Last week we looked at Paul’s introduction in the letter to the Philippians. This letter began with joy in Paul’s heart towards the Philippians as we read in Philippians 1:8:

8 For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

As well as his prayer for the spiritual maturity of those at Philippi in Philippians 1:9–10:

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

Not to mention his confidence in the Philippians that they would continue in good works empowered by the Spirit of God in Philippians 1:6:

6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Now in verses 12-26 Paul begins to give the Philippians encouragement to be embolden in their faith. Let’s examine Paul’s example as a mature believer speaking of his joy in spite of his circumstances.

Philippians 1:12–20:

12 Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, 14 and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. 15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; 16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

As I read these verses I can’t help but to think, here is a mature believer who is strong in the faith and who truly puts Christ first above all things. Paul is not only bringing news to the Philippians of his situation but, more importantly, he is bringing news that God is working mightily in this terrible situation. Yes, Paul could have complained about his situation as he had been wrongly beaten and imprisoned; however, he did not complain. Rather, he looked joyfully at this situation from God’s perspective. How could Paul be joyful in such a harsh situation, especially one where he did no wrong?

If I am honest with myself, could I be even a fraction as joyful as Paul? I mean, we are supposed to be joyful at all times. The gospel of Jesus Christ gives us a reason for our joy when we read it in light of our own sinfulness. Joy is even one of the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22:

22B ut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,…

So why was it so easy for Paul to have immense joy in his situation? The answer to this question is sprinkled throughout verses 12-20.

Paul’s imprisonment was bad (and I should make a point to say how absolutely terrible his situation really was here: the beatings, the painful chains he was in, the unbearable environment of a prison, etc.) but notice that he says his situation has turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. Paul’s number one mission was to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to others, and his situation was allowing for the gospel to be shared with others in a more powerful way than if Paul had not been imprisoned. Paul wanted the gospel to be shared and this proved to be a powerful way to progress the gospel indeed.

Paul also goes on to say that others have been emboldened to preach Christ seeing that his imprisonment has been a catalyst in spreading the word of God. One of Paul’s priorities was to raise up other pastors and elders that could preach the word of God boldly. Now Paul was seeing fruit born from his imprisonment whereby others were preaching exactly as they should…boldly. The gospel of Jesus Christ was effectively reaching others who might never have heard the gospel if not for Paul’s imprisonment in a powerful way.

Granted, not all those who were embolden to preach Christ did it for the right reasons. Paul says there were those that preached Christ for selfish reasons, perhaps to make themselves look more righteous than Paul. The words “envy and strife” show the attitude of those who preached Christ but spoke ill of Paul. They meant to cause Paul harm. But did they? No, Paul had the irrepressible joy as one wholly and completely aligned with the will of God. This joy came from Paul’s desire to see Jesus lifted up as the perfect lamb, the one slain for our righteousness and the only one that can save.

In verse 18 Paul makes a bold statement that regardless of the attitude of the one preaching, Christ is still preached! Paul didn’t look at the preachers; he was looking at the one preached of…Christ. That and that alone gave him reason to rejoice. In fact, Paul says that he will rejoice twice, “…I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice.” This repetition of “rejoicing” and the present and future tense of the word show us Paul’s complete and continuous state of joy.

Paul’s eyes were truly on Christ and not on his situation. This is something I know I need to work on more in my life. I tend to view situations in a way that starts to blot out Christ. It’s as if when a bad situation happens it starts to eclipse the light of Christ. But this was not so with Paul. He kept his eyes on Christ at all times. This enabled him to have unbounded joy in all circumstances. So why do we see so many believers who are not joyful like Paul? Perhaps it is because we have taken our eyes off of Christ, if even for a second. Perhaps we all need to work harder to be more and more mature in the faith (more Christ-like) as Paul was doing.

I’ve heard it explained that you can look at God through the lens of your problems or you can look at your problems through the lens of God. If we view God through the lens of our problems we will see a tarnished God, one who isn’t strong enough or merciful enough to rid us of our problems. Obviously, we know God is omnipotent and full of mercy but our problems tarnish that image of God. We are simply focusing on our problems and projecting them onto God. But if we turn it around and look at our problems through the lens of an infinitely caring and loving Father, our problems seem to get smaller and smaller until all we can see is God. Granted, looking at our problems through the lens of God doesn’t come naturally with our sinful nature. It’s not easy when we’re in pain or going through a crisis. But day-by-day if we can adjust our perspective in small ways to put God first and view all of our problems through who He is, then little-by-little we can mature and grow in our faith resulting in the ability to take a step back and realize that all things work together for good (His good) to those that love the Lord who have been called according to His purpose…Romans 8:28.

We are all being sanctified (made more and more holy) as we live our lives according to Christ. Paul was definitely farther along in his sanctification than I am. But that’s ok; God is still working in my life and moulding me into the image of Christ. Knowing this I too can say, “I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice!”

Philippians 1:21–26:

21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. 23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; 24 yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again.

These 6 verses are some of the most profound verses concerning life and death from Paul. As a believer we have only two things to look forward to: that which is great and that which is greater still! To live life as a believer is to live as one who not only grows closer to Christ but also progresses the gospel of Christ. This always bears fruit (even if we don’t see the fruit as it is born) and gives us a reason to be filled with joy. However, to die, well, that is greater still. In death we go to be with our Savior for all eternity. All our troubles here on earth have ended.

I remember my mom when reading these verses. She was a powerhouse of the faith. She had MS and macular degeneration and because of this was physically frail. However, her faith grew stronger daily. Her faith was something tangible that you could sense even after only spending a few short minutes with her. But you could see the same joy that we read was in Paul. This same joy that is a fruit of the Spirit. Truly, she was one who rejoiced in the Lord and in doing so lived out the verse, “to live is Christ and to die is gain”.

You see, my mom was wholly committed to Christ in her life. Everywhere she went and to whomever she spoke with her actions and her speech were thoroughly seasoned with the salt of the gospel. But even though her body was failing her, especially later in life, she never worried about death or leaving this world. To her, living meant pursuing in earnest her teaching as a leader in the women’s Bible Study Fellowship group she led. It meant being a light to others in her daily life. It meant speaking Christ to her family in order to give us peace and hope in life and in our trials.

But she knew the day was drawing near where she would finally be free of her earthly problems and be able to see her Savior face-to-face. Truly death’s sting for her was nowhere to be found. I imagine she had the same desires as Paul has here. The desire to depart and be with Christ for all eternity and the desire to remain for her family’s sake, for her Bible study member’s sake, and for the sake of those who do not know Christ. However, even though I miss her deeply, it was God’s perfect timing that she depart and be with Christ.

There is an interesting result of one who dedicates their life for Christ, that of the funeral. I have never been to a funeral where the hope in death was so overwhelmingly obvious. To be sure, I was exceedingly sad at losing my mom as was everyone in attendance. But we all knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that while her body was here, her spirit was at that moment rejoicing with our Lord.

It is as if we could all hear those words we long to hear from Jesus being said to her at that moment, “well done, good and faithful servant.”

Today we begin our journey into Philippians. This is an epistle written by Paul most likely at the end of his imprisonment. Three other books, Ephesians (which we just finished), Colossians, and Philemon are considered along with Philippians as the prison epistles. We’re not exactly sure when all four of these books were written during Paul’s imprisonment and in what order, but seeing as it is likely that Philippians was written last (or at least close to last) we may see some very distinctive ties to earlier books.

Philippians is considered an informal epistle. This means that the words flowed from Paul (under the Spirit’s guidance, of course) and were not put in an extremely logical and structured format. This is unlike Ephesians which was a formal epistle. The logic and structure of thought in Ephesians was more formal than we will see in Philippians.

This is an important distinction for Philippians. Knowing this, we don’t necessarily need to primarily look for the rigid structure and flow of logic that you would find in other “formal” epistles. Reading Philippians is more like reading a letter from a dear friend, one who is expressing his overflowing love for you. As opposed to reading an ordered list of godly applications or a theological deep dive into an aspect of Christ.

Throughout Philippians Paul covers a lot of different topics and themes, but one stands out above the others. That is the subject of joy and its expression through the verb rejoice. Both joy and rejoicing are words (a noun and a verb) found throughout Philippians. This repetition should draw us to the joy that Paul is experiencing as well as the joy that we as believers should be experiencing. But it’s more than just joy that Paul is trying to get across to us. It is a joy within circumstances. Overall, Paul is saying be in a state of joy, always rejoicing in all circumstances:

in persecution

in humility

in unity

as we imitate Christ (a.k.a., Christlikeness, this one will become more and more important as we study Philippians)

along with our brothers and sisters in Christ

as a safeguard for us in dangerous times

in our walk

with thanksgiving

in contentedness

in giving

We read in Philippians 3:1 the recurring theme of joy:

1Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

But understand there is an even deeper theme we will find as we walk through the letter to the Philippians. Yes, this letter talks of an unbounded joy. However, we must ask how we seek and obtain this unbounded joy. Once we find it, how do we rest in this joy? As we dig deeper into the joys of Philippians we will answer these questions and more.

Philippians 1:1–2:

1 Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This letter is directed towards the church, the believing body of Christ. But here in verse 1 Paul additionally calls out the overseers (elders) and deacons. These are the leaders of the church and as such they are called out specifically to take this letter to heart and be an example to their flock. In fact, Paul does ask the leadership of the Philippian church to work to resolve conflicts later in this book. However, I think that Paul specifically points to the leadership here to imitate Paul’s example of joy and contentment.

Notice that every time Paul mentions joy or rejoicing that it is within the context of something else such as persecution or our walk with Christ or our unity as a church body. It is likely that the Philippian church was experiencing some persecution probably from without since Paul does not really chastise this church as he does some other churches for their internal strife.

The last line of the introductory paragraph introduces a common greeting as well as a way that Paul closed his letters (see the last two verses of Ephesians 6). While this is a loving greeting to the faithful I believe it is also closely tied to the idea of being joyful. Keep this in mind as we study Philippians.

Philippians 1:3–5:

3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, 5 in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.

Paul begins his letter with telling the church at Philippi how he is remembering them in his prayers. Prayer is one of the most important things we can do. It should always be first before we do anything, even reading the bible. Paul confidently believes prayer is powerful and wants to show this by placing it first in his letter.

Paul describes his prayers for the Philippians as being offered to God along with joy. All his prayers for them have been offered with joy. This is important because Paul also offered prayer with tears for other churches. But the church at Philippi was deserving of joyful prayer. Why? Well verse 5 explains the why. It seems that the Philippians had been partnering and in unity with Paul ever since the church at Philippi had been established by Paul (see Ac 16:12–40). Indeed we will soon see later in this book that the Philippians had been in partnership with Paul and his ministry since the beginning, for example:

Philippians 2:12:

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

Philippians 4:15:

15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.

Partnership (or participation as Paul states) in the ministry of one another is precious to Paul and caused him great joy. Joy to the point that it was difficult to express in words as we shall see in verse 1:8. You see, this kind of joy is a result of working closely with others in ministry to further the gospel of Christ. We can read in Ac 16::12-40 that the ministry of Paul was great and brought about many confessions of faith not to mention the founding of the Philippian church. However, we must not forget the persecution that went along with that victory in Christ. Paul and Silas were wrongfully imprisoned, beaten, and tortured. How could such a horrible persecution give birth to joy in Paul? Well, Paul was not one to look at the situation either in the past or in the here and now. Rather, Paul looked to the future. Paul saw that the ministry Christ had given him was bearing fruit, that people were being saved and their future was to be with Christ forever. Paul always looked to the future. The future is where our hope lies. A future with Christ and with the body of believers in heaven for all eternity. Looking to the future in this way is the foundation of our joy.

Philippians 1:6–7:

6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.

Because of the way the Philippian church has acted in faith, Paul was supremely confident that God will continue their work to perfection. Now this word for “perfection” is probably more aptly translated as “completion” (as it is in many other Bible translations). For believers working in ministry this is probably the most important thing that they could have heard.

Put yourself in their shoes as they are reading this letter from Paul. They have heard how Paul is praying for them and now that Paul is supremely confident that God will continue their ministry to completion. What a joyous moment that would have been for the believers at Philippi. Knowing that their work was not in vain and that their continued ministry into the future will not only be blessed by God but will give glory to God.

Verse 7 would have brought to mind the imprisonment that Paul and Silas endured in grace for those in Philippi. Again, read Ac 16:12-40 for a deeper understanding of Paul’s ministry to them and what it cost. Through this ordeal the Philippian believers shared (partook) in grace by seeing to Paul’s needs before, during, and after his imprisonment there. Through this same grace Christ was able to bring people such as Paul and Silas’ jailer, his family, and many others to salvation. This was made possible through the grace that Paul and Silas lived out towards their jailer and possibly towards the other prisoners held in that jail (remember how none of the prisoners escaped the jail, they all most likely followed Paul and Silas’ example and stayed).

Understand that this jailer had probably overseen the beating of Paul and Silas and then bound them in stocks, which was a very painful ordeal. Paul and Silas had no reason to be gracious towards the jailer but they were nonetheless. This grace helped to bring about the jailer’s salvation. You can see that if Paul’s joy was founded on what was happening in the present, there would be no joy…and no grace. But because his joy is founded on the future hope in Christ, grace abounded all the more.

Philippians 1:8:

8 For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

This single verse expresses Paul’s love and affection for those at Philippi more than any other verse. Paul begins with “For God is my witness…” showing that he is speaking the truth. Paul would never have written those words if he felt even a small bit different. Truly his words are the truth.

Paul longs for the Philippians with affection. This word for “affection” in Greek is special. There is no other word in Greek that expresses such a deep inward affection and tender mercy towards others. But Paul adds that this inward tender affection comes from Christ Jesus. Jesus fills our hearts with love and only then can we let that love flow out to others as Paul is doing.

Why does he express his love for the Philippians in such deep terms? Because of their participation with Paul in ministry and in the way that they all share in the same grace together. This brought Paul inexpressible joy and affection towards them.

Philippians 1:9–11:

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; 11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

As a result of this joy Paul prays all the more for his beloved Philippians.

Paul prays for an over-abundance of love. But notice that this love is rooted in “real knowledge” and “all discernment”. The Greek word for “real knowledge” a slightly nuanced one, but is aptly translated here. The idea of “real knowledge” involves a deep and personal relationship with Jesus. One that can be cultivated through Bible study and much prayer. This seeking out of real knowledge will lead us to correct discernment between good and evil in all situations.

As our love grows and grows in true knowledge and discernment we are able to make appropriate judgements as to things that Christ Himself would approve of (i.e., things that are excellent). This maturity in our faith allows us to continue in our sanctification so that we will be holy to a holy Lord. This is our praise to our Lord and savior.

“Co-workers and friends in Christ”. That’s what I would title this section of scripture. It is a fitting end to the book of Colossians. We have read Paul’s commands for family, for work relationships, and for prayer to cover both these relationships and for evangelism. One can think of prayer as part of our relationship to others. Not only to build but to also strengthen those relationships.

We end with a list of people that were not only friends of Paul, but who were also co-workers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These were the men and women who faithfully (except for one whom I’ll mention later) stood by Paul and the church.

As we study these people, who do you identify most with? I would imagine that you and I will identify with many of these people, both in their devotion and in their failures.

Colossians 4:7-8:

7 As to all my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information. 8 For I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts;

Tychicus is mentioned first. Tychicus was a trusted companion to Paul and served as a messenger not only for this letter to the Colossians but also for the letter to the Ephesians Ephesians 6:21:

21 But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you.

and also for the letter to Philemon.

Paul trusted Tychicus implicitly to bring news to the other churches of his situation and the furtherance of the Gospel through Paul’s imprisonment. As we know from verse 4:16 this letter, like the others, was read amongst the churches. For this letter to the Colossians, Paul’s instructions were to also have the Laodiceans read it too. So it would seem that Paul trusted Tychicus to inform not only these two churches of his circumstances, but also other churches.

Seeing as how Paul had many enemies outside of the church as well as a few naysayers from within the church I would imagine that this trust would not have been given lightly. Tychicus would have had to be above reproach in his relationships to both Paul and Christ. Paul gives some clues as to why he trusted Tychicus so much. First, he was a “beloved brother”. There were no broken relationships here. Tychicus had endured alongside Paul in his persecutions. With one who is beloved, there is a strong relationship.

Second, Tychicus was a “faithful servant”. Essentially, he was one who was responsible, trustworthy, and worked in the service of another (i.e., Paul). If Tychicus had not been faithful in serving Paul’s needs there is no reason that Paul would have described him in this manner or trusted him with such an important task. Indeed, Tychicus would have been at Paul’s side serving him in all things at every opportunity.

Third, Tychicus was a “fellow bond-servant”. That is, he served the same master as Paul…the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that he and Paul spent so much time together, it would have been easy for Paul to determine whether or not Tychicus had truly given his life over to Christ. Tychicus’ work, day in and day out, would have given evidence that he was truly a child of God.

As a final note, Paul says that he (Tychicus) might encourage the readers of this letter. Tychicus must have had the gift of encouragement to others. It is possible that just the sight of Tychicus to the church body at that time would have lifted their hearts.

Who here is a Tychicus? Would the leaders of our church and others call you a “beloved brother, a “faithful servant”, and a “fellow bond-servant”? Understand that this is no simple thing. Tychicus was with Paul in prison and out of prison. He was faithful in all ways and he was loved by Paul and others. We may be able to say that we are beloved and a fellow bond-servant of Christ, but how faithful as a servant are we to others? How faithful of a servant to our pastor and the elders are we? I believe strongly that there is no greater need of a pastor than to have faithful servants by his side! A pastor’s job is hard and never-ending. We should come alongside him and bear his burden with him. Trev needs his Tychicuses.

Colossians 4:9:

9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of your number. They will inform you about the whole situation here.

Onesimus is important to notice since he is the runaway slave that we will talk about in Philemon later. At this point in time Onesimus was described by Paul as a “faithful and beloved brother”. Paul also describes him as “one of your [the Colossians] number”. Onesimus was not only a believer but a member of the church as Colossae and a faithful and beloved brother in the faith.

We will discuss Onesimus more when we study Philemon. But for now, he was to accompany Tychicus to deliver these letters and to encourage the believers. Understand that this was not an easy thing for Onesimus to do. He was considered a runaway slave. His willingness to return to his master speaks volumes as to his faith in Christ.

Onesimus is a new believer who seems to have a great deal of faith, as he is willingly returning to his master (who probably wasn’t too happy that he ran away in the first place). Yet Onesimus is going back humbly and faithfully no matter the cost to him. While a lot of us are not new believers, we can look at Onesimus’ humility and faith in doing the right thing and ask ourselves, are we acting like Onesimus?

When faced with doing the right thing will we shrink back or will we, in humbleness and faithfulness, have the courage to do what is needed?

Colossians 4:10:

10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas’s cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him);

Aristarchus was a man committed to Christ, Paul, and his ministry. We can read more about Aristarchus in these verses:

Acts 19:29:

29 The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

Acts 20:4:

4 And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

Acts 27:2:

2 And embarking in an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, we put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica.

Reading the full chapters in Acts 19, 20, and 27 will give you more context around who Aristarchus was as well as his level of commitment to ministry with Paul.

Not riot, nor shipwreck, nor prison were enough to deter Aristarchus from his work. Are we that committed? Am I a person who’s commitment to Christ and our church is equal to Aristarchus? After all, my faith has not been tested through riots, shipwrecks, and prison. Granted, having a commitment such as Aristarchus’ to Christ and His church is not something that just appears overnight. Commitment such as this is cultivated. It is planted, watered, and nurtured to fullness. This commitment grows as we are being sanctified in Christ.

Now Mark is also mentioned in this same verse. This was John Mark the writer of the Gospel of Mark. Mark had a moment of crisis we can read about in Acts 13:5–13:

5 When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John as their helper. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, 7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, 10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? 11 “Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord. 13 Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

Notice that John (i.e., John Mark) left Paul and company and returned to Jerusalem. This caused some problems we can see as Paul later did not want to take Mark on a ministry journey since he had deserted them before. We read this in Acts 15:36–40:

36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. 38 But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40 But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.

So Mark’s commitment waned, but he did eventually repent and turn back to ministry for Christ. I would view myself more as a Mark. My commitment can wane, but I always hope and strive to repent and return to the ministry.

Colossians 4:11

11 and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me.

Not much is known of Justus, but Paul’s mention of him speaks volumes. Justus was a Jew that became a believer in Christ. There are two main things I see here with Justus. First, he does not need the limelight. Justus is not mentioned much in the Bible. It seems that he was only mentioned in this letter and in passing in Philemon 23:

23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,

Workers in the ministry do not work to gain accolades and “likes” from others. Ministry is a sacrificial offering to God. By looking for attention through our works we are essentially holding back some of that sacrificial offering to God.

Secondly, Justus was a Jew and most likely held some firm beliefs stemming from Old Testament traditions. These strongly held beliefs would have been hard to set aside. But from how Paul describes Justus, it seems that Justus had truly embraced the grace held out for him by Christ. In fact, a lot of this letter was designed to rebuke the Jewish people who were bringing back traditions and other things, saying that they were required for salvation. Essentially, requiring the adding of traditions etc. to Christ rather than trusting that Christ is all that we need.

Of course, I don’t see others looking to take the limelight in our church. I do see humble people who are content to work in the background. Letting their work be a sacrificial offering to the Lord.

