saved and stay saved, God is rich in grace. As sinful as we are, God is by far more graceful than we are sinful. He, therefore, extends his unmerited favour, which is grace, towards us. Beyond that, His grace, meaning, His divine ability given to us to do His will, can keep us saved.

God has predetermined that we will not be counted in right standing with Him apart from His grace. That being said, God has recreated us as born-again believers to be His good workmanship. Our very lives should exhibit the Holy Spirit's ability within us to be God's good work. In other words, we do not simply do good works on His behalf because of our relationship with God, we are His good work.

People have often thought that the apostles James and Paul differed on the concept of good works as they relate to faith. I see no difference of opinion between these men. Both speak of genuine faith that leads to genuine good works. Good works do not save anyone, but, anyone who has been saved, will accomplish good works. I believe that both Paul and James would say that genuine faith will produce genuine good works. Good works is thus a result of faith. Good works do not precede faith, as in, they do not save you.

Ephesians 2:11 - 22

The Text

11 - So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh — called "the uncircumcised" by those called "the circumcised," which is done in the flesh by human hands. ¹²At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel , and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh, ¹⁵he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. ¹⁶He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death. ¹⁷He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²²In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.

My Commentary

Verse 11

"So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh — called 'the uncircumcised' by those called 'the circumcised,' which is done in the flesh by human hands."

In this verse Paul reminded his readers that they were once Gentiles according to the flesh. They were so named by the Jews, who were Jews according to the flesh. The word "flesh" in this verse obviously is in reference to circumcision. Gentile men were not circumcised while Jewish men were circumcised. In Jewish thought, circumcision was one of the main distinctions between a Jew and a non-Jew.

We read that God told Abraham that circumcision was to be instituted for him and all of his male descendents. It would be a sign, a symbol, of the covenant that Abraham had entered with God. This covenant is called the Abrahamic Covenant. It was an agreement that God made with Himself to bless Abraham and his descendents, which would become Israel . We read the ratification of this covenant in Genesis 15. Genesis 17:11 states the reason for circumcision.

"You [Abraham] must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you."

The insertion of the idea that physical circumcision was done by "human hands" is in contrast to the concept of one being circumcised in the heart, as seen in Romans 2:20:

"On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart — by the Spirit, not the letter. That person's praise is not from people but from God."

Much can be said about Romans 2:20 as it applies to the Jews and the nation of Israel . That is a subject for another day and another book. The point I want to make here is that Paul's thinking throughout his letters was that circumcision of the flesh, as it pertains to one's acceptance with God and living a good moral life, has no relevance. It is the circumcision of the heart that is the important thing. Circumcision of the heart takes place when the Holy Spirit comes into one's life and He, not men, cuts away the sinfulness from our lives.

In Paul's mind, whether one is circumcised or not makes no difference, as Galatians 4:15 states.

"For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation."

In New Testament Christian terms, what matters is that when one receives the Holy Spirit into his life, he becomes a new creation. It is then that the Holy Spirit, not a knife used by the hand of man, will cut away the sin from one's life. He is not the one who he once was. That is only common sense. If the Spirit of the Almighty creator God joins Himself to you, you cannot help but be someone entirely new.

One thing this verse tells us about the makeup of the Ephesian church is that it consisted primarily of Gentile believers. It has been estimated by many that the Ephesian church could have been made up of ninety percent Gentiles and ten percent Jews. This estimation is based on the Jewish population of the city of Ephesus .

Verse 12

"At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel , and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world."

Paul continued by saying that these Gentiles, in their prior life, were without Christ. Note here that Paul did not say "without Jesus." He said "without Christ," Christ being a title of Jesus, not part of His name. The context might, and I say might, suggest that Paul used the title "Christ" instead of the name "Jesus" because he was thinking of the atoning blood of Jesus, which we will see in the next verse. As the meaning of the title Christ implies, Jesus was chosen by God to offer His life on the cross, and He did so, on our behalf.

As Gentiles, Paul said that there were three things that distinguished them from the Jews, that is, Israel . The first distinction is that these Gentiles were excluded from the "citizenship of Israel ." That simply means they were not a part of the family of God as seen in Old Testament times.

The word "citizenship" in this verse is translated from the Greek word "politieia." We derive our English word "politics" from this Greek word. Politeia is in reference to how an individual stands in relation to the state. Gentiles had no standing as it pertained to Israel , the children or family of God.

The second point that Paul made concerning these Gentile believers prior life was that they were separated from the "covenants of promise." Note that the word "covenants" is plural. Paul is talking about more than one covenant, and just what ones he had in mind, might be debatable.

I am sure Paul would have had the Abrahamic Covenant in mind as one of these covenants. In short, the Abrahamic Covenant was an agreement that God made with himself to bless Abraham and his descendents. It is important to note that this covenant was not made between God and Abraham. God actually put Abraham to sleep while the covenant was ratified, as seen in Genesis 15. The fact that this covenant was an agreement that God made with Himself means that Abraham, nor his descendents, had anything to do with the fulfillment of the covenant. God would bring about the promises of the covenant no matter what Abraham or Israel did in response to what God promised in the covenant.

For a detailed explanation of the Abrahamic Covenant, you can refer to my book entitled, "Irrevocable Promises." It is available on all Amazon web sites.

Paul also probably had in mind the Mosaic Covenant, which unlike the Abrahamic Covenant, was an agreement made between God and Israel . Both God and Israel had their specific responsibilities to perform, and, if either God or Israel defaulted on their responsibilities, the covenant would be nullified and judgment would fall on the party not doing his job.

The Mosaic Covenant consisted of roughly six hundred and thirteen guidelines to follow. If Israel followed these guidelines, they would be blessed, but if not, they would be cursed, and cursed they ended up being.

There is the Davidic Covenant where God promised Israel that He would provide a king, a Messiah, who would rescue Israel from its enemies and from the curses of the Mosaic Covenant. Paul might well have had that covenantal agreement in mind as well.

The third point Paul made concerning the Gentiles prior life without Jesus concerned their hope in God. In Old Testament times the Jews had much hope and this hope was based in their God and the covenants mentioned above. Since the Gentile world was not a part of these covenants, they had no hope as it related to God. They were simply hopeless, lost in their sins that would lead to eternal judgment. That all changed when Jesus came to earth to fulfill His Messianic mission. Although Jesus' earthly ministry was directed to the Jews, His sacrificial death was meant for all people, everywhere. Both Jews and Gentiles could thus find an eternal hope in Jesus. Both Jews and Gentiles could now find acceptance with God through one eternal sacrifice, thus nullifying all of the Old Testament sacrifices that were meant to cover over the sins of the Jews.

Verse 13

"But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ."

It was Jesus who has brought hope to the Gentile world. We should understand hope in Biblical terms, not in our western-world cultural terms. Hope is not seen as "I hope to win the lottery." Biblical hope is the certain expectation of a future reality. Hope is closer to real faith than many think. Biblical hope certainly does not suggest doubt or uncertainty.

Paul said that his Gentile readers were once far away, as in, far away from God and His promises. Now, because of Christ Jesus, that has all changed. They have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. The verb "brought near" is a Greek aorist passive indicative verb. Aorist means that their being brought near was a one-time, completed, action. Passive means that these Gentiles had no part in the process of being brought near. They were brought near by an outside action, and that was the Lord Himself. Indicative means this being brought near is a certainty. In short, and in context, these Gentile believers had been brought into the people belonging to God where they could be recipients of the covenantal promises, and have the same hope as the Jews. This status was placed upon them because of their trust in Jesus and His shed blood, as the passive verb suggest. The blood of Jesus is in reference to the death of Jesus on the cross.

Concerning the shed blood of Jesus, most Bible teachers will tell you that Jesus did not shed all of His blood while on the cross, as many have thought over the years. When the sword pierced His side as seen in John 19:34, both blood and water sprang from his body, but medical people would say that Jesus would not have lost all of His blood when the sword punctured His skin.

The concept of Gentiles becoming Jews, or, Gentiles becoming citizens of Israel has been a very controversial issue over the centuries. Some people believe that national Israel has been replaced by what they call Spiritual Israel, and Spiritual Israel consists of both Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles. They derived their thinking, at least in part, from verses like Romans 2:20, that reads:

"On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart — by the Spirit, not the letter. That person's praise is not from people but from God."

A surface reading of Romans 2:20 suggests that there is a new Israel , and, it is not national Israel as seen in the Old Testament. When taking Romans 2:20 in context of all of Romans, especially Romans 9, 10, and 11, where Paul speaks of national Israel's restoration, I conclude that the nation ofIsrael still has prophetic significance in the mind of God.

God promised many things to national Israel in the Abrahamic Covenant. God is not one who revokes a promise, as seen in Romans 11:29.

"... since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable."

In the context of Romans 11, the above reference concerns the future restoration of national Israel . I maintain that the national state of Israel still has prophetic and historic significance in the mind of God. He has not replaced national Israel with spiritual Israel . National Israel will be restored as promised in the Abrahamic Covenant. Until the time Israel is restored, there is a spiritual Israel that consists of both Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles, as Paul was writing about here.

When the last Gentile who is to be saved is in fact saved, then the restoration of Israel , as predicted in the Old Testament will take place. I believe this is seen in Romans 11:25.

"I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."

Note the words "partial hardening." This leaves the door open for individual Jews to find salvation through Jesus, but Israel as a whole, is still hardened. When the last Gentile is saved, the move towards the restoration of national Israel begins.

Verse 14

"For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility In his flesh,"

Note the pronoun "he" in this verse. It is a Greek personal, possessive, pronoun. Some translations, thus read, "He Himself is our peace." We know that God is love from such passages as 1 John 4:8, which reads:

"The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Just as the very nature of God is love, so, peace is also who God is. God, and thus, Jesus, is ultimate peace. Jesus is the source of peace and He belongs to the believer and the believer belongs to Him. Yes, He provides the believer with peace, but the way in which He provides us with peace is by giving Himself, via His Spirit, to us.

There are two aspects of peace found in the Bible. The one aspect is what I have just mentioned. When the Spirit of peace enters your life, you have an inner peace that can keep you through the rough times of life.

The other aspect of peace is that the believer is no longer an enemy of God. He is at peace with God. Sin, that had once separated the believer from God, making him an enemy, has been set aside because of the forgiveness that Jesus procured on the believer's behalf.

The two groups Paul mentioned in this verse are the circumcised and the uncircumcised. These are the Gentiles and the Jews. Jesus, by His sacrificial death on the cross abolished the two groups in the eyes of God. There is no longer any dividing wall of hostility, which in this context, was the Law of Moses given to the Jews as a constitution by which they could live.

Note that the specific dividing wall which Paul references is circumcision. Circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant that was placed into the Mosaic Law. Male circumcision was an outward sign that the Jews were God's people. According to Paul, that was no longer the case.

The words "dividing wall" might also have a symbolic reference to the one and a half metre wall in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem that separated the Jews from the Gentiles. Gentiles were not permitted to go beyond the wall, and if they did, they could be executed.

This verse ends with the words "in the flesh." I will comment on this phrase as part of my commentary on the next verse, because grammatically speaking, it is part of that verse.

Verse 15

"... he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace."

This is one very important verse in understanding how New Testament Christians should relate to the Old Testament Law of Moses that was given to the Jews. The law Paul wrote about here is the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses was specifically given to the Jews, and not to Gentiles. You might say it was the constitution for the Jewish nation of Israel .

The Law of Moses was in fact a covenant between God and Israel that Israel agreed to keep. There were blessings and curses associated with the law. If Israel kept the law, they would be blessed. If Israel defaulted on their responsibilities of the law, they would be cursed, as they are today. All of the curses set forth and predicted in the law would come on the nation of Israel . I believe that not all of those curses have been completely fulfilled, and that is why I believe Israel is still under a curse today.

Paul said here, and elsewhere, that the Law of Moses has been abolished, and it was abolished when Jesus was punished for the sins of humanity on the cross. Colossians 2:14 reads:

"He [Jesus] erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross."

The certificate of death refers to the Law of Moses in Colossians 2:14. Paul said it was nailed to the cross with Jesus. Now read Romans 10:4.

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,"

Here, Paul also made it clear. The Law of Moses has no more significance when it comes to being in right standing with God. Jesus put an end to that, and, as Paul said in Romans 10:4, we find right standing before God in Jesus. In other words, Jesus has replaced the Law of Moses. Much more can be said about this, but as Ephesians 2:15 states, one result of the Law's abolition is that there is now just one group of people who can be considered people of God. No longer do we have Jews and Gentiles. We have, what we now call, Christians.

Concerning the Law of Moses being cancelled, you might ask me, then why do I say that Israel is still under the curses of the Mosaic Law. I believe that the Law of Moses has its prophetic elements, and, those prophetic parts, still need to be fulfilled. When it comes to being made right in the sight of God, the Law of Moses has no significance in these New Testament days.

All of this has raised a major debate among Christians. Because God's people are those who have handed their lives over to Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, where is national Israel in God's scheme of things?

In terms of salvation, in this present age of grace, there is only one people of God, and that is those who have given their lives to Jesus. That, however, does not nullify the promises that God spoke to Abraham about his descendents, that became Israel . God is not capable of breaking a promise. National Israel will be restored as predicted once all of the Old Testament prophecies about Israel are fulfilled. Once the last curse of the Law of Moses is placed on national Israel , all Israel will be saved. This is what Romans 9 through 11 is all about. Read Romans 11:25 and 26.

"I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved..."

Paul said that at some future date all Israel will be saved. All Israel does not mean all Jews of all time. It means all Jews who survive what we call the Great Tribulation. Zechariah 13:8 states that two thirds of the Jews will be lost during the Great Tribulation. It is the remaining one third of Jews that will be saved. That verse reads:

"In the whole land [ land of Israel ] — this is the LORD’s declaration — two-thirds will be cut off and die, but a third will be left in it."

Now read Romans 11:28 and 29.

"Regarding the gospel, they [Jews] are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs, since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable."

The patriarchs that Paul mentioned in the above verse are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were promised many things, including nationhood. Paul said that God will not revoke these promises. He cannot revoke what He promised, nor can He change His mind. God is faithful. It is not in Him to promise something and not fulfill His promise.

The result of all this is that in this present New Testament age there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles when it comes to salvation. There is, however, a distinction between the nation of Israel and the nations of the world concerning prophetic history as it applies to the Jews, who were promised to be restored some day.

Verse 16

"He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death."

In verse 16 Paul said that Jesus, while on the cross, did what was necessary to reconcile "both." The word "both" refers to both Jews and Gentiles. There was great enmity between the Jew and the Gentile. The cross of Christ removed that in the sight of God. Jews and Gentiles could now live together in one body, the family of God.

This enmity was in part due to God Himself. The very fact that He created a special class of people known as the Jews caused this separation. That being said, the plan of God all along would unite both Jew and Gentile into one body. This is the teaching of the New Testament. It is what we see in 1 Corinthians 12 through 14 where Paul teaches on the Body of Christ.

We must understand that the cross of Christ is a multi-faceted historic event. More than forgiveness of sin was purchased for us by Jesus dying on the cross. Many things took place on the cross, all of which can be implemented in our lives.

The reason why the wall was broken down between the Jew and the Gentile was because, as I have previously written, the Law of Moses died with Jesus. Jesus replaced the Law of Moses, and without the Law, there was no wall of separation. That Law was the wall that separated the Jew from the Gentile. The Law of Moses, or any other law, could not transform a person from a sinful life to a holy life. Only Jesus, as He entered a person via His Spirit could such a transformation take place.

Verse 17

"He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near."

The gospel message, or the "good news," as Paul said it here, was the good news of peace. The word "peace" in this context must be understood as peace between the Jews and the Gentiles. The word "peace" is used a few ways in the New Testament. One can have peace with God, meaning, he has been reconciled to God. He is no longer an enemy of God. One can also have the peace of God in his life that keeps him through the tough days of life. Here we see that Gentiles can have peace with Jews, something that is new to the New Testament era. Jews and Gentiles throughout the Old Testament times were at odds with one another.

Verse 18

"For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father."

John 14:18 says this:

"I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you."

Just days before Jesus died; He told some of His disciples that He would not leave them alone. He would return to them. Jesus was not talking about His second coming back to earth. He was talking about coming to them in the form of the Holy Spirit, which He did, on the Day of Pentecost, as seen in Acts 2. It was for this reason why Jesus provided forgiveness of sins for us on the cross. Our sins had to be forgiven before we could be reconciled to God. Reconciliation takes place when Jesus, via the Holy Spirit comes into one's life. This is what Paul is getting at here.

The way in which we can have access to God, the Father, or, be in right relationship with Him, is through His Spirit who lives within the true believer. There is no access to God apart from the Holy Spirit of God. Apart from the Holy Spirit it is all humanism, and human effort gets us nowhere with God. Paul expanded on this point in Galatians 3.

Verse 19

"So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,"

In this verse Paul was writing specifically to the Gentile believers in and around Ephesus . We know that because Gentiles, in days past, in the eyes of God, were strangers and foreigners. That is no longer the case. The true Christian, whether Jew or Gentile, can now be a part of God's family. This is what the Jewish establishment really got worked up about. Paul, a former Pharisee, was teaching that Gentiles, through the cross of Christ, could now be a part of God's family. This was not religiously acceptable to the Jews.

Paul wrote that believing Gentiles were citizens with the saints. Remember, the word "saints' means "separated ones." Believing Gentiles, then, were separated from their natural ethnicities and placed into the citizenship of the saints. In other words, Christian Gentile believers were now citizens of the Kingdom of God .

As Christians we live in two kingdoms. We live in a kingdom of man and we live in the Kingdom of God . Our allegiance is first to God's kingdom, not the nation in which we live. If there is a conflict between the two kingdoms, as there often is, we submit to the Kingdom of God .

During the early 1980's I lived in Virginia, U.S.A. . While living in America I was a landed immigrant in America . I was not a citizen. I was a resident alien as my green card said. When it comes to Gentile believers, they are not resident aliens in the kingdom of God . They are citizens.

Verse 20

"... built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone."

The foundation spoken of here refers back to the household of God, that is, God's New Testament family. The foundation of this new family is both the apostles and the prophets. The word "prophets" here refers to New Testament prophets, not Old Testament prophets. Any time you read the words "apostles and prophets" in the New Testament, especially after the Day of Pentecost as seen in Acts 2, the prophets spoken of are New Testament prophets.

Some parts of the church today do not believe in present-day apostles or prophets, but that is not what the New Testament teaches. Beyond the original twelve apostles, plus Paul, there are other apostles seen in the New Testament. The same applies to prophets. There are prophets mentioned in the New Testament that were not Old Testament prophets. The ministry of the apostle and prophet are for today, although, there as been much abuse of these important ministry callings. Not all who claim to be an apostle or prophet are true apostles and prophets.

Paul then went on to write that Jesus is the cornerstone to this New Testament building that is presently being built. The cornerstone is the most important stone, brick, or block, that any building is built upon. It's the first stone that is placed in the foundation. It is key to the structure of the whole building

Verse 21

"In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord."

