seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it[a] says:
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions[c]? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
a. Ephesians 4:8 Or God
b. Ephesians 4:8 Psalm 68:18
c. Ephesians 4:9 Or the depths of the earth
d. Ephesians 4:26 Psalm 4:4 (see Septuagint)
The commentary is from the easy English site.
Paul now lists 4 qualities. The first is that we need to be ‘humble’. All people are of equal value to God. So no one Christian is more important than any other Christian is. To be humble means to recognise this. We should not be proud. We should not think that we are more important than other people. The Greeks understood this differently from the Jews. The Greeks did not think that people should be humble. They did not want to be humble. To be humble was to be weak. They used a plant to describe it. This plant kept close to the ground and it always seemed to be trying to hide itself. The Greeks did not like that. They did not think that to be humble was a good quality. Neither do many people today.
Paul, however, gives a new meaning to the word ‘humble’. A Christian should not have too great an opinion about himself. But he will want to know himself as he really is. He will look at the life of Christ. He will compare his life with his Lord’s life. He will see then how weak and selfish he is. He will see the great difference. Then he will have a true opinion about himself. Because he thinks like this, he will respect other people. He will be kind towards them. Jesus was humble when he became a man (Philippians 2:6-7). Also, Paul says that it is not just ‘be humble’ but ‘be completely humble’. A Christian should be humble in every way.
The second quality is to be ‘gentle’. This means to be under control. It is like a horse. He is strong but in perfect control. It is like a strong man who is able control himself. He uses his strength for good purposes. He is gentle with other people. He will be kind to them. It is like Jesus. He said about himself, ‘my attitude is gentle and humble’. A gentle person will not worry if someone hurts him. And he will not worry if someone does something wrong to him.
The third quality is to be ‘patient’ (or longsuffering). It means not to give up when things are against you. Suppose someone acts wrongly towards you. You must not do the same to them. This is what God is like (Romans 2:4). He does not act badly against us when we act badly against him.
The fourth quality is to be tolerant. This is to practise patience in daily life. It is to ‘show love to people who do not agree with you’. It is to be patient with the faults of another person. You continue to love a person when he does the wrong things. That means things that you do not like. Paul wants his friends to have these qualities only in love. Paul has already prayed for his friends. He prayed that they would ‘be like plants with roots in the ground of his love’. Now he prays that Christians will have all these qualities in love.
‘There is one God and Father of all. He is over all. He works by all and he lives in you all.’ In this one sentence, Paul speaks about the greatness and wonder of God. We live in a world where God is at the head of everything. This is what Christians believe. God is in control of everything. God keeps everything going and he holds everything together (Colossians 1:17). God is in all Christians. He knows about everything that happens. This same God is in us. He is working out his plan by us.
In the original Greek, it says that Jesus has given certain people to the church as a gift. These people have different gifts. But together they are God’s gift to the church. Here Paul describes the gifts that God has given to these people. He gives them the gifts to help other members of the church. They then use their gifts and do their jobs in the church. The result of this is that God can build up the church. Now it can grow.
The church is the body of Christ. In the body, it is not necessary for any one member to have all the gifts. These gifts should be for all the members. God’s gift was for some people to be apostles and for some people to be prophets. Also, it was for some people to tell the good news about Jesus. And it was for some people to be pastors and teachers. The purpose is to prepare ‘God’s people to do his work’. This is so that Christ can build up the church, his body. The leaders’ work is to give the members the equipment that they need. Then the members can do their different jobs in the church. Think about the reason for this. It is because God was ‘building them up into one body in Christ’.
Jesus said that we should be like children. They have a simple faith and trust in their parents. But there is one way in which we should not be like children. They may not have much knowledge about God’s word. We should not let things move us away from our faith. The winds are like a picture of the false things that clever men can teach. They lead us away from the truth. It is like the snake that led Adam and Eve away from God.
Unlike such evil men, we should ‘speak the truth with love’. This means that we should not only speak the truth. We should also act the truth. We act the truth as we behave properly towards other people. Truth and love must be in the right balance. It is possible to have all truth but no love. It is also possible to have all love but no truth. We speak the truth ‘with love’ to help other people. We must spread the truth and we must love each other.
Paul writes about the Gentiles. ‘Their minds are confused. They are like blind men, who can see nothing.’ There is no real wisdom in their minds. Paul is now speaking very seriously. He wants the new Christians to be careful. He wants them to listen to what he is saying. ‘I say this in the name of the Lord’, he says. He describes the kind of life that they used to live. They lived like that before they became Christians. It was the very worst kind of life that you can think of. It was very evil. That is how it was in Greece and Rome then. And it is like that in our world today.