Colossians 4:12–13:

12 Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Epaphras was a man of prayer with concern for those he prayed for. Paul said that Epaphras was “one of your number” meaning that he was a member of the Colossian church. Epaphras “labored earnestly” for his church in his prayers. Paul also said that Epaphras had a “deep concern” for his church body, including those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

This is something that we should all be doing…praying for our church. I do pray for our church but I have to really examine myself and ask, “Am I laboring in prayer earnestly?” and “Does my prayer show a deep concern for the church?” I think I need to do better. I believe we do have Epaphrases in our church who do pray earnestly and with deep concern for our church. Are you one of them?

Colossians 4:14:

14 Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.

Luke and Demas. This is the great contrast. Luke was a beloved physician to Paul and also the one who wrote the Gospel of Luke and also Acts (which can be read as a single book, by the way). We know much about Luke and his faith and commitment towards Christ and His ministry. In fact, Luke was with Paul til the end as we read in 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul’s last known letter that he wrote:

11 Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.

But Demas is another story. Demas is usually described as the fair weather disciple. Here in Colossians Demas is mentioned in a good light. In Philemon 24 he is even mentioned as a fellow worker:

24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.

However, the last news we have of Demas is in 2 Timothy 4:10:

10 for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

Nothing more is said of Demas. It is likely that he apostatized and fully left the faith, showing that he was never a believer in the first place. I hope this is not true but the message from Paul is that Demas never returned to the ministry. Look at the wording here in 2 Timothy 4:10. Demas “loved this present world”. Demas wilfully loved (note this is the agape type of love) this present evil world as opposed to what he should have been doing which is loving the kingdom of God, which is here now and is also what we look forward to.

Next, Demas deserted Paul. This Greek word for “deserted” is defined as: “to totally abandon”. Demas fully left his ministry with Paul and abandoned him. Maybe the threat of imprisonment was too great for Demas and he desired an easier life over all. But whatever the reason, the wording implies a full and complete abandonment of the ministry.

Finally, John Mark (who we just discussed) had his entire story arc clearly written out for us. He was faithful, he stumbled, he repented, and he was restored to the ministry, eventually writing the Gospel of Mark. Demas’ story ends with his leaving the ministry. Nothing more is said. Maybe nothing more needs to be said.

Deciding who we are more like is easy here. Always be a Luke and not a Demas. But we all have weaknesses that we have to battle in order to please Jesus. Nothing is easy in this life, especially if you are a believer. However, as we know, the main idea of this letter is that Jesus is supreme and sufficient in all. Demas did not believe that…Luke did. What do you believe?

Colossians 4:15–18:

15 Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house. 16 When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. 17 Say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”18 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my imprisonment. Grace be with you.

As we end this letter from Paul, he specifically calls out a fellow believer, Archippus encouraging him to fulfill his ministry that was given him by the Lord. We don’t know much more that this about Archippus and to be sure there has been much speculation about this verse. However, if we apply the overarching message of this letter, that Christ is superior and sufficient for all our needs, then this becomes more of an encouragement for Archippus as well as for us.

Consider if someone were to say to you today, “Take care to fulfill your ministry that the Lord has given you.” That wouldn’t seem like much of an encouragement. It would seem more like work or a command (technically, it is a command as this verb is in the imperative in verse 17). However, once we apply the overarching message of Colossians we can see that in this context it becomes an encouragement. Think of it this way. Our Lord who is preeminent over all has gifted us our various ministries. Since our all powerful, all knowing Lord has gifted us with our ministries, we know that not only has He given us the perfect ministry but He also is sufficient to meet all of our needs in that ministry. All we need to do is keep watch over our ministry so that nothing extra Biblical sneaks in and we also need to continue (persevere) in our ministry. What a feeling of relief Archippus must have felt after hearing Paul give him this encouragement at the end of this letter. Do we all feel that same sense of security, peace, and encouragement after studying Colossians?

Last week we looked at how we were to act as believers towards one another. This (verses 3:1-4:1) is our application that flows out of chapters 1-2 in Colossians. As we know more of Christ’s supremacy and sufficiency in all, we begin to see our own humbleness and insufficiency in all. In other words as Tom Lane taught us on Wednesday night, “Less of me and more of Christ”, which is what John the Baptist preached.

As we grow in this way towards Christ, we become more aware of those around us and it makes us want to act in an unselfish way towards them. Paul points this out in verses 3:18-4:1 as he teaches us to have right relationships within the family as well as outside of the family. There is a Godly submission towards one another that we are drawn towards as we live out, “Less of me and more of Christ.” As Ephesians 5:21 states:

21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Last week’s verses looked at what we are to do internally to live out Christ in us and to glorify Jesus as supreme and sufficient. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and sacrificed everything for it. Wives be willfully subject to your husbands as is proper in Christ. Children obey your parents and you will be blessed. Parents do not provoke your children; rather, raise them up in Godliness. Those who are over others (masters) be fair and gentle to those you are over as Christ is to you and who is also over you. Those who work for others must work as if they are working for God Himself as God will give you a reward that no earthly master can give.

This week we are looking more at the outward actions that allow us to live out Christ in us and to glorify Jesus as supreme and sufficient. We will see two main commands in these verses: pray and walk (conduct yourselves).

But before we jump in, some of you may have seen the prayer chain on the GroupMe app. Last week after Trev’s very powerful sermon on the relationships between family and those outside of the family we, as a church, did what all good churches do…pray. Prayer was given up in humility for Trev and the body of believers to hear, obey, and for protection. It is a heartwarming thing to see a church pray, humbling ourselves to our King in heaven. (If you’re interested in being a part of the church prayer chain see Bridget Marchetti.)

Colossians 4:2–4:

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

It is not mere coincidence that Paul abruptly switches to prayer. For how would we accomplish those things in verses 3:18-4:1 if we didn’t pray? Prayer is the essential component to living out Godly lives. Without prayer we just have ourselves to rely on and as we know we are humbly insufficient to do the job on our own.

There are three things that Paul instructs us to do here:

Pray with devotion

Pray with alertness

Pray with thanksgiving

We must both persevere and be persistent in our prayers. What better way to pray than to pray continuously that our relationships will be right and pleasing to our Lord. Husbands, wives, children, masters, and servants pray that you will be subject to one another as we should as Christians who are a holy temple to the Lord.

As The Spirit of God shows us our shortcomings in our relationships, we need to be filled with thanksgiving to Him who is even now sanctifying us. Just think of all the blessings that we will enter into as we build stronger relationships within our families as well as with those outside of our families. This alone should lift us up to praise Him even more! Not only that, but just think of how much stronger and more unified our church will be as we build up our relationships. For the church is not only a people but a unified people.

But do not forget that we also pray with alertness. We are to be watchful and on alert as a soldier would be. We shouldn’t always be letting our mind or our words wander when we pray. Rather, we need to pray with a sense of awareness of our own state as well as those around us. This alertness allows us to pray with a strength and focus with which we lift our voices to our Lord.

You may have noticed that I said there were 3 things Paul instructs us to do. Well, there’s actually a fourth that, in the historical context, was for Paul and those with him. But this can also be applied to us now. We need to be praying that God will open a door for the word; that is, for evangelism. Paul’s choice of words here may seem a little humorous in that he asks that “a door be opened” in the same breath that he also mentions the fact that he is imprisoned behind closed doors. But I think that Paul is subtly expressing his overriding desire to evangelize over and above being released from prison. Paul didn’t see his imprisonment as a roadblock. Rather, he saw opportunity through prayer in his imprisonment. Paul didn’t just set off to evangelize on his own, but he was devoted in prayer for evangelism. He waited for God to begin the work of evangelism and then kept alert in prayer for opportunities to speak the mystery of Christ to unbelievers.

Paul also wanted intercessory prayer so that he could clearly explain the mystery of Christ. This is always important, especially nowadays where everything is so complex and difficult to explain. The message of the Gospel is deep, so deep that we can study it for the rest of our lives and never be in want of more. Something this deep can be difficult to explain. To be sure, there are passages throughout the Bible that are difficult to understand but even these passages can be clearly explained with a bit of effort. We (myself included) need to make sure we know our audience and are explaining things clearly. Please pray for me also that I may clearly explain scripture. And by all means, if I don’t explain clearly let me know!

Finally, before we move on to Paul’s command for us to walk in wisdom, let’s look back at a couple of Paul’s prayers in Colossians and Ephesians. We should look to these as models for how we pray as well:

Colossians 1:9–14:

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 3:14–21:

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17s o that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

For more of Paul’s prayers read: Phil. 1:9–11 and Eph. 1:15–23.

In Colossians 4:3-4 Paul begins to talk about evangelistic prayer. Why not continue to discuss prayer as it relates to the interpersonal relationships in verses 3:18-4:1? Actually, he is discussing just this. You see, as we continue our sanctification our family and work relationships will grow stronger and we will, in turn, have a stronger witness to others.

Paul speaking of evangelistic prayer is not off topic but on topic. The logic progresses as follows. We realize the supremacy and sufficiency of all in Christ. From this, we begin to act in a way becoming a new person in Christ (not under our own power, but under the Spirit’s power, lest we would have a reason to boast). All of this is bathed in prayer, which is our lifeline to Christ. As we are sanctified in this manner, our witness grows stronger and the Gospel is presented and God is glorified.

Colossians 4:5–6:

5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

The words here “Conduct yourself with” is sometimes translated as “Walk in”. We’ve studied this term “walk” before. It means to live or behave in a specific manner. In this case, Paul is commanding us to walk in wisdom towards outsiders, those that do not believe in Christ.

A person who has a wise walk will not only search out opportunities but make the most of them. Any opportunity to witness about Christ should not be squandered or ignored. Rather, we should be methodical and gracious about how we present Christ as well as ourselves to unbelievers. We are, after all, His ambassadors.

Finally, our wise walk should include speech that abounds in grace. How do you win hearts for Christ? Well, that’s a bit of a trick question. Christ ultimately does the “winning of hearts” (to be clear, I am associating “winning a heart” with “a change of heart” that only Christ performs). We are simply there to act as His spokesperson. A spokesperson whose speech is liberally salted with the words of grace is much more likely to be heard than one whose speech does not abound in grace. I looked up what the opposite of grace is in the English language. Here are some antonyms for grace:

Mercilessness

Rudeness

Ignorance

Thoughtlessness

Tactlessness

Unforgiveness

Let us deny ourselves of these things and pick up our cross replacing our sinful ways with Christ’s love and grace as we speak to others of our Lord and Savior.

Here I leave you with some verses on our walk to meditate on:

Ephesians 5:15–17:

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17T herefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Colossians 3:16:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Mark 9:50:

50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

1 Peter 3:15:

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Colossians 3:18-4:1

In the first part of chapter 3, Paul revealed how Jesus’ sufficiency in all things has caused us to be raised up in unity with Him. A sort of co-resurrection, if you will…a co-resurrection that is expressed outwardly through our baptism. Since we are raised up with Him we are also raised up in unity with Him, the One who is all sufficient for us. We have all we need in relation to life and godliness through the unity with our Saviour. As such, we now desire to live in a way pleasing to our Lord…not as we used to live but in our newness of life. We are to put off the old self and put on the new self in order to please and glorify our God!

Now in verses 3:18-4:1 Paul dives even deeper into the specifics of how we apply this new self that we’ve put on towards others. It’s all about our relationships to one another: husbands/wives, fathers/children, masters/slaves.

Colossians 3:18–21:

18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20 Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.

These verses should sound familiar. We just studied the same application of the husband/wife relationship when we studied Ephesians 5:21–33:

21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. 22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

(For details on this study in Ephesians 5:21-33 read: https://crossingschurchaz.org/ephesians-521-33/)

But that section in Ephesians 5 only concerns the husband/wife relationship. In Colossians 3:20-21, however, Paul immediately turns to the father/child relationship. Ephesians 6:1-4 also discusses this relationship:

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3“that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

(For details on this study in Ephesians 6:1-4 read: https://crossingschurchaz.org/ephesians-61-3/)

Colossians 3:22–25 thru Colossians 4:1:

22 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.

1 Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.

Again we have already seen this in Ephesians 6:5–9 except the order of the master and slave has been reversed:

5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

(For details on this study in Ephesians 6:5-9 read: https://crossingschurchaz.org/ephesians-61-3/)

I don’t want to just rehash what I’ve already written about in Ephesians 5-6. Rather, I’d like to see what Colossians has to say about these interpersonal relationships within the context of this book.

First, we should ask, “Why the repetition?” If Ephesians already discussed this application, why do we need to hear it again? Well, the Bible is overflowing with repetition. The reason for this repetition is 3-fold. First, repetition helps us to remember.

Second, repetition points us to something that is very important. It’s like a parent telling a child over-and-over not to touch the hot stove. It’s important for the child not to touch the hot stove! Likewise, here we have repetition on how to show that we are in Christ and modeling Christ through our relationships to one another. First and foremost is the relationship between the husband and wife followed closely by the relationship between the child and parents. The family structure and cohesiveness is paramount to the health of a church. A healthy church will be evident in the relationships of the husband and wife and their children.

Third, repetition can give us new perspectives on a topic. Think of the four Gospels. They all cover the same subject, Jesus’ life and ministry, but from different human perspectives. From these four unique perspectives we know Jesus even deeper. What deeper things can we learn about our relationships?

I think the first thing is that relationships are very important, not only for our own peace (a broken relationship is never peaceful) but also for our sanctification. As we draw nearer to Christ (our all sufficient master) we naturally become more adept at putting into practice these commands that Paul gives us in these verses.

We know that the main idea of Colossians is that of Christ’s preeminence and His sufficiency in everything. In light of that and knowing that we just read about the putting off of the old self and putting on of the new self, we can understand that these commands to be loving, obedient, submissive, just, and fair are not done in our own power or under the power of the old self. Rather, as we are “in Christ” and He is “in us” and we now are clothed in the new self we are able to put these commands into action. Compare this to Ephesians where the main idea was what Christ has done for us in all grace and power and how we should respond in both joy and obedience. In Ephesians we were commanded to treat others as Christ treated us. Therefore, we can understand that these commands to treat others as Christ treated us are not burdensome and impossible but as a joy and a way to lighten our earthly burdens. If Christ treated us in such a way that while we were yet sinners He died for us in the most humiliating way possible, then shouldn’t we treat our spouse and our children with love, grace, mercy, and respect? You see, as a new creation these commands are not a burden but a blessing…a continual blessing as we live them out.

If you ever feel that you just can’t keep these commands, just pray to Christ for strength. Pray to the Spirit as you put on the armor of God. Prayer is our instrument to enable our actions. In fact, (spoiler alert) that is what we will delve into next week…prayer. Remember also in Ephesians 6 that Paul spoke of prayer immediately after he gave us these same interpersonal commands. And prayer was a prelude to putting on the armor of God. So in everything with prayer and supplication, may we make known our requests to God. But prayer also comes with a warning in James 4:3:

3You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

That is, we must ask with the right motives. We must ask with the motives of Christ. Husbands (of which I am one of you), ask with the right motive. Ask that you will love your wife with the agape love in verse 19 and I will do the same with my wife…a love that is sacrificial and seeks the good of the other, not ourselves.

Wives, pray for your husbands. Pray that we may truly love you with the agape love that we are commanded. Pray that as we husbands love our wives more and more deeply that you also may model God’s command for you given through Paul.

Even Peter gets into the commands of how to love and be subject to one another. Here in 1 Peter 3:1–6 he repeats what Paul has been repeating:

1Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

But Peter here goes into a bit more detail concerning a wife whose husband does not obey the word of God. In the context of this chapter in 1 Peter, this is most likely an unbelieving husband whose wife is now a believer. Notice that the wife is not commanded to leave her husband or to “win him with words”. Rather, her conduct is the way she wins her husband to Christ.

These may seem like very difficult words to follow and they are. But remember that Christ is sufficient to meet every need, including this one. I do have encouraging words though. I’ve seen 1 Peter 3:1-6 played out before me in a powerful way. My mom and dad were not believers but then my mom went through a crisis and ended up joining a fellowship of women who studied the Bible in depth. This led her to Christ, whom she is with right now in heaven. But in between the time she believed and the time she died, she epitomized 1 Peter 3:1-6. I saw the power in her conduct as one who was in Christ. She was always subject to my dad and my dad recognized the change in her. He became a Christian due to my mom’s respect and conduct towards him. Her adorning was always as a gentle and quiet spirit that you knew could only come from the heart. So wives, be like my mom. Take these commands from God and write them on your heart. The preeminent and all sufficient Christ will provide for all your needs.

Lastly, I want to mention this verb “be subject” that is given to wives. This is a single Greek word that is in what is called the “middle voice”. English has the “active and passive voices” but no “middle voice”. This middle voice means that the wife is to place herself under the husband. That’s why the word “be” is added in the English. Paul knows that this type of subjection is a matter of the heart and it must come from the heart in order to be pleasing to the Lord. In stating this command in this manner we see that the husband does not have absolute control over this matter. The husband cannot and should never demand this from his wife. Rather, as we read in Ephesians, the husband is to love his wife and sacrifice for her just as Jesus loved and sacrificed Himself for the church. In other words, we husbands (myself very much included) are to make it easy for our wives to follow God’s commands. We are to lead by example. We are to love, cherish, and sacrifice for our wives thus providing our wives the desire in their hearts to follow their husbands’ family leadership under God’s divine provision and authority.

To complete the family loop, Paul focuses on the father/child relationship. Notice that the men have a much larger number of commands than anyone else. We have a lot of responsibility and here this responsibility relates to not exasperating or provoking our children. This could also be thought of as stirring up or irritating our children. Doing so may cause our children to be discouraged or lose heart. Rather, we are encouraged to love our children so that they may want to obey us in everything.

As fathers and mothers, we want the best for our kids. One way to know that we are giving the best to our kids is that we are loving them as we should. Notice that a child who obeys is well-pleasing to the Lord (v20). I know that I want the Lord to be well-pleased with my children. A child that is pleasing to the Lord is a blessed child indeed.

Consider the child that is disobedient and/or discouraged. Now think of the devil who is described as a roaring lion going around and devouring anyone and everyone that he can, including our children. A disobedient/discouraged or even an irritated child is going to be easy pickings for the devil. The way we protect our children is to love them as Christ loved us. Listen to your kids. Be slow to speak and quick to listen. Spend time with them. I believe that just saying you will spend quality time with your kids is an excuse not to spend quantity of time with them. To be precise, we must spend both quality and quantity of time with our kids in order to raise them as we should. Know that these are not easy words for me to write. I have failed more often in this than I’d like to admit. Don’t let the failures just lie there; fix them. The time is always right to do better. Start small and build. Your children will appreciate it.

Finally, we get to servants and masters. As much as we may not like to admit, we are still all beholden to someone or something else. There is our boss at work. If we own our own business then there are our customers (the customer is always right as you know). And, of course, there is Christ who is head over all. But maybe there is an idol in your life: money, power, pride. These can be masters too; however, in this context Paul is strictly talking about interpersonal relationships.

We’ve just studied this same command given to masters and servants in Ephesians 6:5–9. But Peter also has something to say about this in 1 Peter 2:18–25:

18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. 19 For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. 21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

Notice that this section comes directly after the sections on the family interactions. If we can’t get the family right, how can we think we can get relationships right outside of our family. So, first work on the family relationships and then move on to the other relationships outside of your family.

The thing I see most often in these verses that detail the master/servant relationships (or what we can think of as our work relationships) is that we need to serve those over us with a sincere heart. When we have a manager that is just and kind this is easy, but when we have a manager that is difficult to work for this becomes much more difficult. What does Paul and Peter have to say about difficult managers? Serve them as you would a good and kind manager, for ultimately we serve Christ Himself. Our reward will come from Christ…that is, our reward that is stored up in heaven where rust and moth cannot destroy it. Not only do we receive a reward but we also please God in our submission to others, especially when they persecute us. That is why we sometimes suffer under unjust and unkind managers, to please God. And when we please God we are more able to glorify Him.

So we should do our work as unto the Lord, not man. We should work heartily and honestly with a reverent fear towards God so that we may please and glorify Him. We need to take our eyes off of people and place our eyes on the One who is truly the preeminent head over all. He is all sufficient for what we are going through. We should desire to please Him and let His peace (the one that is beyond all understanding) envelop us completely.

Col 3:1-17

This week we encountered a major division in the structure of Colossians. The first two chapters covered doctrine. These last two chapters cover the practical application of that doctrine. The main idea of Colossians still holds throughout the last two chapters. That is the idea of Jesus’ preeminence and sufficiency in all things. As we hold on to this idea of His full and complete sufficiency we can apply this to our lives in practical ways. (Remember that while Colossians talk overall of Christ’s preeminence, I’m going to focus on the aspect of His sufficiency which is a part of His preeminence.)

As we read through the practical applications Paul commands in these last two chapters of Colossians it is critical to keep in mind Christ’s sufficiency. Think of having to keep these commands in these last two chapters on our own. How difficult would it be to do these things in our own power? I believe it would be impossible or at least impossible for the long term. But as Paul has pointed out throughout the first two chapters, Christ is sufficient in all! Not only that, but as we are raised up with Christ in newness of life, we also have Christ’s sufficiency within us. We do not have to rely solely on our own strength to submit to Christ’s commands.

Colossians 3:1–2:

1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

This word “Therefore” is the fulcrum on which balances the first two chapters against the last two. Without the first two chapters we only have a bunch of commands we are required to carry out. Without the last two chapters we have only doctrine without any concrete applications that we are to follow. Both sides of this letter are necessary for our edification. Doctrine to understand Christ and His sufficiency in everything and application to put Christ’s sufficiency to work in our lives.

Ephesians, which we just studied, is organized in this same manner. The first half is doctrine and the last half is practical application. For a comparison of how Paul organized Ephesians in a way similar to Colossians see: https://crossingschurchaz.org/ephesians-41-16/)

Notice that Paul is using another rhetorical literary device here in verse 1. Paul says, “if you have been raised up with Christ…”. This is very similar to what he said (rhetorically) back in Colossians 2:20:

20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,…

Verse 1 could also be translated with a “since” as in “Therefore since you have been raised up with Christ…”. In fact this is closer to how the NIV translates this verse.