The pronoun "him" refers to Jesus in verse 21. It is because of Jesus, and through Him, that in this present age, the true New Testament temple is being put together, and is growing into, a holy temple.

We should understand the church, the Body of Christ, the household of God, is also thought of in terms of a temple, a temple where in fact God lives. The Old Testament temple was a place where God was supposed to live, but for the most part didn't because it was corrupted with sin more often than not.

In 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul wrote that the body of believers is the New Testament temple. Here is what he wrote.

"Don't you yourselves know that you are God's temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?"

In 1 Corinthians 6:19 he said that the individual believer was also a temple of God where God lived. He said this.

"Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,"

The New Testament thus teaches that both the individual Christian and the church as a whole is the temple of God , and as a temple, is where God lives on earth through His Spirit.

When thinking of a temple, we should know that there is no earthly building temple where God lives. While being raised in Evangelical Christianity in the 1950's and 1960's we were told that our church building was the Temple of God , suggesting to me, that God actually lived in our church building. God does not live in buildings made by men as seen by what Paul said in Acts 17:24.

"The God who made the world and everything in it — he is Lord of heaven and earth — does not live in shrines made by hands."

Verse 22

"In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit."

Once again, Paul is confirming to the Gentile believers, that right now, in present time, they are being built as a dwelling place for God. This suggests that the building is not yet finished, and, even today, this building is not yet finished. It is still in the process of being built. Romans 11:25 might have something to say about this building project, especially as it relates to the Gentiles. The verse reads:

"I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."

Based on the above verse, many Bible teachers believe that when the last Gentile is saved, the salvation of Jews and their nation will begin. When, therefore, the last Gentile is saved, the New Testament construction of the temple will be complete. The next phase in the plan of God is thus that final restoration of Israel as predicted by the prophets of the Old Testament.

More Thoughts

In this section of Paul's letter to the Ephesians Paul was addressing Gentile Christians. He was asking them to remember their prior lives as pagans. This might well be a good exercise for Christians today. That is to say, remember what your life was before you handed it over to Jesus. This would do at least two things in your thought processes. It would distinguish who you once were and who you now are as a Christian. That should make you very thankful to Jesus for the change He has brought into your life. If there has not been any noticeable change, you might not actually be the Christian you claim to be.

The other thing that remembering your past life might do for you is to confirm that you are actually a believer in Jesus. It would remind you just when you did become a Christian. Obviously that would be important to prove that you are, in fact, a true Christian.

If you are a Gentile believer, you have been brought into the citizenship of Israel , as Paul stated. This concept has been heavily debated over the centuries. It is my understanding that the Bible teaches that there is a natural Israel and a spiritual Israel . The natural Israel was birthed in the Old Testament, where God had chosen the descendents of Abraham to be a nation unto themselves that God would bless. These blessings were cemented into history as seen in the Abrahamic Covenant. A close reading of Romans 11 will show that God has not changed his mind concerning the blessings He promised Israel , despite their disobedience to Him. The Old Testament prophets predicted the day when Israel would be restored to God's original intent for the nation. That is yet to take place in history.

The New Testament shows us that there is a spiritual Israel that consists of both Jews and Gentiles, those who have been circumcised in the heart and not the flesh with the reception of the Holy Spirit into their lives. Spiritual Israel , as seen in the present New Testament age, does not mean God has forsaken natural Israel . When the last Gentile becomes a Christian, the move to the restoration of natural Israel will begin. A close study of Romans 11 shows this to be true.

In our present age, if you are a Gentile believer, be thankful that you are counted as one of the important people of God in the age in which we live.

The union of Gentile and Jewish believers into one people of God was facilitated on the cross of Christ. It was then that Jesus nullified the Law of Moses that had been given to the Jews. It was the Law of Moses that Paul said was the dividing wall; the wall that separated the Jew from the Gentile. That law no longer exists for the purpose of being part of the people of God. It was crucified with Jesus on the cross. This is very important if you are a Christian today.

Over the years Evangelical Christians have not properly understood how they as New Testament Christians are to relate to the Law of Moses. They, therefore, have picked parts of the law to obey and have left the rest not to be obeyed. The Law of Moses never permitted such picking and choosing of which laws to obey. The fact of the matter is that the Christian is not obligated to obey the Law of Moses, and that includes such laws as tithing and Sabbath rules. Instead, Christians are to obey Jesus. For a detailed discussion on this, especially as it applies to tithing of money, you can read my book entitled "Should I Tithe?"

All this results in one new race of people that we call church, the Body of Christ, or as some say it, Spiritual Israel.

Paul ends this section by saying that Gentile believers have become part of the New Testament temple of God , where God Himself, lives and exists through His Holy Spirit. It is mandatory that we as Christians understand that both us as individuals and the church as a whole, is actually the dwelling place of God on earth. If this is lacking from your understanding, your concept of church is faulty. This is part of the theology of God that transforms a life into something altogether new.

Ephesians 3:1-13

1 - For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles — ²you have heard, haven’t you, about the administration of God’s grace that he gave to me for you? ³The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above. ⁴By reading this you are able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. ⁵This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: ⁶The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ⁷I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power. ⁸This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints — to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ, ⁹and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. ¹⁰This is so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. ¹¹This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹²In him we have boldness and confident access through faith in him.^] ¹³So then I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory.

My Commentary

Verse 1

"For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles..."

The words "for this reason" begin this chapter. We need to ask what reason is Paul writing about here. Paul had just finished writing about the Ephesian Gentile believers who had now been included into the family, or, the people of God. It was for this reason that Paul was now in prison.

In order for the Gentiles to be included into the New Testament people of God, Paul had to go into the Gentile world and preach this message of inclusion. It was during this process of preaching the good news to the Gentiles that Paul was arrested and put into prison. If God had not permitted the Gentiles into His family, and, if Paul had not gone into the Gentile world to preach, Paul would most likely not have been in prison at this moment of his life.

Note that Paul did not consider himself a prisoner of the Roman government. He considered himself a prisoner of Jesus, something that would sound strange to many of us today. The fact of the matter is that as I said above, Paul was in prison because of Jesus, and thus, he thought of himself as being His prisoner.

There are three times that we know of when Paul was in prison. He was in prison once for about two years in Caesarea (Acts 23:23 and following, and 24:27), over night in Philippi (Acts 16:16 - 40) and two years of house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:17 and following). He might well have been in prison other times as well but we do not have any record of that.

Note the pronoun "I" in the phrase "I, Paul." Paul was emphasizing the fact that he was indeed in prison.

Verse 2

"... you have heard, haven’t you, about the administration of God’s grace that he gave to me for you?"

Note the word "administration" in the CSB's version of this verse. It is translated from the Greek word "oikonomia." This Greek word consists of two other Greek words. They are "oikos," meaning "house," and, "nomos," meaning "law." This word could also be translated as "management" or "steward." Paul was simply saying that God had given him the responsibility to administer God's grace to the Gentile world. I would think that this is a very important responsibility. This responsibility would mean that Paul would preach the grace of God. This would inform the Gentile world that God's grace was now available to them, but it had to go beyond preaching. It would also include leading people, or, introducing people to Jesus which would include being used in the process of giving the Holy Spirit to those who accepted his preaching. We see this in Acts 19:1 through 6 where Paul laid hands on certain Ephesian men to receive the Holy Spirit. This would be administering God's grace to those men.

This question could be asked. Are all Christians, to one degree or another, ministers of God's grace? I would say they are. That being said, Paul did have a special, life-long calling, to devote himself to the task of administering God's grace to the Gentiles, and that took him across the Roman Empire .

Verse 3

"The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above."

The Greek word "apokalypsis" is translated as "revelation" here and elsewhere in the New Testament. This word means to uncover something that has been previously covered over. The book of Revelation, then, is a book that uncovers things that have not yet been revealed or known to us.

We know that Paul had many revelations which came in the form of visions or some kind of spiritual interaction with God through His Spirit. 2 Corinthians 12:1 reads:

"Boasting is necessary. It is not profitable, but I will move on to visions and revelations of the Lord."

In defence of his ministry, Paul made mention that he had many visions and revelations from the Lord, some of which Paul was not permitted to talk about, as seen in 2 Corinthians 12:4.

"... [Paul] was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a human being is not allowed to speak."

Verse 4

"By reading this you are able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ."

This verse is easy to understand. Paul was simply telling his readers that by telling them about his revelations, they could understand why he had this special insight concerning God's mystery that he was now uncovering.

Verse 5

"This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:"

Paul said here that in times past, in Old Testament times, the mystery that he was writing about was never known. The contents of the mystery was now being reveal to, and understood by, the apostles and prophets of his day.

As we have seen, the mystery that was hidden in times past was that Gentiles, through trusting their lives with Jesus, were now considered part of the people of God. It was no longer, at least in this present age, the Jews who were God's chosen people.

The first record of this revealing of the mystery is seen in Acts 10 when God revealed to Peter through a vision that Gentiles were now included into the people of God and that he was to go and lead a Gentile family to Jesus.

The word "prophets" here must be understood in terms of New Testament prophets that lived during the days of Paul. They were not Old Testament prophets. That is obvious because Old Testament prophets did not have this mystery revealed to them.

The insertion of New Testament prophets into this verse tells us that there is the prophetic ministry in these New Testament times. Some Christians do not believe that the ministry of the apostle and prophet are for today. They believe those ministries passed away with the first generation church. There is no New Testament support for this view.

Verse 6

"The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel."

In one brief statement, here in verse 6, Paul states the mystery that has been revealed.

First of all, Gentiles are "coheirs." Paul does not say who the Gentiles are coheirs with in this sentence but it is clear from the context that the Gentiles are now coheirs with the Jews. The word "coheirs" is in reference to those who are in receipt of an inheritance. The inheritance that Paul probably had in mind was the inheritance promised to Abraham in what is called the "Abrahamic Covenant." That is how a Jew would have thought about being and heir in Paul's day. God made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and now Paul states that these promises not only apply to Abraham's descendents, but they apply to Gentile believers as well.

The words "members of the same body" means that both believing Jews and Gentiles, who have handed their lives over to Jesus, form one unified body. This is one of Paul's major themes throughout his writings, a theme that the Jewish establishment considered heresy.

Coheirs does not mean that the Gentiles and the Jews split the inheritance in half. Both get all of the inheritance that was originally directed towards the Jews.

In respect to the Abrahamic Covenant, that is, the promises that God spoke to Abraham, we should understand that part of the promises would be realized through one specific offspring of Abraham. Who that offspring is not specifically stated in the covenant, but most believe it is Jesus, as I believe. This might well be what Paul had in mind when he wrote about "being partners of the promise" that he associates with Jesus and the gospel message. For a detailed account of the Abrahamic Covenant you can read my book entitled "Irrevocable Promises."

The gospel message that Paul and others preached was the message that Jesus came to reconcile all peoples of all ethnicities through His life, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. It was the good news that all peoples could escape eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire .

Verse 7

"I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power."

Paul said that he "was made" a servant. This verb is a Greek aorist, passive, indicative verb. This means that the making of a servant of Paul was a one time accomplished action, probably when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus . Passive means that the making of a servant out of him was an action that he did not do. This action was done to him by an outside source, which would have been Jesus. Indicative means that Paul being made a servant was a certain fact or reality.

Our English word "servant" is translated from the Greek word "diakonos." We derive our English word "deacon" from this Greek word. A diakonos was a servant by choice. On the other hand, the Greek word "doulos" that is also translated as servant in the New Testament is a servant, not by choice, but by constraint.

The Greek word "diakonos" suggests one being a servant, and his service relates more to his duties than to his master. Doulos suggests a servant who is more in submission to his master than his work.

Paul was made a servant, but since the Greek word "diakonos" is translated as "servant" here, suggests that he still had a choice in the matter, meaning, he could have refused being a servant upon Jesus making him one.

When the New Testament translates servant from the Greek word "doulos," as in "the servant of the gospel," doulos should be understood as one preaching the gospel in obedience to his Master.

Paul viewed himself as a servant of the gospel by the gift of God's grace. Grace, in this verse suggests unmerited favour, meaning, Paul did not deserve to be a servant of the gospel of Christ. The other meaning of grace might well fit in here as well. Grace can also be defined as "God's divine ability given to us to accomplish His will." Paul certainly had divine ability given to him to accomplish God's will for his life, and, that ability was a gift from God.

The word "working" is translated from the Greek word "energeia," which I've said is where we derive our English word "energy." The Greek word "dynamis" is translated as "power" in this verse. Paul was simply saying that God's gift of grace was given to him through the dynamic power of God's explosive energy in his life.

Verse 8

"This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints — to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ,"

I believe that Paul was, and is, the most important Christian in history. He did not merely lead many people to Jesus in his day on earth, but his influence has come down to us today who still benefit from his life and ministry from his teaching. With that in mind, he was a very humble man as seen in the words "the least of all of the saints." If Paul was a humble man, we have no reason not to be humble as well. If anyone could be proud, it would be Paul, but he was certainly not a proud man.

Notice the word "saints." It is translated from the Greek word "hagios," which means "those who have been separated from the general population." All true Christians are saints because all true Christians have been separated from their surrounding culture and placed into the culture of God. Catholics have it wrong when they designate certain Christians to be saints.

We see the word "proclaim" in this verse. Other versions of the Bible might use the word "preach," proclaim or preach is translated from the Greek word "euaggelizo." We derive our English word "evangelical" from this Greek word.

The word "incalculable" is seen in the CSB version of the Bible is a good word because its Greek equivalent can be understood in terms of mathematics. When we connect the word "incalculable" with the word "riches" we understand that the very nature and essence of Jesus is pure richness. All of whom Jesus is should be considered as abundance, and from this abundance, He gives to us all we need to survive as Christians in an anti-Christ culture. 2 peter 1:3 confirms this. It reads:

"His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."

Paul had been given grace, that is, both the divine ability to effectively preach the gospel and the undeserved merit to do so.

Verse 9

"... and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things."

Our English word "light" in this verse is translated from the Greek word "photizo." This Greek word is rooted in the Greek word "phos," meaning light. We derive our English word "photo" from this Greek word.

It was Paul's ministry, his responsibility, to shed light, or uncover, the mystery that had been covered-over from human eyes in ages past. The word "administration" means that it was now time in human history that God's plan of the ages would now be revealed and begun to be implement. Paul was an important man in the implementation of uncovering, or, making known, God's plan for humanity. We, as Christians, are to follow in Paul's footsteps. We are responsible to make God's will known to the world around us.

According to this verse, Paul understood, as we should too, that it was God who created all things, and I might add, all things spiritual as well as material. The details of His creation are not clearly set forth in the Bible. The information provided us in the Genesis account is extremely limited, and, I do not believe was meant to be understood in scientific terms. This means that we cannot confront Darwinism and defend Creationism from Genesis, chapter 1. Genesis 1 is more of a religious account than a scientific account that many Christians believe it to be.

Verse 10

"This is so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens."

I like the term "multi-faceted" as it applies to God's wisdom. I believe that God is multi-faceted in all aspects of His nature. He is far beyond our limited understanding. This is also seen in the cross of Christ which I have always maintained is a multi-faceted historical event. Jesus' death was more than the act of forgiveness of sin than most Christians think. Many things were accomplished by Jesus' death on the cross. In this verse we see that God's wisdom is multi-faceted, and needs to be somehow expressed through the church to the surrounding culture, and especially our surrounding spiritual culture as the words "rulers and authorities" imply.

Part of our duties as the church is to demonstrate to the satanic world by the way we live, preach, and exhibit the reality of the present-day Kingdom of God . Jesus has been given all authority, both in heaven and earth, by God, His Father. He has sent us into the world to represent Him to both the spiritual and material world. It is not that we are proceeding in our own authority. As representatives of Jesus, we carry out our responsibilities under the authority of Jesus. We perform our responsibilities in Jesus' name, not our own name, as many seem to do these days.

Verse 11

"This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Note the words "eternal purpose." After God finished creating the material universe, and even before He created the spiritual universe, He had plans and goals in mind. He had an eternal purpose for all that He created, and, this purpose, would be realized in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our English verb "accomplished" is an aorist active indicative verb. This verb tense suggests a completed action performed by Jesus which is a certain fact. This would, then, suggest that the earthly life of Jesus completed what was necessary for God's plan or purpose to be realized. Some might suggest the act of accomplishing might have been the cross of Christ, and maybe it was. On the other hand, the act of accomplishing God's eternal purpose might actually be Jesus' entire earthly life, because, His life, for example, is just as important to our salvation as was His death and resurrection.

The very earthly life of Jesus has set in motion God's eternal purpose.

You might ask this question. Since the verb tense as describe above is a completed action, has God's purpose been totally realized? This might be debatable, but the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, which is a one time event, have a present-day reality that is being worked out in human time and space. In this sense of the word, there might well be an ongoing realization of God's eternal purpose.

The Greek word "aion" is translated in English here and elsewhere as "eternal." This Greek word signifies a period of indefinite time. That is to say, a period of time with no set ending. We should not necessarily understand "aion" as a set period of time, with beginning and ending, but, a period of time as it relates to something. For example, we speak of the age, or aion, of grace. When using that term, we are emphasizing the aspect of grace in that period. We are not suggesting anything about its beginning or end.

Verse 12

"In him we have boldness and confident access through faith in him."

The CSB begins this verse with the words "in him." It also ends the verse with "in him." This is a bit confusing. There are two different Greek words that Paul used here for our English word "him." This verse should be understood in terms of "in whom we have boldness ..." In context, the words "in whom" would be in reference to God, we have the ability to be bold and confident in our faith, or trust, we have in Jesus. As Christians, we are not those who are defeated in our spirits. We have the ability, right now in present time, to access God and all of who He is. This boldness comes from the faith He has inspired us with.

We need to understand faith as trust because that is what the Greek word "pistis" means that is translated as "trust" in the New Testament.

Verse 13

^"So then I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory."

Because of what Paul has just said, which includes that bold access we have with the God of all things material and all things spiritual, no Christian should stay in a place of discouragement because of afflictions that come our way. All of us have afflictions at times. We do get discouraged, as did Paul himself. We see his times of discouragement when we read his second letter to the Corinthians. Like Paul, however, we have all it takes from God to work our way out of discouragement.

More Thoughts

If you are a Gentile Christian, what Paul said here is very important to you, because, in these New Testament days, you are part of the community of God's people. By saying this, I am not discounting the importance of the nation of Israel as we see in the Old Testament. From my prophetic vantage-point, when this age comes to an end, all of the promises God promised Abraham concerning His descendents Israel will be realized. That means that Israel still has prophetic significance in the mind of God, but, until that day comes, the mystery that Paul revealed was that all people, everywhere, are invited to be citizens of God's New Testament community of people.

Paul was imprisoned a number of times in his life by the Romans. That being said, he did not consider himself to be a prisoner of Rome , but, a prisoner of Christ instead. This was the case because he was put into prison because of the mission Jesus had given him to do. Any hardships incurred along the way, then, would be due to the result of his mission. Paul understood something we should understand. If we have handed our lives over to Jesus, then, Jesus is in control of our lives. The hardships we endure are in compliant with His will.

