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EPHESIANS 4:1-5:2 The 2nd and 3rd “walks”

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There were 6 “walks” in Eph 4-6. This referred to the way Christians were to live and act as a result of their special calling into the one body (the doctrinal section in Eph 1-3).

2. 4: 17-32 Walk no longer as the Gentiles

Paul had just talked about the church “maturing” (Eph 4:13), and now he describes what a mature church would look like.

4:25-32 But what does that mean to put off the old self and put on the new self. Let’s get specific on what to put off and what to put on.

4:30 A key verse in the midst of this. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit is constantly working to help us (through the written word and other ways) to do all this. Just like parents are constantly trying to instill these life principles in their children and it grieves them when their children do wrong and don’t do right. It grieves the Holy Spirit when we don’t. 

Q: Which one (or ones!) of these do you struggle with the most to put away the bad and do the right? 

Q: The “Gentiles” would be the non-Christians around us. Are the non-Christians today really as bad as Paul described them to be? 

Are we really different than them? Do we need to be different like the Amish? Can we be “in the world but not of the world”? John 17:14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Would your friends and co-workers say that you are different? How could they tell a difference?

3. 5:1-2 Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us

This is from got questions.org 

The “walk” of Ephesians 5:2 refers to our behavior and how we act. We walk in love when we act like God. When we behave like Jesus, we are walking in love. Just as children like to imitate their parents, we are to mimic God in the same way Jesus copied His Father’s behavior.

The Greek word translated as “love” in this passage is agape. Agape is sacrificial, unselfish, unconditional love that proves itself through actions. It perfectly describes God’s love for us (John 3:16) and Christ’s love for us (1 John 3:16). With agape, “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him” (1 John 4:9, NLT). When the Bible says, “God is love” in 1 John 4:8, the word “love” is a translation of agape. God’s nature, His essence, is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love.

The apostle John stressed that, since God loves us sacrificially and unconditionally, we ought to love others in the same way: “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). Again, we walk in love by imitating God’s love for us in how we show love to others. Jesus taught the same principle when He said, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13, NLT).

The apostle Paul gives a detailed description of how to walk in love: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (1 Corinthians 13:4–7, NLT). The greatest virtue we can nurture in our Christian walk is agape love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

In Ephesians 5:2, Paul said that Jesus “gave himself up for us.” Giving ourselves up means offering our lives to God in sacrifice. It means following, obeying, submitting, serving, and living in a committed relationship with Him. Giving ourselves up means walking in love. When we behave like this, our lives become “a fragrant offering” that is pleasing to God and everyone who encounters the scent (Leviticus 1:17; 3:16). Paul urged believers to offer themselves “as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1).

When we walk in love, we show the world that we are true followers of Jesus Christ: “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35, NLT; see also 1 John 3:14).

As God’s children and members of His family, we are called to deny our own selfish desires and interests for the sake of God and others. Although we are free in Christ, we use our freedom “to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:13–14, NLT). Peter said, “You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart” (1 Peter 1:22, NLT). This wholehearted, sacrificial imitation of God’s divine agape is what it means to walk in love.

Q: Would you friends, family, co-workers, people you do business with say that you are a loving Christian, that they see the love of God and of Jesus in you?

Of course there are different ways of expressing love?

Q: Which of these is your primary way of expressing love?

EPHESIANS 1:16-23 THANKSGIVING & PRAYER

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Notice that this is giving thanks for the Ephesian believers b/c Paul had heard of their faith and love. He is thankful that they have believed and remained faithful even in a pagan city like Ephesus where Diana was worshipped (Acts 18).

He give these thanks in unceasing prayer and also prays that God will give them the “Spirit of revelation and wisdom and knowledge of him” having “their eyes enlightened to know 3 things:

1 The hope to which he has called you, i.e. the hope of eternal life.

2 The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints

3 The immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.

This power is in accordance with God’s power when he raised Jesus from the dead, seated him at His right hand “in the heavenly places” far above all spiritual powers of darkness and made him head over the church, which is his body. This last few verses will set the tone for God’s power raising us from the spiritual dead and seating us with Jesus at the right hand of God in the heavenly places. 

Q: What does “having the eyes of your heart enlightened” mean in Ephesians 1:18? (Does the human heart have spiritual senses that are dormant but can be awakened by God?)

