Note: Please excuse my 2-week delay. I was enjoying God's beauty in the North Carolina mountains!
Ephesians Chapter 4
Originally posted Tuesday August 26, 2008
Ephesians 4:1-16 Unity in
the Body of Christ
In
Paul's letters to the Corinthians and Galatians he stressed the churches'
fundamental need for unity as a basis for survival. Unity was expressed in
terms of mutual respect as well as common belief. He was
addressing the formative energies of new Christians moving from paganism to monotheism
centered on one God and one Lord. The temptation to listen to many voices and
to form various opinions that departed from Paul's preaching would arrive
from time to time. It is easy to understand how factious such an environment
would be without Paul's strong presence. In Ephesians the writer is addressing
a number of churches and in a much broader approach. Individual church issues
are not the subject of his exhortations. When he writes of unity he is not
dealing with specific factions or outside influences. When he writes of the new
versus the old life and how to live in the new he is not referring to any
particular immorality with which the church elders must deal. The letter is
similar to an encyclical written by a Bishop to be read to all the congregations
of the parish.
The
writer calls for a unity in which members' spiritual lives lead them to act
toward one another in "humility...gentleness...with patience [and]
love." This is a life worthy of a Christian, living in peace in the
Spirit. The unity in which they were called to live and love is deep and
wide. There is a definite unity to be found in the elements of spiritual
ascent and descent. As a church they are one body in Christ led
by the one Spirit. They have been called to one hope, in one Lord, one
faith, one baptism and one God. The unity to which the writer calls the Church
is both horizontal (within the community of faith) and vertical (ascending to
the one God who is above all, the author of all and from who all has
come).
Within
the Church the exalted (ascended) Christ has
invested certain believers with a measure of grace providing for
a variety of gifts for the benefit of the Church (1 Cor. 12). The writer cites and
interprets Ps.68:18 as
referring to Christ who has ascended "far above all the
heavens." Although the Psalm does not mention descent the writer
assumes in his interpretation the added element that the one who has
ascended "far above the heavens" is also the one who first descended "into the
lower parts of the earth." Much has been written about the phrase
"lower parts of the earth." Does that mean Hades as it would in the
latter part of the second century Gospel of Peter (the
Cross Gospel)? Probably not. The meaning likely is found in the same tradition
as used in John's Gospel (Jn. 3:13):
"No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from
heaven," written at about the same time as Ephesians. In both works the
descent is of Christ being sent from God to the earth, not to
Hades.
The
writer now continues to elaborate on the subject of gifts (vs. 7). Unlike Paul's list of spiritual gifts this list is
restricted to the leadership of the Church. The official hierarchy of the late
first century is described in descending order (of course): apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors and teachers. The former three are
specifically beyond the local church while the latter two are local church
functions. Other more charismatic gifts are not mentioned possibly because
those that are listed serve the writer's theme in this section on unity. The
other gifts might be considered more divisive as they sometimes were in
Corinth. In any case, the leadership gifts all serve the common purpose of
equipping the saints (members) for
the work of ministry which itself is for the "building up of the
body of Christ," the Church. Note here that the ministry is not reserved
for the five named official categories of vs. 11. This ministry for the building up of the church is the
responsibility of the entire congregation, not the apostle's or the
pastor's or any other structurally appointed official. We could read this
as two ministries: leadership's ministry is to equip and the member's
ministry is to be in ministry. Building up the church is understood
as both spiritual and numerical. The decline of either would be a sign
that the Spirit has faded and the work intended by God has been ignored.
Ephesians
understands that this "building up" of the Church is to continue
until a state of unity exists in the community's faith, knowledge of Christ and
spiritual maturity which is defined as attaining "the measure of the full
stature of Christ." Such a maturity is not "tossed to and fro"
by the latest theological opinion or speculation not firmly rooted in
Scripture. It is not swayed by those who nuance the Gospel, taking off its
radical edge through word tricks, omissions and additions. Rather, such a
maturity "speaks truth in love." The saints must not be like children
but are to "grow up" into Christ, working together for "building
up" and promoting the Church in the spirit of love.
Ephesians Chapter 4:17-5:2
The Old Life and the New
As
with Paul there is an old life in the world to put aside and a new life in
Christ to live. The writer begins with what looks like an awkward phrase in vs. 17b. His audience is Gentile so we should read this phrase as
"you [Gentiles in the Church] must no longer live as the Gentiles
[outside the Church]." He follows Paul's theme of walking in the flesh
versus walking in the Spirit. He catalogs the morally bankrupt nature of a
life lived in the flesh, characterized as utter futility, ignorance and
alienation from the life of God because of their hardness of
heart. Then follows the reminder to the readers/hearers that this
is not, "the way [they] learned Christ." The implication is
that they have learned about Jesus and his teachings from evangelists and
teachers. By the time of Ephesians all four Gospels had been written. In a
departure from Paul who did not refer to the historical Jesus beyond a single
comment about his birth, his crucifixion, last supper and several resurrection
reports, Ephesians shows exposure to Jesus' life. To say that the
"truth is in Jesus" (vs. 21) indicates
Jesus' teachings have been used to bolster the need for the believer to
radically change their way of life. This is the premise of the writer's call to
"no longer live as [those] Gentiles" but to be clothed "with the
new self, created according to the likeness (righteousness and holiness) of God."
The
New Life lived by the New Creation walking in the spirit is the polar opposite
of the Old Life. The writer puts forth his list in both the negative - don't do
this, and the positive, live like this. The presentation is often in a
"don't do/do" fashion:
1. Don't deal in
falsehood. Do speak the truth to your neighbor: both are members of one another
- joined in unity with Christ.
2. It is okay to feel anger but don't sin by carrying anger in your heart, for by doing so you open yourself to temptation to sin even more.
3. Don't steal. Work honestly with your hands and share what you earn in honesty with the needy.
4. Don't be divisive
in your words; be constructive and unifying, a bit of grace to all who hear
you.
5. "Do not grieve
the Holy Spirit of God" (Isa.
63:10) by your rebellion against God for the giving of the Spirit in
baptism is the seal of your redemption.
6. Don't carry the self-imposed
burden of harbored bitterness, anger, wrangling, slander and all forms of
malice. Do be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving of one another just as God
has been forgiving.
The
writer closes the passage with the overarching exhortation - be imitators of
God, live in love as Christ loved us.
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