Since this section begins the practical application of what we studied in the first two chapters we should immediately see some commands or direction from Paul. Indeed we see something repeated in these first two verses…”seeking the things above”.

Let’s break this down further. What are we to do with the things above? Well, the verbs tell us. They are commands to continually seek and continually set our minds on (or meditate on) the things above. The Greek and English verbs here both indicate that this is a continuous and ongoing action.

But what are the things above? These two verses give us a general idea. The things above are found with Jesus. The same Jesus who is sitting at the right hand of God the Father, showing that Jesus is king, ruler, and has authority over all (sounds a lot like preeminence to me). But Paul contrasts this with the things below, earthly things, that are human inspired and are not the things above. More to the point of what these things are can be found at the end of Colossians 2:1–3:

1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Christ is our sufficiency! All we need is Christ! There is nothing else! Keep seeking diligently Christ and continually meditate on Christ and His word. This is to be our mindset as believers. But we don’t have to do this alone, we have Christ in us, His sufficiency is ours.

For more details on seeking and meditation on the things above Re-read: https://crossingschurchaz.org/grow/ (open the section entitled “Feb. 6 – Matt. Chapter 6” and read through it). This covers our previous study on Matthew 6:33 where we read:

33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Which meshes nicely with verses 3:1-2 here in Colossians.

Colossians 3:3–4:

3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

This sounds a lot like the baptism that Paul was just walking us through last week. We have died with Christ and to sin. Now we are raised (revealed) as a new creation, a child of God.

The word “For” that begins verse 3 reveals that verses 3-4 further explains verses 1-2 where we were commanded to set our minds on Christ. Why do we set our minds on Christ and why are we now enabled to set our minds on Christ? The answer is because we have died with Christ to sin and are now a new creation that is hidden with Christ. That is we are concealed, secretly hidden away with Christ. Therefore, from now on others will see not us, not our old selves, but Christ in us. Furthermore, when Christ returns at His second coming verse 4 states that we will be revealed as God’s own. In other words, what is now hidden in Christ will be revealed at His second coming.

Colossians 3:5–11:

5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

Since we are hidden in Christ and have all the sufficiency of Christ within us we are to put to death sin that is in ourselves. This sin, as Paul rightly states, amounts to idolatry against God. If we do not put to death sin then it becomes what we worship and desire. We should not put these evil things above our worship of and desire for God.

Remember back in 1 Samuel 15:7–9:

7 So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

Here Saul spared king Agag and took the best of the animals from the Amelekites even though the Lord told Saul not to spare anyone or anything. Saul disobeyed as the spoils of war became his idol. An idol that Saul placed above the Lord’s own words. Because of this the Lord says in 1 Samuel 15:10–11:

10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night.

The Lord regretted that He made Saul king and sent Samuel to chastise Saul. It was Samuel who killed Agag by hacking him to pieces. Something that Saul failed to do and was still not willing to do.

Additionally, remember back in 1 Samuel 28:4–7:

4 So the Philistines gathered together and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together and they camped in Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. 6 When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at En-dor.”

where Saul consults the witch at Endor. This became Saul’s idolatry as well, and the final straw for the Lord. The Lord would cause not only the battle to be lost for Saul’s army, but also Saul would die in that same battle. Saul’s example should be a warning to us all to put to death all idolatry in us.

Since Colossians was written around the time of Ephesians we can see some similarities in Paul’s commands for us. Take, for instance, Ephesians 5:1–11:

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 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. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

For a deeper discussion of this see: https://crossingschurchaz.org/ephesians-51-23/ where Ephesians 5:1-11 is discussed verse by verse.

Paul ends this section in verse 3:11 in Colossians with a plea for unity in the church. As we put on Christ and put off the old self we are all renewed in such a way that there is no distinction between all of us who are in Christ. That is not to say that there is no diversity among believers, but that all of our differences should be set aside and we should view each other with renewed eyes that see only Christ in us all. For He is our complete sufficiency…Christ is all and in all (remember that this letter was addressed to the believers at Colossae and, as such, the phrase “in all” is appropriate here).

For more discussion on putting on the new self and putting off the old self see: https://crossingschurchaz.org/ephesians-417-23/

Colossians 3:12–17:

12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

This section begins with the word “So”, which is the same Greek word that is sometimes translated as “Therefore”. Some Bible translations do use “Therefore” instead of “So” in this verse. Either way, this word points us back to the previous section where Paul initially talked of putting off the old self and then in verse 10 begins to discuss putting on the new self. In this section Paul deals deeply with putting on the new self.

The comparison between this section (putting on the new self) and the previous section in verses 3:5-11 (taking off the old self) are drastic. We are to remove the old self with its immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. Replacing these with our new self, which consists of a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Not to mention love and forgiveness!

Verse 13 continues with how we are to act as we put on this new self. We are to bear or endure difficult situations with each other. Paul knew that the NT church with its diverse members would naturally disagree and argue about matters of salvation, holiness, and doctrine. Therefore, he added that in our compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience we are to endure in a likewise manner with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Of course, bearing with one another would naturally require forgiveness. Here Paul does not simply limit forgiveness to the human equivalent to “I’m sorry”. Rather, he points us to the ultimate forgiveness bestowed on us by Jesus Christ our Lord. Who forgave us even though we were the most wretched of sinners. This is the ultimate forgiveness; a self-sacrificial forgiveness that we need to mirror to others. If Jesus forgave that brother or sister that annoys you, argues with you, and makes it all around difficult to endure with, know that we are called to forgive them as Jesus would have forgiven them. Sometimes this will require a lot more of the humility that we are commanded to put on in verse 12.

In verse 14 Paul commands us to put on the last thing, which is love. This love is what unifies believers into a single body attached to the head, which is Christ. Next week we will read more about how Paul would have us express this love toward one another in very practical ways. (Spoiler alert: we studied this at length in Ephesians 5:19-69).

Finally, in verses 15-17 Paul writes something reminiscent of Ephesians 5:19-20:

19a ddressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

As we learn to let the peace of Christ and His word dwell within us, producing the fruit of righteousness we do so with unity, wisdom, singing praises, and thankfulness. This is what will come from the overflow of our hearts as we do it in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Now that we have understood the idea of Christ’s preeminence and His sufficiency, Paul is going to dig further into this and add a few commands that we need to follow. These commands are there to help us live out our Christian lives in the fullness of Christ in us. These commands are directly related to how we should respond to Christ’s sufficiency.

(As a point of clarification, I will be talking about the sufficiency aspect of Christ’s preeminence from here on. Colossians specifically and overwhelmingly talk of Christ’s preeminence, but for this study I want to focus on His sufficiency, which is part of His preeminence. Christ’s sufficiency is what allows us to correct extra-Biblical ideas and resist its temptations.)

Colossians 2:6–7:

6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

Now that we’ve discussed Christ’s sufficiency, Paul is going to command us to walk in him. The word “Therefore” is pointing us back to all that Paul has just talked about, that is Christ’s sufficiency. Now that we have received Christ Jesus the Lord we are to walk in him. There’s a lot to unpack in this sentence.

First, the idea of receiving Christ Jesus the Lord. Notice that Paul uses the full title of Jesus: “Jesus Christ the Lord”. These three titles describe Jesus fully. He is our messiah, He is our saviour, He is God, and He is Lord over us. This title signifies the complete Jesus. And just as we received the complete Jesus we are commanded to walk in Him (the verb “walk” is an active imperative indicating a command we are responsible to do).

But there’s also this word “receive” that I took time to examine. At first, I thought that this word was pointing to the time at which we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, becoming a child of God. But upon closer examination (and reading a whole lot of other Christian’s commentaries on this word) it seems that this word “receive” is tied directly to the teachings of Christ that we receive after the believer’s conversion.

A couple of reasons why I believe this:

The Biblical definition of this Greek word for “receive” is as follows: Can convey receiving information or receiving of someone or something into a subject’s jurisdiction or care.11 Derek Leigh Davis, “Learning,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

The word “Therefore” links this verse back to the previous verses concerning Christ’s preeminence/sufficiency. This teaching is coming from Paul to the maturing believers at Colossae.

Verse 7, that follows, talks of growing, maturing, and being instructed in the things of Christ. This verse is the second half of verse 6.

Based on the Biblical definition of this word, which carries the sense of a transfer of knowledge and these other facts, I conclude that this word is talking about receiving instruction in our Lord as opposed to receiving the Spirit at conversion.

To be sure, some commentaries define “receive” as receiving the Spirit at the time of conversion; however, they do not explicitly explain why they think this is so.

Now to look at the command of this verse “walk in Him”, where have we seen this before? We discussed this idea of walking in Christ in the book of Ephesians that we just studied. Colossians and Ephesians were written very close to each other. Some think that Colossians was written first and the Ephesians was written afterward with the idea of diving deeper into the ideas in Colossians, especially the idea of “walking in Him”.

Since we have already studied Ephesians we know a little about how to walk in Him. You can go back to the Ephesians studies here to refresh your memory:

In a nutshell, walking in Him is how we behave and handle ourselves in this fallen world. Since we have been rooted, built up, and established in Him we can also walk in Him. Walking in Him is our outward response to the true knowledge we have received of Jesus Christ the Lord.

Colossians 2:8–10:

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

Here in verse 8 we have our second command, “See to it…”. We are to be vigilant in watching for extra-Biblical ideas creeping into our church and into our own thoughts. These extra-Biblical ideas typically come through philosophy and empty deception, which are rooted or dependent on human traditions.

Human philosophies and empty deception (i.e., devoid of any real benefits) are difficult to defend against. They are packaged up with some truths (usually), which makes them so much more difficult to identify and refute. However, Paul does not recommend studying these deceptive influences in order to refute and correct; rather, Paul focuses on the sufficiency of Christ. When we focus on Christ’s sufficiency we see no other need for things/ideas that will “help” us be better Christians, which are outside of Christ’s teachings. Like the Bereans, we need to scour the scripture to determine what is true (what is according to Christ) and what is false (what is according to the elementary principles of the world, that is, the basic or rudimentary principles of the world).

In verse 9 we begin to answer the question, “why should we watch that we are not taken captive by these things?” The answer is simple and it reflects what we’ve already read in Colossians 1:15–20:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 1 6For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

In verse 9 we can reflect on Jesus’ preeminence and sufficiency in all things. The details of this are back in verses 1:15-20. If Jesus is all we need then we no longer need to seek out or listen to human philosophies and empty deception that is extra-Biblical. To supplant Christ with extra-Biblical ideas is to deny that Christ is all sufficient. And from this we must repent.

But Paul is not done explaining the “why”. He goes on in verse 10 to say that we have been made complete. That is, our salvation that comes from only Christ (who is our sufficiency) makes us complete. We need no other extra-Biblical ideas to add to this completeness. In fact this word “completeness” gives us the sense of being bountifully filled or supplied by Christ to the point of needing nothing else.

The other thing Paul says in verse 10 is that Jesus is the head over all rule and authority. In other words, He is preeminent. If He was not over all rule and authority then He could not be sufficient for us. Those peddling these extra-Biblical ideas must have been denying Christ’s preeminence in order for Paul to specifically state this here. Since Christ is head over all we can logically infer that He is sufficient in all. Preeminence and sufficiency go hand-in-hand. One without the other would weaken Christ’s lordship. And a weakening of His lordship leads us to stumble in our faith. This is what they wanted, for the believers at Colossae to stumble and deny Christ. Today, this is what they want for truly God fearing churches, to stumble and deny Christ. May this never happen. May we all be praying for the strengthening of our church and those churches around us!

Colossians 2:11–15:

11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Paul is not done. In verse 11 he adds one more item to this list. That of the circumcision made without hands. This circumcision has already been performed on the believers through Christ. There is no need to undergo this circumcision once again through human hands. The Jews that were steeped in OT tradition would have considered circumcision by human hands a type of prerequisite for becoming a member of the family of God. Paul is saying otherwise. Christ has removed our old sinful self so that we may live as Christians. This is only possible through Christ who is sufficient in all things, even to remove our sinful nature so that our new self may walk in a manner worthy of God. Circumcision with human hands can never cause this inward change.

To explain this circumcision made without hands deeper Paul moves into baptism. Baptism is the outward expression of our inward hope, a hope that can only exist once Christ has removed our sinful nature. In baptism we are buried along with Christ expressing that we die with Christ to sin. But baptism also shows our confession of faith as we are raised to new life in Christ. We are one in Christ and one in His church. This is the outward sign of the inward working of God.

In verse 13-14 again Paul states that He (God) made us alive with Him. God forgave us our sins…all of our sins. God canceled out our debt that was given to us by the law. You see, the law only served to expose our sin and unrighteousness. Then Jesus died on the cross fulfilling the law and prophets. Removing the law and its hostility towards us.

Finally, in verse 15 Paul ends this section with the full and utter victory of God through Christ. Through Christ’s work on the cross the rulers and authorities have been stripped of everything and put on public display. This is something that a victorious king would do to the defeated enemy in ancient times.

(Note that the “rulers and authorities” Paul mentioned here are most likely to be understood as enemies of God although there is quite a lot of interesting discussion on this.)

Now we go from the christological summary in verses 15-23, which speak of Christ’s full and complete sufficiency for us and the church as a whole to these next 11 verses, which speak of Paul’s labor for the church. It is interesting that Paul would organize this letter in such a way. That is, the sufficiency of Christ followed by Paul’s labors. If Christ is sufficient aren’t Paul’s labors in vain? Why labor and toil so hard if Christ is sufficient? Verse 24 may have a clue to answering this question.

Colossians 1:24:

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

There are two clues to answer why Paul labors so hard while at the same time having all sufficiency in Christ. The answer is in his suffering and filling up what is lacking. Suffering for the church’s sake produced great joy in Paul, which allowed him to rejoice while still incarcerated. This rejoicing furthered his maturity in Christ.

In fact, in Philippians we will dive deep into this idea of joy from suffering. But how do we go from suffering to joy? 2 Corinthians 1:5 has the answer:

5For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

Not only has Christ called us to suffering in abundance, which is a mark of a Christian and the church, but in whatever suffering we may endure Christ’s comfort is given to us in abundance. We can rejoice alongside Paul, sharing in the same comfort that was given him in abundance through his sufferings.

The second reason why Paul (and us) should labor so hard is that we, like Paul, are filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. In other words, we as Christians are taking on the sufferings and persecutions that were intended for Christ after He completed His work on the cross.

When Christ died on the cross He finished His work. However, we still have work to do in continuing the building of His church and keeping it spotless. We have a duty, given to us by Christ Himself, to go into all the world making disciples and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But in doing so we will suffer and be persecuted. Fortunately, we do not do this alone without any help. We have the full sufficiency of Christ in us to complete this work!

Colossians 1:25–28:

25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.

This is the mission Christ gave Paul, to preach the mystery of God namely to the Gentiles. Like in Ephesians, Paul also speaks here of the mystery, which is Christ in you. Remember back when we studied these verses in Ephesians 3:3–6:

3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. 4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,

This is the NT church and as such is built on the revealing of who Christ is. He is sufficient in everything, especially the working of the Gentiles’ salvation. This of course was a difficult thing for the Jews, who were steeped in religious tradition, to accept. Here, Paul is gently leading the readers to the sufficiency of Christ, not traditions or animal sacrifices or anything else…just Christ.

Colossians 1:29:

29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

I wanted to focus quickly on this one verse. Notice that nowhere in this verse does Paul say that he labors in his own strength. This is so important for us and especially our church leaders at Crossings Church to live out. And I say this with all the love and care possible. To do Christ’s work in the flesh only is to invite overload, burnout, and problems. Since we are called to suffer for Christ we should not place additional burdens on our own shoulders. Rather, we need to labor and strive (some translations use toil and struggle here) only within the power that Christ provides. He is our sufficiency after all. That means that if we follow Paul’s example, we too can work to exhaustion, giving our all to minister to others without the added burnout, overload, and problems that we would inevitably face if we do this all on our own.

Working within Christ’s sufficient and mighty power leads ultimately to joy, which allows us to rejoice and grow as opposed to becoming burnt-out and stagnant.

Colossians 2:1–3:

1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Paul wasn’t just talking about his great struggles in ministering to the church to make himself look like a superhero. He was writing this for a more selfless reason. He wanted the church body to know about his struggles so that they would be encouraged to boldly continue to follow Christ and not the people who were bringing extra-Biblical messages into the church. Continuing to follow Christ and only Christ can be a struggle when faced with opposition and persecution as the Colossian church was. But Paul led by example and wanted the Colossians to follow his lead.

We see again in verses 2-3 the word “all” used to describe the wealth and treasures of knowing Christ. All wealth that comes from understanding the full gospel that results in salvation. But notice that this salvation (our wealth) only comes from understanding the gospel. Not from understanding some extra-Biblical knowledge.

Continuing into verse 3 we see that all wisdom and knowledge is hidden within Christ. This wisdom and knowledge are described as treasures (plural). That is, both wisdom and knowledge are each their own treasure. In fact we see that over and over again in the book of Proverbs. But these treasures are found only in Christ, as it says they are “hidden” in Christ. These treasures are only for the Christian believer. Those introducing extra-Biblical knowledge certainly were not gaining that knowledge from Christ but from human ideas/thoughts.

Through all of this persecution Paul wanted to encourage this church. Paul’s joy in the face of difficult work, persecutions, and suffering was a light of hope for the believers at Colossae…an encouragement. Paul’s struggle to present the church spotless to the Bride-groom was intended to encourage the believers to keep walking in the faith towards Christ only.

Colossians 2:4–5:

4I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. 5 For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.

Here in verse 4 is where Paul explains that everything he has previously said about Christ’s sufficiency and supremacy over all is the answer to the extra-Biblical arguments that others were bringing into the church. Also notice that Paul describes these extra-Biblical arguments as persuasive. These ideas that Christ was not sufficient and not supreme may have taken hold in some of the Christians in this church and needed to be confronted and corrected before the entire church was persuaded. Isn’t it usually the case that when extra-Biblical ideas are introduced to the church that they are introduced with persuasive speech. And as we know, a little leven spreads quickly throughout the entire loaf.

But there is hope in Paul’s words in verse 5. He says that he is rejoicing in their discipline and stability of faith even though he cannot be with them. While it could be possible that some in that church were led astray or were close to being led astray, it seems that the majority of believers in Colossae were standing firm in their faith. They truly were putting on the armor of God every day (Eph 6:10-20).

This next section of scripture in Colossians is widely known as one of the most important treaties on christology (the study of the nature, person, and works of Christ) in the NT, certainly within Paul’s writings.

Colossians 1:15–23:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17H e is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

This section is critical to our understanding of not only who Christ is and what He has done but it is also critical for our understanding of Colossians. Why do I say that these verses are critical to understanding Colossians? Well, to begin to answer that we need to understand that all scripture points to Jesus and these 9 verses clearly do that. Next, to go from interpretation to application we need to accurately see how the interpretation of a book like Colossians points us to Jesus. If we miss this point then we can go slightly (or more than slightly) off the path that Jesus has laid out for us.

So let’s think about this in terms of Colossians. If you read the whole book (only 4 chapters) you’ll probably notice that it’s organized similar to Ephesians. That is, the first half is doctrine and the second half is application. This is perfect. The doctrine points us to Christ and the application shows how we are to respond to Christ as believers who love our Lord according to the doctrine laid out in the first half of this book.

Now as we read through Colossians multiple times we see that this book is designed to correct those in the Colossian church that were adding to the gospel (or maybe I should say, “allowing others to add to the gospel”), saying that there were extra-Biblical religious requirements that all believers must now adhere to (remember this word extra-Biblical, it is important in that it ties everything together). Not only that, this letter was also written to strengthen the believers in Colossae to withstand and reject the arguments of those deceiving the church.

Now we could stop here and say that the main idea of Colossians was to defend the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. That is a worthy statement and yes we should always be ready to give a defense of our hope in Christ. But if we stop here we would be missing the deeper point of Colossians: Christ is all! We need nothing more!

Think about this. If we didn’t go farther in our study of Colossians and failed to link the 9 verses in this section (the christological exposition) to all of the rest of Colossians we might miss the true message behind Colossians, that is the preeminence, superiority, and sufficiency of Christ. To help see this idea of Christ as all, re-read this section (verses 15-23) and underline the word “all”. As we see, verses 15-18 focus on this idea of preeminence as Christ is head over all, firstborn (not in chronological terms but in prominence), creator, sustainer, and the image of God!

Remember a few paragraphs ago when I said the idea of introducing extra-Biblical content into the church was the problem. Well, Paul is making the case first that Christ is all we need because He is preeminent (i.e., Christ is above all, over all, and surpasses all). He is all, He is creator and sustainer, there is nothing else that we need. So why would we ever need anything extra-Biblical? Anything extra-Biblical simply says that Christ is not enough, He is not sufficient for us. And that is just wrong. Knowing this we can more fully apply the message in Colossians in our lives.

This book was designed to help us to understand the preeminence of Christ in all things. But, to keep things simple, I want to focus on Christ’s sufficiency, which is one of the aspects of His preeminence. The sufficiency of our salvation in Him, the sufficiency of our works through Him, the sufficiency of everything even from the smallest atom to the largest kingdom. Christ is more than sufficient and He is sufficient because He is preeminent.