Paul was responsible for the administration of God's will. Yes, Paul had a very special role in this administration, but, all Christians have some role to play in accomplishing God's will on earth. Like Paul, we should take our personal responsibility seriously. The problem with many Christians is that they have not been serious about their so-called Christian life to even know they have a role to play in this administration of God's plans.

Like Paul, we should consider ourselves as servants of Jesus. In certain parts of the western-world, Evangelical church, the Prosperity Movement has forgotten this concept of being a servant. Those in this unbiblical movement claim to be "Kids of the King," and therefore, deserve the best of everything in life. I think you would agree that Paul did not experience the best this world had to offer him. Paul was a blessed man, but he was not blessed with material blessings. His blessings came from being in right relationship with Jesus.

Another thing that Paul reminded us about is that Jesus is the final authority over all things material and all things spiritual. From this place of authority, He has asked us to work with Him in the implementation of God's will. This is an awesome request that far too many Christians do not take seriously. This is also theology that transforms a life into the very likeness of Jesus.

Ephesians 3:14 - 21

14 - For this reason I kneel before the Father ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. ¹⁶I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, ¹⁷and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, ¹⁸may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, ¹⁹and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

My Commentary

Verse 14 and 15

"For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named."

Note the opening words of this verse. What reason is Paul mentioning here? It would appear from the previous verse that some of the Ephesian believers were being very concerned about Paul's well-being. Paul encouraged them not to worry about him. That was typical Paul. You cannot get a man with a better attitude than Paul. In the midst of all that he was suffering, he told these believers that his suffering was actually for their benefit. Paul had a real heart-felt love for those whom Jesus asked him to care for. If suffering could lead to the Ephesian believer's glory, as he stated, he would gladly suffer.

It was for that reason that the Ephesian believers were worrying about Paul that he pray for them, or as he put it here, "kneeled his knees before the Father." The term "kneel before the Father" clearly denotes serious prayer on Paul's part for those to whom he was writing. A pastor, or a leader in the church, who does not pray for those he leads, is not fulfilling his ministry calling.

There is some debate over the rest of verse 15 to what exactly Paul was getting at. The word "family," according to the Greek word "patria" that is translated as "family" could include extended family or even a tribe.

Paul said that every family, extended family, tribe, and maybe even ethnic peoples, whether in heaven or on earth, derive their name from God. The earthly aspect to these families is not that difficult to figure out. All peoples, including the division of different ethnicities came from the will of God, as we see in Genesis 11. It is there that God separated humankind into various languages, and thus, various ethnic peoples, but Paul did not end there. He said that even the families in heaven derive their name, or their identity as the word "name" suggests, from God.

I'm not sure we can conclude that these heavenly families or tribes can be compared to earthly families or tribes. We know very little about heaven, spiritual beings, or those who have been relocated to heaven through death. All we can safely say is all heavenly beings derive their very existence from God, the Father.

We should realize that the Bible was written to, and written for humans, not angels, demons, or any other spiritual being. We, therefore, only know about the spiritual world around us as it pertains to its interaction with humanity as seen in the Bible. Most all other things we think we know about heaven is speculation, and, much of the dreams and visions people claim to have about heaven these days, are questionable in my opinion.

Verse 16

"I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit,"

Note the words "may grant." The Greek verb tense that Paul used here does not give any reference to time or duration of this granting of strength. In my thinking, Paul was leaving that up to the Lord. In His timing, these believers would receive the needed strength.

This strength would come to these believers because God is rich in such things. This has been one of Paul's themes throughout this letter. That is, despite your outward circumstances, God is rich in whatever you need to get through the trials so that His will can be accomplished in your life.

Note the strength that Paul is praying for is within the inner being of these people. This is important to the health of us all. Our inner self, has a direct correlation to our outer self. If we want to endure the outward trials of life that we all experience, our inner self must be strong, and how does that happen? For the true Christian, the Holy Spirit resides in him. That being true, our inner being can be strengthened by God's Spirit. Paul was certain a prime testimony to God's ability to keep him through the tough times of life.

Verse 17

"... and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,"

Note the words "may dwell in your hearts." We should not understand these words to suggest that it was Paul's hope the Jesus might dwell in the Ephesians believer's hearts at some future date. It is obvious by verses like Ephesians 1:13 and 14 that these believers already had the Spirit of Christ within them. What I believe Paul was getting at hear was that he wanted these believers to make good used of the Spirit of Jesus who was already living in them, and they could do that by faith, or, by trusting Jesus no matter what situation they found themselves in.

The words "being rooted" in the Greek text suggest that these believers should "be rooted ones." That is, by virtue of their new nature in Christ, they are by that new nature rooted ones. We need to think of the word "established" in the same way. These believers are to be "established ones," or, "grounded in the faith ones.'

Verse 18

" ... may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love,"

The word "comprehend" in the phrase "may be able to comprehend" in the Greek text means "to take hold of something so you can claim it for yourself." Paul's hope and prayer for these people was that they would not only know God's love, but claim it as their own, and thus live accordingly. That is to say, the love God demonstrates to the believer must be firmly planted into the life of the believer so he can legitimately claim that he actually possesses God's love. When one takes ownership of something, he is willing to do whatever is necessary to maintain that which he owns because it belongs to him, and no one else.

Note the words "with all the saints." The love of God shown to the individual is not only an individual thing. It is a corporate thing. The individual believer, along with those to whom Jesus has placed him in the Body of Christ, together must know the love of God and claim His love for the church as a whole.

The words "length, width, height, and depth" are meant to suggest that we strive to know every last aspect of God's love. I would suggest that this is an impossibility in the present life. That does not mean we give up on trying to experience God's love in a way we don't experience today. There is always more to God and what we presently experience. He is so far above our human comprehension that it is an eternal task to develop our relationship with Him.

Verse 19

"... and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

In this verse Paul moves away from the love of God to the love of Jesus. He encourages us to know, that is, to experience the love of Jesus, that he also says is beyond knowing. Why would Paul tell us to know the love of Jesus if His love was beyond knowing? Like God Himself, Jesus is eternal. He has no beginning and He has no end. That would mean all of who both God and Jesus are, is eternal. This, then, would mean that the love of God and Jesus is eternal, and beyond humanly knowing. Simply put, Paul was encouraging his readers to devote themselves to Jesus so they could step by step, know the love of Jesus better today than they did yesterday. This is an eternal endeavor for the Christian. Throughout eternity we will be experiencing and knowing even better both the love of God and the love of Jesus.

Verse 20

"Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— "

Verses 20 and 21 are a doxology, meaning, a statement the expresses the greatness and glory that is God. A doxology usually ends a service or a written document. This doxology ends this section of Paul's letter. The next half of the letter provides written instruction concerning how to live as Christians. Once knowing the theology that Paul expounded upon in the first three chapters, that theology should cause the believer to live as the person God expects, and thus, the instructions provided by Paul.

This is one very lofty doxology. God is more than capable of doing far beyond anything we could ever think of asking of Him. He can do much more than we can ever think, and why? God is eternal. He is unlimited in who He is and what He can do. Humans are limited in every aspect of our lives. For this reason we cannot figure God out. We cannot even begin to comprehend Him, and thus, there is always more to God than what we can ever ask of Him or think to ask. It is for this reason that God came to earth in human form. We can, at least to a degree, understand God through the life of Jesus because Jesus lived a human life.

Does this mean that we should expect to receive all sorts of good things from God in this life-time? I would suggest that the answer to this question is a certain "no." The very life of Paul, the one who wrote these words clearly tell us that the answer to this question is an emphatic "no." Paul did not receive everything He asked of God. Paul did not live a life of ease. Paul did not live what we would call the good life. Paul experienced much pain and anguish in his life, but all of that he considered to be temporary. All of eternity was awaiting Paul, and us as well. Where like Paul, we can experience all of who God is.

Note the words "the power that works in us." First of all, the Greek word "dynamis" is translated as "power" in this verse. This word is where we derive our English word "dynamite." God's dynamite power can work through us, and I would say, more than what we allow. Our human limitations obviously limit God's dynamite power from being expressed in and through us. That means there is much growth for us to experience as Christians.

Verse 21

^"...to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

God's glory, the greatness of who He is, should be evident, at least to a degree in the church. This has not always been the case, and isn't the case today. Our divisions destroy the glory of God from being exhibited within the church, a glory that is meant to be seen by the world around us. God has much to say about our disunity and lack of godliness in the church. You can see a glimpse of this in the seven letters from Jesus to seven churches in Revelation, chapter two and three. There, Jesus spares no words when it comes to His dissatisfaction with those communities of believers. I am sure He would say similar things to the church of today.

More Thoughts

Paul knew all about suffering for the sake of his Lord. He also knew that Jesus could provide him with the strength, the ability, and all he needed to get through the rough times. As Christians today, we go through our trials. We are certainly not exempt from them, but, even within our trials, God has provided that which is necessary for us to not only survive our trials, but to come out of them victorious.

If you are a true Christian then you will have the Holy Spirit residing within you. Even with the Holy Spirit in your life, there is more to the Holy Spirit and what He desires in your life than what you presently know and realize. It is, thus, important for you to develop a relationship with Jesus through His Spirit within you. Without this, you will not mature as a Christian.

Paul talked about being rooted and grounded in the Lord. The verb tense he used means that we as Christians are to be rooted and grounded ones. Our new nature in Christ should cause this to be just that.

Paul spoke of the eternal glory and nature of God in this section. It is this eternal glory that we have a taste of in this life. Beyond this life, there is an eternal glory that we cannot begin to imagine. It is waiting for us. The very thought of our future can be a present encouragement to us during any trials of life we pass through.

This concludes my commentary on the first three chapters of Paul's letter to the Ephesian believers, often known as the theology chapters. Much of what you have read in these chapters takes much thought to think through. Paul was a thinking man, and in many respects, it takes a thinking person to grasp what he wrote. Thinking is something that many people in our post-modern world don't seem to want to do. The fact of the matter is that God gave us a mind to think, and I conclude that He expects us to use it, as fallen as it has become. Once what the Lord wants us to know has been firmly established in our minds, it should eventually sink down into our souls where it will become the convictions of our lives whereby we live.

May you continue in the knowledge and revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. May you also live a life of devotion to Biblical theology, for it is the theology that transforms.

Ephesians 4:1 - 16

1 - Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. ⁷Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸For it says: When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people. ⁹But what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things. ¹¹And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹²equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. ¹⁴Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. ¹⁵But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.

My Commentary

Verse 1

"Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received,"

We learn here that Paul was writing this letter from prison, probably the house arrest he was confined to in Rome as we read in Acts 28. Concerning this imprisonment, we should realize that Paul did not really view himself as a prisoner of Rome , which in fact he was. More basic to that, he viewed himself as a prisoner of Jesus. He was imprisoned by the Roman authorities because of his allegiance to Jesus, his ministry among the Gentile Roman world, and thus, the reason why he considered himself a prisoner of Jesus.

Paul knew that he would suffer for Jesus. We see that in Acts 9:15 and 16. It is there we see his ministry calling from Jesus.

"But the Lord said to him [Ananias], 'Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.'"

Paul encouraged his readers to live worthy of the calling they had received, something that he was doing while in prison. Paul could have complained and said all kind of nasty things about those who had imprisoned him, but we have no written account of such a thing. Such behaviour would have destroyed the testimony his life was to be for Jesus. Paul was encouraging his readers to live the same kind of life as he was living, despite any kind of hardships they were going through.

Note the word "calling." The word "calling" along with the word "call" is a common Biblical and Christian word that denotes an invitation from God to salvation, to ministry, and really, to Jesus Himself. These people had been invited by God to be in union with Him through His Spirit. In other words, they had been called to salvation, a salvation that was meant to be lived out in daily life as a testimony to the One who had called them. Beyond this call to salvation, each and every believer is called to a specific service ministry. This is clearly seen in Paul's first letter to the Corinthian Christians, as seen in chapter 12.

Understanding Paul's life, including all of the hardships he endured, his lack of complaining against the government that imprisoned him is amazing. I would say that most of us today would not have expressed the same gracious attitude. As a matter of fact, in many Christian circles, the opposite attitude is commonplace, but the fact remains, grace is more productive than complaining.

Verse 2

"... With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,"

Living according to the calling these believers received would have meant demonstrating the character qualities Paul listed in verse 2, qualities we can be sure he was demonstrating while in prison. Christians are to be humble, not arrogant, gentle, not forceful, patient, not impatient as they bear with one another in love, with the emphasis on the word "bear."

The reason why these character qualities are to be exhibited in the believer is because they are the character qualities of the God who has called them. When these qualities are clearly demonstrated in the daily life of the believer, their witness for Jesus is effective. Christians have been called to represent Jesus. That means the very nature of Jesus should be visibly seen in the life of the believer who claims to represent Jesus. If the qualities can't be seen, then the believer is not representing Jesus as he should.

Verse 3

"... making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

Another way to say the above would be to diligently preserve the unity of the Spirit. We must realize that when the Holy Spirit comes into the life of the true believer, he has not just been united with God. He has been united with others in the Body of Christ. Here is how Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 12:13.

"For we were all baptized [immersed] by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and we were all given one Spirit to drink."

Our baptism or immersion by the Spirit of God into the lives of other believers is meant to produce a unity that is seldom seen anywhere else in the world around us. This unity, though, is often torn apart when we allow our sinful nature to disrupt our God-appointed human relationships in church. Paul was telling his readers, and us too, that we must go out of our way and do the best we can, to maintain the unity the Spirit of God brings us.

Paul used the words "one body" in this verse. Another term that Paul used for church was the term "the Body of Christ." In 1 Corinthians 12:27 he said this.

"Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it."

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul compared the church to a human body. Some say that when Paul called the church the Body of Christ, it was a symbolic designation. I admit that there is some symbolism in 1 Corinthians 12, but in verse 27 quoted above, he took the symbolism one step further. He said "you are the Body of Christ." He did not say "you are like a body." I say that the Body of Christ is the "replacement Body of Christ." I say that because since Jesus is no longer on earth in physical form, and since the Holy Spirit dwells in the believers, the church is in fact the replacement body of Jesus on earth. That being said, as a physical body without the spirit is dead, so church without the Holy Spirit is dead, and in reality, is not a church at all.

When we think of Christian peace, we may first think of the peace we have with God. This peace means that we are on God's side. We are no longer enemies of God. This results in an inner peace the believer has deep within him. These two aspects of peace, should thus, be demonstrated in our relationships we have with those to whom Jesus has joined us in the Body of Christ. We should consider ourselves as being on the same side with one another, and that, should produce a good measure of peace within our relationships. The sad fact is the church does not always demonstrate this peaceful co-existence, and thus our witness for Jesus is inhibited and often destroyed.

Verse 4

"There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling—"

I refer you back to my comments on the last verse concerning 1 Corinthians 12:13. When one is born again of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit comes into that person's very being. At that point the new believer is baptized, or immersed, into the Body of Christ, the church. In this verse Paul stated that there is only one body and one Spirit. As Christians, we have consistently attempted to separate Jesus' one body into many bodies, as in many denominations. This should never be. It defeats the very reason for our existence as the church, as being one unified expression of Jesus Himself.

The New Testament does show that each local geographical setting has a church, or as I say it, a community of believers. This does not mean that the one body is separated into many geographical bodies. It also does not mean a Baptist should consider himself separate from a Pentecostal. You may be part of one specific expression of church in your city, but that should not separate you from those in other local expressions of church in your city. Paul warned about such divisions in 1 Corinthians 1:8 and 9.

"What I am saying is this: One of you says, 'I belong to Paul,' or 'I belong to Apollos,' or 'I belong to Cephas,' or 'I belong to Christ.' Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name?'"

Paul said that Christians have been called into one hope. Hope, as defined in the New Testament, is a certain expectation of a future reality. We should not think of hope in our secular culture's understanding of hope. Biblical hope has nothing to do with hoping to win the lottery.

Christians have been called, or invited, by God to many things. In this verse the calling is associated with the future. I suggest, then, that the future calling is in reference to the return of Jesus and all that is associated with His return.

Verse 5

"... one Lord, one faith, one baptism,"

Paul continued in verse 5 with the use of the word "one." He wrote that there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. One Lord should remind us that God, as seen in the Old Testament, is one. Deuteronomy 6:4 reads:

" Listen , Israel : The LORD our God, the LORD is one."

The point that the Lord is one was especially appropriate in Paul's day when polytheistic paganism, that is, the worship of many gods, was prevalent. Christians do believe in the plural nature of God, but that does not mean we worship multiple gods.

Paul then said that there is only one faith. Since there is only one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, there can logically be only one faith. The Greek word "pistis" is translated into English throughout the New Testament as faith and trust, and for good reason. Pistis simply means to trust. Paul was saying that there is only one means in relating to the Lord, and that is trusting your life with Him.

Some might suggest that the word "faith" in this instance refers to doctrinal issues. Today, we often use the word "faith" to represent a religion or the doctrines of a religion, as in, "he is of the Christian faith." I personally don't believe that is the way in which Paul was using the word "faith" here, but I can certainly see how some can see it that way.

The one baptism has been debated over the years. We see the word "baptism" in reference to a few things in the New Testament. For example, the New Testament uses the word "baptize" in reference to water, the Holy Spirit, the church, as well as many other mundane aspects of life. Just what baptism Paul was thinking of here is debatable. Paul might have had water baptism in mind or maybe Spirit baptism, meaning, when a person becomes born again of the Spirit, he does so through what Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 12:13 describes as a baptism.

Verse 6

"... one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all."

Again, the words one God should remind you of Deuteronomy 6:4. God made it known to Israel of old that there is only one real God and He is one. Paul did not leave the reader with the point that there is only one God who is one. He said that God is the Father of the true Christian. God being our Father is basic to Christian doctrine. This means that Christians are sons and daughters of God. We are sons and daughters because God's seed, His Spirit, lives within us. Romans 8:29 is important when thinking of this. It reads:

"For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."

In Romans 8:29 Paul said that Jesus was the first one of a new race of people. When everything is said and done, the believer in Jesus will be as Jesus is right now. Our very existence, who we are, will be as Jesus is. The only difference is that our existence is a product of the Holy Spirit residing within the Christian. Jesus did not have the Holy Spirit come to live within. He and the Holy Spirit are one identity. The Holy Spirit is Jesus in Spirit form. Jesus, therefore, will always be distinguished and different from us, even though we will be like Him.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul wrote, is above all, in all, and through all. God is everywhere at all times. There is no place where He is not. He exists in a spiritual universe. When saying this, the Bible does not teach what is called Pantheism. A Pantheist is one who believes that creation is God, or, God is inherent in creation. If you see a tree, then, that tree is part of who God is, or so a Pantheist says. Christians are not Pantheists. We believe that God is distinctly separate from His creation.

Verse 7

"Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift."

It is necessary to know that any step in our relationship with God is not taken apart from the Holy Spirit's assistance. We cannot come to Jesus in the first place apart from His Spirit, as seen in John 6:44.

