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Note: This study is from my book, (#AmazonAdLink) God’s Blueprints for Church Growth.

The Model for Church Growth (Ephesians 4:13)

… till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ … (Ephesians 4:13)

My brother is an architect, and several years ago, the firm he works for was hired to design an addition to the largest church in town. During that time, I remember stopping into his office when the planning process was in its final stages. He was working on putting together a miniature chipboard model of what the church building would look like with the expansion.

He was almost done with the model at the time, and I remember looking at it in awe. He had cut out all the windows. He had made topographical contour lines and inserted little trees here and there on the model grounds. When I expressed my amazement at the details, he told me that while he didn’t include them on this model, he sometimes adds little cars and people.

Upon seeing the incredible detail, I asked him how much time such a model takes. He told me that while the length of time depends on the complexity of the model. This particular model took a couple hundred hours and cost several thousand dollars.

A couple hundred hours and several thousand dollars? I wanted to gag. What this mega-church spent on a model could have supported my struggling little church for several months. Aside from that, it seemed like a terrible waste of the architect’s time. But I had seen other construction models of this sort before, and so I asked my brother why churches and companies spent money to have these models built. The reason, he told me, was that models help generate interest in the building project. Models help with fundraising and vision-casting. People like to see what the end result will be before they get on board to donate money. Statistics show that money spent on the model generates more money for the actual project.

As I left his office that day, it occurred to me that God also provided a model for His church. God, as the Architect of the church, in His endeavors to expand the church, created a model for us. But God’s model was not for the purpose of raising funds, but was provided to inspire and show us what the church will look like. God’s model helps generate interest in the building project so that we serve in the church as God intends. As we continue to look at God’s Blueprints for Church Growth, we see in Ephesians 4:13, the model for the church. Ephesians 4:13 says this: “… till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

Ephesians 4:13 contains three aspects, or three dimensions to the Model God seeks for His church.^[1] Just as all architectural models are made in three dimensions, width, depth and height, God’s model also has three dimensions. The width of God’s model is the unity among Christians. The depth of God’s model is the maturity we develop. The height of the model is our growth into Christ-likeness.

Width: Unity

The first dimension, unity, is found in Ephesians 4:13. This text continues from Ephesians 4:11-12, which inform us that the Foremen equip the Crew to serve in the church until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.

This makes sense considering the context and structure of the book of Ephesians. Ephesians 4–6 makes up the practical application section of Paul’s letter based on the truths he taught in Ephesians 1–3. Paul begins chapter 4 by instructing his readers to walk in unity. This is what the first 16 verses are all about. He wrote in Ephesians 4:3 that Christians should endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, and now, in Ephesians 4:13, he writes that the first dimension of the church model is unity.^[2] In other words, unity is what should characterize the church.

Yet too often, churches are more likely to be characterized by strife, division, and personal differences of opinion. Churches are divided over theology, politics, leadership, music style, finances, ministry opportunities, community involvement, what is and isn’t sin, and numerous other issues. It sometimes seems there is nothing the church will not argue about.

This is why unity is the first dimension of the church that God wants to build. Since division and strife is the default position of most of the world, a church that is known for its love and unity will be a light in the darkness, showing the world how to live in peace.

When unity develops in the church, it allows all people to work together for the common purpose to which we are called. But this doesn’t mean we are all clones. We do not all work in the same way on the same projects. To the contrary, biblical peace enables us to live in our own unique way and with our own unique contribution, allowing others to offer their unique insights and contributions as well. Unity occurs when everybody does what he or she is best able to do in order to serve others. Unity comes when all share a common goal, a common purpose, a common vision, and a common direction, but within a framework of letting everyone be unique.

This is how it works with any building. A building consists of a wide diversity of pieces and parts, yet everything is put together with a unified purpose. Not everything is a window or door, but all the pieces—including the windows and doors, as well as the nails, wires, pipes, beams, paint—work together to make the building functional. Where there is no common purpose or unity of theme and goal, the building will not be functional or safe for those who use it.

Several years ago, I worked as a caretaker at a summer Bible camp. One week I was told that the camp needed a storage rack for the life-jackets and canoe paddles, and I was asked to build one. The person who asked me to build a rack never bothered to ask if I knew much about construction, and I didn’t bother to tell them that I was a complete novice in such matters. In hindsight, I should have asked for a quick introductory tutorial.

Prior to this, I had never really built anything, but I figured that it couldn’t be too hard to build a little rack for paddles and lifejackets. So without any sort of plan or preparation except for some vague idea in my head of what I wanted to build, I started throwing 2x4s together. I didn’t really do any measuring, but just took some scrap lumber lying around that looked “about the right size” and nailed them to some trees. I then decided that since the life jackets were outside, it might be nice to protect them from the rain, so maybe I should put a roof over them. Once again, I nailed a few pieces of lumber together and then fastened some plywood on top, then found some scrap metal roofing to finish things off.

As a result of my lack of planning and knowledge, the “shack” I constructed was anything but unified. It was about eight feet square and five feet high. Yet even this was overkill, since all it had to do was store about twenty lifejackets and ten paddles. It had no foundation except a tree root and two cinder blocks. Since I knew nothing about construction, I was unaware that the 2×4 framing studs for the ceiling needed to be spaced to match the 48-inch sheets of plywood. So the plywood pieces I nailed to the ceiling overhung the 2×4 frame by about 10 inches on each side. To make matters worse, I had failed to measure the metal roofing, so that when I went to screw the metal roofing pieces to the plywood, the pieces were too long. I dealt with this by getting out the tin snips to cut them down to size, leaving sharp jagged edges. Furthermore, when I screwed the metal roofing to the roof, I used the wrong size of screw, and many of the screws punched through the plywood to the underside of the roof.

The end result of my attempt at construction was a building that was not only ugly and rickety, but also quite dangerous. The edges of the jagged metal roofing were at face level so that anyone approaching the shack had to be careful they didn’t cut their face. But the danger didn’t end there. If they ducked their head to get a life jacket or paddle from the shack, they had to watch out for the sharp screws sticking through the roof.

But it was the first thing I had ever built, and initially, I was quite proud of that shack. Ironically, we had a master carpenter at the Bible camp who was constructing an actual building, and so I, in my ignorance, called him over to assess my work. He had spent weeks so far on his building, but I had put mine together in a few hours and wanted to show off my little pile of scrap lumber to the master carpenter.

He was very kind. He looked at my newly-built shack, and said, “Hmm … Well … It’ll work. All we need it to do is store the life jackets and paddles.” Then he went back to constructing his building.

The primary difference between our two buildings came down to one thing: Unity of purpose and planning. I did not build my shack with all the pieces and purposes in mind. I used the same studs, plywood, and sheet metal roofing that the other carpenter used, but he put his together according to a set of blueprints that showed how all the pieces fit together as a unified whole. I had no unified plan or purpose.

Later that summer, a storm blew my shack over and it got hauled away to the burn pile. Last time I was at the camp, his building was still standing, fifteen years after it was constructed. And by all appearances, it should stand for at least another fifty.

This story of two buildings, one with a unified plan and purpose and one without, represents the two ways that the church can grow and develop. Where there is no unity, the church will crumble into chaos and conflict until the first stiff breeze blows it over. But when the church is built according to the unified model that God lays out in Ephesians 4, the church will grow strong and sturdy so that it stands the test of time.

The great problem with unity however, is that few can agree with what unity looks like. Just as Christians argue and debate about everything from creeds to carpet color, so also, Christians argue and debate about how to be unified. Everybody agrees that unity is important, but few agree on how this unity is to be achieved. For example, some Christian groups seem to think that unity can only be achieved when everybody thinks like them, talks like them, dresses like them, and behaves like them. They want everyone to sign on the dotted line, color within the lines, and toe the party line.

