Plymothian

Again Paul expounds on the cosmic reality of Jesus.  He is a person who fills the whole universe.  Despite the universe’s diversity Jesus fills it and he is one.  My friend Fred pointed out that Jesus fills the universe through the Holy Spirit.  There is the mystery that he is a man and yet he is in all things in all places, as are both other members of the Trinity.  Jesus is one.

This unity should be reflected in the united perspective of the church.  It does not mean that we will all like the same things and do things the same way.  God’s universe is both united and diverse – that is how universe gets its name.  However, in a country like the United States with its fierce diversity and individualism, unity can be lacking.  It came to the forefront in 2001 but ten years later has largely slipped into the background.

How could we have a much more united perspective in church life, public life, and domestic life?

Ephesians 4:1-16

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; ⁶one 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:

   “When he ascended on high,
   he took many captives
   and gave gifts to his people.”^[b]

 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 ¹³until 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.

Questions

1. What qualities does Paul look for in an individual that would preserve unity?
2. How does the reality of Christ promote unity?
3. How would the Ephesians be expected to mature?
4. Why do so many people in the Christian faith mature slowly?
5. How would a mature Christian bring more unity in your church, home, and workplace?

When some people fail to understand God, they give up.  God has to obey our own ideas about how he should act and feel.  When Paul sees that his knowledge falls short, he responds with worship.  The word for the quality of God in this passage is ineffable.  This word means that the description is beyond the ability of words to explain.  Paul prays that the Ephesians would understand that Jesus’ love is beyond comprehension.

I think that the hymns of yesteryear capture more accurately some of the theology of this passage:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all life thou givest to both great and small;
In all life thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish but nought changeth thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render: O help us to see
‘Tis only the splendour of light hideth thee.

Ephesians 3:14-21

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family^[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

 ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Questions

1. Where is the Christian strengthened?
2. How can an Ephesian know that which surpasses knowledge?
3. How is the mind related to the spiritual growth of the Ephesians?
4. How are you strengthened?
5. Doyou know God’s love without truly understanding it?  How is that possible?

I am wary of sounding New Age.  I think that those who think that we are to send good thoughts into the Universe and the Universe will send good thoughts back are misguided.  I think that the idea that The Ancients once visited Earth and that they will return some day is interesting information for a Spielberg movie, but that it is not based in reality.

However, Christ goes beyond the distinctly human way that we think about him.  He is not only human, but he is God.  There is a cosmic principle at work in this truth.  As Paul says it is a mystery.  However, in his writings Paul unfolds some of the implications of the death and resurrection of the God-Man Jesus.  We have been called into a process that transcends the physical and reveals to hierarchical angelic forces the glory of God’s plan in salvation.  Some of these forces need to be subjucated and some of the forces need to be encouraged.  There are rebellious angelic forces (demons) and there are those loyal to God.  Jesus in some way reveals aspects of God uniquely to both.

Ephesians 3:1-13

¹For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

 ² Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, ³ that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. ⁴ In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, ⁵ which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. ⁶This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

 ⁷ I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. ⁸ Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, ⁹ and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. ¹⁰ His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, ¹¹ according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. ¹³ I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

Questions

1. How did Paul come to know the mystery he preached?
2. What is revelation?
3. What had God been doing with his ‘mystery’?  Why?
4. How do you handle that God kept his life-giving mystery from mankind until 2,000 years ago?
5. How do you cope with letting God be inscrutably mysterious?

I live in a community of faith that has a love affair with Judaism.  I even had a seder (Passover) dinner because we need to remember that Jesus was Jewish and was bringing Jewish custom to fruitino when he gave new meaning to The Passover by instituting The Lord’s Supper.  However, I don’t have to work at being really Jewish.  Although the Jewish culture is the foundation for Christian truth, I am not saved by observing the Jewish atonement rights.

There was a time, like during the Crusades, when Christians didn’t respect Jewish culture and hardly thought of Jesus as Jewish.  They thought that he was killed by Jews, but that he wasn’t really Jewish himself. 

Paul makes the point in the following passage that we should, as Gentiles, be blended into the nation of God’s Holy People and that a renewed people of God will have an authentic relationship with God through Christ.  Christians should know about and respect Jewish culture without becoming Jewish to earn atonement through the Law.

Ephesians 2:11-22

¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

 ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 ¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Questions

1. What words does Paul use to distinguish Jews from Gentiles?  In the light of our study on Galatians, why would he use these terms?
2. How does Paul show that the goal in life is decreased distance from God?
3. How does Paul emphasize relationship?
4. How does some Christianity fail in moving people closer to God?
5. What would be a remedy?

God’s grace and our faith work together for our salvation.  Which comes first is a matter of theological debate.  I tend to think that it is God’s grace that he pours out on us.  This grace enables the depraved mind to choose God.  However, this response is an irresistable response to God’s grace in saving us.  God saves us.  We do not save ourselves.  It is grace.  This means that the goodness and riches of God are a free gift from God, not a merited choice.  That is my opinion, but there are many who differ with me.