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day."

You may think that when you first believed, or put your faith or trust in Jesus, that was purely an act of your will, but it was not. There was a measure of faith, or, the ability to trust Jesus with you life that God actually gave you. In other words, God helps us believe as we should. Romans 12:3 reads:

"For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one."

According to the above verse, God distributes a "measure of faith," or, the ability to trust, to all believers. This suggests that some, at any given time, have more or less of an ability to trust than others. Whatever the case, that ability if God's gift.

Paul said something in Romans 12:3 that he said here in Ephesians 4:7. He said that grace is given to the believer, and that grace, produces a measure of faith, or trust in Jesus.

The word "gift" at the end of this verse is in reference to grace as being a gift. Grace is defined two ways in the Bible, both of which are appropriate here. The believer has received undeserved love, and, he has been given the divine ability to accomplish God's will in his life. Like everything we receive from God, grace is given to us so it can produce God's will in our lives, which includes us passing grace along to others.

God's grace is meant to be productive. By that I mean that if you have in fact received God's grace in your life, it will be visibly displayed in actions, in giving grace to others, and, His grace is meant to accomplish God's will in our lives. It must never be wasted, ignored, or received selfishly.

Verse 8

"For it says: When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people."

The quote Paul referred to here appears to be from Psalm 68:18. It reads:

"You ascended to the heights, taking away captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious,

so that the LORD God might dwell there."

You may wonder, and for good reason, how Paul is going to say what he will say about this Psalm. Paul equated this Psalm to be in reference to Jesus, something the original text does not seem to suggest. How New Testament writers interpreted Old Testament passages is a study unto itself. I will not get involved in that discussion here. The way in which Paul interpreted this Psalm has been well debated over the years.

What Paul was getting at here was once Jesus ascended into heaven, Jesus gave gifts to people. These gifts are often called the "gifts of Christ" because they are given by Jesus. This would be in contrast to the "gifts of the Spirit" seen in 1 Corinthians 12:1 through 11 that are given to people by the Holy Spirit.

I will explain the meaning to "taking captives" in my comments on verses 9 and 10.

Verse 9

"But what does 'he ascended' mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth?"

It is generally accepted by many, but not all, that when Paul wrote about Jesus descending to the lower parts of the earth, he had Hades in mind. Hades was understood to be the place of the departed dead in the Greco-Roman world in Paul's day. In Old Testament Jewish terms, Hades was called Sheol. Sheol was understood to be the place of both the righteous and unrighteous dead by the Jews. In Christian New Testament terms, Hades became the place of the unrighteous dead only, and here is why.

The majority opinion among Evangelical Christians is that once Jesus died, He descended into Hades or Sheol and freed the righteous dead and led them into paradise. This is what the term "led captives captive" in the last verse means. The righteous dead were captives in Hades. Jesus took them as captives and sent them to paradise, or as many believe, sent them to heaven. From that point on, Christians who die go directly to heaven into the presence of the Lord. They do not go to Hades or anywhere else. Catholics are Biblically wrong when they believe in purgatory. There is no hint of purgatory in the New Testament. According to Paul, when he died, he would be in the presence of Jesus. Philippians 2:23 reads:

"I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;"

Jesus told a parable that is found in Luke 16:19 to 31 that concerned a rich man and a beggar who died and ended up in Hades. In this parable you see two parts of Hades. One part for the righteous dead, where the beggar was and another for the unrighteous dead, where the rich man was.

In Matthew 27:51 to 53 it is recorded that after Jesus rose from the dead, many holy people rose from the dead, or from Hades as many believe. This would be in support of the proposition that Jesus entered Hades and released the righteous dead in order to send them to heaven. The text reads:

"At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people."

1 Peter 3:18 and 19 seems to support my point that Jesus descended into Hades. It reads:

"For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison."

Verse 10

"The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things."

Verse 10 tells us that at some point Jesus will fill all things. What this exactly means might be debatable. The Greek word "pieroo" translated as "fill" in this verse should not be understood as fill in the sense that we fill a cup with water. This Greek word suggests a fulfilling or a completing of an action. I believe what Paul was saying here is that at some point in time, the purpose of God that is being carried out by Jesus will be complete. Jesus will have all things in submission to Himself, which, is the goal of His mission among humanity.

Verse 11

"And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,"

Here in verse 11 Paul lists the gifts that Jesus gave to the church. A quick reading of these gifts of Christ would suggest that there are five gifts, but the Greek grammatical construction of the verse states that there are four gifts. Pastors and teachers are the same ministry gift. You could easily translate the last part of this verse as "and pastors/teachers."

An apostle is one who God has sent out to declare the message of salvation to wherever God has designated. The Greek word "apostolos" that is translated as "apostle" simply means "a sent one." Some might suggest that an apostle is a builder, that is, one who builds churches or communities of believers. I don't exactly see it that way. An apostle is sent out to lead people to Jesus. The result of these new believers is church. Once a church exists for a while an apostle will choose elders to care for those in church. It is for this reason that people view apostles as church builders. It may be a technicality, but according to Matthew 16:18, Jesus is the church builder. The apostle simply puts some order to what Jesus has already done by birthing church through saving non-believers.

The Greek word "prophetes" is translated as "prophets" in English. You can see that our English word "prophet" stems directly from the Greek word. In Biblical terms, a prophet is one who speaks on behalf of God. This speaking can take various forms. It might foretell future events, but more often than not, it is simply speaking the truths of God. Of course, it is inspirational speaking, that is, by one who is motivated by the Holy Spirit to speak.

The Greek word "euaggelistes" is translated into English as "evangelist." We also derive our English word "evangelize" from this Greek word. This Greek word is made up of two Greek words, meaning, "good" and "a messenger." An evangelist is one who has been set aside to be a messenger of the good news of salvation.

The last gift of Christ is the pastor/teacher. The Greek word "poinen" that is translated as "pastor" means "shepherd," or, "one who feeds." As a shepherd of sheep would care for his sheep, so a pastor cares for God's people, who the New Testament does call sheep at times. In part, the pastor cares for Christ's sheep by teaching, and thus, the combination of pastor teacher into one ministry. For a more detailed explanation of pastors/teachers, you can read my book entitled, "Plurality of Elders," found on all Amazon web sites.

Much more could be said about these four ministry gifts of Christ, but the above is a brief explanation.

Verse 12

"... equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,"

The reason why Jesus gives these ministry gifts to the church is to equip the saints, individual believers, for the work of the ministry. This clearly tells us that the leadership ministry gifts of Christ don't do all of the ministry work in church, as many seem to think these days. These leadership ministries teach and encourage all Christians to participate in the work of the Lord. None are excluded. This is seldom seen in today's church where we leave the work of the Lord to paid leaders.

The second reason given by Paul for these gifts of Christ is to build up the Body of Christ. The Greek word "oikodome" is a Greek word that implies the building of a house. The church is often seen as a family and a family is considered a house, especially in Biblical Old Testament Jewish terms. The leader ministries of Christ, are thus, put into place to help put together a healthy household of believers.

Verse 13

"... until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness."

There is a lot in verse 13 to consider. The gifts of Christ are given to the church until such time as we all, the church, come into the unity of the faith. First of all, we need to understand faith as trust, because that is what the Greek word "pistis" means that is translated as "faith" in the New Testament. There will come a time when the church, the Body of Christ, the brotherhood of believers, comes into a unified group of people who together will trust Jesus in all things. This is a corporate unity of those of faith. I do not see this happening until Jesus returns to this planet. We are so divided these days.

Some might suggest that the unity of faith is the unity of Christian doctrine. I do understand that there are some New Testament passages that the word "faith" can be understood in a doctrinal sense and not in relational ways. You may think that the unity of faith here means the unity of doctrine among believers. I suggest it means a corporate trust that the church has in Jesus. Just as an individual believer trusts his life with Jesus, so each expression of church must corporately trust the life of the church with Jesus.

These four ministry gifts of Christ will also be intact until we come into "a knowledge of God's Son," Jesus. Again, the full and complete knowledge of Jesus will not come in this life. We await that full knowledge in the next age, after He returns and causes us to be like who He presently is.

Before all of the above comes to pass, we should expect the Body of Christ to be moving towards a full measure of all that it, and we, can be in this life. I believe this is what Paul is getting at in the last part of this verse. As individual Christians, we are to become more like Jesus. The same should be the case when it comes to the church. If the Holy Spirit is within the individual and collectively in the church as we claim, the full measure of who Jesus is should be more evident in the church today than it was yesterday.

Verse 14

"Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit."

Right now, in this present age, there are many doctrinal positions blowing by and through us at any given time, many, if not most, are not Biblical. Far too often, because of Biblical illiteracy, Christians are being tossed and blown about by unbiblical teaching. It was true in Paul's day and it is certainly true in our day. Some of these false teachings are a result of simple ignorance. On the other hand, some are manufactured from a heart of craftiness that is meant to deceive and gather people around ungodly leaders. With this in mind, church leaders should also be in the process of attempting to be unified under valid Biblical thinking, and at the same time refuting the unbiblical thinking. There must be both relational and doctrinal accountability in church, and this is especially true when it comes to church leaders.

Verse 15

"But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ."

The words "but speaking" is a present active Greek participle. "But speaking" states the form in which we present the truth. As Christians, and especially as Christian leaders, we must be "truth speaking ones," as this participle suggests. The way in which we present ourselves as we speak truth is in love. That is to say, we sacrifice of ourselves for the benefit of others as we teach them the truths of Scripture. According to Paul, this is the way that the Body of Christ, the church, will mature into the likeness of Jesus.

Being truth speakers also means that when we confront anyone who teaches, or holds to heresy, we do so in a loving way. It is only common sense. If you approach someone in anger, frustration, pride, or arrogance, your speaking of truth will most likely backfire. The one you hope to help will respond to you in like fashion, and thus, nothing will be accomplished.

Verse 16

"From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part."

Verse 16 reminds me of 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul wrote about the Body of Christ, the church. In verse 27 he wrote this:

"Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it."

It is Paul who used the term "Body of Christ" in reference to the church. I do not believe that he was speaking metaphorically when he called the church at Corinth Christ's body. There might be some metaphoric comparisons between the church and a human body, but in 1 Corinthians 12:27, as seen above, he specifically said that "you are the Body of Christ." He did not say that you are like a body of Christ. I believe, since Jesus is no longer here on earth in physical form, and, since we as individuals and as the church house the Spirit of Jesus, we are the replacement body of Jesus on earth.

Paul said that each Christian is knitted together with certain other Christians in what I call supportive and functional relationships that form Jesus' replacement body on earth. The words "being knit" in this verse clearly show the importance of personal relationships in the Body of Christ. These relationships are both supportive, as Paul said in verse 16 and functional. We provide support for each other as we work together, or function, in the work to which Jesus has called us. As in our physical bodies, each body part is joined to another for mutual support, but also to accomplishe a specified task in order for the body to function as it should. This is something our western-world church knows little of these days.

More Thoughts

Paul said a lot in the above passage. Much of what he wrote concerns the church that should be realized in the church of today. Paul listed four ministry gifts given to the church by Jesus. These are leadership gifts and should be seen in today's church, and I would say, today's local expressions of church. That is not always the case today. Parts of the church no longer believe there are apostles. Some parts of the church reject the ministry of the prophet while other parts of the church go overboard about prophets to an unbiblical extreme. We tend to promote the ministry of pastor over the other three ministries. That would be ignoring Paul's teaching. There is no Biblical statement that suggests that some of these ministry gifts no longer exist, as parts of the church believe.

The four-fold gifts of Christ are given to the church so that each and every individual in the church will perform his or her God-appointed ministry to its fullest. Again, this too is missing in much of the western-world church today. More often than not, there is a great gap between what is commonly called the clergy and the congregation. The congregation sits back and lets its salaried leaders do all of the work. This is far from Biblical. It denies the very reason why the church is the replacement Body of Christ on earth. This has resulted in a dysfunctional church that has little to no effect on its surrounding environment. Leadership, especially a one man leader, cannot successfully do all of the work necessary for church to function as it should.

If you are a Christian, you have work to do in association with those to whom Jesus has placed you in the Body of Christ. I used the term "Jesus has placed you" because this placement is important. Christians today "shop around for the church of their choice." This shopping is not Biblical. Church is more than you having your needs met. It is you ministering to the needs of church. Church is a place where Jesus has placed you, not where you have placed yourself.

Ephesians 4:17 - 32

The Text

17 - Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their thoughts. ¹⁸They 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. ¹⁹They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more. ²⁰But that is not how you came to know Christ, ²¹assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²²to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, ²³to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. ²⁵Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. ²⁶Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and don’t give the devil an opportunity. ²⁸Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. ²⁹No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. ³⁰And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him^] for the day of redemption. ³¹Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. ³²And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

My Commentary

Verse 17

"Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their thoughts."

When you see the word "therefore" in the Bible, as with anywhere, you should look back in the text to see why the word "therefore" is really "therefore." In this instance, Paul had just written about the believer being fitted in with other believers in the Body of Christ. The church is more than an organizational structure. In one real sense of the word, it is Jesus' replacement body on earth. Therefore, if Gentile believers began to live as they once did prior to receiving God's Spirit into their lives, they would defile and do damage to the replacement Body of Christ. They would bring shame on Jesus, and that would defeat the very reason why the church exists.

We see such a defilement in 1 Corinthians 5 where a man was committing adultery with his step-mother. Paul advised the Corinthians to hand this man over to Satan so his body would be destroyed but his spirit saved on the Day of Judgment. 1 Corinthians 5:5 reads:

"... hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord."

The phrase "testify in the Lord" that we read here in verse 17 could be translated as "affirm together with the Lord." What Paul said here was meant to be a command not to live as one once lived. It was not just his command, but a command from the Lord. The same command would be directed to us today. Living the life you have left behind brings a defilement to the church that leads to the church being a bad witness for Jesus.

Look at the word "thoughts" at the end of this verse. It has been said that how a person thinks, so he lives. That is true. Outward actions begin with inward thoughts and it is our thoughts that need to come into submission to Jesus. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Romans 12:2 puts it this way.

"Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."

2 Corinthians 10:5 says it this way.

"... and we take every thought captive to obey Christ."

Verse 18

"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."

How Paul understood a person's life without Jesus is how we should understand a person's life without Jesus. Those living apart from Jesus are darkened in their understanding. In other words, they are ignorant of the important things in life, and therefore, "they are excluded from the life of God." They know nothing of the life their Creator has in mind for them. They may think they are experiencing life in its fullness, but life apart from the Holy Spirit is dead when compared to the life of one with the Holy Spirit. Only the born-again-of-the-Spirit person knows this to be true.

Why is the unbeliever living in darkness? It is because he is "ignorant." The Greek word "agnoai" is translated here as "ignorant." It means to be without knowledge and have no way to perceive things. The non-Christian is without the basic knowledge of his existence, and that knowledge, is rooted in the One who has created him. It only makes sense, that if God is indeed the Creator of all things, then knowledge of Him and His ways is a necessity for life.

The other reason for living in a darkened mindset is due to the unbeliever's hard heart. The Greek word "porosis" is translated here as "hardened." This word suggests a callused heart. That is to say, a heart that has been so callused to the degree that it is lacking in all godly emotion and affection. This is the way of the world. It was in Paul's day and it is in our day.

Verse 19

"They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more."

In this verse Paul was commenting on the Greco-Roman world of his day. In many respects, sexual immorality was commonplace. Even women had begun to involve themselves in this sexual immorality. Homosexuality was also commonplace. Fathers would often teach their thirteen year old boys to have sex with their adult male friends. In many cases, husbands did not view their wives in sexual terms. That was meant for other women. A wife was seen as the one who would have children for the husband's namesake. In other words, in many respects wives were considered to be baby machines.

Sexual expression in polytheistic paganism was also commonplace. Both male and female prostitutes could be seen surrounding certain pagan temples. Up to one thousand male and female prostitutes could be seen at the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus at any given time. Having sex with these prostitutes was actually seen as a form of worship to female goddesses.

Paul ends this verse with the words "desire for more and more." It is just a biological fact. Sex can be addictive and addictive it was in Paul's day, as it is in our day. Once you give into any addiction, it is difficult to stop.

Verse 20

"But that is not how you came to know Christ,"

This verse is not difficult to figure out. Christians should not be living in sexual immorality as those in the world around them. If you know Jesus in any way, you should know this to be true.

Verse 21

"... assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus,"

Note the words "assuming in this verse." The word "assuming" suggests that maybe these Ephesian Christians really didn't come to Jesus and were taught by Him. Not all versions of this verse translate it with the possible idea of doubt. The NIV translates this verse as follows:

"... when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus."

The NIV does not express any doubt of the Ephesian believers' salvation. I lean towards the NIV's translation because Paul has already made it clear that these believers were valid born-again-of-the-Spirit believers. Ephesians 1:13 makes that clear when it states that the Holy Spirit was living within these believers. That verse reads:

"In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed."

If the CSB's version is correct, it expresses doubt on Paul's part. Paul might have wanted his readers to rethink their conversion as a reminder to where they have come from and where they are in present time.

Those to whom Paul was writing were taught by the risen Jesus, that is, the Spirit of Christ. They knew the truth of God, and part of that truth was for them to live a life of sexual purity. Any kind of unfaithfulness is detestable in the sight of God, because His very essence is faithfulness.

Verse 22

"... to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,"

First of all, note the word "self" in verse 22. It is translated from the Greek word "anthropos" that means "human being." We derive our English word "anthropomorphic" from this Greek word.

Paul continued on with the theme of getting rid of our old ways of living. The persistence by Paul in this matter must mean that some of the Ephesian believers were still dabbling, or had returned to dabbling, in their old ways of living. Although the born-again-of-the-Spirit Christian is a new creation as Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 5:17, the sinful flesh is still attached to the believer as Paul also taught Christians in Rome as seen in Romans 7.

If you study Romans 7 closely you will note that Paul described his sinful nature as no longer being his real self. That being said, his old self, as if it was attached to his back, was burdening him down like a heavy weight on his back.

Romans 7:17 reads:

"So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me."

The word's "doing it" in this verse is in reference to sin that Paul's old nature, not his new nature would commit. Again, Paul distinguished between his old nature and his new nature. The real Paul was his now new nature.

Verse 23

"... to be renewed in the spirit of your minds."

How we think is how we live. There is no doubt about that. Just because you have become a Christian does not mean you will immediately begin to think differently. Your mind must be retrained, transformed, renewed in order for you to live the life of a Christian that is expected of you. We must never lay aside our minds as Christians. We need a Biblical balance between our hearts and our minds. This is where Romans 12:2 becomes a very important verse for us.

"Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."

There needs to be a clear balance between our minds and our spirits as Christians. Getting these two aspects of who we are out of balance, hinders our growth as Christians. Some are more spiritually orientated while others are more intellectually orientated. We should strive for balance between the heart and the mind.

Verse 24

"...and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth."