Understanding and believing in Christ’s supreme sufficiency was a prerequisite for the believers at Colossae before they could refute and correct both the Jews that were forcing Old Testament traditions on this New Testament church as well as the Gnostics with their so-called “secret” knowledge of God and salvation (a.k.a., extra-Biblical knowledge).

This understanding of Christ’s sufficiency is just as important to us now as it was back then. Once we grasp the sufficiency of Christ in all things it becomes a simple matter to protect ourselves from extra-Biblical knowledge and correct others that want to bring extra-Biblical thought into our churches. For we must keep the church spotless for when the bride-groom returns for her.

In addition to this remember that as we are in Christ so his sufficiency is within us. That means we already have His fullness with us every second of every day. We can rest easy that we already have everything we need to live our lives fully for Him. Nothing more is necessary.

Colossians is a letter to the church at Colossae in the Roman province of Asia, what is now part of Turkey. The Colossian church was, like the church at Ephesus, made up of Gentiles and Jews. Because of this Paul had to, on many occasions, help the Jewish parishioners understand that the old laws (only having the power to point out our sin and our unrighteousness) had been replaced with the grace that Jesus brought that has the power to save and make us righteous before a holy God. Here too in Colossae it seems that some of the old Jewish laws were being used to force a man-made righteousness on to the believers at Colossae.

Not only this, but it seems that there was other outside influences that were attempting to water-down who Christ was and His message. We don’t know exactly what this heresy was, but some believe that it was a form of Gnosticism. Gnosticism, like most heresies, have enough truth to them to be initially seen as good or even compatible with scriptures. However, as we look beneath the surface of Gnosticism we see the true nature of it.

In short, Gnosticism was based on three principals. The first being that salvation could only be achieved through some secret, not-previously-revealed knowledge that only those practicing Gnosticism possessed. Of course, only those seeking entrance into the Gnostic community would be told of this secret knowledge. Certainly this would have tickled the ears of some, enticing them to a greater understanding, 2 Timothy 4:3–4:

3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

However, this was only a human knowledge that could not save nor did it have the power to change the hearts of the hearers.

Gnosticism also held to the idea of dualism between the physical and spiritual realms. Basically, the body (in the physical realm was inherently evil) while the spirit (in the spiritual realm) was inherently good. On the surface this sounds ok as we do live in a fallen world and we do sin. However, it flies in the face of Jesus who came in physical form as the pure undefiled sacrificial lamb of God. In the Gnostic’s eyes Jesus would have been considered evil as He was a physical man, therefore they could not have conceived of Him as the perfect sacrifice to God to reconcile sinners to a holy and perfect God.

There was a third principal of Gnosticism called the pleroma of aeons, which is so ridiculous that I’m not going to waste time discussing it. In short, this was a description of God and the other inhabitants of the spiritual world.

You can see how the Gnostic beliefs would have totally undermined the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul would not have this heresy infecting Christ’s church. As we saw in Ephesians and now in Colossians, Paul dearly loved the church. This letter was designed to refute the teachings of both the Jews (who kept to Old Testament ideals and traditions) and the Gnostics.

But how would Paul do this? How would he refute old traditions held for centuries among the Jews and at the same time refute this new heresy of Gnosticism pervading the church? Well, that is the main point of Colossians. The main point is that Christ is superior and therefore all we need! That bears repeating, Christ is superior and therefore all we need! Being in Christ, as believers, means that we already have everything we need to live life fully and righteously for Him. Traditions and human knowledge (a.k.a., Gnosticism) are inferior while Jesus is superior. Paul will bring out this point in the first two chapters of Colossians and continue to apply it throughout the last two chapters.

The first two chapters of Colossians cover theology, especially the study of who Jesus Christ our Lord is. The second two chapters cover our application of this knowledge personally as well as towards others. Let’s jump in.

Colossians 1:1–2:

1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

This is Paul’s introduction to his letter. It is very similar to the introductions in Ephesians and Philippians. Note the addition of Timothy in the introduction. It seems Timothy was with Paul at least during some of his imprisonment. Also of importance, as with Ephesians, this letter is addressed directly to the believers in the church at Colossae.

Colossians 1:3–8:

3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul here is expressing his thankfulness to the believers at Colossae. There is similar expressions of thankfulness in Paul’s other letters. Re-read the opening of Ephesians chapter 1 and notice the similarities and differences between the openings of these letters.

As we will also be working through Philippians and Philemon, make it a point to read the introductions to Philippians and Philemon (in addition to Ephesians). The introductions to all four of these books are similar yet specific to their audiences. But in all cases Paul expressed his deep thankfulness and love for all the brethren in the churches. Without this deep love and affection from Paul these letters would seem dry and simply full of facts and commands. But if you mix in this love Paul had for these churches his words become alive and full of compassion. This is how one bears fruit in their words towards other believers. Paul’s example is one that we should always bear in mind when interacting with other believers.

Colossians 1:9–14:

9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. 13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

This is Paul’s prayer for the church at Colossae. Notice how it mirrors the prayer to the Ephesians in Ephesians 1:15–23:

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Paul is building on his relationship to the Colossians in the opening of this letter (Paul also does this in the letter to the Ephesians, even though the letter to the Ephesians was most likely sent to all churches in Asia, including Colossae, as we previously learned). Even though Paul was imprisoned and could not travel to be with the Colossians in person he could be with them in spirit. He accomplished this through prayer. Not only telling them that he was praying for them, but also telling them how he was praying for them. You see, telling a person (or a group of people) that you are praying for them is important but telling them how you are praying is vital! After all, how can those you pray for see the link between your prayers and God’s working if you don’t tell them the details of how you are praying.

It’s expressing the details of our prayers towards others that grows our deep affections towards one another within the church.

We’ve arrived at the end of Ephesians. Paul has described in chapters 1-3 what God has done for us (by grace we have been saved through faith) and, in response, what our walk with God should look like in chapters 4-6 (be imitators of Christ who saved us). Paul has used the term “walk” throughout Ephesians to describe our behavior towards our God:

Do not walk as you once walked according to the world (2:1-2)

Walk in the good works that Christ Jesus created for us (2:10)

Walk in a manner worthy of our calling (4:1)

Do not walk as unbelievers do in the futility of their minds (4:17)

Walk in sacrificial love (5:2)

Walk as children of light (5:8)

Walk in wisdom (5:15)

But now Paul tells us to stand. Stand against the schemes of the devil. Stand clothed in the full armor of God.

Ephesians 6:10

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

At the end of Ephesians, Paul gives us the command to be strong. But we need not be strong only in our own human strength. No, Christ died for us on the cross, winning the battle for us. We simply need to be strong in Him and in His strength. Our own strength is far too weak to stand up to the devil alone. Many have tried. I know I’ve tried when I was a new believer full of pride and energy. But this is how the devil separates the sheep from their shepherd. We may think we can go it alone but when we do we leave behind our greatest power, that of our Lord.

Ephesians 6:11–12:

11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Paul doesn’t just command us to be strong. He also provides the “how”…the armor of God, which we already have available to us. This was bequeathed to us at our salvation. We simply need to “put it on” as Paul commands. Putting on this armor is akin to clothing ourselves in armor. We should be wearing this armor all the time to keep ourselves protected from the devil’s schemes.

Notice here in verse 11 Paul tells us to stand firm. This is the first of three times he will repeat this word. Paul tells us that clothed in the full armor of God (yes, full not partial) we will be able to stand unmoved, enduring the devil’s schemes with courage. This word “schemes” gives us a clue as to how the devil will attack us. Many times we think of the devil attacking us head on, but “schemes” implies a more subtle and deceitful set of tactics. You see, the devil knows that he cannot stand against the full armor of God because as we clothe ourselves in this armor we are essentially wearing the might of our Lord. Knowing this, the devil will use subterfuge, deceit, trickery, and cunning when he attacks. It may be so subtle that we don’t even know we’re in his trap until it’s sprung. This is why we always need to be clothed in God’s spiritual armor…not just some of the armor but all of it, lest we leave something unprotected.

Now it’s interesting that Paul uses the word “schemes” in verse 11 because in verse 12 he says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Now this word “struggle” is sometimes translated as “wrestle” and I have a fond affinity for this word as I wrestled in high school, which led to other, well, shall we say wrestling-esque sports. Having spent some time on the mat, I can say with experiential knowledge that scheming and wrestling go hand-in-hand. As an example, say I’m wrestling an opponent and want to shoot in and take their legs out from under them. Well, I’m certainly not going to telegraph my intentions to do so. Rather, I’m going to snap their head down or drag an arm, anything to get them thinking about something other than their legs. Then when the opportunity presents itself, I’ll make my move.

This is how the devil operates. We’re in a sort of spiritual wrestling match with deception and trickery of all sorts designed to get our eyes off of what matters (Christ and His word) and onto something else, anything else. And who are we wresting:

Rulers

Powers

World forces

Spiritual forces

All of which the devil can orchestrate against us.

Ephesians 6:13:

13Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

For this very reason that I just stated above, we need to clothe ourselves with the full armor of God. This allows us to resist the devil and his schemes. This allows us to stand firm. Again Paul uses the word “stand” as he did in verse 11. The full armor of God allows us to not only resist evil but to also stand firmly planted unable to be moved by evil.

Ephesians 6:14–17:

14Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Again Paul says to stand firm. This time the verb “stand” is in the imperative (a command for us). But how do we stand firm against evil. Well, the following participle verbs define how we are to do this:

Having girded…

Having put on…

Having shod…

Taking up…

A believer already has the armor of God. Here, Paul is showing us through these participle verbs that even though at the time of salvation we have these implements. It is our responsibility to put on the armor of God each and every day.

Note that Paul changes the verb in verse 17 to “take”, which is a primary verb (and not a participle). I have honestly struggled with this change of verb type. It’s not overtly obvious why he does this and most commentaries I’ve consulted just give this change in verb usage a passing treatment that leaves me wanting more.

Like any good soldier we are to learn how to effectively use God’s armor. This is especially important with the sword (the word of God). The sword is the only part of the full armor described here that can be used as both an offensive and a defensive weapon. We wield God’s word to both defend our faith to others as well as to tear down strongholds of the devil. Maybe this is why Paul choose to change the verb type here (i.e., “take”) when speaking of the helmet and sword. We must actively “take up” the word of God, meaning that we are to study and use the word of God in the same way a soldier would train how to use their sword in combat…practicing with their sword until they could wield it effectively. Likewise, we cannot wield the sword of the Spirit effectively against evil unless we study it deeply and practice using it.

It is of great importance that we understand that the devil can use this sword against us. Yes, the devil can use God’s word against us…sometimes with great affect. He has studied the word of God and can use various techniques such as taking verses out of context or casting doubt (e.g., remember in the garden when the devil said, “Did God really say…” to Eve). And of course we can’t forget when the devil tempted Christ in the wilderness for the third time in Luke 4:9–13:

9And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 12And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 13And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Here, the devil quotes scripture as “for it is written…”. So take great care in understanding that the word of God can be used against us by the devil. We only use the word of God effectively when we know how to use it both defensively and offensively.

One last thing to think about with the armor of God is that clothing yourself in God’s armor is essentially clothing yourself in Jesus. This idea is brought out in Romans 13:11–14:

11Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. 12The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. 14But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Put on the armor of light; put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is our defense and His word, wielded correctly, is how we defeat evil and protect ourselves.

Ephesians 6:18–20:

18With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

These verses speak of the perseverance of prayer. This seems like an abrupt change from the armor of God to prayer to God; however, these two things go hand-in-hand. The verb “pray” in verse 18 is yet another participle that ties back to “standing firm” in verse 14. So here Paul is giving us yet another tool in our arsenal with which to stand firm. That is fervent prayer. Also critical for this prayer to be effective is to be praying at all times “in the Spirit”. We should always pray in submission to the Spirit’s will knowing that the Spirit’s will is also God’s will. As long as our prayers are in-line with God’s will, He will hear our supplications.

In verses 19-20 Paul asks for prayer on his behalf according to the prayer he defines in verse 18. Notice that he doesn’t ask for prayer for release from prison or for personal needs; rather, he asks that he is able to boldly continue his mission to preach the gospel to the lost. Jesus has given Paul a duty to act as His ambassador on earth. So, whether Paul is free or in chains, he must continue his duty to not only preach but to preach boldly. Boldness in preaching was very important to Paul as he mentions it twice, once in verse 19 and again in verse 20.

Ephesians 6:21–24:

21But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you. 22I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us, and that he may comfort your hearts. 23Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.

This is the closing of the letter to the Ephesians. More appropriately, it is the closing of the letter to all churches. Paul is sending out Tychicus as a messenger to not only tell of Paul’s circumstances but also to comfort the church body. This is a great segue into the next book series, Philippians. In Philippians we will see God, through Paul, masterfully evoke joy in the church body, not in spite of sufferings (both Paul’s and the churches’) but through sufferings.

Paul ends Ephesians with a blessing of peace, love, and grace to all believers in the church. While love is the greatest of all these, I believe Paul wanted to emphasize peace and grace since the point of Ephesians was to teach us how to walk in unity in the Lord. Both our peace and grace are necessary to this end. Nevertheless, love is above all these. Without love our peace and grace are impotent.

Last week Paul took us through a discussion of the right relationship between the husband and wife. This relationship was related to the relationship between the church and Christ. In order to be unified the family must be unified and the church must be unified. But this unification can only be under the one true Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

Today we’re going to continue to look at Pauls commands to both children and parents as well as slaves and masters.

Ephesians 6:1–3:

1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), 3so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

Paul begins with a command for the children. Obey your parents. This command follows Ephesians 5:21:

21and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Just as we all are to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ so children are to obey their parents “in the Lord”. But notice the change here. We are to all be subject to one another, but children are to also obey their parents. This is slightly different from being subject to another. Obey conveys a sense of placing oneself under the authority of another.

Paul adds that “this is right.” God has ordained that the family would function at its best when children obey their parents. Consider today as the culture tells parents that children should be free to make up their own minds and do their own thing unencumbered by a parent’s discipline or instruction. This will only lead to undisciplined children who refuse to obey authority.

To back up his command for children to obey and to show that it is God’s good desire for this, Paul quotes from Exodus 20:12:

12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

Yes, for children to obey parents is one of the 10 commandments of God. This is so important that God specified it in His 10 commandments. But notice the promise that God gives specifically to children who obey. They are promised that they will be well off and that they may live a long life.

Ephesians 6:4:

4Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Here Paul again calls out fathers specifically in this matter. A father is the head of the household and, as we learned last week, must sacrificially provide for his wife. Paul is now adding to this command by also saying that the father must not make his children angry; rather, he must teach and rear them to understand and fear the Lord.

Looking back at our study of 1 Samuel, we can see what happens when the parents and especially the father does not bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord in 1 Samuel 2:12–17 (remember Eli and his sons):

12Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. 13The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.” 16And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.” 17Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.

Eli did not raise his sons properly as to the Lord and paid the price. The price was especially high due to their position in the temple. In fact, Eli decided to confront and chastise his sons, but it was too little, too late as we see in 1 Samuel 2:22–25:

22Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. 25If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.

At some point the Lord’s patience will end and His righteousness and justice will prevail. Knowing this we, as parents, must always be aware of how we rear our children.

Ephesians 6:5–8:

5Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

After completing the discussion of how God ordains the family to function in His holiness, Paul moves on to slaves and masters. Now some versions of the Bible will use bondservant or just servant in place of slave. But interestingly, all the Bible versions I looked at use “master” in verse 6:9. A master is defined as one to whom someone or something belongs and who has authority over that person or thing. So, yes, slave is an apt translation for this passage.

Now we all know that slavery is an evil thing. But it is also something that Paul used to describe believers and unbelievers in relation to Christ, Romans 6:16–23:

16Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Slavery in the Bible is a deep subject to which I could write many many pages. But, as God would have it, I ran into a really good article this week that sums up many points about slavery in the Bible. It’s a good read and I recommend that you would read it: https://gentlereformation.com/2023/07/03/a-short-treatise-on-slavery/

Note that the slave’s relationship to the master as an application for us today can be applied to the employee/employer relationship. If you think this is a stretch, just read the contract you signed with your employer. I remember one employer of mine (a non-government three-letter acronym) had the wording in my contract that even the thoughts I had 24/7/365 during my employment term were the property of my employer. Crazy, right? Even my thoughts were not my own property. Truly, this company was my master in regards to the flesh.

So how does Paul command us to act towards our earthly masters? Masters that may be good or that may be evil towards us. Well, he commands us to act obediently out of respect to them. This obedience is clarified by Paul in several ways:

With fear (respect) and trembling

With a sincerity, and not just any sincerity but one that is as if we were being sincere to Christ Himself

Not with eyeservice (looking as though we are being obedient when we are really not, in other words being deceptive)

Not with the sole desire to please people, but with a desire to please God. Note that this is helpful when an employer requires us employees to do something contrary to our conscience as it relates to God’s will. In these cases God’s will must come first. Just remember Paul’s command, “Be angry yet do not sin!” We must not let our own anger come before God’s will.

In verse 6b there is a “but”, which relates all of the bullet points above to how God wants us to act under our masters, be they good or bad. Paul says “…but as slaves of Christ”. That is we are to act towards our employer as we would act towards Christ, our one true and good master.

We are to work for our employer as if we were working for Christ. We must serve our employer out of the goodness of our heart. And remember that God has given us the only goodness in our hearts and we are to share that freely not only in our employ but everywhere.

In verse 8 Paul tells us of our reward if we follow God’s commands here. We will receive good for our good. This good we receive will be from the Lord. Paul doesn’t explain exactly what type of “good” we will receive from the Lord, but we know that any good from the Lord is much greater than we can imagine, for in Matthew 7:9–11:

9Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

and furthermore in Matthew 7:12:

12“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

We are to treat our earthly masters as we would want them to treat us. This goes hand-in-hand with what Paul is commanding here to act out of the goodness of our hearts to our earthly masters.

With all the employee strikes that are happening and the trends of quiet quitting and rage quitting, we should truly contemplate God’s words to us through Paul seriously.

Ephesians 6:9:

9And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

Finally, Paul turns his attention towards the earthly masters. He says to do the same things that he just covered in verses 5-8. One of the most important things is for earthly masters to be obedient to their master. This master is not an earthly master, but a heavenly one. That is, our earthly masters must act in obedience to their heavenly Master.

Paul adds that the Master of all, Jesus, is over both the earthly master and the slave. And to drive this point home Paul states that there is no partiality with Jesus. That is, we are not graded on a curve nor are we judged according to our station in life. We are all equals in Christ and we are seen by Christ as equals and judged without any favoritism towards master or slave. For this would be an injustice to one or the other and we know that our Lord is perfect in judgement.

We finished last week with what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit. How we are to speak, sing, and make melody not to mention that we are to give thanks for everything. But there was one additional attribute of a Spirit filled person, that of being submissive to others and Christ.

Paul spends a lot more time on the topic of submissiveness in verses 5:21-33, which makes sense if you think about it. The church at Ephesus (and indeed other churches in Asia and elsewhere) had an eclectic mix of people, namely Jews and Gentiles. This mix had an inherent side-effect of introducing differing understanding of doctrine and how to worship God. The Jews had their ceremonies and rituals whereas the Gentiles had no ceremonies and rituals. The Gentiles were not worried about those things. This caused problems and (gasp) disunity in the church. This disunity is also evident in other churches as Paul had to address this on multiple occasions, Galatians 3:28:

28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Paul in this section wants to squash that disunity. Therefore he dives deep into our submissiveness, not only to Christ but also to each other. But what Paul writes here (as he is carried along by the Spirit) is somewhat nuanced and beautiful. Essentially, Paul is discussing two distinct things while at the same time showing us how we are to relate these two things in the context of submission. Notice where Paul talks of the relationship between the husband and wife and then extends this to the relationship between the church (us) and Christ.

Ephesians 5:21:

21and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

This verse is the connecting verse between what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit and our submission. That is, we should be willing to be submissive to each other under the fear/reverence of Christ who is the head of the church.

Ephesians 5:22:

22Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

I wanted to call out this verse as it is usually divisive. In fact, we see the “love and obey” from wedding vows many times shorted to just “love”. But here Paul is telling the wife that she must be submissive to her husband. This seems a little brash and uncaring for the wife…right? Well no, but to understand we first need a little more context.

First, Paul is talking to a believing wife bound to a believing husband (remember that this letter was written for believers). He will go on to show what God’s perfect plan for that union looks like under Christ.

Don’t forget to read the whole verse. This verse ends with “…as to the Lord.” Therefore, the wife is to be subject to her husband as she is subjecting herself also to the Lord of both her and her husband.

But husbands (and I’m looking at myself even more-so) do not ever take this verse as a license to lord your own will over your wife. The husband should read this verse with the utmost humility and love for his own wife! Beware husbands (and myself), what follows in the rest of this passage is mostly for us. In fact, if we fail God’s commands (through Paul) we fail our wives.

Ephesians 5:23–24:

23For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

Paul continues his thread of why the wife is to be subject to her husband in verses 23-24. The way God has structured marriage is that the husband is to be the head of the wife just like Christ is the head over the church. And then Paul explains it in verse 24 in the reverse. He states that the church must be subject to her bridegroom, Christ, just as the wife is subject to her husband. And this verse ends with “…in everything” and everything consists of all things.