But is this true unity? Unity is not necessarily the same thing as uniformity. We do not all have to be identical in order to live in unity. God is not interested in cloning Christians. Instead, we can learn what true unity looks like by seeing how God designed unity in creation. All of creation works and functions together toward a common divine purpose and goal, and yet it does this with incredible diversity. Each part of God’s creation allows each other part to function as designed and intended. This is the only way God’s creation works.

This is also the only way God’s church works. True church unity is achieved when each person recognizes that all other people have different tastes, desires, interests, and abilities, and rather than see these differences in others as weaknesses to be exploited or flaws to be fixed, this diversity is celebrated and enjoyed as part of God’s plan and purpose for the church. So rather than seek uniformity, true unity celebrates diversity, letting others be who God made them to be, just as we want them to let us be who God made us to be. Unity is not when we love others in spite of their differences, but in light of them.

This means that we don’t all need to be in agreement on everything or act in identical ways, in order to live together in unity. The church can be as diverse as creation and yet still serve God. Nevertheless, there are a few essentials about which all should agree. Paul lists two of these in Ephesians 3:13. He says he wants us all to come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.

The Faith

The first item a unified church needs to be in agreement on is the faith. As I discuss in my Gospel Dictionary online course in the lesson on the word “faith”, and in my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith?, the noun faith is primarily used in two ways throughout the New Testament. The first way is the way we most often think of it, as a synonym for belief. Faith is typically defined as a belief, reliance upon, confidence in, or persuasion about the truth of some claim. Therefore, to talk about faith in Jesus Christ for eternal life is to say that we believe that Jesus is speaking the truth when He says that He gives eternal life to those who believe in Him for it (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47; etc.). We can also believe, or have faith, in the truth claims that God exists, that Jesus died and rose again, and that the Bible can be trusted. This form of the word faith is the most prominent way the word is used in the Bible.

However, there is a second way the word is used as well. At several places in Scripture, the word “faith” is preceded by the article—the word “the”—as Paul uses it here in Ephesians 4:13. In these cases, “the faith” does not refer to believing or being persuaded that something is true. Instead, “the faith” refers to the body of common Christian beliefs or the essentials of Christian life and practice (cf. Acts 6:7; 13:8; 14:22; 16:5; 1 Cor 16:33; 2 Cor 13:5; Gal 1:23; 6:10; Php 1:25; Col 1:23; 1 Tim 1:2; 4:1; 5:8; 6:10, 21).

We use the phrase “the faith” similarly in our own language when we refer to other religions. For example, we might talk about the Mormon faith, the Jewish faith, or the Islamic faith. We could also speak of the Christian faith. In all of these cases, we are referring to the whole system of beliefs and practices which differentiate one system from the others. The Bible uses the term similarly. When the Bible speaks of “the faith” it is speaking of the doctrines and practices which separate followers of Jesus from those who follow something or someone other than Jesus.

So while “faith” by itself refers to being convinced or persuaded that something is true, the phrase “the faith” refers to the set of beliefs and practices that are common to all Christians. This difference is seen when a person is asked about when they became a Christian, and how long they have been a Christian. In the first case, the question could be phrased, “When did you first place faith in Jesus Christ?” In the second case, the question is sometimes phrased, “How long have you been in the faith?”

Therefore, when Paul writes that God wants Christians to come to unity of the faith, he is giving instructions for Christians to agree on the basic non-negotiables of Christian life and practices. But of course, this is where the problems start, for what are the basics? What are the non-negotiables? I wish Paul would have laid out a few, for this statement of his has created much disunity in the church as we all try to figure out what the central beliefs actually are. If you ask one hundred pastors to name the top 10 core essential beliefs of Christianity, you will likely receive one hundred different top ten lists.

Nevertheless, if we could all sit down and talk things over, maybe we would come up with a few basic fundamentals of the faith. We would, of course, agree that there is a God. There should probably also be a statement about the authority of Scripture (even if we didn’t necessarily all agree on the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture). There would absolutely have to be a statement about the nature and character of Jesus Christ as God incarnate, since He is, after all, the foundation and center of Christianity. Finally, it would also be important to mention one of the main things that separates us from all other religions and cults, which is the foundational Christian teaching that eternal life is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, apart from works. Without this final truth, Christianity is nothing more than just another works-based religion.

Beyond these non-negotiables, there are other things which Christians might want to include. From a historical standpoint, we could probably do no better than to simply point to the Apostle’s Creed or Nicene Creed, which uphold God as the creator of the universe, the Godhead as existing eternally in three persons, the dual nature of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, the reign and return of Christ, and the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

There may be others that we should all agree on if we are going to become unified, but those are just a few examples of the essential beliefs of the faith which Paul mentions here in Ephesians 4:13.

But as was mentioned above, “the faith” includes more than just doctrine; it is more than just a set of beliefs. “The faith” also includes how Christians behave and act toward one another. If church members are going to get along, they might need to agree on a few basic ideas on how to live and act in this world and with each another.

Yet here we must be extremely careful. One generation’s morality issues can lead to sin in a later generation. For example, Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 6:9 for masters to treat their slaves well, was used by a later generation as permission for slave ownership.

This is why we must be careful. We must make sure we do not go as far as some churches and denominations do, in having written dress codes, along with rules about drinking, smoking, movies, music, dancing, and cards. Most of these issues are modern parallels to the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols which Paul writes about in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 10. On such issues, we would be wise to remember Paul’s final admonition in Romans 14:5-14 that we are not to judge each other in these matters. God has given some people freedom to do things which others do not have. The fact that each one will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of himself to God (2 Cor 5:10) should be enough of a reminder for us to abide by our own conscience and let others do the same. Operating in this way will greatly increase the unity we have with one another.

Therefore, when it comes to issues of morality, it seems that the only rule which should govern our behavior is the rule of love. Love is the guiding principle and ethic of the person who follows Jesus. As we live and exist within relationships with other people, we do so, not with a list of Dos and Don’ts, but with a desire for love. We are to love others and live in a way that invites them to love us. Issues of morality, therefore, are determined with the whole community of Christians in mind and can shift and change from one generation to another, or from one geographic location to another. There are only two ways to live: by law or by love. The Christian way is love.

So these are some of the Christian beliefs and behaviors which will help Christians grow in unity with each other. In a later letter to the young pastor, Timothy, Paul invited him to watch his life and doctrine closely (1 Tim 4:16). Paul’s admonishment to Timothy very closely reflects Paul’s instructions here to the Ephesians. How Christians live and what Christians believe is what makes up “the faith.” The church grows in unity when it agrees on what to believe and how to live in love for one another. But unity in “the faith” is not the only aspect to growing in unity. Unity is also developed as we grow in the knowledge of Christ, which Paul mentions next.

Knowledge of Christ

The second area which allows Christians to grow in unity with one other is the knowledge of Christ. For growth in unity, there is nothing better than gaining a deeper knowledge of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. But we must understand that the knowledge Paul has in view here is not just a superficial knowledge of Christ. Paul is not just talking about “book knowledge.” The normal word for knowledge is gnōsis, but Paul uses the word epignōsis, which is similar, but means something closer to “knowledge upon knowledge.” It is used throughout Scripture as a full, complete, and detailed knowledge (Rom 3:20; 10:2; Eph 1:17; Php 1:9; Col 1:9-10; 2:2; 3:10; 1 Tim 2:4.; 2 Tim 2:25; 3:7). It is to know something exactly, completely, through and through. It is a certain and sure knowledge. It is this kind of knowledge we are to have of Jesus Christ, and which will lead us into Christian unity.

Yet is this kind of knowledge even possible? No; not in this life. Earlier, Paul wrote that he wanted the Ephesian Christians to know that which cannot be known, namely, the love of Christ (Eph 3:18-19). But how can we know that which cannot be known? How is it that we can gain a full, detailed, and complete knowledge of Jesus Christ? How can we have knowledge upon knowledge?

The answer is to recognize that since we can never fully know or comprehend Jesus Christ, we are to do two things. First, we are to add to the knowledge of Christ that we already have. Since epignōsis could be translated as “knowledge upon knowledge,” it could be understood to mean that we are to be constantly adding knowledge to the knowledge we already have. We are to build on our knowledge of Jesus Christ. We do this, of course, through study, prayer, and following Jesus wherever He goes.