Instead of living in our old mind-set, Christians are to put on, or get into, as the Greek text implies, their new self. Here again we note that the truly born-again-of-the-Spirit Christian is a brand new creation. This is who we as Christians have become. We should get into, the new being that we are. You should, thus, live out the life of the new creation that you are.

The concept of putting on suggests that we have a part to play in maturing as a Christian. We must be intentional about this maturing process.

Our new self, according to Paul, has been created in the image of God, not the image of Adam. This newly created image is due to the fact that the Holy Spirit, the very nature of God Himself, now lives in the true believer. If in fact the Spirit of the Almighty Creator does live within you, you have the ability to live according to the new creation more than you might think. I understand that our old self, our sinful nature, still hangs around our necks and slows this process down, but the Biblical reality is that we can be on the road to becoming more like Jesus, until the day comes when we will be exactly like Him when He returns to earth.

Two characteristics of our newly created status is a life of righteousness and purity. These are two of many attributes of God Himself. The word "righteousness" as it applies to us and God means that the believer is in right standing with God, and thus being in right standing, should help us to live accordingly. Living accordingly means living in purity. Paul might well have had sexual purity in mind when he wrote this because sexual impurity prevailed in and around Ephesus in his day. That being said, there is much more to impurity than sexual impurity. Impurity can be applied to many things, like monetary fraud, bad business practices, and other such things.

Paul closed this thought with the word "truth." Living in righteous purity is included in the universal truth that Jesus is. In today's western-world culture, truth is seen as being relative. That means our culture believes there is no absolute universal truth for all people to believe in and embrace. Truth varies from place to place, time to time, culture to culture, and person to person. What might be considered truth to you might not be considered truth to me, and our culture has no problem with that, but the Bible certainly does.

Verse 25

"Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another."

In light of all that Paul has just said, he admonished his readers to put away lying. This might suggest that his readers, or at least some of them, were having trouble with being truthful. Instead of lying, Paul said to speak truth. He specifically said to speak truth to your neighbour, meaning the one who is close to you at any given time.

Paul clarified who your neighbours are in the last part of this verse. They are those who "are members of one another." This suggests that the specific neighbour Paul had in mind was those to whom Jesus has placed us alongside in the Body of Christ.

Speaking truth in this context means not lying, but speaking truth can also mean speaking what we believe is God's truth. That is not always easy because not everyone believes truth as Christians do.

Speaking truth can also mean confronting someone who may be living in sin. When the time is right, and in love for the person, we sit down with him in the process of helping him out of his sin. This can be a difficult task and must be done properly, with heartfelt love and concern if you expect to help the person. Galatians 6:1 puts it this way.

"Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted."

Verse 26

^"Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,"

The CSB version of this verse says "be angry and sin not." Other versions, like the NIV, say "in your anger do not sin." Those agreeing with the CSB say that Paul was telling his readers to go ahead and be angry, but just don't let your anger lead to sin. Those agreeing with the NIV say that further down in verse 31 Paul spoke of anger as being a negative attribute and so Paul was not telling his readers to be angry in this verse. You can decide for yourself what side to take.

The Greek verb tense for "be angry" is a present middle imperative verb. The imperative suggests that this is a command to be angry, and it does so in present time, but there is more to the grammar than just that. The middle part of this verb suggests that the anger comes upon you from without as well as from within, and that, might suggest a holy anger from the Holy Spirit.

According to some Greek scholars there are sub-versions of this verb tense that do support the NIV's rendering of this verse. So, once again, you must do some digging to arrive at your own conclusion.

Verse 27

"... and don’t give the devil an opportunity."

As humans we have ample opportunity to give the devil a foothold, or as Paul put it, an "opportunity" to involve himself in our lives. In context, uncontrolled anger can give the devil, or probably more precisely, one of his agents, a foothold into our lives. I don't mean he or a demon can enter us and live inside of us as Christians, as some believe. I do not believe a truly born-again-of-the-Spirit Christian can have a demon living within him. On the other hand, Paul made it clear that the devil, or I suggest, his demonic forces, can enter into situations that thwart the will of God. For example, uncontrolled anger can lead to many unpleasant things that divide people. Satan loves to involve himself in such divisive situations.

Verse 28

"Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need."

The very mentioning of theft in this verse suggests to many that some of the believers in the Ephesian church might have had a problem with theft. They might not have been full-fledged thieves, but apparently they were taking things that did not belong to them. Maybe, for example, slaves were stealing from their masters. This clearly tells us that Christians do sin. That should be no surprise to us.

Instead of stealing Paul admonished his readers to work hard with their own hands. The Greek word translated here as "work hard" implies exhaustive work.

The reason why Christians should work hard is not strictly for their own benefit. It is also for the benefit of others. Hard work should result in having more than enough so we can share, and help provide for the needs of others. This is what the Christian brotherhood is all about. Church is a community of people where the individual does what is possible to provide for himself, his family, and those to whom Jesus has placed him alongside in the Body of Christ. This is how the first-generation church existed when Acts 2:44 states that everyone had all things in common. That verse reads:

"Now all the believers were together and held all things in common."

We do need to qualify what the words "all things" mean in this verse. There was a limit to what the first-generation Christians held in common. For example, husbands did not share their wives. Wives were not held in common among Christian men. What we learn from this verse is that whatever the individual believer needed was provided for him by the church. There was a great willingness to share, and share from the hard work people did, as Paul said here.

Verse 29

"No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear."

The CSB version uses the word "foul" in this verse. Other versions use such words as "filthy." The Greek word behind our English word "foul' means "rotten." It was commonly used when speaking of rotten fish, rotten fruit, or rotten food. It does not necessarily speak of immoral talking alone. Whatever one says to another should be uplifting for the other person's benefit. Our words should be spoken from a motivation of extending grace, as Paul said. Grace should be fundamental in all aspects of our relationships. Without grace, relationships get cold-hearted and routine, and can easily lead to division and separation.

Extending grace does not mean we overlook sin in one's life that needs to be addressed, but, the way in which we address this sin must be motivated from grace. That is, we desire to help the person out of his situation. Whatever we do is meant to be restorative or redemptive.

Verse 30

"And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him^] for the day of redemption."

It is clear from this verse that the Christian, even though he has the Holy Spirit within him, can grieve the Holy Spirit.

The Greek word "lypeo" that is translated here as "grieve" simply means "to cause grief, pain, or distress." In context the grief that the Holy Spirit might feel is when Christians do not treat each other as they should. This verse is often taken to mean that we as individuals cause the Holy Spirit to grieve when we sin. There is truth to this thought, but the context of this verse suggests that dysfunctional relationships grieve the Holy Spirit. I believe I can safely say that within any given community of believers, the Holy Spirit gets grieved because of the unloving way we interact with each other at times.

We should understand the word "seal" in this verse as we understood it back in Ephesians 1:13, and that is, like a lawyer's seal that validates the authenticity of something. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer validates, or proves, that he is a real born-again-of-the-Spirit Christian, and as I say, that is the only kind of Christian there is.

Verse 31

"Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice."

I am sure Paul could have added many more items to his list of human character traits that should be removed from our lives. The Greek aorist verb tense of our English verb "be removed" might suggest a one time decision to move towards ridding one's self from these human character traits that not only take the individual believer away from the Lord, but as I have been saying; in context, these traits disrupt the unity in the Body of Christ. In turn, the church loses its effective witness for Jesus. This seems to be an ever-present problem in church, no matter the time or era.

Verse 32

"And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ."

Once again, the list of human positive character traits listed by Paul could be added to. Paul ends this section with positive character traits that will allow the Body of Christ to be that effective witness for Jesus it is meant to be.

The Greek word "aphiemi" is often translated as "forgive" in the New Testament. This word simply means "to cancel or to delete," as in, Jesus has cancelled or deleted the believer's sins from the heavenly record upon the believer admitting and repenting of his sinfulness. That is not the Greek word translated as "forgiving" and "forgave" in this verse. Most all modern translations of the Bible translate the Greek word "charizonai" as "forgiving" and "forgave" in this verse. The Greek word used here does not suggest the cancelation of an offense. It suggests showing grace or favour towards another, and even in the midst of an offense.

You will note the Greek word "charis" that is translated as "grace" in the New Testament is within the word "charizomai." I understand that those who have translated the Bible are more knowledgeable than me, but from my standpoint, as limited as it might be, I would think that Paul was asking people to extend grace to one another. Now, part of extending grace may well be forgiveness, that is, the cancelling a debt of sin from your mind. My point here is that Paul did not use the more common word "aphiemi" that suggests the deletion of a sin from one's record, and I might add, once repentance has been demonstrated.

More Thoughts

It is clear from Scripture that when the Holy Spirit comes into one's life, he becomes a brand new creation, something he has never been. He has moved himself from his old world and entered a totally new world, but, that does not mean the effects of his old world do not live within him. Paul's point here is that step by step, the effect of our old world should be leaving our lives.

When we allow our old way of living to continue in our lives as Christians, it does not only destroy our fellowship with our Lord, it destroys the effectiveness of the church. It causes division and separation which have no place in a unified body of believers. The sad fact of the matter is that the church has been riddled with divisiveness over the years, and still is to this day. This goes against the very prayer for unity that Jesus prayed just prior to His death, as seen in John 17. A close reading of John 17 in light of present-day, western-world, style Christianity should bring a touch of sadness to the reader.

If the Holy Spirit indeed does live within us, then, we do have the ability to be a more unified body of believers than we presently are.

For a detailed discussion on the meaning of Biblical forgiveness I suggest you read my book entitled "Clarifying Biblical Forgiveness."

Ephesians 5:1 - 5

5 - Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, ²and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. ³But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of^[a] among you, as is proper for saints. ⁴Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. ⁵For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

My Commentary

Verse 1

"Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children,"

We have been getting into what most would call the practical issues of Paul's letter, or, the practicalities of theology. Many see the letter to the Ephesians as being divided into theological issues and practical issues. I can understand that, but, I believe understanding Biblical theology as being very practical because it forms the basis of all we think, and all we think determines how we live. How we think, then, is vitally important. In that sense of the word, what Paul wrote in the first three chapters of Ephesians is practical and not just intellectually theological. Besides, the word "theology" simply means "the study of God." What we can learn about God through our study of Him is necessary for the life of the Christian. I'm sure you can agree with that.

The Greek word "mimetes" is translated here as "imitators." We derive our English word "mimic" from this word. You could, then, say that as children of God, our Father, we should mimic Him in all we do and say. This puts a great responsibility on us as Christians to both know Him and mimic Him.

Many believers are self-centered in their relationship with God. They are always asking of Him. They always want something more, all the while, God wants something from us. He wants His life to be evident in our lives. He wants us to mimic Him. Remember, Jesus is the "Lord" Jesus Christ, and as Lord, He desires us to grow and mature into His likeness, and in part, that requires us to imitate Him as much as is possible. Only the Holy Spirit in conjunction with His word can help us in this.

The verb "be imitators" is a Greek present tense middle imperative verb. The present tense and the imperative part of this verb mean that right now in present time we must be imitators of God. This is a command. The middle part of this verb is significant. A middle Greek verb is when the action of a sentence is being performed by the subject of the sentence and at the same time that action is being performed on the subject of the sentence from an outside source. In context, this means that the action of imitating God is being performed by an outside source, meaning the Holy Spirit that produces and inner action of the person imitating God. The process of imitating God is, thus, a co-operative process between Jesus and the Christian, but of course, that is the way it is meant to be with all things we do as a Christian. Our relationship with Jesus is a co-operative relationship. He does His part and we do our part. Our relationship with Jesus is meant to be productive and there is no productivity apart from a co-operative relationship with Him.

Verse 2

^"...and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God."

One way in which we should be imitating our Lord is to "walk in love, as Paul said." The word "walk" should be understood here in terms of a lifestyle of living, not literal walking. That is normally the understanding of the word "walk" in the Bible when it is used in a metamorphic way, as it is here.

The most common Greek word translated as love in the New Testament is "agape." Agape expresses sacrificial love, that is, love that is demonstrated by means of some kind of sacrifice. The very essence of God's love is sacrifice. His very nature is to give Himself to His creation. It is this quality that we should be imitating and extending toward others. It's a character quality that is not natural for a human being, but, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to express sacrificial love more than we think.

The cross of Christ, and really, the incarnation of Jesus, is a demonstration of sacrificial love that when seen in and demonstrated through us is a "fragrant offering to God." This terminology makes us think of the Old Testament sacrifices the Jews made, sacrifices that were useless if the person sacrificing was not one who sacrificed his life for his God. Hosea 6:6 expresses this clearly.

"For I desire faithful love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."

Whether in Old Testament times or New Testament times, the sacrifice that God wants most is the sacrifice of ourselves, and for most of us, that is a major sacrifice. Paul called this sacrifice a "living sacrifice" in Romans 12:1.

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship."

The Greek verb "walk" in verse 2 is a Greek present active imperative. That means this statement is a command to the Christian to actively live out a life of sacrificial love in present time. Godly commands are just as much a New Testament thing as it was an Old Testament thing.

Verse 3

^"But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints."

Paul wrote here about the temptation towards sexual immorality, as he did earlier in his letter. Sexual immorality was prevalent in the first-century, Greco-Roman world in Paul's day as it is in any culture in our day. It is simply a human desire, like all desires, that needs to be controlled and subjected to the will of God. Like any desire, there is nothing wrong with sexual desire, as some Christians in past decades seemed to suggest. It just needs to be expressed according to the will of God.

Note the word "saints" in this verse. The Greek word "hagios" is translated as saint throughout the New Testament and that word means a holy one. The word holy, in relation to the Christian and God, simply means one who God has chosen and taken out of the general population to be dedicated to Him. If you are a true Christian, you belong to God and He has proclaimed you to be holy, or, a saint. Catholicism is wrong when it calls certain so-called special Christians to be saints.

Verse 4

"Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks."

Paul might well have been thinking about sexual immoral talking in this verse, but, he might not have been limiting his words to that. The Greek word "aischrotes" is translated here as "obscene." This word suggests "shameful talking," that might be more than sexually immoral talking. It could include any kind of nasty talking that causes shame.

The Greek word "morologeo." is translated as "foolish" in this verse. This Greek word consists of "moro," meaning "stupid," and, "logeo," meaning, "to speak." We derive our English word "moron" from the Greek word "moros" and our English word "moron" fits the both meaning of "moros" and the context in which Paul used this word. Stupid talking is not a good thing for a Christian. Of course, you might need to define the word stupid. Like other people, Christians do engage themselves in what I might call "frivolous joking," which I don't believe Paul was thinking of here. I actually believe that if I can be free to joke around with someone, that shows that we have stepped across an important relational line in the process of building a healthy relationship. It means that we are not offended by each others' jesting, and not being offended is one mark of a good relationship. Stupid talking suggests irrational talking.

Verse 5

"For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

One thing we might learn here is that Paul might not have been talking specifically about sexual immorality in the above verses because he included the sin of greediness in this verse. Immorality means more than sexual sins.

Paul specified certain people who do not have an inheritance in the Kingdom of God . They are not those who slip up from time to time in matters of sexual impurity or greediness. All of us, at one time or another have fallen to these sinful character traits in our hearts. It is the idolater to whom Paul is referencing here. The idolater, who, specifically lives a sexually impure and greedy life. I mention this in case you think that if someone slips up and sins, that sin does not kick him out of the Kingdom of God . Living a habitual sinful lifestyle of sin is different than committing acts of sin from time to time. It is the sinner who allows his sinful nature to rule his life that Paul is writing about in this verse.

If you are a born-again-of-the-Spirit Christian, and that is the only kind of Christian there is, you are a citizen of the Kingdom of God . Within that kingdom are rights, privileges, and responsibilities. The idolater is not a citizen in God's kingdom and has none of its rights, privileges, or responsibilities.

Note the word "inheritance" in this verse. Paul was talking about a future inheritance that the godly person will inherit. I don't believe he was talking about the present Kingdom of God in which the believer exists. The present Kingdom of God in which Christians live is a down-payment of the one to come.

More Thoughts

The basic thought that I believe Paul was getting at here is that as Christians, we should, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, imitate God. We should be aiming to live as Jesus lived while He was on this planet. In the process, we should be leaving our life of sin behind us.

Christians do sin, but an individual sin does not remove our names from the Book of Life. If that was the case, no one would have his name written in the Book of Life. As soon as Jesus would put it in, the next moment He would have to take it out.

I am far from convinced that the average western-world Christian really thinks too seriously about imitating the life of Jesus. I think we are far too self-centered to think in such terms, and thus, the church's mandate to be a pure representation of Jesus is not facilitated.

Ephesians 5:6 - 14

6 - Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. ⁷Therefore, do not become their partners. ⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light— ⁹for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— ¹⁰testing what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. ¹³Everything exposed by the light is made visible, ¹⁴for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

My Commentary

Verse 6

^"Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things."

Deception is nothing new. Eve was deceived by the serpent. Christians were being deceived in Paul's day by men who taught hollow, worthless, doctrines. The same is true today. People are teaching all kinds of worthless, unbiblical doctrine. I believe as time goes on, deception is a satanic force that will escalate near the end of this age, as I believe 2 Timothy 4:3 states.

"For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear."

As far as I am concerned, in 2021, as I finish writing this commentary, deception has escalated more than I have seen in my lifetime, and that is in part due to our social media internet sites where everyone thinks he is an expert on all subjects, when in fact they are not.

Paul predicted the day when God's wrath would come on disobedient deceptive people. Again, I believe, from my Prophetic Futurist's veiwpoint of Bible prophecy, that Paul had the end of the age in mind when God's wrath is poured out on the earth as seen in the Book of Revelation.

Note again that God's wrath will come on the disobedient. This speaks to who a person is, not what he does. Paul is talking about those, whose very way of living defies God. He is not talking about the believer who commits acts of defiance from time to time. Paul is not writing about a Christian who has doubts every so often. He is writing about sinners, those who have not been born again of the Spirit of God.

Verse 7

"Therefore, do not become their partners."

Paul's words here simply mean that the Christian should not form any kind of partnership with those who teach false doctrine, something some Christians are doing today when they form alliances with other religions, such as Islam. There is no logical or Biblical support to the notion that a Christian and a Muslim serve the same god, as some so-called Christian teachers teach. The number one reason for this is that Muslims do not believe that God has a son, as Christians believe. That clearly means that the god of Islam is not the God of Christianity. It is purely illogical to say that Muslims and Christians worship the same god.

Verse 8

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light— "

Paul said that Christians are to be lights, as in, lights in a darkened world. When you unite yourself with those in this darkened world, you take on their darkness. Your white becomes gray if not black. Your light as a Christian is deadened. This too has become problematic in today's Christian world. Far too often Christians are over-involving themselves in the social political world around them to the exclusion of their Christian calling to be a witness to Jesus. Evangelical Christians, in many respects, are now seen as a social political movement instead of the Christian movement they are meant to be. Over-involvement in politics deadens your light as a Christian because of the compromises that must be made to succeed at politics.

It is not politics or government legislation that changes the hearts of men and women. You cannot change a person through external means. You change a person through internal means, because the real person is one who he is inside. Only the Holy Spirit can make this internal change. It is the power of the gospel that is needed in today's world for it is the power of salvation. Romans 1:16 reads:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek."

