Prayerful Action: Ephesians 6

In Summary: Paul is wrapping up his letter to the Church of Ephesus. Naturally, the last chapter is not just his farewells and concluding thoughts, but the continuation of his prior instructions. After all, he didn’t mark where Ephesians 6 should begin. If Paul had done the paragraphs, I think he would have separated Ephesians 6:21-24 as a section. (As in the ESV and NIV)

Before that there are two major portions of this chapter. The first finishes the specific application points from Ephesians 5, detailing parenting and slave-master relationships. It is important to note that the latter were a fact of Roman life, and Paul addresses living in reality rather than prescribing a future way of life. An ideal Christian world does not have right master-slave relationships. It has no slavery, and Ephesians 6:9 should make that clearer to us all. After all, how would slavery ever work without threatening? It does not.

The interaction between parents and children is also in view in the first section of Ephesians 6. As we are wont to do at times, overemphasis hits “children obey your parents” without much consideration of parental responsibility. Yet both are here, and neither are optional. These concepts also turn much of traditional Roman family life sideways. Children obeyed their parents because parents had life and death power (well, fathers did), and fathers did as they pleased. Paul says that the Christian household is characterized by a focus on Christ, a trust in His promises, and a commitment that all walk with Jesus.

Not on power exercised by only one person in the household. Those implications need filling out over time, but no Christian household is rightly dominated by any person other than the Person of Jesus Christ. Modern society sees child-dominated homes, wife-dominated homes, husband-dominated homes, and sin/chaos-dominated homes. Christian homes should not look like any of these.

In Focus: Turning our eyes to the second major section, we find the Armor of God passage. If you have been in church long, or if you have been in a Christian youth group, you’ve heard this discussed. We are to put on the armor, stand firm, and fight for the faith! (Note the evening sermon here: http://www.doughibbard.com/2013/02/sermon-warp-up-february-3.html)

I am persuaded, though, that we have cut a division at Ephesians 6:18 that does not belong there. We cut off Paul’s imperative to pray at all times, including for himself, from the Armor of God passage. We distance the preparation from the action.

Consider that the Armor Passage does not open with the command to be strong, as we often claim. It begins with the rhetorical marker of “Finally,” showing that what follows is Paul’s closing thought. It should be treated as a unified thought.

In Practice: If the Armor of God is related to prayer for one another, including and especially prayer to proclaim the Word of God (Ephesians 6:19-20), then we should focus on this action. Soldiers did not wear armor around just for show—not functional armor. It weighs too much for that.

We need to grasp that neither prayer nor action are the call of the Christian life. The call of the Christian life is to walk in obedience to Jesus, which requires constant prayerful action. Paul does not commend additional prayer times or further prayer meetings.

Neither does he command that the Church take on physical training or even specific programs. Instead, the command is to be ready, do battle, and pray always. Pray for the saints to prepare, to persevere, and to proclaim.

This is what obedience looks like: aware of danger, attached to the power of God, advancing into the darkness. This is what we should be doing.

In Nerdiness: Take a look at 2 Timothy 4:12 and Acts 20:4. We see the name Tychicus, as we have in Ephesians 6:21. It is possible to make the error of assuming all Biblical people with the same name are the same person, though “Mary” and “James” should clear that up for us.

Still, one can imagine that the Tychicus of Ephesians and the Tychicus of 2 Timothy are the same. Notice that in 2 Timothy, Paul has sent Tychicus to Ephesus. Now, we take Ephesians as a Prison Letter, drawn up by Paul while under guard and in chains. That much we are certain of. Frequently, though, we place Paul in his Acts 28 imprisonment here, where conditions are at least decent. We put 2 Timothy all the way at the end of his life.

Yet we put Ephesians earlier. I am searching my available sources for reasons why, but that’s a nerd concept that needs examined. How does the involvement of Tychicus affect our timelines of the Pauline Epistles?

Walk this Way: Ephesians 5

In Summary: We dig deeper into the implications of being seated in the heavenly places with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). One of the key contrasts in Ephesians is the mixture of statements of what we are and what we should do.

For example, Ephesians 5 is filled with instructive and imperative statements. Paul opens with “be imitators of God,” and there are no complete thoughts without commands in the rest of the chapter. Paul either commands “Do not participate in unfruitful deeds…” (5:11) or explains on why, for “all things become visible” (5:13).