But this constant pursuit of the knowledge of Jesus Christ is dangerous if we do not also incorporate the second element of gaining this knowledge, which is humility. Since we can never fully know Jesus Christ, this means that our knowledge of Him is never full or complete. And therefore, we are ignorant of some things regarding Jesus, and flat-out wrong about others. Anybody who has been a Christian for any length of time can think back to a day when they believed something wrong about Jesus. But through study and growth as a Christian, you grew in your knowledge of Jesus Christ, and came to believe something different today. That experience should always keep you humble about what you currently believe today. For it is only a humble student who will always be a learning student, and it is only a humble and learning Christian who will recognize that they don’t know it all, and therefore, they can seek out and learn from other Christians who might have different perspectives or ideas about Jesus Christ and how to follow Him in this world.

So yes, study and learn from Scripture, while putting into practice what you learn. This will slowly and resolutely conform you to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, which will help you grow in unity with others. But as this process unfolds over time, make sure you also remain humble, allowing the convicting and illuminating work of the Holy Spirit and the sharpening influence of other Christians to teach you ever more about Jesus. This too will help you grow in unity with God, and with other members of His church.

Unity is the first dimension to the model that God has provided for His church. It is something we are to strive for and seek after, especially as we grow in unity in the faith and in knowledge of the Son of God. As we do this, we will also be begin to develop in the second dimension of the church model, which is Christian maturity.

Depth: Maturity

The second dimension of the model that we are seeking to attain is Maturity. This is found in the next part of Ephesians 4:13: to a perfect man. The Foremen of verse 11 train the Crew in verse 12. As the Crew learns to use their God-given gifts for ministry, each one grows into maturity, and the church as a whole becomes perfect.

This does not mean that any one of us will become perfect or sinless this side of heaven. The word Paul uses here for perfect is teleios, which refers to arriving at the end, or goal, for which you were created. It is not so much about arriving at the destination, but about journeying toward it. The quest for Christian maturity is an ongoing journey as we seek to become more and more like Jesus with each passing day.

So Paul’s invitation for the church to become perfect is an invitation to grow into maturity. We know this is what he means because he elaborates further in verse 14 where he writes “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,”

An immature Christian, a baby Christian, is someone who is not biblically and doctrinally grounded. They are not yet able to tell the difference between good theology and false theology, or good teaching and bad teaching. Baby Christians think that as long as Scripture is quoted—the teaching must be okay. Baby Christians think that as long as the pastor or the teacher has some Bible school training, some letters after or before their name, or some pastoral experience, what they are saying must be okay. Baby Christians think that as long as a teacher or a pastor has a few books published or is broadcast on the radio or television they must be correct in what they say. Baby Christians are easily swayed by fine-sounding arguments. Baby Christian do not search the Scriptures to see if what they are being taught is true.

The good news is that a baby Christian can grow up. A spiritual baby can mature just like a physical baby. Human babies mature physically as they eat healthy meals, get enough rest, receive discipline, and are trained to be physically, emotionally and socially responsible. Similarly, a baby Christian can mature by eating a healthy diet of Scripture reading and listening to sound Bible teaching. They can discipline their minds to pray and their wallets to give. A maturing Christian can get involved with other believers so they can learn to serve others. In these ways, the Christian will mature, and the church as a whole will also develop toward its goal and end.

This idea of guarding and guiding Christians will be considered more in the next chapter where we look at Ephesians 4:13. For now, it is important to recognize that Christian maturity is the second dimension of the model for the church. We are to strive toward our goal, or end, for which we were created, the perfect man, the mature Body of Christ, which is what Paul describes next.

Height: Christ-Likeness

The third and final dimension, found at the end of Ephesians 4:13, is Christ-likeness. Paul writes that we are to grow into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Previously, in Ephesians 4:13, he told us to gain as much knowledge about Christ as we possibly could. Now he tells us to become as much like Christ as we possibly can. One follows the other. Before you can be like Christ, you need to know what Christ is like. Many people think that Bible reading and Bible study is a waste of time, but we are only able to become more like Jesus as we learn more about Him through Scripture. “We get no deeper into Christ than we allow Him to get into us.”^[3] We do this according to His measure, stature and fullness. Let’s look at these one at a time.

Measure

The first way to become like Christ is in His measure. The word measure comes from the Greek metron, which is where we get our word metric. So Paul is saying, “Go to great lengths to become like Jesus Christ in every way. From the smallest little bit to the largest part.” Become like Christ in His measure.

Stature

The word stature frequently refers to age, or number of years. But Jesus only lived to be 33 years old, so Paul cannot be saying then that all we have to do is live to be 33. Instead, the word can also refer to the reputation one gains for themselves as they grow older. In Luke 2:52, when Jesus is said to be growing in wisdom and in stature, we also see that He was beginning to gain a good reputation with other people. As Jesus aged, He gained stature, or a positive reputation, among others.

This is the way it is with all great men and women in history. Nobody knows who the great men and women are when they are first born. Nobody knew George Washington or Clara Barton when they were first born. But as they grew older and matured, they served courageously and self-sacrificially, and as a result, gained a good reputation before others. This is what it means to gain stature.

Sadly, much of Christianity has bad stature. In recent decades, survey after survey and study after study has shown that the average non-Christian has a low view of the average Christian. Christians do not have a good reputation, but are instead known for being judgmental, rude, arrogant, and hypocritical. But we can work to reverse this stigma if we do the things Paul writes about in Ephesians 4:13. If we live in unity with one another and strive to become mature Christians, we will gain a good reputation among outsiders. We will, like Christ, grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.

Fullness

Finally, we are to become like Christ in His fullness. This means that we become like Him in every way. We cannot pick and choose which parts of Jesus Christ we want to imitate. We are to become like Him in His fullness. God wants every aspect of the church to be like every aspect of Jesus Christ. Whenever you trying to decide how to act, talk, or behave, it is wise to stop and ask yourself which words or actions look most like Jesus. When we ask ourselves this question and live as Jesus lived, we will develop into the fullness of Jesus Christ.

Christ-likeness involves becoming like Him in His measure, stature, and fullness. Although we’ve seen the three dimensions of the model church which God the architect is building—unity, maturity, and Christ-likeness—when we really get down to what the model looks like, it is this last statement from Ephesians 4:13 that is most prominent. The church’s model is Jesus Christ. If you want to know how you should live, think, and act, all you have to do is look at Jesus. If you want to know what the church should look like, what the church should be doing, and how the church should act—all you have to do is look at Jesus Christ.

Back in Ephesians 1:22-23, Paul wrote that “[God] put all things under [Christ’s] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Note the word fullness again. The church is the fullness of Christ. The church is Christ to the world. If people in the world want to see and know Jesus Christ, they should be able to look at the church as the reflection of Jesus. Since Jesus perfectly reveals God to us, we are to reveal Jesus to others, so that by looking at us, they see Jesus, and therefore, God in us.

So Jesus Christ is our model. Everything we do, think, and say as individuals and as a church should be patterned after what Jesus did, what Jesus thought, and what Jesus said. And as we pattern ourselves after the model of Jesus Christ, we ourselves become a model of Jesus for the world to see.

Conclusion

When my brother built a model for the church expansion, he said that the model helped people see what the end product would look like, which in turn helped people get excited about where the building was going. God too, has laid out a model for us in Scripture. If we want to know what we’re going to look like, if we want to get excited about our future, then we need to develop a complete and thorough knowledge of Jesus Christ, and then seek to live, love, and serve like Jesus.

Only when we all do this will we all come to a unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Only then will we become like our Model, Jesus. How are you and your church doing in living like this Model and revealing Him to the world?

NOTES:

[1] In the Greek, eis is repeated three times, showing that there are three aspects listed here.

[2] These two times are the only times this word for unity (henoites) is used in all of the New Testament.