The first description of this evil life is, ‘They do not know about the life that God gives.’ Their minds are confused. Many people who do not know God have no real purpose in life. They do not plan their lives well. However, all people are not as Paul describes. But this is how their lives will develop if they do not know God. This is how it is when people have no thought about God in their lives.
Next, they ‘refuse to listen to him’. These people are separate from God because they have no knowledge of God. They are separate from God, who alone gives life.
‘God has given you a new nature, so put it on’. Now that we have taken off the old nature, Paul asks us to put on the new nature. It is our new way to live. God created Adam and Eve. He made them perfect and he gave them his own nature. It is a nature of true goodness and holy ways. God was close to them all the time. He walked with them and he talked with them. But their sin caused everything to go wrong. They lost this close relationship and they lost God’s nature.
But now God has given that relationship back to us. This is by Christ who died for us on the cross. It is the relationship of the new birth. By his death, men and women can be born a second time. God has given us again a relationship with himself. It is now as it was when God first created Adam and Eve. Jesus’ death made right all that the sin of Adam and Eve had spoilt.
We need to think in the way that pleases God. This will help us to stop evil words and actions. So ‘be friends’ and ‘be kind to each other.’ And ‘forgive each other, just as God forgave you. God forgave you because of Christ.’ God shows his kindness even to those who do not honour him. God shows his kindness to us. Kindness is to put love into action. It is to think about someone else. You think about them as much as you think about yourself.
So Paul goes on to say, ‘forgive each other’. The apostle knows, however, what prevents us from being kind and thinking good things about each other. We can all think of an occasion when another person did something wrong to us. We need to forgive that person. For ‘kind’, Paul uses the Greek word for ‘grace’. It means to act in grace towards each other. It means to give grace to someone. This is how God in Christ has acted in grace towards us. You can be sure that God forgave you. You love God. So you too will want to forgive (give grace) to other people. God has put our sin away. He has put it away as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). Jesus is our example of forgiveness.
I think I learned in Sunday School that this chapter was a discussion on how humans should live. It lists a bunch of regular every day sins... those sins brought on by every day living. It starts with lying and goes on to other stuff. Anything we do that doesn't reflect well on God.... well... we should quit.
I want to warn anyone who is not a Christian now..... once you become a Christian.... you will change. It's not like a huge change... I mean a squad of angels isn't assigned to install your halo and sew a thumper to your hand. You won't be issued x-ray glasses so you can see all the horrible stuff people are really thinking. You won't be issued a robe that shines or sandals that run as fast as a cheetah. It's a subtle change.... BUT.... it is a change. You might even start to feel something going on in your life right before you make that decision.... but there will definitely be a change. You will understand feeling loved.
Most of us go through the majority of our lives alone. Sure we have great parents, wonderful spouses, great kids, and good friends... but when the lights are off and the doors are locked and a decision has to be made... we're on our own. Sure we can get everyone's input.... but at that final fraction of a second... when a decision has to be made.... we're flying solo.
When a human makes a decision to follow God.... to confess to Jesus... to allow Jesus to take over.... then in an instant.... a wash.... a feeling... it's a real thing... a wash comes over us... and we don't feel alone any more. We feel like we have this new sense of what decision we should make. We have a guide. It's like when we accept Jesus as our Savior.... an internal GPS turns on. That's what I think the Bible means when it talks about the Spirit.... that feeling of "help".
As I recall... the preachers are always supposed to point out the sins we are capable of..... like this is even the tip of the iceberg. Humans can sin without even getting out of bed.
I had a friend who had a serious drinking problem. He got into trouble and had to go into rehab or go to prison. He chose rehab. The one question he had for his friends and his wife.... "what if I sober up and I don't like you anymore". Notice... he didn't say "you don't like me anymore".... he said "what if I don't like you anymore".... was that a threat or a fear? Are some afraid to accept Jesus because they are afraid of the consequences?
I've seen more than one old drunk sober up and take on a great life...... and they left the family behind..... that's a real fear.
What if I accept Jesus and we don't like each other any more ... then what????
Christian Living is like having a guide. We try to stay on the path the guide is using. We aren't perfect... we do stray... but the guide has us on His GPS and He keeps an eye on us.... gently guiding us back to the right path. Our guide doesn't beat us over the head and demand that we do or don't do things. Our guide just shows us which path we should choose.... and since we chose our guide.... we follow him. Why would I bother to have a guide if I wasn't going to follow him? Why would someone go on a safari... hire a guide... and then wander off on their own path??? What sense does that make.....
A human on a safari has a guide. A human on the path to Heaven... has a guide. The trip is easier if we stick on the path the guide has chosen.
That to me is what Christian Living is.