This matters. Certain parts of the Christian life are settled realities while other parts are our responsibility to carry forward. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places because salvation is certain and held by Him. Not one of Paul’s commands and instructions should be understood to earn God’s favor, nor should their absence be seen as removing one from the grace of God.

In Focus: Instead, consider the commands, such as Ephesians 5:1-2’s commands to “be imitators of God…and walk in love…” as reflections that show whether or not we are truly seated in Christ. It is not that we must do this if we want to be seated in the heavenly places with Christ.

It is that we will do this if we are seated with Christ. Why?

Because it’s what Jesus does. We cannot claim to be secure in Jesus and not be involved in living a life like His, living in obedience to what He says to do. And the best way to understand what He saids?

Do what He did. Walk in love, eschew the darkness, and be self-sacrificial in your relationships with others. All of this pleases God, and makes our presence in Christ a unified action before God.

It is actually easier to see what it does not look like to imitate God than it is to define exactly what it does look like. After all, my life and yours are different. I am married, and so the commands in Ephesians 5:22-33 apply to me, but if you are single, then your obedience looks different. You have no spouse to treat properly—though there are implications for your behavior toward other people still to be found here.

Paul describes the imitation of God as walking for a reason. It changes and adjusts as the days go forward, and you face various obstacles in that process. You overcome, you grow, and you succeed and stumble differently in different days.

In Practice: With that in mind, Paul still gives some specific application points that we can practice today.

1. First: Some “do nots” in the passage, such as in Ephesians 5:5. Avoiding immorality and impurity are usual targets for our anti-sin efforts. Paul equates avoiding covetousness with these. Materialism and sexual impropriety are prevalent in our culture, and should be avoided by we who walk with Christ. This includes how we guide and grow our churches.
2. Second: Do not be deceived (5:6). The truth should dwell in us, and we ought to spot those items which would lead us astray. Note that this is not the exclusive province of ministers or bloggers, but is commanded of the believer. Focus on the truth and avoid lies—even if they are sold by good-meaning people.
3. Third: Give thanks and be encouraging (5:18-20). Leaving aside some of the implications of 5:18, look at the overall picture here. We give thanks and encourage one another, teaching and growing through music and word. These are group activities, and it is community with Believers in Christ that holds us together.

In Nerdiness:  There are two major nerd points in this chapter.

The first is in Ephesians 5:18 and ties back among the commands and ideals of wisdom. Wrestling with “do not get drunk with wine” has split many a calm fellowship. There is a difference in “drunk with wine” and “filled with the Spirit,” as well. These are not the same word in Greek (as I have heard one person try to put it). This is not a command to be “drunk” in the Spirit. That’s nonsense.

The idea of drunkenness evokes a picture of being out of control and bringing only chaos. The person filled with the Spirit is still in control—and controlled by the right person. Notice the connection between filled with the Spirit and speaking to one another. There’s community and connection here.

The second major nerd point is Ephesians 5:21-22. In a crowd of New Testament interpreters, you will get differences of opinion as to whether or not “be subject to one another in the fear of Christ” goes with the preceding section or introduces the next section. The grammatical evidence seems equivocal at best, and I’m inclined to suggest an answer of “both/and” here against “either/or.”

The issue? If 21 goes with 22, then there are implications for how we understand “Wives, be subject to your own husbands.” In fact, we need the verb from v. 21 to give us the implied verb in v. 22. Is this mutual submission or is there a clarity of roles here?

The further explanation supports the idea that there is a division of roles in marriage, but exactly how much here is about Christ and the Church and how much is meant to be imitated is oft-debated. There is connection throughout Scripture on much of this point, and too much is made of wifely submission without locking on to husbandly sacrifice, which also anchors in an concept in 5:2.

I would encourage you to flesh this out for yourself and see what the full counsel of God says on this issue.

Unity, Not Stupidity: Ephesians 4

In Summary: Paul turns here, as he usually does halfway through an epistle, from the more conceptual ideas to the more practical ones. There is no great gulf fixed between these sections, as practical ideas readily work through the opening half and new concepts rise up in the second halves of his letters.

Typically, though, there is something of a mood shift when you hit the “therefore” that marks this turning. It’s also followed by an imperative, as we find here. Paul says to do this: walk worthy of the calling. The furtherance of the chapter develops this theme. That is, of course, not too narrow of a topic and much of Paul’s instruction to the church falls into that category.