[3] (#AmazonAdLink) Springs in the Valley, May 21, 147.

Seven Elements of Christian Unity (Ephesians 4:4-6)

By Jeremy Myers

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In Ephesians 1-3, Paul explained that God has given us great spiritual riches so that we can lead the world into peace. In the first part of Ephesians 4, Paul tells us Christians that the first way we can show the world how to live in peace is by living in peace with one other.

This begins, as we learned in the last study, by looking to our own heart first and developing certain attitudes of the heart.

In this study, we learn that as we seek to live in peace with other Christians, we should focus on seven key truths that all Christians have in common. When we focus on what we have in common rather than on on what divides us, we will begin to create peace in our midst.

Seven Elements of Christian Unity (Ephesians 4:4-6)

As stated above, in Ephesians 4:1-3, Paul taught us to look to our own heart first so that we can develop certain attitudes of the heart that create peace among other Christians.

Now, in Ephesians 4:4-6, we learn that as we seek to live in peace with other Christians, we should focus on seven key truths that all Christians have in common. When we focus on what we have in common rather than on on what divides us, we will begin to create peace in our midst.

The interesting thing about these seven elements is that they form a chiasm. The first item on the list is parallel to the seventh, the second is parallel to the sixth, and so on. This means that the fourth item is the center item and therefore the most important. What is that fourth item? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. The most important thing in the church is that we follow our Head, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As long as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, a lot of these other six elements of Christian unity are easier to focus upon.

So let us look at each of the seven elements of Christian unity peace. The first is in Ephesians 4:4.

1. There is one body

This is the first element. One body. Paul means that there is one body of believers. One body of Christ. All people throughout time and around the world who are truly Christians are part of the body. The picture of a body is one of Paul’s favorite ways to describe the church. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul goes into great detail to describe the body of Christ. Paul says there to think of your body. It is an incredibly diverse collection of body parts, but without any one member, the body is not complete. The body is not just a big pile of eyes, or a big pile of hands, or a big pile of feet. Similarly, a body without hands, or eyes, or feet, is not a complete body. All parts make up the body, and all parts are necessary if the body is going to function right.

It is the same in the church. All parts make up Christ’s church, and all parts are necessary if the church is going to function right. We don’t criticize a foot for not being a hand. Nor do we criticize the ear for not being able see. Each part has a unique function, which is necessary for the body to work as a whole. So rather than criticize other people, or other churches, for not being like us, we should look at them as different members of our one body. See what is unique about them, and how they are using their unique talents to do things we cannot. This all gets into the issue of spiritual gifts, which Paul talks about in Ephesians 4:11, so I won’t spoil it by saying more. The first element of unity to focus on is that we are all part of the same body.

Second, also from Ephesians 4:4, we all have one Spirit.

2. One Spirit

Of course, this is the Holy Spirit who lives in each one of us. It is an error to say that some have the Spirit and others don’t. We all have the Spirit within us, and it is the same Spirit the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit within each of us strives to get us all to live in unity with each other. When we fail, it is because we are walking according to the flesh, not according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4-13).

Let’s move on to the third element, the last phrase in Ephesians 4:4: just as you were called in one hope of your calling;

3. One Hope

The third element for unity is one hope. The hope of every Christian is Jesus Christ who is in heaven. He has promised us that simply by believing in him for eternal life, He will bring us to heaven to spend eternity with him. Now most of us think of hope as a sort of “wishful thinking.” We tend to think of it as an uncertainty. But really, hope can have different levels or degrees of certainty. Let me show you what I mean. Uncertain hope is like saying “I hope I win the lottery, but I know I probably won’t. or “I hope the Raiders win the Super Bowl this year. But they might not.” Now I can also say, “I hope the sun comes up tomorrow,” and in that case, I am nearly 100% sure it will.

So you can see that there are different degrees of certainty in hope. And what causes the difference? What makes one thing we hope for more certain than another? Well, in each case, what is the factor that changed? The only factor that changed is the object of your hope. The chances of you winning the lottery are not very likely. Someone once called the lottery a tax for the mathematically challenged. But still, people who buy tickets, hope they will win but very few do. My hope that the Raiders will win the Super Bowl next year is a bit more likely. But still, mostly unlikely. Again, my hope that the sun will rise tomorrow is an almost certain hope because the sun always rises in the morning. The only thing that could stop it from rising is if it blew up or if the earth stopped rotating. Neither of these things are very likely, so my hope that the sun will rise is a well grounded hope.

Now the Christian’s hope is a hope in Jesus Christ. And since God does not and cannot lie, since Jesus always keeps His promises, our hope in Jesus Christ for eternal life is a certainty. There is no uncertainty because the object of our hope is completely trustworthy and reliable. Paul mentions also here something about a calling. This is the same calling we looked at extensively in Ephesians 1:18 and is related to why we were chosen, which we talked about in Ephesians 1:4. Basically, we were called, or chosen, to be holy and blameless, to be heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, and to be adopted as children. These are all future blessings for the Christian when we get to heaven. So, thirdly, Paul’s point is that we all have hope in one person, Jesus Christ, in order to go to the same place, heaven, where we will all receive the same thing, an inheritance.

We do not place our hope in any other person, but Jesus Christ. We do not place our hope in religious leaders or political leaders. Put no hope in popes, priests, pastors, or people with PH.D.s. Put no hope in kings and presidents. Our hope is in Jesus Christ alone.

One body, one spirit, one hope, now, fourthly, in Ephesians 4:5, one Lord.

4. One Lord

This refers specifically to Jesus Christ. Paul choice of the term, Lord, shows us that Jesus Christ is God, and therefore, our Master. Now think about it. If we all have the same Lord, the same Master, we will not be getting orders from our Master to be in disagreement with each other. His commands will not contradict or cause disunity among his servants. So the only way disunity occurs is when we disobey our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

Fifth, we have one faith.

5. One Faith

All Christians have received eternal life in only one way: through faith. We’ve all entered through the narrow door of faith. This means that faith makes Christianity a level playing field.

There are not some people who are Christians because they were really good people, and others who are Christians because they were born into a Christian family. No. All true Christians are Christians by faith alone. This is a wonderful element to cause unity, because since we are all Christians by faith, then no one can boast in themselves for their salvation. I cannot look down on you because I became a Christian by being such a good person, and you well, you just had to enter by faith. No, we all came in, as beggars, asking for something we did not earn, getting something we did not deserve.

There is one and only one way we all joined the family of God… through faith in Jesus. This helps us grow in unity with each other, because we all became Christians in the same way.

Sixth, we all have one baptism.

6. One Baptism

The baptism Paul is talking about here is the baptism of the Spirit; not water baptism. It is not something we are to pray for or something that happens to us after our conversion. When you become a Christian by believing in Jesus for eternal life, one of the first things that happens to you is the Holy Spirit comes in and lives with in you, and in that moment, He washes you, He cleanses you, He purifies you of all sin, and provides us with the power to have victory over future sin. This is the baptism of the Spirit which all Christians have, and therefore, creates unity within us. This baptism is related to the indwelling Holy Spirit from item two above.

We’ve seen six elements, the seventh is found in Ephesians 4:6.

6. One God and Father of all

Paul says God is above all, and through all, and in you all. Paul has been mentioning the essentials. He’s mentioned that we all one body, through one faith and one baptism. We have one Lord, who is Jesus Christ and one Spirit, who is the Holy Spirit. He now includes the final member of the Trinity, one God and Father of all. In Old Testament times, it was the common belief that the gods were territorial. Each nation, and sometimes, each clan or tribe within that nation, had it’s own god. So when nation battled nation, it was really a contest between gods.

Paul reminds the Jewish and Gentile Christians in the Greek city of Ephesus that this is a bunch of hogwash. There is one God and Father of all. They both have the same God. They do not worship different gods. They do not follow commands from different gods. It is the same God. The fact that He is the Father of all tells us about His love. He created all, and He cares for all just as a Father cares for his children.