Now you might be saying to yourself, “Yeah, didn’t Paul just say the same thing above…wives be subject to your husbands?” Well, there are some nuances here. First, in verse 22 it says that wives are to be subject to their husbands AS to the Lord. This word “as” is a conjunction (in Greek) that shows a comparison to how wives are to be in subjection to their husbands. Wives are to be in subjection to their husbands in a similar manner as to Christ. Not that we fallible husbands are on equal footing with Christ. No! We ourselves are also commanded to submit to Christ. But notice something else. It never says that husbands are to make, require, or force our wives to be subject to us. No! That is not right. It is the wife who must willingly and lovingly be subject to her husband. This puts the wife’s subjection as the responsibility of the husband, not the wife. Although this might sound like a contradiction to what I said previously, it is not. Let me explain. The husband cannot and should not demand this subjection; rather he (we) (I) must act in such a way as to earn it (we’ll talk about this shortly). I hope all the husbands out there are now seeing that Paul is putting the responsibility of the marriage onto the shoulders of the husband. Granted, the wife has a responsibility too, but the focus of Paul’s commands here are going to be towards the husband. For how can the wife be holy if the husband is not?

I want to point out the word “as” in verse 23. The husband is to be towards his wife “as” Christ is towards the church. Again, this word “as” is used to make a comparison between how we husbands are to act towards our wives with how Christ acted towards the church. Does any other husband out there read these verses and feel as though the weight of our responsibility just tripled? Just wait, it gets even more difficult for us husbands, but bear with me to the end.

Now we know that Paul is talking about the relationship between husbands and wives. But here Paul introduces a new parallel concept, that of the church being subject to Christ. Paul continues to expound on this unique parallelism between wives and their husbands with the church and Christ. So wait; this sounds like a double whammy for us husbands. We are not only responsible for enabling our wives to be willingly and lovingly subject to us, but we husbands must also make ourselves willingly and lovingly subject to Christ. Wow, God, through Paul, has placed so much on our shoulders. I’m wondering how it is possible to successfully carry this immense weight of responsibility on our shoulders. Just wait; Paul is not done. It gets even more difficult for us husbands.

Ephesians 5:25–27:

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

Here it is. The command to “love our wives” in verse 25. Make no mistake. The verb “love” is in the imperative form as a command. Paul then expounds on how we are to follow this command. This is where the rubber meets the road (as the saying goes). We are to love our wives just as (this is another comparative) Christ loved the church! But Paul adds, “…and gave Himself up for her”. That word for “gave” in Greek gives the sense of sacrificially giving something up. In this case that something is Christ Himself. Thus, we are to act towards our wives according to how Christ acted towards His church (His bride). We are to sacrificially give ourselves up for our wives. This doesn’t just mean that we would physically die to protect our wife; it means so much more than that. It means our daily decisions and our actions and words towards our wife must always sacrificially place her above our own needs and wants.

Picture this. We as husbands lead our households, especially our wives, in a manner worthy of Christ. That is in the same way that Christ leads the church…with unbounded grace, mercy, and love…filling all the needs of the church. But there is also Christ’s sacrificial love towards the church that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Therefore, we as husbands need to die daily not only towards our own sins but we need to die daily for our wives placing their needs above ours, their wants before ours, themselves before ourselves.

This picture of God’s desire for the husband and wife paints a whole new picture of verse 22, “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.” If the husband would act in the manner God desires, then the wife would naturally and lovingly want to be subject to him as her husband. Or to put it in the first person, “If I would just act as God desires me to act, my wife would naturally and lovingly want to be subject to me.” So, husbands, the onus is on us to walk in love with our Lord and to walk in love with our wives. Everything else will fall into place. This is the unequivocal definition of harmony.

But don’t forget to notice the parallelism between the husband’s and wife’s harmony and the harmony between Christ and His church. Christ acts as the perfect husband to His bride, the church. We are to imitate our Lord as He loves and sanctifies His church, Ephesians 5:1: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children”. Christ’s motives are pure and gracious in His sanctification and cleansing of the church. In the same fashion, we as husbands should mirror this and make it our duty to always be sanctifying our wife. Of course, this does not mean we try to force the issue of sanctification on our wife but that we allow her to willingly desire to be sanctified.

But how do we do this? It seems impossible. But what is impossible with us is possible with our Lord. Remember the prayer Paul just prayed in Ephesians 3:14–21:

14For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

This is also a prayer that we, as husbands, should be praying daily in order to love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. Focus on verse 3:16 where Paul asks that we be strengthened with power through His Spirit. The Spirit is who gives us the power and strength to be able to lead our household and to love our wives and to submit ourselves to Christ as the ultimate head over all.

Ephesians 5:28–32:

28So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30because we are members of His body. 31For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

These verses show the unity between the husband and his wife. If we love ourselves and take care of ourselves, so should we do to our wives in kind. If I love my wife then I show that I love myself. This is not a selfish type of self-love; rather, it is a selfless love that is reflected back to us by our wives. Read the next verse (31) where it talks of the man leaving his parents and being joined to his wife. The husband and wife are one. Verse 31 even goes so far as to say the husband and wife are one flesh. The two cannot be separated under God. Therefore, if I love myself in a God honoring manner then I love my wife in that same exact manner as if we were one flesh. Likewise, if I love my wife in a God honoring manner then I love myself in that same God honoring manner. This is in no way a selfish love. This is the selfless and self-sacrificing love that Christ desires in our marriages!

I don’t know how many times I’ve read this before, but I never fully understood the “one flesh” idea in such a deep way as I do now that I’ve really studied this section in Ephesians. I pray that all husbands would truly stop here and study this passage deeply for as long as it takes in order to fully understand the “one flesh” concept. It is so powerful and enriching for our marriages.

Now in verse 32 Paul seems to trip us up. He says this is yet another mystery he is revealing to us. But remember the parallelism between the husband and wife and between Christ and the church. Yes, this section reveals to us husbands how we are to love our wives, but it also reveals how Christ loves the church. You see, Christ is the perfect husband to His church. He sustains and feeds us (i.e., nourishes) the church, and He also treats the church with great tenderness and affection (i.e., cherishes). As Paul says, we the church are members of Christ’s body. That is, we are one with Christ just as the husband and wife are one with each other.

This is why Paul says that he is speaking of Christ and the church. Paul first shows us what the relationship between a husband and wife should look like and then compares that to what the relationship looks like between Christ and us (His church).

Ephesians 5:33:

33Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

This “Nevertheless” verse is a clarification on the “mystery” that Paul spoke of in reference to Christ and the church. Paul did not want us to think that we should understand Christ’s relationship to the church and forego our responsibilities as husbands. No! Here, Paul specifically states (as an imperative, or command) that each husband is to love his own wife as he loves himself. That is the command in this verse. Oddly enough, there is only one command in this verse and it is directed towards husbands. The verb “respects” in the phrase “the wife must see to it that she respects her husband” is not an imperative but a subjunctive. A subjunctive can covey doubt, expectation, intention, among other things. Here, it conveys an expectation. That is, if the husband fulfills the command to love and respect his wife then the expectation is that the wife will naturally love and respect her husband. They are one flesh after all.

I hope this has been as eye-opening to the other husbands reading this as it has been to me. This small section of scripture has revealed my failings as a husband, which I take to heart. Do I make it easy for my wife to love and respect me? Am I truly living a self-sacrificial life to and for my wife? Do I truly see her and myself as one single flesh? Am I truly leading my wife in a way that is sanctifying us and bringing us closer together? These are tough questions to honestly answer, and I don’t like some of my honest answers.

These questions can also be asked of my relationship to Christ. As I am a member of the body of Christ, do I subject myself to Him daily in a sacrificial manner? Do I truly see myself as one with Christ as a member of His body? Am I sanctifying myself in order to be closer to Christ? Again, these are tough questions to honestly answer.

I’m very blessed to have my wife. She is way more than I deserve. I need to pray more for the Spirit’s empowerment in order to love her deeper and to make more generous sacrifices for her. We are after all one flesh, just as we are all one in Christ.

Last week we discussed laying aside the old self and putting on the new self. This week we’re going to look at how Paul goes deeper into the old self verses the new self and how our walk with Christ defines our new self.

Ephesians 5:1–2:

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

Verse 5:1 begins with the word “Therefore” pointing back to the preceding verse (4:32) where Paul says “just as God in Christ also has forgiven you”. In other words, we should be imitators of God, imitating Him in the way He has forgiven us. We know how to imitate (or copy) God since we have such a worthy example in Christ’s words and actions.

Then Paul connects the imitation of God to our walk in verse 2. We’ve talked about our walk in the Lord as living and acting in a specific manner, in this case, in a manner worthy of our Lord and Savior. Notice how Paul qualified walk here in that we are to walk in love. This is no ordinary love but a love expressed in the way Christ loved us. Christ did not fail to give all for us. He offered up His time, words, love, actions, everything as a pleasing sacrifice to God the Father. In other words, Christ defined love as giving Himself up for us. That is how our walk is to be an imitation of God. We are to walk in the same love as Christ sacrificially gave. That will be a pleasing aroma to God.

Remember this idea of our walk being a pleasing sacrificial type of love? There are some important applications of this coming up in the second half of chapter 5. Stay tuned husbands as much of this is applicable to you and I!

Ephesians 5:3–6:

3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

In this section, Paul contrasts the walk of Christ-like sacrificial love with the walk of world-like self serving love. Paul describes the attributes or fruits of a self serving walk:

Immorality – sexual sins especially related to adulterous, extramarital, or any other type of impure intercourse

Impurity – lustful, unclean immorality especially with regard to sexual sins

Greed – covetousness and a desire for more and more

Notice that the first two are related to sexual sins and the third is a more general greediness sin. But all three are related. The sexual sins (as do most all sins) cause desire to increase. And so the person’s desire for sin, especially of the sexual nature, are never fulfilled. Remember that we discussed this never ending desire for more sinful things from unbelievers (they cannot help themselves) in Ephesians 4:17–19:

17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

Their blindness and hardness of heart makes the unbeliever callous. This then bears the fruit of unrighteousness in that they give themselves over to sensuality with an unsatiated desire.

Then Paul goes on to describe three more attributes or fruits of the self serving walk:

Filthiness – behaving or speaking obscenely

Silly talk – Foolish words, sometimes associated with a drunkard

Coarse jesting – Sharp but caustic and worldly verbal skills designed to deride another

These three center more around our speech, whereas the initial three (verse 3) centered more around sexual sins. So here we clearly have the sins of behavior and the sins of the tongue. None of this is suitable for a believer. Not only are these abhorrent in the eyes of God, but they also serve to undermine the unity of the body. Not only that, but directly in the context of this section they serve to undermine our Christ-like sacrificial walk in love.

Fortunately, Paul gives us a suggestion for how we can lay aside filthiness, silly talk, and coarse jesting. Paul says to instead give thanks. It never ceases to amaze me how giving thanks in situations where you only want to unleash the anger and foolishness of your tongue can give you a peace that pushes out sinfulness. Granted, it is difficult in many cases to find something to be thankful for, but try and ask the Spirit to help you out with this. The Spirit is a

Spirit of power, not of weakness.

It bears explanation that while in 2 Samuel we learn that David (a man after God’s own heart) was entangled in sexual sin (with Bathsheba). We also know that David was loved by God and not cast away (indeed David did not have God’s Spirit taken away). In verse 5 it talks of the sexually immoral not having an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. So where does this leave David…and us? Well, the answer is bound up in a single small word “is” in the phrase “…is an idolater”. This verb “is” in the underlying Greek (and English) is a habitual type of verb. That is, the person will continue unabated in sexual sins and idolatry going from bad to worse. Notice that David always would repent of his sins; although, it took time and some coaxing from a prophet to cause David to repent of his sin with Bathsheba. Here, Paul is talking of the unregenerate unbeliever who continues to wallow unrepentantly in their sin. That is the difference.

Ephesians 5:7–14:

7 Therefore do not be partakers with them; 8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14 For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”

Verse 7 begins the second of three therefore’s in this section. Knowing what we have just read in verses 3-6 and especially at the end of verse 6, “because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” Paul tells us to walk as children of Light. This is a little different than “walk in love” as Paul mentioned in verse 2 above. Nonetheless, walking as children of Light does not remove or lessen the command to walk in love. They both exist in harmony with one another. Walking in love is a Christ-like sacrificial behavior; whereas, walking as children of Light is the key to how we produce the fruit of the Spirit, from Galatians 5:22–23:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Notice in verse 8 how unbelievers are described as darkness, as opposed to “in darkness” or “of darkness”. In contrast, believers are described as light. We are not only light but we are, as it says, “light in the Lord.” meaning that our unity with Christ, who is the light, is why we are also called light. Christ imputes his light to us, thus we become light as He is light.

Verse 11 and 12 are two verses that almost seem to contradict themselves. Verse 11 speaks of not participating in the sinful deeds of darkness but rather exposing them. Then in verse 12 it says to not even speak of these sinful deeds. So how can you expose darkness without speaking specifically of it or to it? I believe the answer is in verse 13. We expose darkness to light. It is possible to teach the truths of the Bible to unbelievers without directly exposing their own specific sinful deeds that they do in secret. That is we can teach the errors of sexual sins without going into the details of one person’s sexual sins. It’s these details that could cause others to stumble, but the word of God will never cause one to stumble.

As we walk in both sacrificial love and as children of light, our fruit will be unmistakable to the world. But being the light also has another facet, that of exposing peoples’ words and deeds as either light or darkness (see verse 13). Indeed, verse 14 exposes yet another facet of being the light, that of exposing the minds of unbelievers to Christ, who is the light. When an unbeliever (the “sleeper” in verse 14) is exposed to Christ’s light through us they have light shed on their thoughts, desires, and behaviors. This light is what leads an unbeliever out of darkness.

Preaching is one of the most direct ways to expose unbelievers to the light of Christ:

Romans 10:14:

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

1 Corinthians 15:11:

11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Ephesians 5:15–16:

15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

Verse 15-16 is a short pithy sentence that begins our third “Therefore” section. Not only are we to walk in love and walk as children of light, but we are to also walk in wisdom. We are to be deliberately vigilant, always on the lookout for evil and sin so that it does not ensnare us.

The way we are to walk in wisdom that Paul gives us is by making the most of our time here on earth. Evil is all around us in this fallen world so we are to take every opportunity given to us to make a difference by shedding Christ’s light on the world and bearing fruit in keeping with righteousness. Placing Jesus first in our lives is paramount to taking advantage of every opportunity given us during our short life here on earth.

Ephesians 5:17–20:

17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;

Finally, I want to talk about what Paul means when he says “be filled with the Spirit”. In verse 18 Paul contrasts being filled with the Spirit to being filled with wine to the point of drunkenness. Essentially, Paul is stating that you can either be controlled by the Spirit or by idols such as wine. And being controlled by alcohol can lead to a host of other sinful acts (just look at the news today as to how many people are arrested or do some heinous act simply because they were too intoxicated).

Since verses 18-21 are one long sentence, we see that Paul’s main point is that we are filled with the Spirit. This is due to the main verb “be filled” (in verse 18). Next, Paul describes what being filled with the Spirit looks like through the other secondary participle verbs that follow (in verses 19-21):

Speaking

Paul says that a Spirit-filled church body will have its members speaking to one another with biblical words (Psalms, etc.). Notice that it doesn’t specify who these “one anothers” are. That’s because it is the entire body from the pastor on down to each member. We are to speak to each other in love (as our walk with Christ is “in love”), speaking the Biblical words of the Psalms to each other. But we are also to speak using hymns and spiritual songs. This passage directly ties to Colossians 3:16:

16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

We are to speak to one another drawing from the word of God that should make its home in our hearts in ever deeper ways. Hymns and spiritual songs are other avenues which we may speak to one another to teach and build up the body of Christ.

Singing

Actually, there are two participles here: singing and making melody. We do this both as an outward expression of worship when we gather together on Sundays, but we can (and should) also do this inwardly expressing our love for our Creator. Notice that as we speak to one another in Psalms and songs we are doing so between each member of the body. But as we sing we are singing as worship to our Lord. Speaking is the horizontal and singing is the vertical.

We should thank our musicians and sound/audio team for making all of this possible for us. They put forth a huge effort to make our singing and worshiping seem effortless for us. Let us thank them for their efforts by singing out ever stronger and more worshipfully.

Giving Thanks

The third sign that we are filled with the Spirit is that we are thankful, not just thankful some of the time but always thankful. Our thankfulness should always be in abundance. If your thankfulness is waning, you should read the first three chapters of Ephesians again. There you will get a sense for how thankful to God we should be…while we were yet sinners, God loved us more than we deserve.

There is a final participle, but it is in verse 21:

21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

That is, we are to be in subjection to one another. This is also a sign of a Spirit-filled church. But we will discuss this more next week as verse 21 ties together our being Spirit-filled and how we act in the church and in the home.

Last week we discussed what Paul meant by walk in a manner worthy of the grace in which you were called:

Ephesians 4:1–2:

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, Here in verses 4:17-32 Paul continue this thought by compelling us to lay aside the old self and put on the new self, which Christ has brought about in us. This laying aside of the old self and putting on of the new self is tied directly to our walk as we shall see.

Ephesians 4:17–19:

17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

These verses are in the negative sense that is, “walk no longer…”. Earlier in 4:1 Paul taught us in the positive sense to walk in a worthy manner. These positive and negative explanations of how we are to walk serve to give us a deeper understanding of how we are to walk.

Paul explains in these three verses how we are not to walk. Notice how these verses go from bad to worse. Paul begins by saying that the unbelieving Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind. They are useless and incapable of doing good because their mind is also useless and incapable of doing good. He goes on to say that their futile mind produces a darkened understanding. They are in a sense blind in their understanding, stumbling around in the dark. This blindness is the cause of their ignorance, which in turn causes their hearts to be hardened to Christ. This results in their exclusion from the life changing salvation from God.

But it doesn’t just end with a hardness of heart towards Christ; it continues to get worse. Since they are hard of heart (callous) they continue to go from bad to worse. They know no other way than to give themselves over to sensuality or what makes them feel good and feel useful in a worldly sense. This need causes them to practice every kind of sin (impurity). Paul adds to this “with greediness”. It is not only that unbelievers practice sin; they do so with a desire for more and more. Just one sin won’t satisfy. They must continue with an insatiable appetite for more.

Understanding how lost we once were, how we were so darkened and blind in our understanding that we could only run from Christ and run to ever more sin serves to give us a greater understanding of the great grace with which we were saved. This same grace which God freely bestowed on us through Christ (Ephesians 1:6) Paul speaks of here. This understanding is part of the outworking of the prayer that Paul made earlier in Ephesians 1:18–19:

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might

Ephesians 4:20–24:

20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Paul then contrasts how we are not to walk (verses 17-19) with how we are to walk in our new self and especially in our new mind in Christ (verses 20-24). Our minds are not perpetually darkened so that we ignore Christ and only feed ourselves with sinful tendencies. No! Christ has lifted the veil and caused us to see His light. When Paul says this is not the way you learned Christ he is saying we were taught the truth of Jesus and through His truth we were transformed, or saved. As a result, we have a personal deep relationship with Christ. We don’t just have knowledge of Him. We have an experiential knowledge of Him, the living God.

In order for Christ to cause us to have this deep relationship with Him, He had to give us a new self. In verses 22-24 Paul discusses the old self and the new self. The “self” is commonly used to describe a person, their beliefs, habits, and emotions…essentially who they are. The old self is who we were before we believed. It is to be laid aside. This “laying aside” is commonly thought of as taking off a coat or shirt. Paul tells us that this old self is still continuously being corrupted/destroyed by the deceitfulness of our lusts. By laying aside this old self we can resist the corruption inherent in the old self. This enables us to put on the new self. God in His holiness and righteousness has created this new self in His likeness. This new self was created specifically for us to put on. Think of this “putting on” as the opposite of “laying aside”. Just like new clothes we are to put on this new self.

Now it’s one thing to liken “laying aside” and “putting on” to taking off and putting on one’s clothes, respectively. But this doesn’t quite capture the application or how we are to do this. To understand the “how” we need to look a bit closer at the grammar in this passage. The verbs “to lay aside” and “to put on” are actually infinitives, which act as an adverbial to the main verb. Since verses 20-24 are one long sentence, we have to look harder for the main verb and there can be only one main verb in a sentence. If we read backwards from the infinitives, we end up at the first verb “learn” in verse 20. This verb “learn” is being modified by the infinitives “to lay aside” and “to put on”. These infinitives essentially describe how we are to “learn Christ”. That is we are to lay aside the old self and put on the new self. But Paul intends to give us even more information as to how this is done. Notice in verse 23 in between the laying aside of the old self and the putting on of the new self he says, “that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind”. This is key for us to understand. In order to be able to truly take off the old self and put on the new self, we have a responsibility to “renew” our minds.

Now what does it mean to “renew” our minds? This is the critical thing that we all need to get right (that is, this is our responsibility). In verses 17-19 the topic was the futility of the unbeliever’s mind. Here in verses 20-24 Paul keeps to that same theme, “the mind”, but in this instance it is the believer’s mind. The mind is where we reason and from which flow our thoughts and emotions. It is where we can understand the true graces and mercies of Christ towards us. Therefore, to renew our minds is to renew or refresh our thinking. The two most obvious ways are to pray without ceasing and to study the Bible. The Bible is the living word able to pierce to the very core of us in order to change us (this is the process of sanctification).

There are two other words that need their use to be examined. The first is the verb “is being corrupted” (v22). This verb is a present participle (neither the main verb or an infinitive) that describes the old self as continually being corrupted. This is the difficulty that we all face, that our old self is always there and is always going from bad to worse. To fight this Paul uses another present participle “be renewed” in verse 23. This, again, is another verb participle of continuous action. In order to keep the old self off, we must constantly be renewing our mind in order to put on the new self.