Ephesians 4:17-18 then comes back to the point of walking, and this time presents a negative statement. Paul says not to walk as the Gentiles walked, evoking the image not of reasonable Gentiles but of lost Gentiles. The implication is that worshiping darkness, even by default or omission, is to be avoided.

In Focus: Yet another portion of Paul’s view here is that walking worthy of the calling involves walking in unity. Note how Ephesians 4:3-6 put a major emphasis on how the church is not made up of different ideas, but of the unity of the body and the Lord who is the head of the Church.

This is reinforced with the images of Jesus in His victory triumph in Ephesians 4:8 and the whole body knitted together in 4:16. Unity matters.

So, though, does truth. Note Ephesians 4:13-15 and the references to growing up, maturing, and not being tossed about by waves and wind. He commands that the Ephesians speak the truth, lay aside falsehood, and only seek the good of their brethren in Christ.

In short, he wants unity but not at the cost of stupidity.

In Practice: Where is this going? Three places. Ready?

First, we should pursue unity in the Lord. We. Believers, followers of Christ, we need to seek this unity. It falls to us to put forth effort to attain unity. It is not natural to be unified with others, because we tend towards a bit of self-centered behavior in life. This is not something to be forced from shortly above (anyone less than Jesus) nor is it something some of us luff about and wait for another to do. We have responsibilities to hold together here.

Second, we should pursue unity in the Lord. Unity. Togetherness in walking with Jesus. A willingness to go with all who are bought by the Blood of the Lamb. We so often let unity be about preferences or styles, when it’s about whether or not we are redeemed sinners. There is a difference. My fellow believers, we are not welcoming others into our group by pursuing unity. We are all celebrating that Jesus paid the price for us to be in His group.

Third, we should pursue unity in the Lord. In the Lord. The same One who calls Himself “The Truth.” That Lord. There is no unity bought by stupidity or ignoring the truth. Unity comes from the Lord Himself, that He died for us, rose again, and sits at the right hand of God. When we can keep this straight, we will not ignore real problems in the name of unity. Real problems, mind you, not fluffy ones like “I don’t like the paint.”

Real problems should be addressed, for the Lord Himself was often more direct in correcting religious arrogance than with broken sinners. Always being redemptive, for unlike Jesus we do not deal with sinners in the Body from a place of perfection, we still address untruth and sinful actions. We ought never let a veneer of unity cover our love for the truth. It is from our love of the Truth Himself that we are empowered to love others, not from a desire for unity.

Remember, unity, not stupidity. Stupid, foolish ignorance of the Word of God in the name of unity is not maturity. Neither is failing to act on the Word to fake that unity.

In Nerdiness: Ephesians 4:8 quotes Psalm 68:18, yet it invokes the image of a Roman Victory Triumph as well. This was the parade given a victorious general to celebrate his accomplishments. In that parade, the victor displayed evidence of what he had conquered, and then provided something akin to party favors.

This is a frequent tradition in the ancient world, and we still observe part of it in granting parades to returning victorious military. They just do not parade the captured plunder and enemies alongside them. This is part of understanding the history that Paul simply assumes his readers know, because they are familiar with the concept.

An additional interesting rabbit is to chase Ephesians 4:9. Does “he descended” mean Jesus went to Hell, or simply that He came to earth? Consult 3 theologians and you’ll get at least 3 answers. What do you think?

Keep Heart: Ephesians 3

In Summary: Ephesians, like half of Paul’s writings, is a short book. Short on words, but not short on content. Had Paul lived in the Age of Blogging, he could do in one post what many of us take a series of posts to do. Summarizing Paul takes more words than he used to say it in the first place!

Ephesians 3 addresses Paul’s comprehension of the Gospel as the mystery of Christ. Whole books have been written on this, but I’ll give you the quick view. Paul understood God’s grace, provided to humanity through faith by Christ, was the necessary component to being reconciled with God.

That was only the half of it. The mystery extended to the unity of all mankind before God. First, the unity in need of salvation by grace. Second, the unity of all humanity in the provision of the Gospel. Third, the unity of all the body of Christ in salvation.

Rather than seeing the world as a hodge-podge of component parts, Paul saw the mystery of humanity as a whole in need of God. And he saw that mystery solved at the Cross of Christ, vanquished at the Empty Tomb.

In Focus: Yet in dealing with the mysterious notions of faith, Paul recognized there was a problem. The world had not seen the revelation that God had given him, and this included many who knew much of God’s revelation at that point.