The fact that He is above all speaks of His control. No matter what things may look like, God is in control. [transcendence and His omnipotence.] The fact that He is through all speaks of His care and providence. He didn’t just set up the world and leave then leave it alone. He is still involved and active in what He made protecting and providing. [immanence and His omnipresence.] The fact that He is in you all speaks of His presence. He is always near us, and wanting a deeper relationship with us. [indwelling presence and personal relationship with us all.] He is the One God and Father of all.

Those are the seven elements. One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. These are the seven elements that will help create unity among all Christians, regardless of the other beliefs and practices that might tend to divide us. And this helps us learn to get along peacefully with other Christians, even when we might have disagreements with them about some of the other elements of Christianity.

Maybe you disagree with someone else about their theology, or how they do church, or what kind of behaviors they think are okay to participate in. Well, you can disagree with them on those, but still get along in peace and unity with them by focusing on the seven elements of unity that Paul has laid out for us here.

So this is the second step to achieving unity in the church. Remember, we are in the section of Ephesians where Paul tell us how to WALK as followers of Jesus, and Paul is giving us the steps we must walk in.

The first step, as we saw in Ephesians 4:1-3, was to check your own attitudes. In those verses we saw seven attitudes to make sure you have when involved in any sort of disagreement. After we focus on our own attitudes, the next thing to do, the next step, as Paul shows us here, is to focus on the things we have in common. Many of us, myself included, when we are involved in a disagreement, want to immediately go to the other person and show them their faults. But Paul says, “No. The first thing to do is check your own attitudes. After that, focus on what the two of you have in common.”

Let me show you that this is what Paul was saying. In Ephesians 2, Paul called for the Christians in Ephesus to live at peace with each other. And remember, it was a diverse church made up of both Jewish and Gentile Christians. They struggled with being unified because they were so different. They had different standards, different ways of raising children, different diets, different styles of worship, different beliefs, different social patterns. Sometimes, it seemed, they were completely different from one another. In Ephesians 2, Paul called them to be a peace with each other. Now he tells them how. Here is what he is telling them: “Rather than focus on the differences that are between you, focus on what you have in common. You might have disagreement about what kind of meat to eat. You might have disagreements about what kind of people to associate with. But look at what you have in common. Focus on those, and this will help you live in unity and love with one another.”

Today in our day, he would have said, “You might have disagreements about what kind of music should be played or sung in church. You might have disagreements about how best to run the church. You might have disagreements about when meet, and how long to meet, and what to do when you meet. You might have disagreements about what to wear, and what people can or cannot drink, and what people can or cannot eat and what sort of activities you can or cannot do. We might have disagreements of theology and doctrine. But don’t focus on those things. They will always divide you. Focus instead on what you have in common.

One of the best methods of keeping the peace, of keeping unified, is to stop focusing on how different you are, and to focus instead on the similarities. That’s what Paul does here. “You’re not different,” he says, “look what you have in common!” He lists seven elements of unity here. These are the things that really matter. This are the things that will unite us when there are so many things that can divide us.

Back in the frontier days towns would spring up overnight. Some of them would shrink in size as people moved further west. In one of these towns, two churches had been founded. A Baptist church and a Christian church. As both congregations dwindled due to the people moving away from the shrinking town, the pastors of the two churches decided to join forces and become one church. So they called the remaining members together for a meeting to decide what their new church would be called. The Baptists wanted to the church to be called Central Baptist Church and the people from the Christian church wanted to be called Central Christian Church. Finally, one old lady who had sat through many tired hours of disagreement and bickering, stood up in the back and said, “My Daddy was Baptist. My Momma was Baptist. I grew up Baptist. There ain’t no way I’m gonna be called a Christian!”

That’s what happens when we let silly things like the name of a church get in the way of what is important and what really matters. Paul lists here what really matters. As long as we agree on these things, we can agree to disagree on all the others. We can be as diverse as we want. We can have Lutherans and Methodists and Baptists and Pentecostals. We can even get together and have friendly arguments about some of the things that we disagree on. That’s fine. As long as we agree on the essentials as listed here, we all one body; we’re all one family. But if a certain organization claims to be a church and they deny any of these, that is when you know that they are not part of the family. That is when you stop associating with them and start witnessing to them.

While Paul is talking primarily about developing unity within the church, these same principles can be applied to all of our relationships. If you desire to have unity with your spouse, or your kids, or your boss, or a coworker, or a neighbor, the first thing to do, from Ephesians 4:1-3, is to check your own attitude. It is just as Jesus taught his disciples take the log out of your own eye first. But if you have done that, are you then able to go and show your neighbor his or her fault? If, in checking your attitudes, you have seen where you went wrong, and how you caused some of the disunity, are you then in the clear to go and show your spouse, or your coworker, or your fellow Christian his or her faults where they went wrong?

Paul answered that for us today in Ephesians 4:4-6. If you have taken the first step toward unity in checking your own attitude, then the next step is to focus on the things you have in common. Don’t focus on your differences. Focus on what makes you the same. If you focus only on your differences, there will never be peace.

Let’s not focus on what divides us. Let’s focus on the unity we have in Christ.

The Church Must Lead the World into Peace (Ephesians 4:1-3)

By Jeremy Myers

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Everyone wants unity, but nobody really knows how to achieve it.

Most people today seem to think that unity requires conformity. We think that unity is achieved when everybody thinks the same way, talks the same way, dresses the same way, and has the same opinions. Where differences occur, division results, and unity dies. And some people seek to achieve unity by silencing and cancelling those who have different opinions.

You see, when we are in a conflict with someone, we think it is the responsibility of the other person to change their ways, so we can get along with them. We point at their faults and what they said, or what they did, and say that if there is going to be peace, they have to change. Paul challenges all of this in Ephesians 4:1-3. In these verses, Paul shows how we can have unity with others even when there is disagreement.

Question from a Reader

Can you tell me your position on the Trinity? Do you have a book about your views on the Trinity? Thanks, Ed

I have written a few articles about the Trinity on my website. Here is one called “I’ll define the Trinity … if you Define God.”

I do believe God is a Trinity. That God is three persons in one being. I also go on to state several reasons why I believe in the Trinity.

I like to think that some of my reasons for believe in the the Trinity are a little different than what you might find in a typical theology book, but you can read the article and decide for yourself.

Just one example.

All Christians believe that the essence of God does not change. In theological terms, we say that God is immutable. God is unchangeable.

All Christians also believe that God is relational. That God loves. That God communicates.

But think on this … in eternity past … before there were humans and before there were angels, when it was just God … how could God be relational if God does not exist as a Trinity? It would be impossible. God cannot be relational when there is nobody to relate to.

Therefore, if God does not eternally exist as a Triune being, then God would have not be eternally relational. God would not eternally loving. The relational and loving aspects of God would only be added to God once God created angels and humans.

But this contradicts the central idea of God’s immutability, that God does not change.

So the ONLY way God can be immutable and eternally relational is if God exists as a Trinity. Only in this way God can be eternally loving and relational.

Anyway, that’s some food for thought. Go read that article on the Trinity if you want to learn more.

We are discussing a similar concept in our study of Ephesians 4 today. We will be looking at unity, which is also an eternal attribute of God that could not exist without being a Trinity.

The Church Must Lead the World into Peace (Ephesians 4:1-3)

[Note: This study is drawn from a sermon I preached on this text about 20 years ago. The sermon can be found here: How to Walk in Unity with Other Christians (Ephesians 4:1-3)]

We are now entering the second half of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

Many have noted that the letter of Ephesians contains three key action words: Sit, Walk, Stand.

Ephesians 1-3 frequently contains the keyword “sit.” We learn about how we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, and all the blessings, benefits, riches, and inheritance that belong to us as a result of being seated with Christ. To be seated with Christ means that we have the privilege and power of ruling with Christ over this world.