Romans 12:1–2:

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Matthew 16:24:

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

Ephesians 4:25–32:

25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. 26 BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. 29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Now that we have understood how we are to walk in our calling and have understood the laying aside of the old self and the putting on of the new self, Paul transitions to a list of applications that result from our walk in the renewal of our mind. This is essentially a list of commands (imperatives) for us to follow:

Speak truth to one another

Yes we are to speak truth to both believers and unbelievers, but here in this context Paul seems to be focusing on believers speaking truth to other believers. And why do we do this? For the sake of unity. At the end of verse 25 Paul states that we are all members of one another, hearkening back to the unity of the body of Christ (i.e., the church). In order to remain unified, we must speak truth to other believers. This is no easy task as in the case when a believer is backsliding or mistakenly twisting scripture around. In these cases, we must speak truth but always with an attitude of love towards the person. Otherwise our goal of reconciliation will never come about.

Be angry

This one can be more difficult to understand since it says later in verse 31, “let …anger… be put away from you”. These are indeed both the same words for “anger” in both the English and the Greek. However, Paul puts several restrictions on the command to “be angry” here in verse 26. Those restrictions are that we must not sin while we are angry and that we do not let our anger continue to fester. That is, we must only have the righteous anger of Christ, not the unrighteous anger of our old self. Did not Christ have a righteous anger? Indeed! Therefore, we must take great care to not allow our anger (righteous as it may be) to cause us to stumble and allow the devil to gain a foothold. In other words, be extremely careful with righteous anger. It can metastasize into sin, and when it does the devil will use it to not only weaken our testimony but also to sow disunity in the church body.

Steal no longer

Stealing is a sin and mentioned by name as one of the 10 commandments. Stealing does not glorify either God or His body of believers. Rather we must stop this sinning and do something constructive that helps and serves others that will glorify both God and His body.

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth

Unwholesome describes a word that is useless, damaged, or decayed. This can be a wide array of speech such as foul language, lying, deceitful speech, and even little white lies. All such language is useless to our Lord and His body. Rather, we should only say that which is good and which builds up other believers. This type of speech will give grace to others. Remember Ephesians 4:7:

7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Christ gave us a gift of grace; we should use that grace in our speech to build up others.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit

In other words, do not cause the Holy Spirit to be saddened by our sinful actions or words. The Spirit guarantees our redemption and acts as a seal of our salvation (as we discussed earlier in Ephesians 1:13). Knowing that the Spirit was given to us with an overwhelming grace as a guarantee of our salvation should spur us on to obey and please the Spirit, not sadden Him.

Put away all…

We are to put away, along with the old self, all of these:

Bitterness – resentment

Wrath – rage

Anger – deep sinful continuous anger or hostility

Clamor – out-of-control strife or outcry

Slander – to speak evil of someone with the intent to destroy their reputation

Malice – perversion of morality or simply evil

Be kind to one another

Being kind to each other involves both being tender hearted towards each other as well as forgiving others as Christ forgave us. The way we forgive others is bound tightly to the way Christ forgave us…fully and completely. Christ’s forgiveness holds no animosity towards us, once forgiven always forgiven. We should work diligently to forgive others in this same Christ-like manner.

When we began Ephesians I mentioned that you cannot read just the first half (chapters 1-3) without also reading the second half (chapters 4-6). Likewise, you cannot read the second half without reading the first half. This is because each half relates to the other in dramatic ways. This week we’ll start looking at how these two sections relate and why Paul wrote Ephesians in such a way.

Ephesians 4:1–4:

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;

This word “Therefore”, which begins chapter 4, is critical to understanding the structure of Ephesians as a whole. This word acts as a fulcrum on which the weight of the first three chapters act as a balance to the weight of the last 3 chapters. Removing anything from either side would render the entire book out-of-balance. To understand why I see this word as the fulcrum on which both side of Ephesians balance we need to understand the main thrust of each side of Ephesians. The first three chapter in which we have already worked through cover the riches that we have in Christ. This is what Christ has done for us, that which we could not do for ourselves and this out of His immeasurable grace. The second half of Ephesians takes a big turn and Paul begins to encourage and exhort us to walk in the righteousness that Christ has given us. You could say Paul wants us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling in Christ.

Now that we have a firm grasp of the riches that Christ has given us in the first three chapters, we desire to obey the command to walk in a manner worthy of Christ. Our walk is not performed under our own power, but through His gift of the Spirit used to empower us. This is bolstered by the knowledge (both understood and experienced) of Christ’s love for us. But in order to be driven along by the power of the Spirit we must first yield to the first three chapters of Ephesians. I know personally that I have more peace knowing that it is Christ who strengthens me and makes me want to walk in a manner worthy of Him. Doing this on my own is an impossible feat. I know; I’ve tried and failed. Ultimately, God wants us to rest in Christ’s work and keep our eyes focused on Him, not ourselves. Meditating on the first three chapters makes this possible. Now, as we enter into the last three chapters of Ephesians we can read these commands and exhortations not as a checklist of thing I have to do but as things I long to do to give glory to the One who gave everything for me even when I didn’t deserve it.

Starting in verse 1, notice the similarity to Ephesians 3:1:

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

Paul again describes himself as a prisoner of his Lord. But difference here is that in 3:1 Paul says he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus and here in verse 4:1 he says he is a prisoner of the Lord. This more formal terminology for Jesus seems to imply a more formal tone. Indeed for the rest of Ephesians the tone changes from the glorious riches that Christ has given us to the responsibility on our part.

Verses 2-4 outline what we are called to…Unity! Verse 2 lists all of the attributes required for walking in unity: humility, gentleness, patience and tolerance for one another (note that Ephesians is speaking only to believers so this tolerance is between believers, especially when doctrinal differences arise-tolerance between believers and unbelievers is a topic for a different time). In essence, this verse tells us what our walk should look like. It is a walk that has a complete humility, gentleness, and patience as its hallmark. Then Paul goes further to describe this walk as one that is showing tolerance for other believers. This word “showing” is a present participial, which is a secondary verb that helps us to better understand our walk. This says that our tolerance should not be just a one time action or something that we do occasionally, but something that is ongoing and a part of who we are in Christ. Additionally, all these attributes must be grounded in love; otherwise, we are no different than a clanging cymbal.

Paul ends this section in verse 4 by adding another present participial verb “being diligent”. But what are we supposed to continuously be diligent for? The answer would be to preserve the unity of the Spirit. There’s that word “unity”. The body of Christ (the church) is designed to function as one with Christ as the head. Any dis-unity will threaten to break up or make less useful the church. This is why Paul is pushing so hard for unity in the church. A functioning church is unified under its pastor and all under Christ as its head. A functioning church is useful to God and will be used to glorify Him.

Ephesians 4:4–6:

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Paul continues the theme of unity of the church in verses 4-6. Notice the use of the word “one” used to describe each noun:

Body
Spirit
Hope
Lord
Faith
Baptism
God and Father

Then in verse 6 Paul switches to using “all” to explain who and what God rules over and exists within. God is one and He rules over all (“all” is not restricted to just believers) for all time and He inhabits all (especially the church body) for His glory.

We can even break up these three verses to individually describe the Spirit (v4), Son (v5) and Father (v6). The triune God is one just as we as believers are unified as one in God through the blood of Jesus, the indwelling Spirit, and our Father in heaven with whom we have full access.

Ephesians 4:7–13:

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

In verse 7 Paul takes a bit of a turn from verses 4-6. He uses the contrastive conjunction “but” here to contrast the gift (grace) given to believers (“to each one of us”) to our status in the unified God and His unified church body (“all” in verse 6). In God we are all equal and are as one (i.e., unified); however, here Paul is saying that Christ has given us a gift (singular) of grace that differs in the amount given among individual believers. He has given us a measure of grace specific to other gifts (plural) that He gives each believer. These gifts (plural) are defined in verse 11 as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. This measure of grace according to our differing gifts does not mean some of us are viewed as more loved in God’s eyes than others. We are all loved the same as we are one body, the church, given to glorify God. But our gifts differ. These differing gifts require a specific amount of grace given to the recipient. Think of it as God gives us the perfect amount of grace to be able to use His gifts to His glory and not to our own. Paul goes on to describe these gifts and why they are given to some and not others in an upcoming section of scripture.

Verses 8-10 speak of Christ ascending far above all the heavens to where He now sits at the right hand of God. But it also adds that Christ led a host of captives to which He gave gifts. This statement would have been recognized by the original hearers in terms of a conquering king who uses military might to conquer an enemy. However, here’s where the idea of a conquering king differs from what the original hearers would have understood. A conquering king would have taken the captives as a show of the kings victory. Then the conquered would give gifts to the conqueror. But as Paul puts it, the conqueror gave gifts to the conquered. This is the opposite of what they would have understood.This speaks of the riches of Christ’s glorious grace that were given to us, the conquered, even though we did not deserve it.

Verses 9-10 talk of Christ descending from heaven to earth, to the cross, and to the grave in order that He would ascend to above all the heavens. This was so that He might be over all things and fill all things (including the church). We can go back to Ephesians 1:19–23:

19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Here we see the connection between the end of verse 10 where it says, “…so that He might fill all things.” and these verses in chapter 1. Christ the conquering king who captured us from the hands of the enemy so that we might be glorified in Him as the church body to which He fills. By filling all things Christ asserts His dominance over all things.

Now in verse 11 Paul begins to connect the various ministries that Jesus has given us as gifts to the idea of church unity. Paul lists several of the offices of ministry in verse 11. These ministries are varied and distributed among believers as Christ deems necessary. These are given along with a measure of grace (verse 7). Our ministry and this grace go hand-in-hand, but to what end? In verse 12 Paul answers that by informing us that these ministries are given to equip us or, in other words, to make us fit for a purpose. That purpose is for service and this service is designed to build up and benefit the body of Christ (i.e., the church).

Ephesians 4:14–16:

14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Verse 14 begins with “As a result…” meaning that the purpose of Christ giving us gifts along with the grace to use those gifts is for us to grow into mature believers in Christ. We are to no longer be immature believers but mature believers. As we use our gifts to help build up the body of Christ we, ourselves, are being made more and more mature in Christ. This has the benefit that we are not swayed by false doctrine, we do not fall prey to the trickery of men, and we can see through deception, even the most crafty and deceitful deceptions. Why? Because we know the truth, which grows stronger in us as we mature in Christ.

However, in verse 15 Paul gives us a warning as maturing believers. As we mature in all ways in Christ we must take care to not let our love grow cold. Remember in Revelation that Ephesus was one of the churches mentioned and even though they did well, their love had grown cold. If the Ephesians maybe would have heeded this verse better maybe they wouldn’t have been rebuked by Christ in Revelation. So it must be a warning to us too. Do not let your love grow cold. Always speak truth, but speak truth only in love. That is especially difficult nowadays, but we should always season our speech with love.

In light of all that we have read and especially verse 15-16, re-read 1 Corinthians 12:1–31 keeping in mind all that we have just discussed: the body, the church, unity, one Spirit, one Lord, one God, the measure of grace given, and gifts that Christ bestows freely:

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Last week we looked at the parenthetical in which Paul began with the words “For this reason…”. This parenthetical described in more detail what the mystery of Christ was-the church body-and why this mystery had been revealed to Paul. The church as the body of believers was a new concept in Paul’s day as was the gathering of both Jews and Gentiles together in one Spirit and having direct access to God.

Now Paul switches back to his initial thought, which is a prayer to the believers united in Christ. This prayer involves requests that all believers:

Are strengthened through the Spirit.

Are rooted and grounded in love.

Are filled to all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14–15:

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

Here in verse 14 Paul begins with that familiar phrase from verse 3:1, “For this reason…” This indicates that the preceding parenthetical is finished and he is going back to his initial thought. Paul’s initial thought is actually a prayer designed to strengthen and fill believers with God’s Spirit. The main part of this prayer is in verses 16-19 and then verses 20-21 end this prayer by summing up what the “power that is within us” can accomplish to the glory of God and His church.

Ephesians 3:16–19:

16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Verses 16-19 contain the requests that Paul is making on the behalf of the church of Ephesus and, more universally, to all churches.

Verse 16 begins the series of requests by asking that strength be given to believers. But this isn’t just some humanistic strength of character or integrity, it is much much more. Notice that Paul prays for believers to be “strengthened with power”. What “power” are we to be strengthened by? Paul answers this in the following phrase, “through His Spirit”. That is, through (or “by means of”) God’s Spirit. This answers where this “power” comes from. It comes from the Spirit, not ourselves. There’s an old adage, “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps”, which means to strengthen yourself or pull yourself out of the problem/persecution you are enduring. This old adage goes against Biblical teaching according to this verse. While we can use our own strength within us to keep us afloat for a time, true power comes only from the Spirit of God.

Additionally, notice how Paul makes this request, “according to the riches of His glory”. We know that God’s glory is immeasurable; it is infinite. If God answers this prayer-and we know He can as it is prayed in agreement with God’s own will-we know that the power that we will be strengthened by is truly larger than any problem or persecution that we may face. God gives according to His riches which are infinite. Therefore, His gifts are superabundant, not lacking in anything.

Finally, this power is used to strengthen the “inner man”. That is the new self that we inherited when we became believers. Our “outer man” will continue to grow weaker following the 2nd law of thermodynamics (increasing entropy-a law intrinsically bound to God’s creation) but the “inner man” will continue to grow stronger in the power of God’s Spirit.

Verse 17 tells us the result of God’s Spirit strengthening believers with power. This result is twofold. First, Christ will dwell in our hearts. This isn’t to say that, for believers, Christ won’t dwell in some of our heart or that Christ will leave us. Rather this tells us of a richer deeper dwelling in us. But this deeper richer dwelling in us occurs because of our faith and through our faith. That is, as we are strengthened by the Spirit’s power, as we persevere through and overcome persecutions, and put to death sin in our bodies our faith will grow. This growing faith is tied to a deeper richer dwelling of Christ in our hearts.

The second part is that since we are rooted and grounded in love we may comprehend the love of Christ more fully. Truly the increasing power of the Spirit in us will give us a deeper understanding of the rich love of Christ towards us. Now these verbs “being rooted” and “grounded” indicate a work already done by the Spirit at the time of the believer’s salvation. But it also points to the future work of comprehending Christ’s love for us as well (this is a little more evident in the Greek). Essentially it says, “You have already been firmly established (rooted) in love and you also have a firm foundation (grounded) in love, because of this you now can begin to understand the infinite size and dimensions of God’s love.” Our rooting and grounding in love enables us to better understand God’s love. Without this rooting and grounding an unbeliever cannot hope to fathom even a small bit of God’s love.

This knowledge is unknowable to its fullest extent (i.e., it surpasses all knowledge). But even comprehending a small portion of the size and dimensions of this love can bring us so much closer to God, filling us up with His love that we may be able to share that love with others. Note also that in verses 18-19 there are two ways to grasp this love of Christ, “… may be able to comprehend…and to know the love of Christ…”. One is to comprehend as in having an intellectual knowledge of Christ’s love, and the second is to know as in experiencing Christ’s love. It is far too easy just to have a head knowledge of Christ’s love, to fully be filled with the Spirit we must also experience Christ’s love. Sometimes the experiencing part is the hardest, especially in pain and suffering. But this is necessary to truly understand the full measure of Christ’s love.

Knowing this we should go back and read Ephesians 2:1–7 to get a better sense of how we too could not grasp the love of Christ when we were unbelievers. But as believers God has made us alive and now we can know and experience the powerful love of Christ in ways we cannot imagine:

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3:20–21:

20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

This is Paul’s closing to his prayer. There are two important points here. First is that God is able to do far more than we can even imagine. The power of His Spirit in us works in wonderful ways, far too wonderful for us to even grasp. This should be especially evident after the prayer Paul just prayed for us to be able to get a deeper sense of Christ’s infinite love towards us.

Second, as Paul has also previously taught, all glory will be turned to God. The glory of His church, when it is functioning as God designed it to function, will be given to God. And along with the church, the glory of Christ is given freely to the Father. To Him be the glory!

In light of this prayer, we too should thoughtfully consider praying this same way toward our own church as it is the glory of God Himself and contains His Spirit. We should take care to continue to keep our church unstained by this world and to build up the body of believers, praying diligently for them, so that we all may be empowered by the Spirit and have both a deeper comprehension and a deeper knowledge of the love of Christ.

Last week we discussed “oneness in Christ”. That is, how the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has broken down every barrier between those near (the Jews, God’s chosen people) and those far off (the Gentiles). Now both have the same access to God through the same Spirit. We are no longer strangers and aliens sojourning in a foreign land. We are now all fellow citizens and holy members of God’s household.

Paul then proceeds to describe a building that is founded on Christ, whom He calls the chief corner stone. Form this corner stone, the foundation of the apostles and prophets was laid. And on top of that foundation we, the body of believers, are being built up together into a holy temple, a dwelling place for the Lord. This paints for us a detailed and grounded picture of the church today…the body of believers in which God may dwell in His Spirit.

In the Old Testament this temple was a physical structure where God dwelled. This structure was meticulously kept clean and well maintained to be a holy sanctuary. While the Jews were wandering in the desert for 40 years they had to physically take down, move, and re-construct this temple over and over as they wandered the desert. How fortunate we are that we do not to have to do this since we carry the temple of God in our bodies. Still, it is wise for us to keep our bodies free from sin so as not to contaminate the temple of God, which results in pushing God farther away from us.

Now the focus of what Paul has taught us is that we are now the temple of God through the Spirit. All barriers have been removed so that all of us (Jew or Gentile) may have access to God. Here in Ephesians 3:1-13 we are going to dive into this topic of oneness in Christ more deeply.

Ephesians 3:1:

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

Paul begins with the statement “For this reason…”. This reason originates from what we just read last week at the end of chapter 2 that the Gentiles were fellow heirs with the Jews and citizens of the household of God. Then Paul states that he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus. At this time Paul was a prisoner of Rome, incarcerated for his preaching to Gentiles. However, he specifically states that he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus. Paul sees his situation as it truly is. He is a prisoner not because Rome decided he was to be incarcerated, but because Jesus, his Lord, deemed it so. But he continues on with “for the sake of you Gentiles”, meaning that he was a prisoner due to his calling from God to preach salvation to Gentiles. It’s almost as if his imprisonment was a joy, signifying that he was doing the Lord’s work.

Now Paul interrupts his thoughts here and returns to them later in verse 3:14. What we see here in verses 3:2-13 is called a parenthetical or a brief interlude that is designed to explain something in more detail. There are a couple of clues to this. First, notice that verse 1 and verse 14 both begin with “For this reason…”. In verse 1 Paul begins a thought and then interrupts himself in verses 2-13 to explain deeper this mystery which was revealed to him and why it was revealed to him. Then in verse 14 Paul restarts his initial thought from verse 1. Second, many times a parenthetical is set off by some type of punctuation, in this case the punctuation is the em dash at the end of verse 1. In fact, all the Bible translations that I looked through had this same em dash.

Let’s take a closer look at this parenthetical. It seems to be broken down into two main sections 2-7 and 8-12, with a final thought in verse 13.

Ephesians 3:2–7:

2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you;

3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.

4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;

6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,

7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.

Paul begins this section by saying “If indeed you have heard…” or a more apt translation would be “Surely you have heard…” (the verb have heard, being indicative or factual in nature). Paul was saying that by now everyone should have heard that he was granted the stewardship of preaching Christ to the Gentiles by the grace of God. But Paul doesn’t keep himself as the focus here. Rather, he says that this calling of his was for you…the Gentiles. It was not to puff up Paul and make him look special or important. No, it was for the good of the Gentiles. This was evident in his present circumstances…his incarceration.

Now we get to the revelation of this mystery that was given by revelation to Paul by Jesus. We’ve been talking about this “mystery” throughout Ephesians, which is that Jesus has broken down the dividing wall and now all may have salvation. But it’s also a bit more than this as the children of God could now worship together in one Spirit. This was the church that was now being revealed. This church is like the temple of the Old Testament where we can now boldly come before God to worship and fellowship with Him. Verse 6 spells this out.

Verse 7 echoes what Paul stated in verses 2-3, that Paul was given this ministry by the grace of God. Notice here that Paul expands on what he said in verse 2 that it is nothing of himself, but everything from God that made him this minister (God’s great grace). This great grace was given to him according to the mighty working of God’s power. This is the mindset of a person who can have joy in a terrible situation (his imprisonment). This is the faith Paul has, to see things as they really are. Paul isn’t the one who is powerfully working to save the Gentiles, God is. God alone does the work and we simply have to step into the works that He has prepared for us, Ephesians 2:8–10:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The topic of the church is a deeply involved one. I ran across this article (https://www.9marks.org/article/what-is-a-church/) from 9Marks that has a very good examination of the word church (in Greek “ekklesia”) and what it meant to those in Paul’s time. It’s a very interesting read.

Ephesians 3:8–12:

8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,

9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;

10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,

12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

Verses 8-12 continue the parenthetical by furthering Paul’s thoughts on the mystery of Christ and His church. Paul again states here that he should not be glorified because he has been given the responsibility to preach Christ to the Gentiles. Rather, Paul classifies himself as the least of all saints and puts the focus on the unfathomable riches of Christ and the grace that was given to him to preach this to the Gentiles.

In verse 10 Paul gives a reason for the church (the body of believers) to now come to light, being hidden by God up to this point. That reason is for the wisdom of God to be made known to rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm (i.e., angels both good and evil). Proverbs very succinctly sums up wisdom in Proverbs 9:10:

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

In essence, the church was to be put on display so-to-speak to the heavenly realm as a display of God’s manifold (multifaceted, as a gem stone is multifaceted) wisdom. This display of wisdom glorifies God even more.

Ephesians 3:13:

13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.