The result was that Paul suffered tribulation for his beliefs. These tribulations were not private, and even in the pre-social media age, the church at Ephesus knew of them. His concern was not that he escape further tribulation. This may be our typical response, but Paul saw something more alarming than his own welfare.

He saw the potential for his fellow laborers, his sharers in the mystery, to lose heart (Ephesians 3:13). If they lost heart, then they would not pass on what they had learned. Even worse, they may have neglected the confident access to God through Christ (Ephesians 3:11-12). Consider the horror! Jesus suffered, died, and rose again that we may have access, confident access through faith.

And seeing Paul suffer was causing some wavering in the hearts of the Ephesians. That could not be left unaddressed.

In Practice: Not being an Ephesians, what do we do with this?

First, we learn the mystery of God. This is not some esoteric knowledge, for it is fully revealed in Christ Jesus. We have all we need in the Word of God, so learn the mystery.

Second, we act in line with the mystery of God. Divisions that we celebrated before the Cross are only to our shame now. The unsearchable riches of Christ are available to all—even us Gentiles!

Third, we pray in accordance with the mystery of God. Prayer is petitioning the Almighty, either on our behalf or for others. It is speaking with God, the King Eternal. And we may do so boldly. Praying for God’s will to be done is not the same as praying wimpy. Christian, you may go boldly to God. Better a “no” to your bold request than no request made at all, as we learn to trust Him.

Fourth, we encourage others in the mystery. Do not lose heart, and do not sit idly by while others lose heart. Build them up, hold them up, and do not let the tribulations that you will experience for being faithful pull you down.

Keep in mind, you share the beliefs of Paul, and the world has only changed methods, not masters. They persecuted him for what he said and did based on his beliefs in Jesus, and will do the same to us.

Keep heart, keep the faith, and share the mystery and wonder of the grace of God, through Christ Jesus our Lord!

In Nerdiness: Anybody notice Ephesians 3:3? “As I wrote before in brief”?

There’s another epistle to the Ephesians. Maybe it’s a postcard. We don’t have it, we don’t know what’s in it.

This does tell us that Paul’s writing exceeds what we regard as canonical. It also exceeds what is referenced, generally, in most of the Patristic writers. I can’t say that exhaustively, but generally speaking the references to Paul’s writings are fairly close to our own list.

What do we do with this?

1. We don’t panic.

2. We recognize that God preserved what we needed.

3. We use this springboard into trying to understand how we came to have what we have.

And then we also craft historical fiction about it, just for fun :)

Be Seated: Ephesians 2

I see here the immense crazy idea that doing one blog post per chapter of Scripture is. It would take me multiple sermons to cover this chapter. I’m going to do it under 1000 words here. Right.

In Summary: Ephesians 2 is one of the best, concise expressions of the grace of God in Scripture. The chapter starts with the declaration that we begin life dead in our sins, but even this begins with a positive feel as Paul uses the past tense to say that is what we were.

It’s not even really the past tense that is used, but what in Greek is called the “aorist,” which is one of those great big linguistic issues which we won’t deal with here. Suffice it to say this: aorist verbs typically refer to one-time, finished events. There are exceptions to this grammatically, but that is the general rule.

So when we see statements like raised us up with Him (Jesus) or you have been brought near (to God), we need to see them in this light. It’s an action that has been finished.

Carrying on through the chapter we find that salvation was not merely a matter of erasing sin, but reconciling the enemies of God back to Himself. And that in the process, God worked in us to accomplish the unity of His people. Not only are we reconciled to God, but able to relate to one another through the work of Jesus. It’s a big deal.

In Focus: This is stated clearly in Ephesians 2:6 where Paul speaks of our being seated with Jesus in the heavenly places. Here are the two things I think we should note from this:

1. Take the idea of being seated at a banquet at which you have no business. You are there only because someone who does belong has brought you with him. Now, amplify that—a lot. This is how we are seated in the heavenly places: we don’t belong there, but Jesus does. He brought us, we sit on His reputation and His grace in maintaining us.

2. Continuing that metaphor, who are any of us to dispute with the ones Jesus has brought with Him? We are all here because of God’s grace, not because His feast wouldn’t be much without me. The unity of the body of Christ comes as an obligation on us, not a choice we get to make.

In Practice: There is a simple portion of the practice: stop adding divisiveness to the body of Christ. Not that this is easy to implement, because some things are worthy of division. Divisiveness is when we fight over pews or chairs, hymnals or Powerpoint. Those things, and a thousand other minutiae are not worth it, and are unworthy of the banquet we are brought to.