We may be overlooking certain obvious truths here. Physiologically, the human heart consists of nothing more than “a hollow organ that pumps blood through the circulatory system by rhythmic contraction and dilation.”[1] Therefore, perhaps we might recognize references to “the heart” as the predispositions, inclinations and traits of personality that are characterized by our minds, at the core of our consciousness.

Naturally, the mind and the heart are two separate aspects of human nature; we shouldn’t allow metaphorical or poetic language to overwhelm our common sense. With that in mind, we can proceed a bit further metaphorically as we identify the “biblical heart.” Dr. James Burton Coffman has observed:

“According to the Scriptures, it is ‘the heart’ that imagines (Genesis 6:5), understands (Matthew 15:13), reasons (Mark 2:8), thinks (Luke 9:47), believes (Romans 10:9), and loves (1 Peter 1:22). These passages are more than enough to identify the Scriptural ‘heart’ as the mind or seat of the intelligence” (emphasis added).

Interestingly, the “blindness of the heart” is found in Ephesians 4 (KJV).

Ephesians 4:18, KJV: “[Gentiles having] the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart…”

Suppose we illuminate this verse a bit by relying on key phrases in the NASB, beginning at verse 17 for context:

Ephesians 4:17-18: “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, 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…” (emphasis added).

Here, the “eyes of [the] heart” constitute our intellect and mental, spiritual recognition of other-worldly truths. Paul’s reference to the Gentiles’ “ignorance” is helpful toward the remaining clause “hardness of their heart.” (“blindness” in KJV). As we put all the pieces together, we should understand that the phrase “eyes of the heart” is merely our conscious recognition of that which Satan labors so arduously to suppress:

2 Corinthians 4:3-4: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Paul further relates his concern over the veil of duplicity that clouds the minds of the faithless:

2 Corinthians 11:3: “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (emphasis added).

The biblical heart is clearly a vital aspect of our intellect, recognition of spirit truths, and the faithful humility we exercise in Christ.

According to the Bible, Elisha’s servant’s eyes were opened by the Lord in 2 Kings 6:17: 

  1. The king of Syria sent an army to capture the prophet Elisha in the city of Dothan. 
  2. Elisha and his servants were surrounded by the army at night. 
  3. The servant asked Elisha, “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?”. 
  4. Elisha replied, “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them”. 
  5. Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see”. 
  6. The Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 

Elisha then prayed to the Lord to make the Aramean army blind, which he did. Elisha led the Arameans to Samaria, telling them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me and I will lead you to the man whom you are seeking”. 

Q: The spiritual blessings are found in “the heavenly places” (1:3). What are the “heavenly places”? 1:20 Jesus was raised to sit in the heavenly places. 

This phrase is used 5 times in Ephesians: 1:3,20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12. In 2:6, the saved are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, so it must be a spiritual realm that we are in while on earth and not just a future place in heaven somewhere in the future after we die. The blessings are “spiritual” in nature, not physical. We are living in a spiritual world that can’t be seen. It is a spiritual world in which both good and bad powers and authorities exist and work (6:12). It is a spiritual realm where Christ has defeated all the evil powers that can rule over us. 

I believe it is a spiritual realm all around us, right now. I believe it is where my mother and father are, perhaps even totally aware of what is happening on earth. 

Doesn’t this make you just feel different about everything you do? Can you see yourself living in a spiritual realm as in an out-of-body experience at all the things happening in this world? 

Q: Do you believe that faithful Christians immediately go into another phase of these heavenly places when they die? If so, are they aware of what’s happening on earth? If so, can they be sad over bad things on earth? Does the phrase “no tears in heaven” apply here? 

A couple of key verses. 

John 11:24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.[d] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

The OT dead were kept in hades until they were judged (Daniel 12:1,2) and given their final reward or punishment. That is not where the dead in Christ go. We are able to go be with Jesus immediately after death. 

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,[b] and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This describes the new Jerusalem, i.e. the church, on earth after the old Jerusalem has been destroyed. It describes God dwelling in his people and his people dwelling in God, right here on earth, now. The “no more tears, no death, no crying, no pain” etc. is right now on earth for Christians. This is spiritual joy and life even though we still cry and die physically. These verses do not refer to life after death although they would also describe life after death. But they would not preclude sadness in heaven after death.