Verse 9

"... or the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— "

Jesus said that He is the light of the world. John 8:12 reads:

"Jesus spoke to them again: 'I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.'"

If the Spirit of Jesus lives within you as a Christian, then you have the eternal spiritual light residing within you. There should be certain fruit, or, valid demonstrations, of the light in your life. Goodness, righteousness and truth should be three of these fruit of light. We should be good people, doing good to all who cross our paths. We should demonstrate that we have been made right in the eyes of God. We should speak truth, live truth, and never compromise truth. Truth should be the backbone of our lives.

The church is the community of believers that is portrayed as a lampstand in the Book of Revelation. Revelation 1:20 reads:

"The mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches."

If a local expression of church refuses to be the Light of God to its surrounding community, and if it exists in name only, Jesus will remove that church, the lampstand from the community in which it exists. It might still exist organizationally as a shell of a church but a shell of a church is not a real church. Revelation 2:5 reads:

"Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent."

Verse 10

"... testing what is pleasing to the Lord."

In the Greek text the word translated into English as "testing" is a present active participle. That is to say, we are by our new nature in Christ those who prove the truthfulness of a thing in order for us to approve it. In other words, we are testing ones, and testing ones is an exact translation from the Greek participle. The emphasis is on being testing ones, not just doing the action of testing. That is the difference between a participle and a verb.

Knowing what pleases God does not come natural to us as humans. We must discover, test, and then, approve what is good and true in order to live as ones who please God. Attempting to please God with the assistance of the Holy Spirit should be one of the basic desires of our hearts.

Verse 11

^"Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them."

It is quite obvious that Christians should not participate in anything associated with darkened sin, but here, Paul said that we should expose these useless fruits of darkness. This is a present active imperative Greek verb. This means exposing the useless fruits of darkness is a command. The question is how and when do we expose these works of darkness? This takes wisdom, because exposing works of darkness in the wrong way can, and often does, make matters worse. We expose these sins in a redemptive fashion. Redemption is the goal of exposure.

In one sense of the word, when our Christian light shines, it will automatically expose the darkness by lighting up the dark areas of our surrounding culture. Light simply dispels darkness. If we fail in this calling, darkness will not be exposed.

Exposing sin in another is a touchy situation. I would think there would need to be prayer, consultation with others, and the Holy Spirit led timing of such exposure of sin. Of course, we can expose sin in a general way, sin that exists in the culture around us. We can expose sin within the church in a general way, but when it comes to a particular sin in a particular person, that needs some thought. Galatians 6:1 gives us a bit of advice in this matter.

"Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted."

Paul's exhortation in the above verse is mandatory when attempting to expose sin in a brother or sister in the Lord. The exposure is not to shame the person but to restore the person, and thus the reason for being gentle in the process.

Verse 12

^"For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret."

Note the word "secret" in this verse. It is translated from the Greek word "kryphe," which is where we derive our English word "cryptic."

Paul advised his readers that they should limit, even not speak of, the things that darkened people do in darkened places. Our culture, which includes the world of business and politics, is full of darkened people doing darkened things in darkened corners. The ministry of the prophet, much like the ministry of John the Baptist, should be a present-day ministry in the church today.

Verse 13

^"Everything exposed by the light is made visible,"

Light dispels darkness. When darkened sin is exposed to the light of the gospel, sin becomes visible. When sin becomes visible, it must be dealt with, and if not, those who commit such sin will be held accountable for their sin.

Verse 14

"... for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

It might be debatable just who Paul had in mind when he used the word "sleeper." Was he thinking of sinners, or was he thinking of the believers to whom he was writing. I lean to the thinking that he had non-Christians in mind because he spoke of them being dead, and we know from earlier parts of this letter those who were dead were non-believers. The unbeliever, then, should allow the light of the gospel to shine on them, have their sins exposed, and then dealt with through the process of repentance.

The first part of this quote, beginning with the words "wake up" could have been taken from Proverbs 6:4. The last part of this quote, beginning with the words "and Christ" (Messiah) might be from Isaiah 26:19, where the verse was directed to Judah , the Jews. The Jews in Isaiah's day were asleep. They were spiritually dead. They needed to rise from their sleep and look forward, in their terminology, to their Messiah's coming to earth.

Proverbs 6:4 reads:

"Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelid."

Isaiah 26:19 reads:

"Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew,

And the earth will bring out the departed spirits."

More Thoughts

The basic theme to this section of Ephesians concerns light and dark. Light is the light of God's truth while dark is how those apart from God live their lives. Clearly, Christians are to live each day of their lives in the light of God's truth, where any darkness in their lives will be displayed and dealt with.

Living in the light of God's truth is easier said than done for Christians because we are still burdened down with our sinful nature, which, prefers to live in the darkness of the world around us. That being said, because of the Holy Spirit within us, and, because we have been transformed into new creations in Christ, we have the Holy Spirit led ability to overcome the darkness within us. We have the ability not to be influenced by the dark culture in which we live. Yes, this is a process, but it is an achievable process.

Recognizing that the culture of the world around us is truly dark is important. I believe that many western-world Christians today fail to see how dark their culture is. They are too much in love with their surrounding culture to see its darkness. Paul would be disturbed at this present reality. If we are ever to be a light to the world, we cannot have our light dimmed by the surrounding cultural darkness. I am not talking about withdrawing from the world and hiding our light. I'm talking about living in the world and lighting up the dark places.

Ephesians 5:15 - 21

15 - Pay careful attention, then, to how you live—not as unwise people but as wise— ¹⁶making the most of the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit: ¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, ²⁰giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

My Commentary

Verse 15

"Pay careful attention, then, to how you live—not as unwise people but as wise —"

"Pay careful attention" is an imperative Greek verb. This is a command by Paul. It is not a suggestion. Christians are not to be unwise, acting irrationally or foolishly. We have been given an intellect, and as one's having the Holy Spirit residing within us, our intellect should be influenced by Him. Wisdom is one godly character of a born-again Christian, or at least we should be in the process of becoming wiser each and every day of our lives.

Jesus spoke to this issue when He said this in Matthew 10:16.

"Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd [wise] as serpents and as innocent as doves."

Without wisdom, the wolves will surely eat us alive, and there are many hungry wolves in the world around us, and that includes the world of church. I believe that some people have less capability of being wise than others. They must, then, acknowledge their deficiency and reach out to those possessing wisdom.

Verse 16

"... making the most of the time, because the days are evil."

I have always liked this verse and it is partly because of who I am. I'm not one to waste time because it is unproductive. We live in evil days, dark days, as Paul wrote earlier. We cannot afford to waste our days in doing nothing or by doing things that are not important in proclaiming the Kingdom of God to a lost world. Paul understood the importance of his mission. He never knew how many days he had left in life. Like many Christians in his day, he could be arrested and beheaded any day for the sake of Jesus, which was his eventual reality. Not knowing when that day would come, he could not afford to slack off. Even while he was in prison, he would redeem his time. He understood the time he had in life was not his time. It was His Lord's time and he had to spend it appropriately. This should be what we do as well.

Prioritizing our time is important. Many people struggle with this. They get easily sidetracked with less important things that just crop up on any given day. Jesus never got sidetracked from His mission. How often do you see Him, especially as it is recorded in the Book of John, tell His disciples that it was not yet time for Him to do something they had requested of Him. He refused to get sidetracked from His daily mission. We see this in John 7:6, which reads:

"Jesus told them, 'My time has not yet arrived, but your time is always at hand.'"

The disciples of Jesus wanted Him to go to Jerusalem for the Festival of Tabernacles, but according to Jesus, it was not His time to go. He would not get sidetracked away from His daily priorities. Jesus is a good example for us to follow.

Verse 17

"So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is."

The Greek word "aphron" is translated as "foolish" in this verse. It simply means to "be without a mind," or, "to be without the capability to reason." Foolish people do not understand God's will for their lives. Wise people understand and know God's will or at least want to know His will for their lives. In Paul's day and environment when he needed to keep his head in all matters, the will of God processed by his Holy Spirit influenced intellect, was important. It is important to us as well.

It is important to note here that Paul associated knowing the will of God with wisdom. Wisdom is a product of your mind that eventually sinks into your heart. This tells me that we need a balance between the heart and mind. Some people lean too far to one than the other. When it comes to knowing God's will, it is more than feeling something in your heart. It is also a matter of your mind. There must be a Biblical balance between your heart and your mind.

Verse 18

"And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit:"

The subject of drinking alcohol, at least in times past, has been a difficult subject to discuss among Christians because it is a highly emotional issue that has divided the church. Those who have experienced alcoholism or lived with an alcoholic, are very emotional about the subject, and therefore, find it difficult to enter into a reasonable discussion over the issue. Others, with no such experience can enter a discussion from a purely intellectual perspective without involving any emotion that shuts down communication. I find myself in the second group, and therefore, am very careful who I enter a discussion with concerning this matter.

In this verse, Paul does not say one cannot drink alcoholic beverages. He simply told his readers not to get drunk with wine. You cannot, therefore, use this verse to support a position of abstinence.

Nowhere in the entire Bible does it say that a person cannot drink any form of alcohol. There are many verses stating the problems associated with over-indulging in alcohol. You find many in the Book of Proverbs, but, over-indulging does not mean no drinking.

While being raised in Evangelical Christianity in the 1950's and 1960's I often heard it said that Jesus did not turn water into wine at a wedding we read about in the Gospel of John. He turned water into grape juice, or so I was told in my youth. That is nonsense for a few reasons. First of all, if you read the incident found in John, chapter 2, you will note that those who had drunk the wine said that Jesus' wine was the best wine they had tasted. Wine drinkers would certainly know the difference between good wine and grape juice. Jesus turned water into real wine. There is no doubt about that.

Anyone who has drank both wine and grape juice knows the difference between the two. You cannot confuse wine with grape juice. Those drinking the wine at the wedding clearly knew the difference and they enjoyed the wine Jesus made for them.

The Greek word "oimos" is translated as wine in the New Testament. You find this word here in verse 18 as well as in John 2. The same word translated as wine that could make people drunk here in verse 18 is translated as wine in John 2. Jesus turned the water into real wine. Again, there is no doubt about that.

Of course, over-indulging should be avoided at all costs. That is what the Bible teaches about the consumption of wine, just as Paul stated here. We should be careful how we drink and to whom we drink in front of. It makes no sense to drink wine or beer in front of an alcoholic. That would be wrong. We must not cause a brother to stumble, something the whole chapter of Romans 14 is about. It is also not worth while entering a debate about drinking wine or beer with those who are emotionally involved in the discussion. It is a fruitless conversation and will probably lead to misunderstanding and divisions. On the contrary, Paul told his readers to be filled with the Spirit of God, and not the alcoholic spirit.

Some people have used the second half of verse 18 to suggest that as one gets drunk with wine, one can get drunk with the Holy Spirit and thus act just as weird. I do not believe that is what Paul was getting at here. Getting drunk with wine causes you to do stupid and regretful things. That is not the case with being filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit of God would cause us to act more like God than a drunken sailor. Being filled with the Spirit causes us to act responsibly.

People often refer to Acts 2 where the disciples were filled with the Spirit and were acting drunk, at least according to how the non-believers viewed it. The text does not say they were acting like a drunken person. It says that some of those who saw them said they appeared to be drunk, and how were they acting? They were speaking in various languages which the crowd of people observing the disciples could understand. We have no Biblical proof that the one hundred and twenty disciples were stumbling around in a drunken stupor. As a matter of fact, if you read Acts 2 you will see that they were actually glorifying God by speaking in other tongues. I would not associate worshipping God in various languages that could be understood by all as acting like a drunken person.

Verse 19

"... speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord,"

Instead of getting drunk or acting drunk, Christians should do things that edify each other. Paul lists a few of those things here. Singing and playing music from your heart was one such edifying example. For most people, music is enjoyable and uplifting. The same would be true when we speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. These are just examples of how we can edify and encourage one another in the Lord. Many more examples could be added to this list. The bottom line here is that we must be responsible for our actions and do that which is necessary to encourage others.

Verse 20

"... giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,"

Another way to be an encouragement is to be a thankful person. Some people find it difficult to be thankful. They find it easier to complain. If anyone had the right to complain, it would have been Paul, especially as he was in prison chains as he dictated this letter.

Paul said that we are to thank God our Father, in Jesus' name. As we have a spirit of thankfulness about us, we should often direct our thanksgiving to God, our Father, and we do so in the name of Jesus. That is to say; as we are Jesus' representatives to the world around us, as we bare His name, we can thank God for everything that comes our way. That would be a delightful thing for the non Christian to see.

Verse 21

"... submitting to one another in the fear of Christ."

Paul told his readers to submit to one another in the fear of Christ. The Greek word "hypotasso" is translated as "submit" here and elsewhere in the New Testament. In the first-century, Greco-Roman world, this was a cold, harsh, military style word. A soldier was commanded to "rank under," as the word "hypotasso' means, his commanding officer. We should not understand Paul's usage of hypotasso in this verse in its general usage sense. As with some Greek words, the New Testament and its writers put slight variations to the meaning of certain Greek words, and this Greek word is one such example.

If you study the Greek word "hypotasso" throughout the New Testament as it applies to Christian relationships you will note that this word means, "a mutual and gentle yielding to one another out of love and respect for each other." That means, Paul was telling his readers to yield to one another out of a loving respect that they had for one another. They were not to be over individualistic, prideful, argumentative, and other such character traits. They were not to be dictatorial, as in, "you must submit or else." This New Testament view of submission is important because we will see it again in the next section when Paul tells wives to submit to their husbands. Unless you understand how the New Testament uses our English word "submit" in terms of personal relationships, you will misunderstand what Paul meant when he told wives to submit to their husbands.

More Thoughts

The first three chapters of Ephesians concerns theological matters, especially the theology that stated Gentiles, through trusting their lives with Jesus, could find acceptance with God. This theological issue, like all theological issues, must be understood to the best of our ability to understand. Theology is first introduced into our being through our mind. The hope is that it will filter down into our hearts, spirits, soul, or however you want to put it. There, in our inner being the theology that entered our minds will become the conviction of our hearts by which we live. This means that we must not ignore our intellectual capabilities in our attempt to understand what God wants us to know. Simply put; theology is a practical endeavour.

Once what we learn in our minds sinks into our hearts where it forms the convictions of our lives, we will live in certain ways that match our theology. Paul lists some of these ways in this section of his letter. We are to be an encouragement to those Jesus has placed us alongside in the Body of Christ. We are not to get drunk. Instead, we are to be filled with the Spirit so we can be the imitators of Jesus as we are meant to be. When Christians downplay the work and influence of the Holy Spirit in their lives, they are in error. They will never become mature believers.

The last thing Paul said in this section that shows a life lived when filled with the Spirit is that mutual submission between brothers and sisters in Christ should be evident. Mutual submission, or, the gentle yielding to one another produces the unity in the church that is needed to be the witness for Jesus we are called to be. This is fundamental to the meaning of church.

Ephesians 5:22 - 33

22 - Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, ²³because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in verything. ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. ²⁷He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, ³⁰since we are members of his body. ³¹For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. ³²This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

My Commentary

Verse 22

"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord,"

This verse has often been misunderstood and thus misapplied over the years. I recall one Christian husband who was in an argument with his wife. He demanded that she immediately submit to him and his will, and then he quoted this verse to back up his demand. I cringed when I heard that, and that was back in 1972 before I understood how the New Testament understands the Greek word translated as "submit" as it applies to Christian relationships.

One should never use Scripture to win an argument in a heated debate, but Christians have been known to do such things. No one should ever use the Bible to support a personal cause that benefits himself. I call that Biblical blasphemy. Besides, when a husband tells a wife to submit or else, he does not understand the word "submit" in this passage.

I will repeat what I said in the last section about the word "submit." It is translated from the Greek word "hypotasso" that simply means "to rank under." In the first-century, Greco-Roman world of Paul's day this was a cold-hearted, harsh, military word. A Roman soldier had to submit to his superior officer or else pay the consequences, which sometimes, meant death. That is not how we should understand the word "hypotasso" as it applies to a Christian's relationship with God, with a spouse, or with his fellow believers. The New Testament at times adopts its own definition of certain Greek words and this is one such word.

A close study of the Greek New Testament should tell us that it defines "hypotasso" or submit, as a warm-hearted, loving, yielding of one to another based on mutual respect. That is a completely different concept than the word's general usage in the first-century, Greco-Roman world.

What Paul was saying here is that wives, out of the mutual love and respect that the husband and wife have for each other, should yield to her husband. It is not a yielding, or a submission, based on the dictatorial rule of her husband, and we will see that later when Paul directed his teaching to the husband.

The words "as to the Lord" are strong words. Both husbands and wives submit or yield to Jesus out of the love we have for Him and He has for us. In like fashion, a wife is to submit to her husband, and I would suggest, after attempting to be agreeable.

Verse 23

"... because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body."

Paul gave a reason why the wife should submit or yield to her husband. It is because the husband is head of the wife just as Christ is head of the church. The word "head" is important here. Theologians have debated over this word for years. Should we understand the word "head" to mean "the ruler over," or, "the source of?" Either one of these definitions could apply because headship was understood in both ways in the first-century, Greco-Roman world. The question is, in what way did Paul use the word "head" in this verse? That is the debatable issue.

Culturally speaking, especially in the Jewish world of Paul's day, man was considered both the source of woman and the ruler of his wife and family. He was the source of woman because woman was created from man as seen in the creation account, and thus, he was seen as the authority figure over his wife and family. So, it might well be possible that Paul had both views in his mind as he penned these words.

By the time Paul wrote these words, there had been a movement in the Greco-Roman world over the prior century where women became more independent and prominent in the community. You might call this a real women's movement. For example, women were becoming just as sexually active outside of the family as men had been. Women were also becoming more active in the working community as well. We see this in Acts 16 where Luke introduced us to Lydia , a successful business woman. This women's movement could have easily caused some conflict in husband and wife relationships, and thus some need for this teaching.

I will leave this up to you to decide. Did Paul mean that the husband was the head, the authority figure over the wife, or, did he mean that the husband was the source, the provider of the wife and family? Culturally speaking, either of these could be what Paul had in mind. One thing that I am sure of is this. According to Paul, no one, not even the husband, was to exercise authority in a dictatorial way. Another thing that I am sure of is that you cannot understand this passage without knowing some first-century culture, history, Greek language and grammar. You must not interpret what Paul said from our twenty-first century mindset, and if you do, you will get it wrong.

Jesus, as Paul said, is the head and Saviour of the body, the church. Jesus is both the source of the church and the final authority over the church. To some, this might suggest that Paul had in mind that the husband was the source, the provider for the family.

Verse 24

"Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything."

The word "church" in this verse is translated from the Greek word "ekklesia." This word simply means certain people who are taken from the general public to accomplish a certain task. Jesus has chosen us from the world to accomplish His goals on earth. The church, then, is something that is distinct and separate from the world.