There are other items that are important to correct or divide over. For example, there are clear truths of Scripture regarding salvation by grace alone (right here in Ephesians 2:8) or the trustworthiness of God’s revelation. These come to the definition of following Jesus in the first place.

The ones who are brought to the banquet are those who are made alive in Christ. Made alive, able to follow and walk with Christ. Life responds to the Life-giver.

In Nerdiness: After dealing with the verb tense issues already, I’m not sure how nerdy we want to get here. Ephesians 2 is definitely a place where grasping the Greek background is important. It really pays to spend a bit of time either studying it in Greek or at least snagging a good commentary that walks you through them. The interplay in aspects and tenses here livens up the passage.

Another nerd-issue to dig into here is how the Roman world’s concepts of friends and social networks come into play. This is where you get the imagery of being seated with and the kindness of God through Christ Jesus. It’s the idea that we are indebted to Jesus, and that what is done for us by God is only because of Him. There’s a lot to be studied on there.

Predestined: Ephesians 1

In Summary: Moving ahead from Galatians, we find Ephesians. Written primarily to the church at Ephesus, Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians points the church to her spiritual blessings and riches. Contrary to Galatians, Ephesians is not focused on rebuke, though it does contain some aspects of correction throughout.

The first chapter is concerned with introductory matters, including Paul’s standard greeting of “Grace and peace to you,” and his invocation of God as the source of that peace. He cannot get through this first chapter without launching heavily into the praise of God for this grace and speaking of how the believers were chosen before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and the redemption according to Christ (1:7).

It is difficult to not note who Paul is, and what he went through at Ephesus with the church there. You should refer to Acts 19 (here) and Acts 20:13-36 for that information. Suffice it to say here that Paul was no stranger to the Ephesians, both the church and the wider population.

In Focus: Finding a focus in Ephesians 1 is like choosing which bite of a wonderful steak is the best. Is it the praise of Christ and His grace? The glorious truth of God’s unshakable adoption of His people? Perhaps we should focus on the spiritual blessings inherent in Christ. The riches of His grace, the fullness of of the times and all things in Jesus?

Through all of this, I think we can take a cue from the likely origin of the Epistle to the Ephesians. Paul is most likely in his Roman imprisonment here (Acts 28). He had visited the Ephesians on his way back to Jerusalem (Acts 20:13-36, mentioned above). He had been warned, there, that he would be delivered over to the Romans. The church was concerned for Paul’s well-being.

They are, on the surface, right to be worried. Possibly all they know is that Paul was arrested by the Romans and is on his way to Rome for trial and possible execution. What about this? What of their mutual faith?

Then this letter arrives. Paul, from his captivity, writes of God’s predestination. Not merely of a fatalistic “this was always going to happen” view, but of the reality that before the foundation of the world, God predestined life according to God’s purpose. Whatever stresses and strains the Ephesians may have, whatever worries may come, Paul wants them to know that God is not only in control, but God is also not reacting to anything. He is proactive in His control of the universe and the affairs of men.

In Practice: Practically, this can lead us to despair and laziness if we fall back to the fatalism. There is a challenge here for us to choose the other response, the response of passionate obedience. Why? Because God has a purpose, and therefore His commands have a purpose. If He has commanded that we tell the world of Jesus, then He has an eternal purpose that we do so. After all, how will they believe if they do not hear? (Romans 10:14, anyone?)

Further, we can trust that the moments that surprise us do not surprise God. This is more than just a little good news. It remains that we must trust Him for why things happen, but we must read the whole of Ephesians 1 and see that this is not just any god at stake. This is a good, grace-giving God. The One True God. We can trust His character even as we learn to trust His ways.

In Nerdiness: Nerd questions like authorship, date, and setting are always good ones. The general view is Paul, 60-62 AD, during his probably first Roman imprisonment. Other possibilities are earlier imprisonments or a latter Paul impersonator.

I’m with the tradition here, though I like the suggestion in a few sources (I think the IVP Dictionary of Paul was one) that Ephesians served as the introduction letter for the early church’s collection of Pauline Epistles. It is a rich summary of his view of grace and Jesus, perhaps even better at that than Romans.

There is also a great deal to explore here regarding God’s predestination. I will assert this: Ephesians does not know a God who is dependent on any human agency for His will. Ephesians also does not know a humanity that is not responsible for their response to God.