In this closing line of this parenthetical, Paul intends to comfort and encourage believers not to become discouraged due to his present circumstances. Paul, being imprisoned, knows that his situation would certainly cause fear and timidity among the body of believers. Here, Paul explains why believers should not lose heart. They (and we) should realize that Paul’s imprisonment is ultimately for their glory (and ultimately ours too). That is not to say that we glorify ourselves or that Paul is glorifying the saints; rather, we are being glorified through Christ. When God looks upon a believer, He sees Christ. Our glory is based not on ourselves but on Christ and what He has done.

As we read through Ephesians it is important to understand that Paul is speaking to believers; however, in this section it is of equal importance to understand that this group of believers is now made up of both Jews and Gentiles. This is unprecedented. All throughout the Old Testament the idea of Gentiles being completely separated from Jews and completely separated from God was foundational. As we read in 1 Samuel this created animosity between the two groups. Even David spoke of the Gentile races as the “Uncircumcision”.

Picture the events occurring as the earliest Christians were reading this letter from Paul. Jews were coming to know Christ, which makes sense, because Jesus came first for the Jews. But now Gentiles were also coming to a full knowledge of Christ. The Jews must have been thinking “How could this be?” Remember, that the church at Ephesus (and elsewhere) had a congregation of both Jews and Gentiles. We know that there was a large contingent of Jews living among the Gentiles in the city of Ephesus at this time.

Now here in verses 11-22 Paul is explaining what is happening to the church (the body of Christ). This explanation can be summed up as: “Christ the reconciler, who brings those separated near to Him through His blood”. I could only imagine the amazement and skepticism of the Jews as the Gentiles were becoming their brethren or the Gentiles’ surprise, humility, and maybe a little self-consciousness as they entered into worship with their new Jewish brothers and sisters. How strange it must have been for these two groups with such enmity between them to now be worshiping the one God in one Spirit together.

Ephesians 2:11–12:

11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called the “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—

12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Paul begins by talking specifically to the Gentile believers within the church. He tells them (note that this is an imperative verb designating a command to the Gentile believers) to keep in mind their former condition, that they were “in the flesh”. They were not spiritual in the sense of even having a path to God. That door was closed to them. Rather, in their flesh, they built for themselves idols of wood and stone and worshiped them.

The Gentiles were derided and considered outcasts by the Jews, even calling them the “Uncircumcision”. But did you notice that Paul (a Jew himself) added, “…which is performed in the flesh by human hands”. Paul was not extolling the virtuosity of the Jews for being circumcised. Rather, he was making a point of placing the Jews (and himself) on equal ground with the Gentiles. Yes, the Gentiles were of the uncircumcision, but the Jews, while being circumcised (and chosen of God), were only circumcised by human hands. Their hearts, in times past, had not yet been circumcised by God as it says in Ezekiel 36:26 (note the use of future tense here):

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Even though Paul is speaking directly to the Gentiles, he is also speaking indirectly to the Jewish believers. As they need also keep in mind that they were only circumcised through the letter of the law, not the Spirit of God as they are now.

Paul goes on to spell out the Gentiles situation, which was:

• They were separated from Christ.
• They were separated from Israel.
• They were separated from the covenants of promise, which would entail the inability to share in the promises of God (reconciliation, protection, land, etc. etc.) through a binding covenantal agreement.
• And the worst was that they had no hope since they were without God.

Separation from Christ means a lot of bad things and missed opportunities, but the worst of these is the absence of hope. This absence of hope is ever present in our world today. Those without hope have no guardrails. They have nothing to look forward to and no one to guide them and provide that hope. It’s sad to see a person without hope, even if on the outside they seem to be well off and have some sort of happiness. Eventually, they will worship their own self more and more as they cannot help to do so. For they have no true hope.

Ephesians 2:13:

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

But for believers, we have hope. Not in ourselves but in Christ. And it is all due to the work of Christ, which we cannot do. Through Christ Jesus’ sacrifice and the spilling of His blood, He has closed the gap between God and us. Not only for the Jew but also for the Gentile. Before we were unable to have a personal relationship with Christ; now we are brought near. This nearness brings a relationship to Christ as well as hope in something much greater than ourselves.

Ephesians 2:14–18:

14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,

16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR;

18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

But how did Christ bring us near to God? How did He reconcile all not only to God but to each other? Yes, it was through His blood that we are washed from all sin, but let’s dig a little deeper in these 4 verses.

Verse 14 begins a deeper explanation of verse 13. It says “He Himself is our peace”. In Greek it is just “He is our peace”; however, the translation is appropriate since “He” is an emphatic “He” in Greek due to the word order (i.e., personal pronoun precedes verb). Thus the emphasis is that no other person or thing can be our peace except for Jesus. And how is Jesus our peace? Well, verses 14b-16 proceed to tell us.

First, in verse 14b, it says that Jesus made the two (Jews and Gentiles) into one. Jesus Himself has removed all barriers to unity for His church body. We simply have to step into His peace with faith and humility and a love towards others, enabled by the Holy Spirit of course. This is easy for God to do, but think for a moment if you had to make peace between two parties. This peace has to be a lasting peace not a temporary truce and it has to be initiated and sustained by you and you only. As parents we have to do this with our children. Sometimes the peace holds and sometimes it breaks down. What if we were called to bring peace to groups of people? What if these groups were large? Can mere human beings bring peace to the world? How about peace in the Middle East or in Ukraine? Now I should make a distinction that the peace that Jesus brings is not the same peace that I’m using in these examples. What I am saying is that we can try to bring a temporary, weak, insignificant, and short peace between people, but Jesus brings a true peace that extends far beyond what we can imagine. In fact, to bring peace to the Jews and Gentiles who had centuries of animosity towards one another required much more than just a human peace. What is impossible for us is possible for God.

A powerful and lasting symbol of this peace was also needed. This symbol Paul uses is the barrier of the dividing wall being broken down (verse 14b). This is in reference to the Jerusalem temple where a dividing wall separated the Gentile court (where Gentiles could gather) from the temple area (where only Jews could enter). Just to make sure the Gentiles did not enter the temple, there was even an inscription that warned Gentiles if they entered the temple area they would be put to death and that they would only have themselves to blame. God tore down this barrier signifying that there was now equal access to God through Jesus for both Jew and Gentile. This would have been a powerful image for the Jew who knew intimately about this wall. Even though Paul is speaking to the Gentiles here, he still makes powerful points directly aimed at the Jews who might think to reject the idea that Gentiles also have equal access to God through Christ.

In order to bring the two separate groups into one group the hostility on both sides had to be removed, which Jesus did by becoming our peace. When we become a believer we are a new creation, the old self has been replaced. As a new creation we now have the power to remove hostilities between us and others, not under our own power but through the grace bestowed on us by Jesus and the Spirit’s power in us. The removal of this “dividing wall” was symbolic; however, the real evidence of the removal of hostilities was through the working of the Holy Spirit in these new churches consisting of both Jew and Gentile.

But there was another thing that had to be removed, or maybe a better word would be replaced. That is the Law. The Law had to be fulfilled, and it was in Christ. But also the power of the Law to condemn and to separate (separate Jew from Gentile, that is) has to be abolished. In verse 15 we see that the Jesus abolished the hostility of the Law towards us and between the Jew and Gentile. But abolishing the Law wasn’t enough because having no Law at all is worse than having a Law. It had to be replaced with something better. This better thing was the covenant of grace through Jesus’ sacrifice and death upon the cross. In effect, Jesus had not only made peace between Jew and Gentile but He also made peace between us and God (verse 16). For Jesus to bring true and lasting peace He had to do both.

Verse 17 continues the thought of Jesus bringing both groups together by His preaching the good news of the gospel to Gentiles (those who were far off) and Jews (those who were near). This is a reference to Isaiah 57:19:

19 Creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,” Says the LORD, “and I will heal him.”

In verse 18 we have a summing up of what Jesus has done for us through preaching peace, making peace, and becoming our peace. Because of this we (both Jew and Gentile) have the ability to boldly approach our God, whereas before only the Jews had a kind of indirect access to God. And only the sanctified priests had access to the holy God in the Holy of Holies. Now all people have access to God the Father! But this access is enabled by the Holy Spirit. Notice how everything is pointing to a unity. There is a unity between believers and God. This unity allows all believers to exist in unity with each other and worship in unity with one another. But it’s the one Spirit that binds us all in unity with other believers and with our Father.

Ephesians 2:19–22:

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

20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,

21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,

22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

In this final section Paul is drawing a conclusion (“so then…”) from verses 2:11-18 of this chapter. He is answering the question, “What does this mean for Gentiles and Jews in relation to each other and to God?”

Verse 19 hearkens back to verses 12-13 that we just talked about. The first part of verse 19 speaks of Gentiles as being strangers and aliens. These words describe someone who lives outside their country of origin and who does not owe anything to the country they live in or may not even speak the same language. They are outsiders owing nothing to the country they live in and being owed nothing by the country that they live in. However, now the Gentile believers have been made full citizens of this new country and can enjoy the benefits of their new found citizenry. They have renounced their old citizenship and embraced their new status as citizens of God’s country, so to speak. But notice it says “you are fellow citizens with the saints…”. This is pointing to the peace that Jesus brought by removing the hostilities between both the Jews and Gentiles. Now both groups are “fellow” citizens. The second part to this is “…and are of God’s household”. This points to the peace that Jesus brought between the two groups (that are now one group) and God Himself.

Then in verses 20-22 Paul switches to describing this new citizenship, or unity, that we have with other believers and with God. This unity is pictured as a building that is being built up (i.e., it is not yet complete). We will see later in Ephesians 3 that this building is the church. Although, this building is not complete it does have a firm foundation with which to build upon. Verse 20 says that Jesus is the corner stone of this new building. Now if you know how a structure is built, the first thing you would lay is some kind of corner stone. This stone is the first one laid for the foundation and must not only be structurally sound and strong but also perfectly laid. What I mean by perfectly laid is that it must be placed in the appropriate location and that it must be perfectly level, plumb, and square in order to build a sound structure that is also level, plumb, and square. Even a slight deviation in any one of these measurements or qualities would render the structure unsound and unlivable.

Jesus is the perfect corner stone that was perfectly laid to build His church upon. Next we have the foundation which consisted of the apostles and prophets who went before us declaring the doctrine, theology, and laws of God. From the apostles and prophets we have our written Bible. Without the Bible we would have no sure footings on which to build the rest of the structure of Jesus’ church. Again, if this sure foundation did not exists or was slightly off the structure would be unsound and un-livable.

The beauty of this structure (church) is that we are all being fitted together into a temple or a holy house for God the Spirit to dwell in. In verse 22 it says “we are being built together…”. This is a passive form of the verb showing that it is not we who build ourselves into the house of the Lord, it is God through His Spirit that works in us to build the house. This is such a comforting thought that the Spirit is the builder of God’s house. The Spirit is an infinitely better carpenter than you or I. He knows just how to build the house because he knows the mind of God and is constantly glorifying Jesus. From this we know that He will build us (or grow us, as it says in verse 21b) into the perfect house of God.

Have you ever seen shoddy workmanship when you enter a building or a house. You see the joints that are not properly fitted together. Things are not quite straight or level. These imperfections damage the beauty of the house. Your eye is drawn towards those things as opposed to what is correct and beautiful in the house. For example, beauty can be seen in the cabinets that are perfectly placed (level/plumb) and that are perfectly stained to bring out the richness of the wood. Attempting to create a house for God that looks like this is not possible in our own strength. We must rely on the Spirit of God to bring out the beauty of His house. But we must not forget about the firm foundation and the corner stone that this beautiful house was built upon, Jesus Christ our Lord.

In Chapter 1 we discussed 4 key points:

1. How great our Father in heaven is and how He has blessed us through Christ
2. How we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing and have had His rich grace lavished upon us
3. That we have been redeemed through Christ’s blood and adopted as children of God
4. That we have hope through the Spirit who was given to us as a seal or mark that we belong to the Lord

Paul then proceeds to encourage or exhort the body of believers (the church) through his thankfulness and requests that he makes on behalf of the body in prayer. Paul asks that all believers may be enlightened (have the eyes of their hearts enlightened) to the wisdom and revelation (revealing) of Jesus so that we may know the infinite greatness of God’s power towards us. This power that He works towards us is the work the He did raising Jesus from the dead and seating Him at His right hand so that all things (good or evil and great or small) are subject to Him…and most importantly placing Jesus at the head of the church, which is described as the fullness of His body. May all glory be to God for what He has done for us!

Now we enter into chapter 2, which makes a slight change in course focusing not on the Trinity but on us.

Ephesians 2:1–3:

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

It seems like an abrupt change to go straight from describing the greatness of God’s power towards mankind through Jesus Christ to us who were dead in our sins. This is the greatness of God juxtaposed with the weakness of man. However, this makes more sense as we read through all of Ephesians. It is God’s greatness, His mercy, and His grace that Paul is glorifying throughout Ephesians. At no time does Paul glorify people, even the people of God. This juxtaposition of God and man together shows us at a deeper level how wonderful God really is towards us. And knowing this, we should strive to bless God more and more through our worship, praise, and obedience.

Here in these opening verses, Paul is describing all believers before they were believers. We were dead in our sins; that is, we could do nothing in our own power to pick ourselves up and remove our sins before a holy God. We had no power of righteousness of our own to make ourselves holy.

Verses 2 and 3 describe our state of being before we were believers. Notice the word “walked” in verse 2, that we walked according to the evils of this period of time in the world. The word “walked” is an active verb showing that we willingly participated in the evils of this world. It wasn’t that we were somehow passively carried along unwillingly or unwittingly by the evils of this world but that we were active participants. Keep this word “walk” in mind as we will encounter it again in verse 10 in a totally different context.

Paul goes on to expound on our depravity while we were still sinners. We lived in the lusts of the flesh. Being dead in our sins there was nothing we could do but to behave according to our sinful flesh. This behavior caused us to indulge in the desires of both our flesh and our mind. The word for “indulge” in the Greek is a verb that is conjugated in such a way as to express an ongoing and continuous action. Essentially, we wallowed in our sin without end while we were sinners. There was nothing we could do but be sinners. That is, until grace came and we were lifted out of our sin by Christ. Christ changed everything for us. As it says in Ephesians 1:3, He choose us before time began so that we would be holy and blameless before Him. And our holiness reflects the merciful God that chose us and gave us salvation. So God’s actions to save sinners are to His own glory…His glory in grace, His glory in mercy, and His glory in infinite power. May all glory be to God!

Paul causes us to remember our pre-salvation days here. It is a good thing for us to consider how depraved and unlovable we were before we were saved. Remember that there is a whole world out there still dead in their sins who are acting just as the prince of the power of the air wants them to act, just as we used to be. They are following the world’s idea of what righteousness and justice are. And the world’s idea of righteousness and justice are ever changing according to the prince of the power of the air. Knowing this should spur us on to boldly speak God’s truth in love. But never forget that last part…”in love”.

Ephesians 2:4–7:

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Now in verse 4 Paul contrasts our sinful state before we believed to what God did for us out of mercy and grace. In other words, Paul contrasts our depravity with God’s mercy. Verses 4 and 5 mirror John 3:16–17 beautifully:

16 For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

Grace is defined simply as withholding what one deserves. In God’s compassionate and full love (agape) for us, He withholds the punishment we deserve, eternal separation from Him. Notice the adjectives here, God’s “great” love and God’s “rich” mercy (more precisely, God is described as richly having mercy). The overwhelming, infinite mercy and love of God towards sinners is why we are made alive (or saved). This salvation is described as a union with Christ (i.e., “together with Christ). As the words of verses 2:1-3 echo in our heads, Paul describes here how truly powerful, loving, and merciful He truly is towards us that don’t have a word of defense to stand on. What wonderful news that should be to us and to unbelievers. May all glory be to God!

At the end of verse 5 Paul brings in the word “grace”…by grace you have been saved. Now mercy (the withholding of punishment) must be inextricably bound to grace. Grace is defined as the giving of something to one that is undeserving. Think of it like this, God gave us salvation in His grace, but in order to give us this salvation He must also withhold His punishment towards us. Conversely, withholding His punishment is pointless without His loving grace to save us and join us in union with Christ. Mercy and grace go together like interlocking puzzle pieces. Apart, they wouldn’t have the full saving effect of joining us to Christ as one body…the church.

Ephesians 2:8–10:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Verses 8 through 10 sum up the entire book of Ephesians and can also act to sum up the basis of Paul’s theology. We could summarize these three verses as: God saves and we serve God through our good works, which He also gave us. Earlier I summed up the book of Ephesians as: “What God has done for me motivates me to walk in a way worthy of the Lord”. These are both very similar and capture what the book of Ephesians is about. Also, you may notice that verses 8 and 9 sum up the first three chapters of Ephesians and verse 10 is a generalization of the last three chapters of Ephesians. So, verses 8 through 10 are very important to keep in mind as you read through Ephesians.

Verse 8 begins with the conjunction “For”. This conjunction acts to connect the previous verses (4-7) with the following verses 8 through 9. Essentially, verses 8 and 9 expound and explain verses 4-7. Verse 8 explains very simply what God has done for us. He has shown us the surpassing (other translations use exceeding, immeasurable, or incomparable) riches of His grace through our salvation. However, salvation comes through faith in Jesus. It is this faith that is also given to us through His great grace. This is followed by the statement that none of these things: grace, salvation, or faith are things we can achieve. These are gifts from God the Father. Verse 9 follows up with and emphasis on our works having nothing to do with this great gift from God. We did nothing to be deserving of this great gift. The reason that our works are not required nor are able to save us is so that we do not get the glory (i.e., we cannot boast), but rather all the glory goes to God. You probably know what I’m about to say yet again. May all glory be to God!

As a note, there has been much debate on what exactly the gift of God is in verse 8. That is, what is the antecedent for “it” in “it is the gift of God”? You may say that faith would be the gift of God, but there are three possible antecedents: grace, salvation, and faith. While it is true that faith is a gift from God, most Biblical scholars believe that all of the phrase “by grace you have been saved through faith” is the antecedent of “it”. This makes sense if you take this whole phrase as a single idea. That is, the gift of God is salvation that comes through faith and is given to us by His great grace.

Finally, we get to verse 10, which shows us the causal relationship (through the word “For”) between verses 8-9 and verse 10. That is, our lives should display our joy through the works that God has prepared for us because of the salvation we enjoy. We are God’s creation and as His creation our purpose is to bless and glorify the creator first through the unmerited gift of God, which we have previously discussed, and secondly through the good and useful works God gave us.

These works that were created for us were also prepared beforehand. Just like it says in verse 1:4 that God choose us before the foundations of the world were created, so He has also appointed good works for us before time began. This is in agreement with Romans 8:29–30:

29 For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

30 And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified.

God not only foreknew those who are saved, but He also predestined them to be conformed to the image of Jesus. It’s this predestination for believers to be made like Jesus where the works that God has prepared for us come into play. These works are not only an outward expression of the joy of knowing our Lord and Savior, but they are also transforming us more and more into the likeness of Christ. One can think of the good works that we walk in as part of the process of sanctification.

Lastly in verse 10 we see that word “walk” again. Remember in verse 1 that we formerly “walked” in sin. Now in verse 10 we are called to “walk” in the good works that God has also given us. To “walk” in something is to behave accordingly. It’s not just a one time action or something we do occasionally. It is to live our lives joyfully doing the good works that God has given us. It’s not that we need to quit our jobs and find something to do in the church, since God also gave us our jobs. Instead, we should look for ways that God wants us to do good in our jobs for Him. But there are also many other ways that we can live out these good works in our church as well (that don’t require us to quit our jobs). One good work that comes to mind is the prayer life of our church. We should all be praying individually and together. To that end, one way to step into God’s good work in our church is to begin to pray with others. Bridget Marchetti runs the prayer group at our church and I know she’d love to have more people praying together in earnest not only for our church as a whole but for the sick, the needy, the lost, and of course our country. Our church uses the GroupMe app to keep us all apprised of those needing prayer. Ask Bridget about how you can get plugged into the church prayer group. This is just one of the many ways you can walk in God’s good works that He prepared for us so long ago.

May all glory be to God!

Paul loved the church body deeply. In this section of Ephesians, Paul expresses his love for the church body in Christ. This love is expressed through the prayers that Paul prays for the church body. Notice this entire section is not exactly a literal prayer that he would pray (unlike in the gospels where we can read what Jesus actually prayed at times to the Father). Rather, this is an explanation of how Paul prayed for the body of believers. From this we’ll not only understand how to better pray for our own church but also how to pray in love for one another through Christ who binds us all together as one.

These 9 verses in Ephesians are one entire thought from Paul. In the original Greek manuscripts, punctuation was not used. This is why we sometimes have such long sentences in our English translations. The long sentences are showing us Paul’s continuous, cohesive thread of thought as he expounds even more on our relationship as the church (the body of believers) with Christ. Verses 15-23 should be read as one thought even though our English Bibles break this up with punctuation marks. In ways this makes it easier for us to read, but always keep in mind that this is one continuous thought. As such, each verse builds upon the previous.

Ephesians 1:15–16:

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,

16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

Now these two verses tripped me up a little as I read through them. When I see the word “For” at the beginning of a sentence, I typically go back to the previous verses to see how the author will connect what he is writing to what he has already written. But that’s not exactly how this word is used here. For all you NASB folks out there (of which I am one), these verses are a bit harder to read so for this week I switched to the ESV, which is more readable without sacrificing the formal equivalence in translation. Or in other words, in this case the ESV gives a more understandable translation than the NASB while at the same time preserving the original wording.

In verse 15 the phrase “For this reason” points to the reason, which is stated in the following section surrounded by commas: “because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints”. And then it picks back up in verse 16. So a decent paraphrase of this could be: “Because I [Paul] have heard of your faith and love, I continually give thanks and pray for you.” So the reason Paul is thankful and prayerful towards the church body is due to the things he has heard about them. Specifically, Paul has heard of their faith in Jesus and their love towards all the saints.