The church is to submit to Jesus, its head, meaning, its founder and authorized leader. The church submits out of love and respect for Jesus for all that He has done for the church and those within the church. Although submission to Jesus is an obligation, a command, it is still a yielding based on mutual love.

In the same way that the church is to submit to Jesus, wives, according to Paul are to submit to their husbands, and, in all matters. This is far from being culturally correct these days, but it is the word of the Lord, but once again, husbands must not be dictators. I would suggest that if the husband demands the wife to do something that is clearly unbiblical, the wife must first submit to Jesus and let the chips fall where they may. The wife should not submit, for example, if the husband wants to share the marriage bed with her and another woman at the same time.

There are reasons that we know nothing about that motivated Paul to teach on husband and wife relationships. This was the case for most of Paul's letters. He was responding to certain specific issues, and thus, the husband and wife issue must have been problematic. I can certainly understand that knowing some of the culture and the history of the day when Paul penned this letter, but of course, we have similar problems today. Nothing really changes.

Verse 25

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her."

Verse 25 is very important in relation to why the wife is to submit herself to her husband. Paul said that the husband is to love his wife just as Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for the church. That puts much responsibility on the shoulders of the husband in his relationship with his wife.

The Greek word "agape" is translated as love in this verse. Paul was talking about husbands sacrificing themselves for their wives. The Greek verb tense tells us that this is not a suggestion. It is a command.

Understanding how Jesus gave Himself, that is, by His very human existence on earth, which includes His sacrificial death, is a pretty difficult task for a husband to accomplish. To the degree then, that the husband can sacrifice himself on behalf of his wife will be the degree to which his wife will be able to willingly submit herself to him. Sacrificial love is the foundation to submission.

Verse 26

"... to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word."

I believe the pronoun "her" in verse 26 is in reference to the church, not the wife. The church is to be holy, that is, separated from the world unto Jesus. The Greek verb "hagiazo," meaning, separated, is translated here and elsewhere in the New Testament as "holy."

We often think that being holy is a matter of morality. It is more of a matter of being separated from our corrupt surroundings, but, once separated; we live the good moral life. In other words, moral holiness is a secondary meaning to the word "holy."

With the use of the words "cleansing" and "washing" Paul was writing in metamorphic terms. He was using picture language to make a point, although, these two words do have their religious meaning from Old Testament Judaism.

Once people are separated from the world there begins a cleansing process, and that cleaning process is through God's word becoming real in our lives with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. The word Paul wrote of here is God's word, which includes His words we read in the Bible.

We should understand that most of the world in which Paul wrote was an oral dominant world, not a text dominant world. Many people did not have access to what we could call the Old Testament, the Bible of the day. The point to be made here is that the very mind of God, whether written or spoken, must be implanted in both the church and those in the church.

The very life of our Lord Jesus, as seen in John 1:1, where it states that Jesus was, and still is, the Word of God, tells us that the very mind of God was incarnated into a human form, who was, and again still is, Jesus. The very mind of God was embodied in a human form, a human body. Although Christians and the church are not Jesus, our goal should be, as Paul stated here, to have the mind of Jesus embodied in us. How Jesus thinks is how we should think, and how we think is how we will live our lives.

Verse 27

"He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless."

This verse has been understood in a few ways over the years. Some believe that prior to the return of Jesus, the church will be perfected. It will be, as Paul said, without any spot or wrinkle. It will have no blemish. Others, on the other hand, believe that when Jesus returns to earth, and those in the church receive their eternal glorified bodies, the church will suddenly become that church without any spot or wrinkle. I believe the church will be perfect only after Jesus returns to earth and makes it perfect.

Note that Jesus is going to present the church to Himself. No one will present it to him. Church belongs to Jesus and He will do as He wishes with church. From the church's beginning to its earthly end, Jesus will construct His church in the way in which He desires.

Verse 28

"In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself."

Generally speaking, we all love ourselves, including our own bodies. We spend much time in making ourselves look good. Husbands should spend just as much time making their wives look good as they make themselves look good, and looking good id more than just physical appearance. Husbands should treat their wives in such a way that their wives are the best person they can be. It's all about the wife succeeding in life.

Verse 29

"For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,"

Paul used simple logic to explain his point in the above two verses. No one hates his body. We all, to one degree or another, take care of ourselves. We love ourselves that much. Since the church is Jesus' earthly body, Jesus will take care of His body. It is His body so why would He not take care of it in whatever way He sees fit? Taking care of His body might well suggest ripping it apart at times and doing a complete make-over. Read Revelation, chapters 2 and 3 to see the reality of this make-over. Jesus is not so insecure that He cannot, or will not, rip apart church to reconstruct it as He wishes.

Although Jesus can rip apart a church, He is always available when a community of believers repent, as is also seen in His comments to the church at Ephesus , in Revelation 2. Jesus gives credit where credit is due. He encourages and provides that which is necessary for the church to mature, survive, and succeed.

At this point, it would be a good study to read Revelation, chapter 2 and 3 to see just how Jesus relates to His church. Nothing has changed since the days Revelation was first penned.

Verse 30

"... since we are members of his body."

There is only one Body of Christ, one church, and it is this one church, the real church, that Jesus will care for and end up perfecting. This leads me to ask: "If there is only one church, why do those gathering in particular places in any given locality call themselves a church?" Personally speaking, I believe it is a Biblical mistake to call every community of believers in a certain locality a church. I call them an expression of church because there is more to church than any one gathering of believers in any locality.

The primary understanding of church in the New Testament is that there is only one church and that is the church universal, or, the world-wide church. You may then ask why we see the New Testament speak of a church in a certain city, like the church at Ephesus , as seen in Revelation, chapter 2.

In respect to the above question, I would suggest that "to the church at Ephesus " that we read in Revelation 2:1, would be better translated as "to the community of believers at Ephesus ." This would fit the Biblical concept of church existing in a given locality than our word "church" that has lost its original meaning of "a community of believers that Jesus has taken out of the world to accompilsh His purposes on earth."

Verse 31

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

Paul was basically quoting Genesis 2:24 in this statement. God's original intention for a man and a woman was that they be united. In one sense of the word, Genesis 2:24, and what Paul wrote here, is metamorphic in nature. It is picture language that is meant to state that the marriage relationship is meant to be a total union of body soul and spirit of both husband and wife. In fact, the husband wife relationship can be considered a community, a community that is the source of all types of community. Of course, the disobedience to God that we read about in Genesis 3 by Adam and Eve has made this union difficult. Non-the-less, functional community was, and still is, God's original intention for a husband and a wife, and, it is the same for the church. The community of believers is to be united to its Lord in all ways possible.

Verse 32

^"This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church."

Paul is making a comparison here. As a husband and wife should live in unity, there should be a unity between the church and Jesus. As a wife is to lovingly submit to her husband, so the church is to submit to Jesus. As the husband is to sacrificially give himself to his wife, so Jesus has, and still does, sacrifice Himself for the church.

This verse is often misunderstood. The prevailing thinking among many Evangelical Christians is that Paul was saying that the church is the Bride of Christ, the very bride we see at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, as seen in Revelation 19:9. Nowhere in this section of Paul's letter does he actually say that the church is the Bride of Christ. He simply compares a husband wife relationship to the relationship that we as the church should have with Jesus.

Many, but not all, Bible teachers actually suggest that the Bride of Christ seen in Revelation 19 consists of repentant Jews. They believe this because the prophetic Old Testament book of Hosea says that the community of Jews is God's bride. Hosea, chapter 2, predicted the day when God would divorce His wife Israel, but, before Hosea ends his prophecy, he predicted the day when God will remarry Israel, which That might well take place at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb that we read of in Revelation 19.

Another reason for thinking that the Bride of Christ is Israel is because the Book of Revelation, as many think, was written to Jews and about Jews in the last days.

On the other hand, it is the Marriage Feast of the Lamb; the Lamb referring to Jesus, not God. Could it be possible that Israel is the Bride of God and the church is the Bride of the Lamb? You can decide for yourself. This has been well debated for years. My point here is that Paul did not specifically say that the church is the Bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:32. He was simply comparing the church to a husband and wife relationship.

One last thought on this issue is this. Revelation 19 states that there are certain guests that attend the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. Who are those guests? Those who believe the bride are Jews would suggest that the guests are Gentile believers. Those who believe that the bride is the church might believe that the guests are Jews.

Verse 33

"To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband."

Paul ends this section in the way he began it by writing about husbands and wives. It's basically a review. Wives are to submit to their husbands while at the same time, husbands are to sacrifice their lives for their wives.

More Thoughts

There are two basic issues that Paul is addressing in this section of Ephesians. They are the husband wife relationship and the Jesus church relationship. He made a comparison between the two types of relationships because they are similar in many respects. Both relationships are founded upon agape style love, that is, sacrificial love. In both relationships submission is a gentle yielding by the one submitting due to the fact that the one being submitted to is demonstrating sacrificial love.

Wives are able to submit, or yield, to their husbands when the husbands demonstrate true sacrificial love to their wives. To the degree, then, that the husband can sacrifice his life for his wife will be the degree to which his wife can willingly submit herself to her husband. Obviously, this is the way it is with Jesus and the church.

Ephesians 6:1 - 4

1 - Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right. ²Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, ³so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land. ⁴Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

My Commentary

Verse 1

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right."

Another aspect of one who has been transformed by the theology Paul taught earlier in this letter is that children are to obey their parents. The Greek word "hypakouo" is translated as "obey" in this verse. This word means "to listen, or to be intent," and thus, our English word "obey" would be the natural result of intently listening one's parents out.

The verb "obey" is a Greek present active imperative. Simply put, this is a command to actively obey one's parents in present time.

Paul said that children obeying parents is the right thing to do. This is simple common sense, that is, if the children being referenced by Paul are small children or young adults who are still under the care of their parents.

Verse 2

"Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise,"

Paul is quoting Exodus 20:12 in this verse. That verse reads:

"Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."

We often think the command to honour one's father and mother as seen in the Ten Commandments was, and is, directed to individual children. This is how Paul was interpreting this command in this letter to the Ephesian believers. I believe the original command was directed, not to individual children, but to a generation of children who were to honour and obey their parents' generation. When the obedient generation of children followed in the godly way of life as its previous generation, that generation would live in the land the Lord had provided. If that generation did not honour the advice of its parents' generation, it would lose the land God had given them, which for that generation of Jews would have been the Land of Canaan that God had provided the Jews. Those of the younger generation would lose its land through many ways, which could include an enemy invasion, as took place in 586 BC when Babylon overthrew Israel .

Individual Jewish children in Moses' days did not possess or own property as we think of owning property today. A generation of Jewish children, however, were given land by God, and that was Canaan . Any generation of Jewish children could lose or keep the Land of Canaan depending on how they followed the advice of the previous godly generation, assuming the previous generation actually was godly. Most of the time the previous generation was not godly, and for that reason the Jews eventually lost their land. The word "land" in the command refers to national land, not individual properties on which one might live and possess.

Verse 3

"... so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land."

Paul completed the Old Testament command in this verse. He continued his individualization of the command to say that if individual children obey their parents they will live a long life in the land in which they live, and in this context, would be in the geographical region of Ephesus . Concerning the word "land," I refer you back to the previous paragraph.

How New Testament authors interpreted the Old Testament is an issue of its own and takes much study. As is the case here, many New Testament authors put a New Testament spin on certain Old Testament passages.

Verse 4

"Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

This is another apostolic command by Paul. It is easy for parents, including fathers, to overly micro-manage the lives of their children to the point the children get exasperated, frustrated, and even angry. This defeats the very purpose of parenting. Instead, Paul told the father to train and instruct his children in the ways of the Lord without overly frustrating them.

With any relationship in life, if you want to succeed in building a productive and permanent relationship, things like nagging just get in the way. When it comes to our part of the relationship, it is our responsibility to do and to behave in such a way that will enhance the relationship. This is especially true when it comes to teaching and training our children in the ways of our Lord. Anything we do that hinders this God-given responsibility must end. If it does not end, the chance of our children becoming Christians is somewhat slim.

Note that this instruction was given specifically to fathers. This is interesting because in much of the world back then, instruction of children was given to guardians who looked after children until they came of age. That being said, the father would have been ultimately responsible for the guardian.

More Thoughts

The issue that Paul addressed here is obedience by children to their parents. Paul quoted the command from the Ten Commandments, which I suggest was not directed to individual children, but to a generation of children. I say that because the original command speaks of children possessing land that they can maintain through obedience and respect for their parents. Back in Moses' day, children did not have land that they possessed and we would understand today. Families did not have land that they possessed. The Jews, however, when they finally entered their promised land, did have their land as an ethnic people, but even then, families did not actually own land as we own it today. Actually the whole land of Canaan , first and foremost, belonged to God. Jews were just stewards of God's land.

Simply put, as I see it, the command in its original meaning was to encourage the generation of Jews to obey and respect its parent's generation. If that generation could do that, wisdom derived from its parent's generation would enable it to live in their God-given land peacefully, as was meant for that generation. The same would apply to a generation of children today. Learning the lessons from previous generations will go a long way to a better future.

History shows us that a younger generation always struggles with learning the important lessons from the previous generation, whether that is individual generation of an individual family or the national, younger generation of a country.

Ephesians 6:5 - 9

5 - Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ. ⁶Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart. ⁷Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people, ⁸knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord. ⁹And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

My Commentary

Verse 5

"Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ."

To begin this section of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, I refer you to my book entitled "What The Bible Says About Slavery." It is a short, yet somewhat detailed, explanation of how the Bible views slavery. The practice of slavery has been one much-debated issue over the centuries. Critics of the Bible always ask why doesn't the Bible overtly oppose slavery. I attempt to answer this question in my above mentioned book. My bottom line to this issue is that even though the Bible does not say, "thou shall not own slaves," it does oppose the practice of slavery.

In verse 5 Paul expresses a command to Christian slaves. You might question this command from your cultural experience and understanding of slavery, much of which is based on your knowledge of slavery in the American south in years past. If that is the case, you will not totally understand what the Bible says about the practice of slavery.

Slavery was commonplace in Paul's day, and, it was not exactly like slavery that once was commonplace in the American south. I'm not saying that there was never any abuse of slaves back in Paul's day because I'm sure there was. That being said, professional people like lawyers were often slaves and were well cared for by their masters.

In short, as I state in my book "What The Bible Says About Slavery," the Bible does not openly oppose slavery, but neither does it condone the practice. If you take all of the portions of Scripture regarding slavery into consideration, maybe you will agree with me. No one should own another person, especially in light of the fact that Jesus owns us as Christians, and really, human beings were created by God, and thus, God owns us all.

I believe the point Paul had in the back of his mind for obedience to slave masters was that one's life as a Christian takes second place to winning another person to Jesus. That being the case, whatever it took to win someone to Jesus, including a slave master, one would do, assuming it did not overtly oppose the will of God. If obedience to a slave master would encourage that master to hand his life over to Jesus, then obedience was God's will. Paul never put himself before his God-given goal to win people to Jesus.

Verse 6

"Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart."

Paul balanced obedience to slave owners with the idea that we are not to be "people pleasers." We don't serve, or do anything to please people. We as Christians do what we do to please Jesus, and, if obedience to a slave master pleases Jesus, obey the slave master one should do. For this reason, whatever work a slave was required to do, he should do it as if he were doing it for Jesus, whether his earthly master saw him do the work or not. The same would be true for any employee today. We do our work as if we are working for Jesus. That should put a completely different spin on your employment.

Verse 7

"Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people,"

Our attitude is always important. People see our attitude. A positive attitude helps win someone to Jesus while a negative attitude will turn people away from Jesus. That is simple common sense, but it is common sense that is lacking in many Christians today.

Verse 8

"... knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord."

In this verse Paul wrote concerning both the slave and the free man. His statement applies to both. It is a Biblical truth. Service, or good works, if done from the proper motivation, will be rewarded by Jesus. Just when one is rewarded is up to Jesus. If you read 1 Corinthians 3 you will note that some day, all Christians will be judged by Jesus for their good works, for their service done for the Lord. This is often called the "Judgment Seat of Christ" and should not be confused with the White Throne Judgment of sinners we see in Revelation 20:12. Works of service performed with good motives will be rewarded and works of service done from bad motives will burn in the fire of judgment. This would tell us that most of our rewards will come in the next life. I suggest that the very life of Paul himself proves that to be true. He lived a tough life. He had little to no material rewards for his godly works of service. His rewards were his converts to Jesus, seeing them mature in the Lord, as he waited for his heavenly rewards. Our present-day teaching of receiving an abundance of material rewards in this life is just not Biblical.

Here is what 1 Corinthians 3:13 and 14 say about the Christian's works of service being judge by Jesus.

"... each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward."

Verse 9

"And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him."

Paul now turns his attention to Christian slave masters. We know they are Christians because he says that their master is Jesus Himself. If you take Paul's admonishment seriously, you should agree with me that a Christian slave owner should treat his slave as a brother in the Lord. The master should realize that both he and his slave were purchased by Jesus. Both he and his slave belong to Jesus, and, as Jesus treats people, so should a slave master treat those under his care. The words "under his care" should be the attitude of the slave master. For the most part, this attitude did not exist in the so-called Christian south in America in decades past.

I would also suggest, then, that you can take Paul's instructions to slave masters to also be the instructions to Christian employers in our day.

More Thoughts

The Bible does not overtly disapprove of slavery, as to say, "thou shall not own a slave." It does, however, disapprove of the practice. If you read Paul's instructions to Philemon you will see that Paul told Philemon to treat his slave as a brother in the Lord. I believe that is the bottom line to how the Bible views slavery. If one treated his slave as a brother in Christ, then one cannot view his slave as something he owns.

The obvious question thus arises. Should a Christian slave owner free His slaves, and why didn't Paul overtly tell that to Philemon? First of all, we do not know any unwritten instructions that Paul gave Philemon. He might have been more overt in person. Whatever the case, setting slaves free in Paul's day might have been more of a harmful thing for many slaves, due to the fact that many had no real skills to support themselves. For this reason, some slaves who were offered freedom chose to remain slaves. Paul might have told Philemon to treat his slave as a brother in the Lord. That would mean that whatever was best for his slave he must do, meaning, free the slave or keep him and care for him.

Ephesians 6:10 - 20

10 - Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. ¹³For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. ¹⁴Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, ¹⁵and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. ¹⁸Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. ¹⁹Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. ²⁰For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.

My Commentary

Verse 10

"Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength."

The CSB's version of this verse says "be strengthened." Other translations say something like "be strong." Be strong is a Greek present active imperative verb, meaning, it is a command to be strengthened. The Greek word "endynamoo" is translated as "be strengthened" in the CSB. This word finds its roots in the Greek word "dumanis." We have seen this word before. It is translated as power in the New Testament. We derive our English word "dynamite" from this Greek root

word. Paul was encouraging his readers to be powerfully strong in the dynamite power that is available from Jesus.

The Greek word "kratis" is translated as "strength" at the end of the CSB version of this verse. We are to be strong in the Lord's strength. It is obviously a different Greek word than the word "strengthened" in the first part of this verse. This word suggests a creative strengthening power. That is to say, a power that is powerful enough to create all we need to survive what Paul is about to describe.

