Ephesians – Solomon Says

Light Rules – Ephesians 4:32-5:14

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Ephesians 4:32-5:14

Election and Union: Eph 1:3-14

I think most people read Ephesians 1:3-14 as an overflowing of verbiage, powerful statements lacking any coherent order.

I propose that the passage is quite organized. It has an initial statement (vv. 3, 4) and then two re-statements (vv. 5-10; 11-14). The first of these re-statements has a tw0-part structure (vv. 5-6, 7-10).

Here is the text:

The Pattern of Ephesians 1:12-14

I was once trying to get a sermon out of Ephesians 1:12-14 and it seemed obvious that I should look for two parallel statements both ending with the phrase, “to the praise of his glory.” Paul here begins talking about two groups of people (“you” and “we”), and he later reveals that these two groups are (from his perspective) we Jews and you Gentiles. The text read in the New American Standard:

to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Election in Ephesians

Ever since the conflict between Pelagius and Augustine and then between the Reformed churches and Jacob Arminius, what the Bible says about election (“choice”) and predestination had caused Christians to form two opposing camps. To get it out of the way, I am in the “calvinist” camp.

But I thought I might point out something about Ephesians that may be helpful no matter which camp one is in…

Spirituality or Sloth?

In studying Ephesians, it came as a bit of a shock for me to realize that Paul is basically urging Christians, in response to the Gospel (chapters 1-3, or perhaps 1-4:16 since there’s something like a “false start” in the beginning, a possible mirror image to the “non-conclusion” in 3:1 that is then resumed in 3:14), to adopt or learn new habits.

Can new habits do anything?

A Prelude to Ephesians

Daniel saw a vision of “one like a son of man” ascending to God’s throne (Daniel 7:13). We, who read this with the knowledge that Jesus referred to Himself as “the son of man” (Matthew 9:6), often assume that the vision was about Jesus. True, according what we know now, like all prophecy (1 Peter 1:12). But the angel told Daniel the vision was about “the saints,” not an individual. The figure like a son of man ascending to the throne and being given the kingdom in his vision was referring to the future time when “the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever” (7:18). The term “saints” is used five times in the story of Daniel’s vision. The term is only used six times in the entire book of Daniel.

Is John Stott Right to Contrast the “Universal Human Condition” with Particular Corruption? (Ephesians 2:1)

Some more on John Stott and Ephesians…

1. Man by nature, or the human condition (verses 1-3)
Before we look in detail at this devastating description of the human condition apart from God, we need to be clear that it is a description of everybody. Paul is not giving us a portrait of some particularly decadent tribe or degraded segment of society, or even the extremely corrupt paganism of his own day. No, this is the biblical diagnosis of fallen man in fallen society everywhere. True, Paul begins with an emphatic you, indicating in the first place his Gentile readers in Asia Minor, but he quickly goes on to write (verse 3a) that we all once lived in the same way (thus adding himself and his fellow Jews), and he concludes with a reference to the rest of mankind (verse 3b). Here then is the apostle’s estimate of everyman without God, of the universal human condition. It is a condensation into three verses of the first three chapters of Romans, in which he argues his case for the sin and guilt first of pagans, then of Jews, and so of all mankind. Here he singles out three appalling truths about unredeemed human beings, which includes ourselves until God had mercy on us.
John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, The Bible Speaks Today (IVP) [Originally published as God’s New Society, 1979]

IF someone claimed that Ephesians 2:1ff had nothing to do with the universal human condition, of course, I would agree with John Stott over against such error.

But pointing out the degradation of a “particularly decadent tribe” or of a generation, is normally taken as a sign of the “human condition.” And it should be.

The Turning Point in Ephesians 1:14 & the War in Heaven

Few can read Ephesians “naively,” without already being basically aware of it’s content or that, in general, there is an ongoing future struggle in our lives and/or in human history. But if we try to think of what a naïve listening to the epistle being read might entail, Ephesians 1:14 opens up a whole new world.

Did John Stott Understand What “a Figure of Speech” Is? Ephesians 2:1

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins…
The Apostle Paul (ESV)

The death to which Paul refers is not a figure of speech, as in the parable of the Prodigal Son, “This my son was dead”; it is a factual statement of everyone’s spiritual condition outside Christ.
John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, The Bible Speaks Today (IVP) [Originally published as God’s New Society, 1979]

On the contrary, when the Apostle Paul writes “you were dead” in Ephesians 2:1, he is definitely using a figure of speech. Of course, it is also a “factual statement” because people use figures of speech to make claims that are (or are purported to be) factual. The father of the Prodigal was stating a fact about his younger son’s status and/or condition by speaking figuratively. The proper alternative to a figure of speech is a literal statement, not a factual statement.

Paul’s Calling to “Saints”

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 1:1 ESV

Paul often addresses Christians as saints in all his letters, but the theology of Ephesians is especially relevant to why he does so. Saint means holy one. It is related to the verb “sanctify,” make holy.