So in Ephesians 1-3, Paul wrote about all the riches of our inheritance in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:1-21). Paul called us to be the fullness of God in every way in this world (Ephesians 1:22-23), so that we might be a witness to the principalities and powers of this world (Ephesians 1:21) to show the world a better way to live.

And through all of Ephesians 2 and Ephesians 3, Paul wrote about what it means to be seated with Christ and how we are to use this position to show the world a better way to live. We are to follow the example of Jesus in loving our enemies, and even dying for them if necessary. As we do this, we show the world a better way to peace. We show the world the way of God in loving our enemies.

Now in Ephesians 4-6, Paul sets out to provide some practical steps, some down-to-earth application, about how our calling as the church is to be carried out in this world. Since Ephesians 4:1-6:9 is all about these practical steps that we take to lead the world into the way of peace, the key word throughout these chapters is the word “walk.” Paul is going to show us how to properly walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

If you were to scan through Ephesians, 4 and Ephesians 5, and half of Ephesians 6, you would see this keyword “walk” repeated over and over.

Ephesians 4:1-16 is about walking in unity.

Ephesians 4:17-32 contains instructions about walking in purity.

Ephesians 5:1-6 is about walking in love.

Ephesians 5:7-14 is about walking in light.

Ephesians 5:15-21 is about walking carefully.

Ephesians 5:22-6:9 about how to walk in this world.

And ALL of the instructions about how to walk properly as a follower of Jesus have one main focus in mind: The reason we are to walk as Jesus walked is so that we can show the world the best way to live.

God wants the world to live in peace with each other, and the only way God has ordained for the world to learn how to live in peace with each other is by watching the church do it first. We are to be an example to the world of how to live in peace.

Of course, the church fails pretty spectacularly at this primary task, which is why the message of Ephesians 4, 5, and 6 is all that more important.

We begin in this study by looking at Ephesians 4:1-3, where Paul introduces the first way we are to walk, namely, we are to walk in unity.

Walk in Unity (Ephesians 4:1-16).

Ephesians 4:1. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,

I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. It is that phrase walk worthy that summarizes what Paul is going to say in the next three chapters. In the next three chapters, every time he gives us more instruction, he introduces it by telling us to walk in a certain way.

The term walk is peripateo in Greek, and it literally means “to walk about.” It has in mind the manner of life you live. The way you conduct yourself. It’s like when you walk around your neighborhood, you get to know people, they get to know you. You learn how people behave, and what they are like, and they learn the same things about you. Paul is giving us instructions here about how to behave. What your Christian walk should look like.

And we see here in Ephesians 4:1 that this is what we were called to. This word calling is a controversial word in many Christian circles, because the word is often related to the doctrine of election. Theologians and pastors often speak of our “calling and election.” People debate about a general calling, a specific calling, an effective calling, a particular calling, and so on. I don’t want to get into that debate right now, but if you want to see what I think of the terms, you can take my lesson on Election in the Gospel Dictionary Online Course.

Let me just say that the word “calling” has nothing whatsoever to do with God’s irresistible call of some people to eternal life. It is not about who goes to heaven after they die. Calling, as we see here, is about God inviting some people to get involved with His purposes for this world. It is call to serve Him and what He wants to do in this world.

Here in Ephesians 1, Paul is saying that as followers of Jesus, God is our boss, and He is calling us to perform a task. He is giving us instructions on how to walk as a Christian. It is not that He is calling us to be Christians. No, we already are Christians, and it is to us that God is assigning a specific responsibility.

And the first instruction or assignment is to Walk in Unity.

The church is supposed to live in unity because this is how we show the world how to live in unity.

But there’s a problem with unity. Though everyone wants unity, nobody really knows how to achieve it.

Most people today seem to think that unity requires conformity. Oh sure, we want unity, but we think that unity is achieved when everybody thinks the same way we do, talks the same way we do, dresses the same way we do, and has the same opinions we do. Where differences occur, division results, and unity dies.

Most often, when we are in a conflict with someone, when we are not at peace with someone else, we think it is the responsibility of the other person to change their ways, so we can get along with them. We point at their faults and what they said, or what they did, and say that if there is going to be peace, they have to change.

But Paul challenges all of this in Ephesians 4:2-3. In these next two verses, Paul shows how we can have unity with others, even when there is disagreement.

How to Be Unified when Differences Exist

The key to unity when differences exist was, not surprisingly, first taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7:3-5, Jesus says that when you see a fault in your brother–Jesus calls it a speck in your brother’s eye–first take the plank out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

The implication, in my opinion, is that we will never come to the end of the plank in our own eye, and so therefore, never really get to the place where we confront our brother about the speck in his eye. Because be honest … it’s not that we all have a plank in our eye … most of us have entire lumber yards in our own eyes. We have piles and piles of planks. And taking one plank out of your own eye just clears up your own vision well enough to see ten more planks in your own eye.

So in other words, Jesus is saying that if we want to get rid of sin in the world, … just focus on yourself. There’s more than enough in your own life that needs to be fixed.

And this is essentially what Paul writes here in Ephesians 4:2-3. So you want to live in unity? Well, guess what? The problem with unity isn’t that your fellow Christian is wrong in the way they think or behave. The problem with unity is in your own heart. So if you want to walk in unity, look to your own heart first. Take the plank out of your own eye first.

In Ephesians 4:2-3, Paul lists seven planks that we need to consider. Seven attitudes that we need to develop in our own hearts if we want to achieve unity.

Achieving unity is not about “changing them” but about changing me. To achieve unity, work on developing the Seven Attitudes of Unity in your own heart.

The Seven Attitudes of Unity

Ephesians 4:2-3. with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

These two verses list seven attitudes that you need to personally have in order to walk in unity. Let’s take them one at a time.

1. Lowliness.

Lowliness means humility, lowliness of mind, the esteeming of ourselves as small. The Greek word Paul uses here was coined by Christians. In Greek, there is no word for humility that does not have some sort of meanness or insult attached to it. Before Christianity, humility was not considered to be a virtue at all. The ancient world looked upon humility as a thing to be despised. The Greek language did have an adjective for humble, but it was always associated with being a slave, being without honor, cringing. If someone was described as being humble, they were looked upon as a cowering, groveling, beggarly, and inferior human being.

And that’s even somewhat true today, isn’t it? It is not always a compliment to be called humble in today’s back-stabbing, self-advancing, look-out-for-number-one corporate economy. But one of the supreme virtues in Christianity is this lowliness, this humbleness. The same word is used only one other time in the NT, in Philippians 2:3 when Paul says that each one of us should regard each other as more important than himself. And there, in Philippians 2, who is Paul’s supreme example of humility?

In Philippians 2:5, Christ is the supreme example! Though he was God, he made himself nothing. Though He had the right to rule, He became a servant. Though He was immortal, He died a criminal’s death on a cross. He who was exalted becomes despised, and He who was high becomes low. Jesus Christ is our example of this kind of humility. Here in Ephesians 4:2, Paul calls us to have this same attitude of humility and lowliness that Christ had in Philippians 2.

Is that how you view yourself? As unworthy of attention? As the servant of all? As less important than anyone else? Or do you get upset when nobody notices what you have done and how much you know? The person who is lowly and humble does not expect recognition or repayment for what they have done. So first, we need to have an attitude of lowliness or humbleness.

2. Gentleness

The word gentleness is a fascinating word in Greek. It comes from the word praotes, which means gentle or meek. In English, when we think of someone as gentle or meek, we think of them as weak. But praotes does not imply weakness. It implies great strength being withheld.

Think of a gentle giant. Great strength under control. I am by no means super strong, but when I hold my newborn daughter, I feel like a powerful giant with her frail body in my hands. So I hold her gently. That is what this word has in mind.

But another aspect of the word is found by looking at its root. In Greek, the root of praotes is praus. Praus is the word used for a tamed beast. In Greek, a praus was an animal, like a lion or a bear, which has been trained and domesticated until it is completely under control. So a tamed man, a gentle man, is the person who has every instinct and passion under perfect control.