From this we know that Paul is still receiving word from the churches in and around Ephesus (in Asia). And that word is that the church’s faith in Jesus is strong and growing. But not only that, notice Paul adds that he also received word that the church is exhibiting love (agape) to all the saints. Note the word “all”. The saints weren’t just loving those within their own churches or within their own cliques in the church. They loved all the saints, or we could say they loved the collective whole of the church body.

Why did Paul add this extra phrase about loving others? Well, Jesus not only summed up the law as love God, love your neighbor but in addition to this we, as believers, give evidence of God’s love by loving others both inside and outside of the church. So Paul is saying that he’s not only heard of the church’s faith but he’s heard the strongest evidence of their faith through their love.

May I (we) always exhibit this love as evidence of my (our) hope in Christ!

Paul finishes up his introduction to this section by saying two things. First, he continuously gives thanks for the church. This continuous thanksgiving is not meant to be taken literally as if he was 24/7 in constant state of prayer giving thanks to just the church. That would be impossible, even in prison where he would have ample time for prayer. However, it does express that Paul is thinking of and giving thanks for the church in his prayers daily (as would be possible whether he was in or out of prison). Paul isn’t just thinking of the church at this one point in time as he’s writing this epistle; he’s thinking of them daily.

Second, Paul remembers the church in his prayers. This isn’t just a quick “oh I just remembered…” type of prayer. This is a deep and loving prayer towards the church, an unceasing prayer that is based on his thanksgiving for the church. Throughout the rest of this section, we will see how Paul remembers the church in his prayers.

As a note, you may notice that I don’t use the word Ephesians here, but rather the church. This letter is one that focuses on the church, not just the church of Ephesus. In fact, in verse 1 where it states that that this letter was directed towards the church at Ephesus, some original manuscripts do not contain the words “at Ephesus”. I won’t go into all the reasons why this happened; although, there are several possible explanations. But what we can understand from this is that while this letter may have been sent to Ephesus first, the reality is that it was circulated amongst all churches. Even today we can think of Paul’s letters as being circulated amongst all churches, even our own. So when I write about the book of Ephesus, I write as to what Paul was originally writing to, that is the church as a whole (including Ephesus and Crossings).

Ephesians 1:17–18:

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Here in Verse 17, Paul begins to expound on what he is specifically praying for the church..that is, first and foremost the wisdom and revelation of God. Notice the word “and” tying  together both wisdom and revelation. It is both the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation that is given to us by God, but it is given to us in the knowledge of Him. This is not just some worldly wisdom that some have. After all, there are non-believers that seem wise or are considered as wise by the world. Rather, this is a God given wisdom that puts our faith to work. It is a wisdom that is different from the world’s version of wisdom.

Alongside wisdom we have the God given revelation of Him. This word “revelation” means an unveiling of previously hidden knowledge. Within this context it is the unveiling of God’s will. Now this does not mean that we today should expect new knowledge that is extra-biblical. The canon of scripture has been fully and completely written. We need not add to it or subtract from it. In fact the book of Revelation warns in the strongest words possible to not do this. However, since the canon of scripture was not fully written at this time, Paul was writing this letter as directed by the Holy Spirit to the churches (and Ephesus) to reveal new revelation that had been unveiled through Christ. This book revealed several mysteries to the early churches…mysteries that have been fully revealed to us today including some, like the church, that we may take for granted. But remember, back in those days the church only had the Old Testament, which pointed to the mystery of Christ which had just been fulfilled. The unveiling of these mysteries was happening as the Ephesians and other churches were reading this letter of Paul’s. Just imagine the wonder they had from reading the Old Testament anew as the mystery of Christ had just been revealed to them.

All of this wisdom and revelation came about in the knowledge of Him. This word “knowledge” is a bit nuanced in the original Greek. In English this word means an understanding or maybe a “head knowledge” of something or someone. But in the Greek this word for knowledge is prefixed with the Greek “epi” which signifies a more intimate or full knowledge of something or someone, God in this case. So it’s not just knowing that God is real or exists somewhere or even that God has certain attributes like love, justice, etc. It is a personal knowledge of who God is in the person of Jesus Christ, a full and intimate relationship with Jesus.

In verse 18 Paul continues to explain how he prays for the church. The phrase “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened” is a metaphor for having a true and personal knowledge of Christ in our most inner being and that we would even more deeply understand the wisdom and revelations of God. To the early church this wisdom and revelation came through the apostles and their preaching, teaching and writings; to us today that comes through the preaching and teaching of our elders and pastors as well as our own personal study of His word.

Here again we hear of the greatest of heavenly blessings that are bestowed on us through Christ. Namely, the hope we have been called to and the glorious inheritance. Now this hope we have is not just a possibility of something. Rather, it is something that we know to be true because of our relationship to Christ. It is a hope that we look forward to expectantly… something that we do not yet posses but will when we are perfected in Heaven alongside our Savior.

Now the glorious inheritance that is spoken of here is a difficult one to translate. Does it mean God’s inheritance of us as believers who will glorify Him forevermore? Or does it mean our inheritance of the eternal blessings that God bestows on us? There is much discussion of this in various circles and commentaries. I tend to lean towards the former where we are God’s inheritance and as such we will glorify Him because of this inheritance. However, I’m not 100% tied to that interpretation. I do believe it could mean both. That is we can, at the same time, glorify God as His inheritance and also receive an inheritance through Christ. Being an inheritance and receiving an inheritance both let us doubly glorify God. And God’s glorification is a constant theme throughout Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:19–20:

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

The message from verse 17 that God may “give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him” is continued in verse 19. Paul’s prayers include that we, the church, may know the power of God. This power is described as immeasurable greatness or (in other translations) it is a surpassing greatness or exceeding greatness. This infinitely great power is directed towards us as believers in the church.

This power can be and has already been shown to us. We can know this power through the raising of Jesus Christ from the dead as well as from the seating of Christ at the right hand of God. That’s what Paul is saying in 19b-20a: ” according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ”. This idea of God raising Jesus from the dead and seating Him as Lord over all is beautifully echoed for us in Ephesians 2:6:

6 and [God] raised us up with Him [Jesus], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

Of course, Jesus was raised up as Lord over all, while we are simply and graciously raised up with Him.

Taken together, verses 17-20 are a large portion of the prayer Paul is continuously giving up for the church. Paul wants believers to grow in the very personal knowledge of who God is, and he furthers this by asking for wisdom and an unveiling of the mysteries of God’s will to be given to all believers. This enlightening of us though wisdom, revelation, and knowledge of God is for three purposes so that we might know:

* The hope of His calling.

* The riches of His inheritance.

* His infinite power towards us who believe (this power could also be thought of as providing a full and unyielding security in Christ) .

If one of the great Apostles would desire to pray this prayer of hope, riches, and power for all the believers, shouldn’t we too also pray this on a consistent basis…not only for our church but for all believers in all churches?

Ephesians 1:21–23:

21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Verse 21 continues from verse 20 to describe more fully what it meant for God to seat Christ at His right hand. The seat at God’s right hand places Jesus in a position of power far above all things. Before we talk about what specifically Jesus is Lord over, we need to look at the words “far above” and “all”. These words give a sense as to the power and completeness of Jesus’ lordship. He is far above all things, which means that He is not only “above” all things in rank and power, but that He is “far” above all these things. That is, His rule extends to such great heights that no one and nothing can even come near His lordship. Thusly, we can be assured and secure in the knowledge that Jesus’ lordship will never leave us or forsake us. The second word is “all”, which gives us the security of knowing that there is nothing and no one that Jesus is not lord over. This includes both good and evil, angels and demons, believers and unbelievers. All means all.

Knowing this gives us a better sense of the fullness of Jesus’ lordship over the list of things Paul gives us next. The list starts with rule or those acting as rulers or leaders and continues with authority or those who exercise control over others. Following this is power, which is any governing authority. Next is dominion, which are those having ownership over others. Finally we get to “every name that is named”, which fully covers all people, angels, demons, etc. The name of Jesus Christ is far above all names that have been named and even those that will be named. The name Jesus means God is salvation. That is who Jesus is. Jesus is God and therefore is our salvation. Without Jesus there is no hope, inheritance, or power towards us. It is no wonder that there is no name that will ever be above Jesus as only Jesus can provide the one thing that we as sinners need most…salvation!

It should be noted that there is evidence that Paul meant for all rule, authority, power, dominion, and names to be more related to a spiritual rule, authority, power, dominion and names. And indeed some of these are mentioned in Colossians 1:16:

16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

These cover both heavenly and earthly (invisible and visible) thrones, dominions, rules, and authorities. I think it is obvious that Jesus is above all of these things in both the heavenly and earthly realms; however, Paul may have been stressing the heavenly realm due to the fact that many early churches, especially Ephesus, were battling the spiritual forces of evil. Remember the church at Ephesus and elsewhere were surrounded by temples to other gods (Dianna, for example being one of the most prominent ones at Ephesus). Later we also read in Ephesians 6:12:

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

This verse shows us a strong leaning by Paul towards spiritual warfare against forces unseen, forces in the heavenly or spiritual realm.  

Verses 22-23 sum up what has already been said of God the Father and Jesus. However, we also get this new word “church” (more on the church later as we get into chapter 3 and how this must have sounded to the believers at that time). Yes Jesus is Lord over all, but here we get a new idea that Jesus is Lord over all especially in His relationship to the church. This is for the benefit of the church body and for the glory of God. The church is also defined as the body of Jesus (i.e., from verse 23a, “which is His body”). Furthermore, the body of believers, which all believers are partakers of, is not only the fullness of Jesus but is also filled by Jesus just as the Holy Spirit fills each believer individually. What this means is that we as a church are in union with Christ. Christ fills the church so that those outside of the church body may see Jesus in the church. Through this Jesus draws sinners to Himself to become part of His body as the church under His lordship. Our part is to worship, praise, and obey God. Jesus does the rest as He draws sinners to himself through His filled body…the church.

This section of Ephesians 1 ends appropriately with Paul’s prayer blessing God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. All of Paul’s prayers for the church culminate in the glorification of Jesus. Notice that these verses begin with requests for wisdom and knowledge that can only come from God and end with the glorification of our Lord Jesus. In heaven we won’t have to pray the first part anymore. We can focus for an eternity on the second part, glorifying God the Father, Son, and Spirit!

Background

Today our journey begins in the book of Ephesians. Now the church at the city of Ephesus was most likely started through the missionary works of Priscilla and Aquila along with Paul (see: Acts 18:18-21 and Acts 19:9, in fact most of Acts 19 serves as a background to the church of Ephesus). Ephesus is also mentioned elsewhere in the Bible such as Acts 20:17-38 and 1 Cor 15:32. Interestingly we get a picture of the more mature church at Ephesus in Rev 2:1-7:

1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

2 “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.

4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

We see that the church of Ephesus did endure, but they had lost their first love, their love for Christ. While the church was patiently enduring, staying disciplined, and resisting evil their love for Jesus had grown cold. Perhaps legalism had taken hold of the church or they had lost their focus on Jesus as the center of their faith and works. Whatever the reason, I would hope that they would have dusted off this letter from Paul and re-read it in its entirety.

Now the city of Ephesus was the third largest city in the Roman empire at this time and a growing center of commerce. The population consisted of various nationalities including  a large Jewish community. We can surmise that the church itself consisted of both Jew and Gentile. This will become important later on as we investigate the “mystery” of which Paul speaks later in this letter.

Another important point is that Ephesus’ culture was home to vast idol worship. The main god worshiped was the goddess Diana (or Artemis as the Greeks knew her) who represented fertility, magic, and astrology. In fact, the temple of Diana was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world. It is estimated that around 50 other gods were worshiped in Ephesus. Imagine if our church was literally surrounded by temples to other gods (or to demons) and one of those temples was so majestic that it was labeled as one of the few wonders of the world. I could only imagine the thoughts that would run through my head or the fear of speaking Christ in such a situation. However, God uses the weak to overcome the strong which is why the church at Ephesus persisted all those years even beyond the point in time it was mentioned in Revelation.

Themes

Before we jump into Ephesians 1, it would be wise to understand a few of the prominent themes in this book. Understanding the themes of a book gives you a place to anchor your thoughts and helps to act as a guidepost as you are reading. There are two main themes that appear in this book.

The first theme I will summarize as: “What God has done for me motivates me to walk in a way that honors God.” This theme covers the entire book of Ephesians. How did I extract this theme from this text you may ask. Well that’s a very good question. The first step is prayerful reading, that is praying for guidance and help understanding what the text is truly saying. But this usually doesn’t come after just one (prayerful) reading or even two or three readings. The text starts to come alive through the Holy Spirit’s guidance after many prayerful readings. Then, after you have understood the text, it is always wise to consult Commentaries to verify that you are on the right track.

After many prayerful readings of Ephesians, I began to notice that the entire book consisted of two main sections. Chapters 1-3 were the first section and deeply covered New Testament theology. Paul elegantly puts on display in these first three chapters God’s blessings, grace, redemption, purposes, glory, His mystery (more on that later), and much more doctrine. But God’s doctrine is always related to us: Our redemption through His blood, God’s grace freely given to us, that He choose us, that we were made alive in Him, among many others.

Then we arrive at chapters 4-6 where Paul urges us to walk worthy of our calling in Christ our Lord and Savior. In this section Paul shows us how we are to live and God’s plan for His church. We are to walk in love, wisdom, and sobriety. Paul lays out how a family should function and the employee/employer relationship. Finally, Paul gives us direction in using the spiritual armor of God and prayer to help us in our fight against the enemy.

So there we have God’s theology in the first half of this book and our manner of behavior (i.e., our Christian walk) in the second half of the book. You could even restate this as: how we should behave in light of God’s theology.

Consider if Paul had not written the first three chapters of Ephesians. How would the book of Ephesians look? Well, we’d have this very short book of rules to live by. Or, what if the last three chapters had not been written? Then we’d have a short book of Theology with little to no application. So we’d either have theology with little to no application or application with little to no theology. But look what happens when the first three chapters are joined to the last three chapters. We have theology with application. But there’s something deeper at work here. The one compliments the other. That is, the theology in the first three chapters lays a foundation for how we are to walk as Christians in the last three chapters. This foundation shows the immense grace and mercy bestowed on us by the living God. As we study these chapters, we will see more deeply the overwhelming love God has for us. This love, mercy, and grace that we see here are the driving forces of our motivation to walk in a way that honors our Lord and Savior. That’s why we can read the last three chapters and not view them as a list of rules that we must try our best to follow but rather as a way that we can bless, honor, and glorify our Father in Heaven.

The second theme is this mystery that Paul speaks of in chapter 3. We’ll talk about that later as we cover chapter 3 in detail. I just hate to spoil the surprise (granted you probably already know what the mystery is…hint, you are part of it right now).

Ephesians 1:1-2

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

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

This is a typical introduction that Paul uses. There is a lot here to cover, but I want to focus in on two things. Paul wrote this letter to “the saints” who are “faithful in Christ Jesus”. This is a letter directly written to us as believers as part of the body of Christ here on earth. This is not a letter written to unbelievers or solely to believers who are either new in the faith or mature in the faith. This letter is written to us as a church body. Let me emphasize that to us as a church body. This is key to keep in mind as you are reading Ephesians.

The other thing we should focus on is the grace and peace that proceed from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Both grace and peace are prominent words used throughout Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:3-4

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

Paul opens his letter with the most important thing he can..praise to God or “Blessed be…”. The word bless is used three times in verse 3 alone. First as “Blessed be…”, that God is fully deserving of our blessings. That phrase was confusing to me back when I was a new believer in Christ. How do I bless the God of creation, the One who holds everything (including me) in the palm of His hand? Am I not too small and weak to bless such a mighty God? I found that through worship (in truth and spirit) and praise (from my voice and my actions) as well as honoring Him through obedience to His word, I was able to bless Him. Of course that is no easy task; thankfully He gave us His Spirit to enable us to bless Him. Without His Spirit we are dead in our sins and no dead (dead in sin, that is) person can bless the Lord.

Next Paul tells us of the blessings that we have incurred from our Father in Heaven. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing! These blessings, as we will see, are not material blessings. Although God certainly does bless us with material things we need, this particular blessing in this context is talking of the heavenly blessings that are now ours through Christ our Lord..through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His making a way for us to the Father. Surely these blessings far outweigh any material blessings that we could ever receive on earth.

In verse 4 we see that God predestined us to be His children before the creation of the world. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 echoes this:

13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

This idea of predestination tells us that God knew us before He formed the world and chose us to become holy and blameless. Notice that verse 4 starts with “just as” (in some versions it will be “even” or “for”). This is a causal conjunction in the Greek and ties our predestination back to our blessings in verse 3. But there’s more to predestination as we’ll see in the next two verses.

Ephesians 1:5-6

5 In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Verse 5 begins a deeper dive into how God has blessed us with spiritual blessings in Christ. Notice verse 5 starts with “In love…” and then each of the following sections below begin with “In Him…”. These are all supreme blessings given to us that are far greater than any temporal earthly blessings. Blessings such as: redemption, forgiveness, our inheritance, and others…all these blessings which are bestowed upon us in Him. Each time you read “In Him” think of it as “In union with Him”. As we dig deeper in Ephesians and Paul’s train of thought, we will see that by being “In Him” we are truly in union with Him as one body.

Notice there is another repeated phrase, “according to..”. For every “In Love…” or “In Him…” (well, actually not the “In Him…” in verse 13) there is a corresponding “according to…” What follows the “according to…” begins to show us the depth and breadth of Gods love for us. In verse 5b we see that not only was God’s predestination of us due to His love (agape love) but also due to the kind intention of His will. God’s very will towards us was kind. His predestination was out of kindness and love. It is no wonder that Paul begins verse 3 with blessings (praises) towards God.

Ephesians 1:7-10

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight

9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him

10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

Verse 7 begins with the first of three “In Him” statements. Here we have redemption in Jesus and through His blood. This word “redemption” signifies either the act of freeing or the state of having freedom from bondage (in this context, bondage from sin) [this is the Biblical definition]. This freedom only comes through the payment of a ransom. The payment for our freedom from this bondage of sin was given through the sacrifice Jesus made for all on the cross. He gave His life and shed His blood in order to pay our debt so that we may have life everlasting. As we meditate on this greatest of sacrifices that freed us from sin’s chains, we should take time to bless our savior as only his children are able through His Spirit.

One more note on redemption in verse 7, in both the Greek and English it says we have redemption. The verb “have” is in the present tense. In other words, we not only were (past tense) redeemed, but the present tense give a more subtle meaning that we are also now and forever more redeemed…that is we are in a constant state of redemption.

But notice in the “according to” portion of verse 7-8 where He lavished His rich and perfect grace upon us. Grace is the giving of something (redemption in this case) to someone else not based on their merit or abilities; rather, it is given freely. But even more moving is that this freely given gift is given to a recipient (us) that is neither qualified nor deserving of it.

As we begin to understand this grace that bore our redemption how can our response be anything but praise, worship, and obedience to our God…Who considered His own grace something to be lavished upon us. We, who were undeserving, became the recipients of His forgiveness by no effort of our own but by the kindness of His will towards us.

Now the mystery in verse 9 is connected to His plan of redemption. A mystery in the New Testament means something that is hidden. In this context, Jesus’ life and death resulting in our redemption was the mystery that was revealed by God. It is important to understand there is another mystery that Paul reveals later in Ephesians 3 that is closely connected to this mystery.

And in verse 10, to paraphrase, Christ will gather up all things including both Jew and Gentile and all of creation. All of this will be placed under the administration (or lordship) of Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin has wrecked creation, but Christ will be placed over all these things to reconcile all things to Himself. As it also says in Colossians 1:16–20:

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Ephesians 1:11-12

11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Through the second “In Him” we see that we have already been given an inheritance. This inheritance is found in Christ. We will receive this inheritance once we are perfected and standing before Jesus in Heaven. What a wonderful inheritance that will be.

This inheritance follows from the fact that we were already predestined according to His will. And we know from verse 5 that His will is kind towards us. Because of this we should, in turn, lavish praise on our most gracious Father in Heaven.

Ephesians 1:13-14

The final “In Him” in verse 13 shows us that by being in unity with Christ we were also sealed in Him. This seal is the Holy Spirit, which was promised by Jesus before He ascended to sit at the right hand of God. Jesus had to physically leave us so that He could send the Holy Spirit to indwell in us, to teach us, to guide us, and to be the promise of our salvation…evidence to the world of the truth and salvation from our Lord.

But the Spirit was not just given to anyone. Notice that it says after listening to the message of truth (the gospel of Jesus Christ) and after believing, people receive salvation through hearing the word of God and believing. How much grace has been poured out on us and our churches from hearing the word of God! Through hearing and belief we have received the Spirit of promise and are sealed forever as God’s own. Never stop preaching, teaching, and speaking the word of God!

What does it mean to be sealed by the Holy Spirit? Well, a seal was usually placed upon a document or letter. Placing a seal on a document meant that document was under the authority of the one who placed the seal. This seal indicated: the authority of the one who placed the seal, the authenticity of the sealed document, security as long as the seal remained intact, and finally ownership by the one who sealed it. Translating this to the Holy Spirit as our seal we know that we are fully secure in our salvation as His seal is unbreakable. We know by Whom we are sealed. We know the authority by Whom we are sealed. We know that we are owned by the One who sealed us.  That is grace at work within us. This is more than a just a comforting thought, it is a foundation for how we may bless our gracious Father in Heaven. May we never cease praising Him for what we could not obtain on our own.