There is clearly enough dynamic power available from Jesus so we can withstand the power of the devil as seen in the next few verses.

Verse 11

"Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil."

The verb "put on" is a Greek aorist middle imperative verb. Imperative means that this is a command, not a suggestion. Aorist means that this should be a one time completed action, as in, right now, I decide to put on the full armor of God. The middle part of this verb tense suggests that not only we do the putting on but someone, meaning the Holy Spirit, helps us put the armor on. A middle voice verb is when the subject of the sentence is both doing the action of the sentence and having the same action done to it. We do not see this in our English translation. The simple fact is that we must put on the armor of God and we need help in doing so, and that is where the Holy Spirit comes into the picture.

The word "armor" is a military word. It suggests that we are in a battle, and Paul said that the battle is with the devil. He is our enemy. One thing we should note is that all of the armor that Paul lists here is defensive armor. I, thus conclude, that we will never defeat the devil. Only Jesus will do that when He throws the devil into the Lake of Fire . What we do in this life is withstand the devil's attacks so he has no effect on us.

The idea that we cannot defeat the devil, but just withstand his attacks, is not understood by many Christians who like to think they can successfully bind the devil. We cannot bind the devil. We can simply withstand his attacks made against us. Again, Jesus and Jesus alone will eventually bind the devil when he is thrown into the Lake of Fire as seen in the Book of Revelation, but until then we are in the midst of the battle. Even then, Satan is bound, not destroyed.

Verse 12

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens."

Paul's thought here is not always appreciated these days. He said that our fight is not against flesh and blood. Our battle is not with other human beings, but you would never know that by the way we struggle through the battle. Far too often we fight with human beings, and we do so with humanistic means, but that is not where the real fight is and that is not the way we should be fighting.

In our highly political atmosphere, Christians, now more than ever, are fighting a political battle and those we oppose we view as our enemy. We should all realize that our human opponents are not our real opponents. Paul lists the opponents we are really facing in this verse. They are not people. They are not members of any political, religious, or ethnic people. They are spiritual forces in a spiritual world. They are demons.

Paul had his human opponents. They were both religious and political, but he did not view them as his real opponents. He viewed them as people in desperate need of Jesus and salvation. Caesar Nero opposed Paul but I am convinced that Paul did not view him as the real opponent. I believe that Paul prayed for Nero. I believe Paul's desire was to win Nero for Jesus.

The list that Paul provided here in this section of his letter has been debated. Are those listed in this list different demonic forces, each having its own sphere of satanic responsibility in the battle, or, is the list simply different descriptive terms for demons in general? You can figure that one out for yourself. I tend to believe that this list is comprised of various ranks in the demonic army.

Verse 13

"For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand."

Note the defensive posture Paul is writing about. The phrases "may be able to resist" and "taken your stand" clearly denote this defensive posture. Too often, as I have already pointed out, people have understood this section of Paul's letter to be offensive in nature, when it is not.

Once again, the Greek verb tense of the phrase "take up" suggests making a decision to once and for all take up your defensive position against the attack of the devil.

What particular evil day Paul had in mind, if he actually had a particular evil day in mind, is debatable. Some might suggest that he was thinking about end time evil, as in the Great Tribulation, but I am not convinced of that. There is no contextual proof for that reasoning. He might well have had in mind an evil day that strikes all individuals at one time or another in life. Paul believed that we lived in an evil world, and therefore, evil days come and go because we live in an evil world. This is how I tend to view the meaning to words "evil day" in this verse.

Verse 14

"Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest,"

Once again, the word "stand" suggests a defensive posture, not an offensive posture, as I have been saying. Paul wrote two pieces of defensive armor in this verse, that is, truth and righteousness.

God, and thus Jesus, is both pure truth. They are the ultimate in universal truth. There is no hint of falseness in them. As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth within us. John 14:17 states that the Holy Spirit is in fact the Spirit of Truth. It reads:

"He [Holy Spirit] is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn't see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you."

Embracing God's truth and being truthful is a piece of armor that will deflect the attack of the devil. He is just the opposite to truth. He is a liar. John 8:44 makes this clear.

"You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies."

The fact that the devil is a liar and you the Christian, is a person of truth, means that he has no place within you to take advantage of. He will leave and lose the battle over truth. The battle over truth is raging these days when truth is relative.

As I finish writing this commentary in 2021, it is my opinion that many Christians are not living a life of truth. You see many irrational, exaggerated conspiracies written on social media that are from truthful. This is not what Paul had in mind when he said we should put on the belt of truth. You don't prove a point by denying the truth.

The other piece of armor Paul wrote about in this verse is being righteous. We must understand that righteousness in its basic meaning is not a matter of morality. If one is righteous in God's eyes, that means he is in "right standing" with God, and, one who is in right standing with God is expected, then, to live as one who is in right standing with God. This is where the word "righteousness" comes into play as a moral word, but its sense of morality is secondary to its meaning as being in right relationship with God.

The armor of righteousness will deflect the devil's attack. He knows that you are in right standing with God, and, as that right standing produces a righteous moral life, the devil will find nothing within you to grab hold of and lead you astray.

Verse 15

"and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace."

Our feet take us places. Christians are not to stand still. We are not to be passive people. We are to move, go out, and do the will of the Lord, and in this case, the will of the Lord is to be an ambassador of peace. Part of the gospel we are to preach and live out in our lives is that Jesus is the source of peace. He is the Prince of Peace. When we hand our lives over to Him, we have both peace with Him and the peace He provides within us.

Matthew 5:9 reads:

"Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called sons of God."

Christians are to do their best to live in peace with as many as possible. We do not compromise the truth in the process, but we still attempt to live in peace, and we do so as a way in which to lead people to Jesus and create unity in the church. Paul encouraged his Roman readers to live in peace, at least as much as was possible, understanding that not everyone wants to live in peace. Romans 14:19 reads:

"So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another."

Striving and arguing with people tends to separate people into various factions, and these factions are something the devil can grab hold of and use to promote his cause. When relationships experience a fracture, that fracture is a place where the devil can move in and cause havoc. This is why peace is a defensive piece of armor.

Verse 16

"In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."

The piece of armor we see in this verse is the shield of faith. We must understand faith to be trust because that is what the Greek word "pistis" that is translated as faith, believe, or trust, in the New Testament means. Trusting your life with Jesus is fundamental to living a successful Christian life, and this certainly includes the times of satanic battle.

Verse 17

"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God."

A helmet covers one's head, ones brain. Our brain is where we think, know, understand, so we can live out what we know and understand. Protecting our spiritual brain is important. Knowing for sure, without any doubt, that you are saved, is basic, not only to the Christian life but in the satanic battle. You cannot win a battle if you are not sure what side of the battle you are on. It is simple common sense.

Protecting our physical brains also implies holding to well thought out, sound doctrine. The word "doctrine" is becoming a bad word these days, but sound doctrine is mandatory for both the Christian and the church. It needs to be protected at all costs from the multitude of heresies that continue to attack the Christian and the church. Heresy can be used by the devil to destroy both the Christian and the church.

The sword can be used defensively and offensively. It is used to both protect and injure. A defensive sword is meant to protect while an offensive sword is meant to kill. Since we cannot kill the devil, this sword, especially in this context, is a defensive sword. The sword is a Holy Spirit sword, which is God's word, whether written in the Bible or spoken to our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

We often think of the Bible as the very Word of God. We, therefore, might interpret the sword of the Spirit in this verse to mean we must memorize, speak, and apply the written Word of God in our battle against the devil; much like Jesus Himself did when He was being tempted by the devil while in the wilderness, as seen in Matthew, chapter 4. As twenty-first century Christians, that is one appropriate way of understanding Paul's statement, which was often spoken and not read. On the other hand, the only written, canonical Bible that Paul and others had back then was the Old Testament. We should, thus, understand the Word of God to be just as much the spoken Word of God as the written Word of God. All this assumes that what we believe are the spoken words of God to our hearts don't contradict the written words of God found in the Bible. The words we speak in our fight against the devil should be God's words, not our words. Only God's words can send the devil on his way.

Verse 18

"Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints."

The word "pray" in this verse is a Greek aorist middle participle. That suggests that the decision to pray should be made once and for all to not just pray but be a "praying one," which you should be due to your new nature in Christ. Since this is a middle voice participle, this means that the action of praying or being a praying one is due to you doing the praying and the Holy Spirit helping you pray as you should. That means that the Holy Spirit is just as much involved in your life of prayer as you are. This can also be seen with the addition of the words "in the Spirit." Our very new nature in Christ makes us praying ones. It's not that we just pray from time to time, we, through the Spirit, are always in communication with Jesus.

When it comes to prayer, there are a variety of different kinds of prayer, from simple talking to the Lord to heavy duty, on your knees style, intercession. With the use of the word "requests" here, Paul had in mind that some of these prayers would be requests for certain things that would help us in our battle with the devil.

Some might wonder how one can pray "at all times," or, "all of the time." I believe we can learn to direct our thoughts to the Lord. We all think, and we all think to ourselves. Just start thinking to Jesus. In this sense one can pray all of the time. Also, if we can develop an ongoing relationship with Jesus through His Spirit, there can be a sense of His ongoing presence in our lives, which would be considered part of the process of prayer. The problem is that our sin messes up our communion with God, even though our sin has been forgiven.

The last part of the verse specifies a certain kind of prayer that we must never give up on praying, and that is, the heavy duty, on your knees style, intercessory prayer as I mentioned above, and that, with the emphasis on praying for your brothers and sisters in the Lord.

"Being alert" would suggest that we are in tune with the needs of those to whom Jesus has placed us alongside in the Body of Christ. This would suggest that we have built a healthy, supportive, and personal relationship with these brother and sisters in Christ, which is fundamental to the meaning of church and is important in our battle with the devil. That being the case, our prayers would be prayed with a good measure of intelligence. Intelligent prayer is important.

Being alert also means that we are aware of things happening around us, especially so when we are in the midst of the satanic battle. Being sidetracked by unnecessary issues of life only gets our minds off the battle. We must be alert to these secondary issues that crop up from time to time.

Verse 19

"Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel."

The prayer requests that these Ephesian believers were to pray for would include prayer for Paul. Note what Paul wanted these people to pray for. It was not that he would be released from prison. It was not for anything that might benefit himself. The prayer request was for him to be able to boldly proclaim Jesus, and in his present situation, part of the proclamation would have been to the Roman guards to which he was chained.

Verse 20

^"For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should."

"For this I am an ambassador in chains" means that the reason why Paul was chained to guards was because he was a Christian, and he was known to preach the gospel. This is interesting. The very reason why Paul was put in prison, house arrest in this case, was what he wanted to do more of. That goes against the very grain of human nature. Paul was not afraid to suffer for the sake of His Lord. It may be difficult for us to imagine but Paul wanted to do more of what he was in chains for, and he wanted to do it more boldly and more effectively.

I realize that other passages of Paul's suggest that he could have been eager to be released from prison in order for him to see those he cared for, but, if prison was God's will for him, then prison it would be. He would preach Jesus to the guards without complaints.

More Thoughts

What we should learn from this passage is that if you are truly a born-again-of-the-Spirit Christian, and that is the only kind of Christian there is, then you will be in a battle. You, are in fact, the battleground, and the battle is with the satanic world, not any human being.

It is obvious that all of the armor Paul wrote about is defensive in nature, and that would include a defensive style sword. We cannot kill the devil or his agents. We can, however, cause them to leave our presence. We cannot bind the devil, as so many Christians attempt to do. We can only send him away. It is Jesus and Jesus alone who will bind the devil in the Lake of Fire , and even then, he is bound, not killed.

In our highly politicalized world, we should realize that in the midst of our unhealthy political debates as Christians, our fight is not with people. Our fight is not with liberals or conservatives. Our fight is with the satanic rulers, not human rulers of this world. As Christians, we would do ourselves a great favour to understand this and implement it into our daily lives.

Ephesians 6:21 - 24

21 - Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed. ²²I am sending him to you for this very reason, to let you know how we are and to encourage your hearts.

²³Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

My Commentary

Verse 21

"Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed."

It appears from what Paul said here that Tychious would deliver this letter to the believers at Ephesus . He would inform them all about Paul's stay in Rome as a prisoner in chains. This tells us much about Paul and about his relation to those God had called him to care for. He wanted them to be informed. That is typical Paul. Both being informed, and informing others, is part of a successful relationship.

Tychicus was an Asian Gentile brother in the Lord. You can find him mentioned in Acts 20:4, Colossians 4:7, 2 Timothy 4:12, and Titus 3:14.

Verse 22

"I am sending him to you for this very reason, to let you know how we are and to encourage your hearts."

Paul repeated himself here in verse 22. He wanted the Ephesian believers to know how they, "we" in the text, were doing. Note the word "we." Paul had others with him, and that was his normal way of ministry. Church is a corporate venture. It is not a one man does everything venture. Plurality of elders, for example, is what the New Testament teaches about church leaders. Ministry in church is a co-operative effort by those God has called to work together. Even in chains, Paul had men who were not in chains, to minister with him.

Verse 23

"Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Note the words "peace, love, and faith." These are common words that Paul used throughout his letters. His desire was for all believers everywhere to live in peace with their God and with each other.

The love Paul wrote about here, as was normal for Paul, was agape love, that is, sacrificial love. It is the only kind of love that the Bible teaches for Christians. If there is no sacrifice in one's attempt to love, then it is not Biblical love. It is a lesser form of love, which can be seen in the Greek word "philos." Philos suggests a brotherly love, a love that is reciprocated between two or more people, but, does not necessarily exhibit any sacrifice.

Again, as I have said throughout this commentary, the word "faith" is translated from the Greek word "pistis" that means trust. Christians must demonstrate a life of trust. They trust Jesus, not only for their salvation and eternal destiny, but they trust Him with every aspect of their lives. This trust, then, must be exhibited in the relationships they have with each other.

The peace, love, and faith that the Ephesian Christians are to exhibit in their relationships come from both God the Father and Jesus His Son. What we receive from God and Jesus we are expected to pass on to others.

The fact that Paul linked God the Father with Jesus His Son, as he always does, speaks to the Deity of Christ. It points out the divine nature of Jesus. It means that Jesus was God in human form while He was on earth and is now God in some kind of glorified human form.

Verse 24

"Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ."

As I have noted in this commentary, there are two definitions of the word "grace" found in the Bible. Grace being God's love and favour directed to us who do not deserve it, is the most common meaning of the word "grace." That being said, grace is also God's divine ability given to us to accomplish His will. This definition is less understood or even known, but it is vitally important in our every day lives as Christians. We need God's divine ability to accomplish His will in our lives and without it, all we do is simple humanism that differs little from what a non-Christian would do.

Paul ends his letter with the acknowledgement that the Ephesian believers are hopefully ones who love, sacrificially love, their Lord Jesus Christ. This means that Christians are expected to sacrifice for their Lord. He is their Lord, and as Lord, Christians obey and submit to Him because of the great love He has for them.

Paul's last words are "Lord Jesus Christ." Jesus is His earthly name. Lord and Christ are His two divine titles. As Lord, we offer our lives to Jesus. As Christ, He offers His life to us. May this be a reality in your life.

Closing Remarks

Paul's letter to the Ephesians is a theological document that if implemented into one's life will cause an outward and visible change in the way one lives. For this reason, we note that the first three chapters of this letter are theological in nature while the last three chapters show the practical results of one who implements the theology of the first three chapters.

May Jesus bless you in whatever way He sees fit as you implement the lessons of Paul's letter to the Ephesians in your life.

About The Author

I live in Ontario , Canada , with my wife Dianne, where I was born in 1951. My entire life has been spent within what has been traditionally called Evangelical Christianity. I have read the Bible from the earliest of age, but I have been a serious student of the Bible since 1970 and attended Elim Bible Institute and College in Lima , New York , U.S.A. in the mid 1970's. My passion in life is to not only study and teach the Bible but to allow its message to be lived out in my daily life and experience. Bible study is more than an intellectual pursuit for me.

When it comes to church, I have done pretty much everything one can do as a layperson. From sweeping the floors to preaching on a Sunday morning: I have pretty much done it all. What I enjoy most is teaching the Bible and playing guitar, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica, as part of a worship team who loves to worship Jesus in song.

You can learn more about me and my teaching by visiting my web site at www.stevesweetman.com. It has been in existed since the year 2000. I add to it almost on a daily basis. You can also find me on YouTube and Facebook, both of which I use to share Biblical truth.

I like to say that I am a Bible teacher with a prophetic edge. That simply means that hopefully my teaching is personally relevant in the daily lives of those to whom I teach.

On a personal note, I have been legally blind since birth, so, Bible study for me takes much effort. I read with one eye as my nose scrapes across the printed page with the use of a magnifier in the right lens of my glasses. The tip of my nose often gets black from the ink on the printed page. As I reread these words with the assistance of large print software my nose is less than one inch from my twenty seven inch monitor, but that's okay. Jesus has blessed me beyond measure over the decades. Besides His biggest blessing of salvation, He healed me of Juvenile Diabetes at the age of six years old. I would not be alive today to type these words if not for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing power to heal sick bodies. The doctors at Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto , Ontario , Canada , called it a miracle. They just didn't attribute the miracle to Jesus. As a result my deliverance from this devastating illness, my father handed his life over to Jesus. Dad now lives in his heavenly home with mom, where I wonder if they are keeping an eye on Jesse for us.

I hope and pray that what you have read in this book will have been somewhat instructive and thought-provoking. I certainly do not claim to have all of the answers to all of our questions. I am still digging my way through the pages of the Bible to learn and understand all I can, as I hope you are doing as well.

Other Books By Stephen Sweetman

In closing, I would like to thank you for both reading and purchasing my book.

For your information, I have written other books that you can purchase on many Amazon web site platforms. They include:

Divorce, Remarriage, And God's Original Intention

Will I Ever See My Buddy Again (God, Pets, And Eternity)

The Age of the Messiah (The Thousand Year Rule Of Christ On Earth)

Living in the Light of Scripture - Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, volume 4, and volume 5

Revisiting Pentecost (Rethinking the Baptism In The Holy Spirit)

Irrevocable Promises (The Abrahamic Covenant And Bible Prophecy)

The Politics of God and the Bible

An Elderly Man Speaks (My Commentary On 1 John)

After All These Years (My Life As A Christian)

My Journey Through The Ecclesiastical Maze

Confirm Your Call To Lead (Church Leadership Is A Calling, Not A Career)

Should I Tithe?

Who Was Paul (a brief introduction to the life of the apostle Paul)

What The Bible Says About Slavery

Clarifying Biblical Forgiveness

Clarifying Biblical Salvation

Clarifying Biblical Healing

Clarifying Biblical Interpretation

Contact Me

You can contact me at: www.stevesweetman.com

You can email me at;

ssweetman11@cogeco.ca

sesweetman51@gmail.com

I can also be found on Facebook under the name Steve Sweetman and also on YouTube, also under the name Steve Sweetman .

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