As we all know, none of us are able to do this completely. Only one person in history could qualify as being completely gentle, and this man was Christ. In fact, Christ uses the same word of himself in Matthew 11:29 when He says that He is gentle and lowly in heart. Now, would any of us call Christ weak? Hardly! He was God in human form! He has all power, but it was restrained. I mentioned praus means a tamed beast. Another name for Jesus is “The Lion of the Tribe of Judah.”

So when we take all of this, and put it together, we should not be picturing a docile creature. Many of tend to think that being gentle means being compliant, mild-mannered and complacent. It means nothing of the sort. Gentleness is power restrained. Controlled ferociousness. This means that someone who is gentle can till use force, and can still get quite angry when circumstances call for it.

Did Jesus get angry? Yes, quite frequently. Remember when he cleared out the temple? Praotes, gentleness, does not mean never getting angry. It means getting angry at the right time, in the right measure, and for the right reason. It is the idea expressed in Ephesians 4:26, which says, “Be angry, and do not sin.”

So being gentle does not mean never getting angry. There are times to be angry, and if you are gentle, if you are praotes, you will know when to be angry, how to be angry and what to do when angry. First, lowliness, second, gentleness.

Third, we are to be long-suffering.

3. Long-suffering

The word here is makrothumia, and can also be translated patience. This word was used when explosives were invented of having a long fuse. Again, it does not mean a lack of power. Does dynamite lack power? No. It has the ability to destroy and annihilate. But a stick of dynamite with a long fuse takes quite a while to explode. And power like dynamite is exactly what you have in Christ as we saw in Ephesians 1-3. So you need to make sure you have a long fuse on your power.

Very possibly, there are people who are trying to provoke you, trying to get a reaction out of you, trying to get you to blow up in anger. But if you are long-suffering, macrothumia, you show a quality of self-restraint. It is when you do not hastily retaliate. You are self-controlled when provoked. You have the power to take revenge, but you do not. You have a spirit which refuses to retaliate.

We have all known people who blow up in anger at the least little thing. That is someone who has a short fuse. Here Paul calls us to have long fuses – the ability to bear insult and injury without bitterness and complaint.

God’s patience toward us is the perfect example. Time after time we sin. Repeatedly we say, “I’m sorry God. Never again will I do that.” But a day later, a week later, a month later, we’re back at it. But God, in His incredible patience works with us, and time after time forgives us. That is true long-suffering.

Fourth, we are called to bear with one another.

4. Bear with one another

To bear with one another means to “put up with one another’s short comings.” That kind of has negative connotations, but Paul meant it in a positive way because we are to bear with one another in love. It is like when you parents put up with your children’s short comings because you love them. You know they are maturing. You know they are learning. And so you bear with them in love.

And that’s the fifth attitude. We are to bear with one another in love.

5. In Love

This love, as I’m sure you can already guess, is agape love. This is unconditional, no-strings attached, unending, eternal love. It is the kind of love Paul describes in more detail in 1 Corinthians 13. It is the kind of love God has for us. It is the kind of love that put Christ on the cross for us, even though we were sinners.

If we love someone with agape love, it means that nothing he or she can do will make us seek anything but the highest good for them. Though they insult us and injure us, we will never feel anything but kindness toward them. It is the ability to love the unlovable, to love those who hate you and to love those who don’t want your love.

It is obvious that this kind of love is not an emotional love. It is a love bound to the will. It is the love that loves a person when all your emotions scream out to hate them and retaliate against them for what they have done to you. It is the kind of love that keeps marriages going when the honeymoon is over. It is the kind of love that allows Christians to walk in unity. Agape love, the fifth attitude.

Sixth, in Ephesians 4:3, we are endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.

6. Unity of the Spirit

Endeavoring (“make every effort” or “be diligent” in some of translations) means eagerly, earnestly and diligently. It is a word that a trainer of gladiators in Rome might have used when he sent one of his men to fight to the death in the coliseum: “Make every effort to stay alive today!”

And do you think that gladiator made every effort? You bet he did! If he let down even a little bit, it could mean the loss of his life. It is the same for the Christian. But we are not endeavoring to keep ourselves alive. We are endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.

Is interesting what Paul is not saying here. There is a lot of emphasis today both in the world, and in the church, on making unity. But Paul here is not calling us to make unity with one another. He is telling us to keep what we already have in Christ! Unity does not come from us, it is given to us by God when we become Christians, and it is simply our task to maintain it in the Spirit.

The phrase unity of the Spirit is just a way of saying that we are all one in the Spirit. We all, as Christians, have the same Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells us when we become Christians. So when we are in disunity, it is like we are trying to divide God. But God cannot be divided, so disunity is contrary to the Spirit living within us. So the six attitudes so far are lowliness, gentleness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, in love, and endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.

The seventh and final attitude is the last phrase in Ephesians 4:3: The bond of peace.

7. Bond of Peace

Peace with others begins with peace with God. If you are not at peace with God, there is no way you can be at peace with others. It is only when the peace of God rules in our hearts that we can build unity with one another (Col 3:15; Jas 3:13-4:10).

So those are the seven attitudes to do a heart-check up on any time you find yourself in conflict. The first step is to check your own heart. These seven attitudes are much easier said than done. If you have ever been in a conflict with someone, you know how hard it is to maintain an attitude of lowliness, gentleness, long-suffering and love, unity and peace. But, if you find these difficult when you are embroiled in a conflict, don’t forget what you have in Christ from Ephesians 1-3.

God never asks you to do something without first telling what He has done for you. God never asks you to give something without first telling what He has given to you.

What if I asked you to donate $100,000 to your favorite charity next week? What would you think? You would think, “There’s NO WAY! I don’t have that kind of money!” But what if I first informed you that Elon Musk had just decided to deposit $1 million into your bank account with the minor stipulation that you give 10% of it to your local charity? Then the $100,000 is no big deal, right? You get to keep $900,000.

What made the difference? Both times you were asked to give the same amount of money, but in one situation, you said, “NO WAY!” and in the other, you said, “No big deal.” The difference was that in the second situation, I told you what you already had, and so giving a small portion of it was no big deal.

The same exact thing is going on here in Ephesians 4. Paul has just asked us to do something very difficult. He has said that when you find yourself in a conflict, check your own attitude first. And if this seems hard to do, remember what you have in Ephesians 1-3. You have the power of God to do what you otherwise could not do. On your own, you might not be able to be humble and gentle and longsuffering toward that person. On your own, you might not be able to love that person and to be at peace with him or her. But with the power of the Holy Spirit within you, you can do what would be impossible otherwise.

Remember, Paul was writing to a very diverse church in Ephesus. It was made up of Jewish and Gentile believers who could not get along no matter how hard they tried. In Ephesians 2, Paul called them to be a peace with each other. Now he tells them the first way how. He tells them it begins with their own attitudes. He lists seven of them here.

And you know, although Paul is writing to Jewish and Gentile Christians in the 1st Century AD in Ephesus, we can apply this same principle to all of our present day relationships. Do you have any damaged relationships at home with your spouse or your kids? Do you have any conflicts at work? How are you getting along with your neighbors? Do you dread those calls from your mother in law?

If so, step number 1 is to focus on your own attitude. If we are going to walk toward unity, it doesn’t begin with fixing everyone else. No, it begins in our own hearts with changing out own attitudes. We will continue next time in Ephesians 4:4 with learning more about how to develop unity in our lives, in our communities, and in this world.

To Love Your Enemies, Know You are Loved (Ephesians 3:18-21)

By Jeremy Myers

Question from a Reader

One of the members of my online discipleship group is taking my online course about hell, and had a question regarding Matthew 10:28. Here is what he wrote:

Jeremy, I loved this course and it helped me out immensely, but I’m trying to figure out Matthew 10:28 with this new understanding of hell. Would you be able to explain this passage?

Matthew 10:28 says this:

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

(#AmazonAdLink) I have written about this text previously in connection with the parallel passage in Luke 12:5.