The official line and my church also focuses on response.  I believe if you look for it on the web, you’ll find it uner ‘responsivist’.  The furthest view from mine would be a works-based view that good people are good-enough to be saved.  We act in faith, which is in itself a gift from God.  The gifts of God are unmerited.  It is by grace through faith that we are saved.

Ephesians 2:1-10

 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Questions

1. How would you describe to someone Paul’s ideas about new life in Christ?
2. How did people in Paul’s time live before they were saved?
3. Why is it important that people see they do not work their way toward God?
4. How have you worked your way toward God?  Have you boasted about your role in getting saved?
5. How can a misconception of God’s plan lead to a passive life?

I am often preoccupied with what I want from people.  The list would be full of the fruit of the Spirit.  I want them to love me, be patient with me, and treat me with gentleness and kindness.  The egocentricity that many of us wrestle with does not cultivate a heart that looks out for god things to give others.  We have to confess, we are selfish.

The Apostle Paul, however thinks through a list of wonderful things that he wants the Ephesians to have.  The best things that he knows all come from God.  We can find encouragement by putting ourselves in the place of the Ephesians, and we should.  God has made the riches of the universe available to us through Christ.  However, we should also be challenged by the way that Paul wants good things for others and how he believes the best things that he can wish for people come from God.

Ephesians 1:15-23

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Questions

1. What does Paul want the Ephesians to have?
2. How would this possession help the Ephesians in a cosmopolitan, pluralistic world?
3. How is a cosmic principle about Jesus mentioned?
4. How do you pray to God for others to receive wisdom and insight of this kind?
5. How does the last verse intersect with the New Age movement?

I have just returned from a very long break.  I went to Minnesota to spend time with my wife’s family.  It was a wonderful time, rowing on a lake, playing board games and shopping in the Mall of America.  However, it was also good to see my old, familiar bed and to sleep soundly at home last night.

My family did read the Bible together, but I did not post.  I thought it best to remove that pressure when I didn’t know what each day would look like.  I could get to a Bible, but not to a computer.

Recounting my long break seems like a good way to introduce a famously long sentence.  As you probably know, a sentence has a subject and a predicate.  The subject here is the blessings of God.  The detailing of those blessings cycles through the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The sentence runs from verses 3 to 14.  In English Bibles the sentence has been broken down into a number of other sentences.  In Greek it is all one.  I am sure a teacher would dismiss it as a run-on these days.

Ephesians 1:3-14

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he^[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship^[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he^[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

 ¹¹ In him we were also chosen,^[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Questions

1. How does verse 3 introduce 4-14 (Hint: It mirrors the structure in some way)?
2. How do you think that 4-14 could be one sentence in Greek and two paragraphs in English?
3. How are the Ephesians blessed by the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit?
4. How are you blessed by each person of the Trinity?
5. How does the blessing by the Trinity result in praise in your life?

How much of the world is directed by God?  God has a plan.  Is it in his plan that some mothers torture their children or break their bones so that they can beg more effectively?  Is colon or bowel cancer part of God’s plan?  Is persecution and death a challenge to God’s sovereignty?

It seems that Paul and those who wrote the new testament were familiar with bad news, but they were unwavering in their opinion that God is sovereign.  Sin and evil can only exist if there is a standard of righteousness or goodness.  A father raping his daughter is just ‘stuff’ and no ‘sin’ if there is no standard.  Sin and evil are defined by a departure from God’s intentions.  However, in his sovereignty God allows these things.

Can you see that God allowing sin and evil to run their course actually shows his nature in allowing creation to create its own destiny.  However, in Christ God has called creation back to hmself.  Human beings, even murderous villains like Paul, can be called out of sin and evil by God’s grace.

Ephesians 1:1-2

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

   To God’s holy people in Ephesus,^[a]the faithful in Christ Jesus:

 ² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Questions

1. What has God’s will produced?
2. How are the Ephesians described?
3. How would the fact that some thought this was an ‘open letter’ distributed beyond the Ephesians effect your interpretation?
4. What have you seen as clear evidence of the will of God?
5. How could you tell if a church was holy?

Where was Ephesus?

Ephesus was at the Western end of Asia Minor (Turkey).

Find pictures of the ruins of ancient Ephesus.

What was Ephesus known for?

Ephesus was known for its religious devotion to Diana of the Ephesians.  It was a major religious center.

Who wrote the letter to the Ephesians and when was it written?

The Apostle Paul wrote the letter in the first century.

Why would someone need to write a letter to the Ephesians?

The Ephesians needed to be encouraged in their devotion to Christ Jesus.  There were many distractions to lead people astray in a pluralistic, multicultural society.

What events in the book of Acts took place in Ephesus?

Followers of Diana almost killed the apostles.

We looked at Galatians.  What do you know about Ephesians?

Use a commentary, Study Bible, or web resource to answer the following:

1. Where was Ephesus?
2. Find pictures of the ruins of ancient Ephesus.
3. What was Ephesus known for?
4. Who wrote the letter to the Ephesians and when was it written?
5. Why would someone need to write a letter to the Ephesians?
6. What events in the book of Acts took place in Ephesus?