There are several translation issues about this verse which creates some deep divisions in Christianity regarding the meaning of what Jesus says here. The primary question about this text is in regards to whom Jesus is referring when He says “fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Who is the “him”? The NKJV version has the “him” capitalized, which shows that they think the pronoun is referring to God. However, there are many Christian leaders who think the pronoun is referring to Satan.

However, a third option might be that the “him” is referring to other human beings.

The Greek word used for hell in Matthew 10:28 is the word gehenna. This word does not refer to some horrible afterlife experience, but to an experience in this life where all that you hold dear and all that is valuable and important to you gets destroyed.

In my book (#AmazonAdLink) “What is Hell?” and the online course that goes with it, I says this about gehenna:

When the various texts are considered (cf. Matt 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:8-9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43-47; Luke 12:5; Jas 3:6), Jesus speaks of gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom in a symbolic way … not to teach about what happens to some people in the afterlife, but rather to teach about what can happen to some people in this life. People who are sent to the Valley of Hinnom (usually because of crime or leprosy) lose their friends and family, and face a life filled with horror, decay, and destruction.

The warnings about gehenna are given by Jesus so that we do not destroy our health, life, family, friendships, and reputation in this life. Rather than live in the Valley of Death, God want us to enjoy everything He has given to us in this life.

In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says that being killed is not as big of a deal as having your life destroyed. If you die with your morals and values intact, and with your loved ones and friends thinking highly of you, the only thing you lose is your life. And since we know that life goes on for eternity, being killed for our beliefs is nothing more than a step from one life into an even better life.

What is much worse, however, is to have your life destroyed while you are still alive. That is, to lose your friends, your family, your health. To lose respect and honor from others. To lose your morals, values, beliefs, and convictions. To lose all that makes you you.

That is what we should seek to avoid at all costs.

It is far better to be killed for your beliefs than to abandon your beliefs and convictions.

Jesus is saying this: Don’t fear the one who can kill you, because death is not the end for us. But do fear those who can threaten and steal your values, morals, convictions, integrity, dreams, hopes, friends, family, job, health, and everything else of value in this life. That is who you should fear. That is who you should avoid.

This view of Matthew 10:28 and Luke 12:5 fits perfectly with my proposal in my book about hell that hell is not an afterlife experience of suffering and torture, but is rather an experience in this life of living contrary to everything that God wants and desires for us. In these verses, Jesus is warning us against those (including ourselves!) who can lead us into a hellish existence in this life.

You Cannot Love Your Enemies Until You Know You are Fully Loved (Ephesians 3:18-21)

Paul wants the church to lead the world into the way of peace. We are to be an example to the world of how to live in peace with our enemies. In Ephesians 2, Paul showed us how Jesus has done this. In Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul showed how he himself is doing this. And now, in Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul writes about how he prayers for his readers to do the impossible, namely, to love our enemies.

If it seems impossible to love our enemies, we need to know that in Jesus Christ, we can do what cannot be done. We can do the impossible. This is what we looked at last time when we studied Ephesians 3:14-17. Now, in Ephesians 3:18-21, Paul continues to write about what he prays for his readers, and he has two more impossible prayer requests, which are only possible through Jesus Christ.

Let me put these final two prayer requests in a bit of context for you.

Have you ever been told to get along with someone you can’t get along with? Was there ever someone at church whom you avoid Sunday after Sunday? If so, then you understand what the Ephesians were thinking here. Paul tells them in Ephesians 2 to live at peace with each other, and they are thinking, “But Paul, you don’t know what you are asking! I can’t get along with them. It’s … impossible! You don’t know what’s between us! You don’t know that he believes! You don’t know what she’s done! You don’t know what they said about me! I can’t live at peace with them! It’s impossible!”

So Paul prays for them here at the end of Ephesians 3. He says, “I know it’s impossible for you. So my first prayer request is that God will give you power to do what I’m asking you to do.” That’s the first prayer request. The request we saw previously in Ephesians 3:16-17. Prayer for power to do the impossible. Prayer for power to be at peace with those people you’d rather hate. A prayer request to do what you cannot do. That was the first prayer request. The second prayer request in Ephesians 3:18-19 is a prayer for knowledge.

C. Prayer for Knowledge (Ephesians 3:18-19)

Ephesians 3:18-19. … [that you] may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;

This prayer of Paul is not a “ho-hum” prayer! In Ephesians 3:16-17, Paul prayed that we would do what we cannot do, in Ephesians 3:18-19 he prays that we will know what we cannot know! He prays that you will be able…to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. In other words, to know what cannot be known. To know what is impossible to know!

Paul is praying that we would know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge – which cannot be known. He somewhat describes this love back in Ephesians 3:18. He says that you may be able to comprehend – that means know – what is the width – that’s how wide it is – the length – that’s how long it is – the depth – that’s how deep it goes – and the height – that’s how high it rises. By using these terms, Paul is saying that the love of Christ is eternal, it’s infinite. It’s without beginning or end. It cannot be measured or contained. When Paul says width, he means it is wider than the universe. When he says length, he means it is farther than the east is from the west. The depth of Christ’s love – it’s deeper than the ocean. The height of God’s love is higher than God’s Word is above man’s word.

The vastness of God’s love is so difficult to explain – I think that’s why Paul cuts off what he was saying and says in verse 19 that this love cannot be known. How are you supposed to know what is infinite? Yet Paul prays that we would know it anyway. Paul has now prayed for two impossible things. Power to do what we cannot do and knowledge to know what we cannot know. We’re seeing a pattern, and the third request upholds this pattern.

D. Prayer for Filling (Ephesians 3:19b)

Ephesians 3:19b. … that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

How big is God? If you know some theology, you know that God is omnipresent. If we break this word down into two words. No matter where you are in the universe, God is there. He is everywhere. In fact, even when you get to the edge of the universe – where time and matter cease to exist, God does not stop there. He keeps going. That’s how big God is.

How great is God? How powerful is He? Again, in theological terms, He is omnipotent. He has all power. With a mere thought, He could obliterate the universe. With another mere thought, He could recreate it. He can do whatever He wants, wherever He wants, whenever He wants, however He wants. (Thank goodness he’s a loving and merciful God – this kind of power would be terrible in the hands of a tyrant).

So with God’s omnipresence and omnipotence in mind, think of what Paul is praying for here in v. 19! He prays that you, as a teeny, tiny speck of flesh and bones, with life that is but a breath, made from dust, dying, decaying, sinful, insignificant piece of the vast universe, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God! The word fullness is the word pleroma, and it means fullness! When used of God, it means all of His divine attributes and perfection. Every bit of Him.

It is the term used of Christ in Colossians 2:9. Christ was completely God, right? Colossians 2:9 says that in Christ dwelt the fullness of God in bodily form! Fullness means fullness. Paul prays here for us to be filled with all the fullness of God. Try taking something bigger than the universe, something so big it is infinite, something so big it cannot be measured, and stuffing it into a space five or six feet tall, eighteen inches wide, and about a foot deep. Some of us have slightly different dimensions, but that’s not the point. How is something infinite supposed to fit into us? It’s impossible!

Even if the structure were much larger, it is still impossible to hold God in it. When King Solomon built the first temple, he too prayed a prayer on the day the temple was dedicated (found in 1 Kings 8), and he prayed:

O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below – you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father, with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it – as it is today – but will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!

Solomon, the wisest man who has ever lived saw the truth that God could not be contained in any sort of building or structure. Yet somehow, God was. And that is what Paul prays here. That we may be filled with all the fullness of God. That is Paul’s third prayer request. An impossible request. We have seen three requests. All of them impossible. He prayed that we would do what we cannot do, that we would know what we cannot know, and that we would be filled with what we cannot be filled. Those are the three things Paul prays for.

Putting the Three Prayer Requests in Context

But these impossible prayer requests are the key to doing what Paul asks us to do … namely, love our enemies.

The truth of the matter is that we cannot begin to love our enemies … until we know that we are loved.

Have you ever realized that we were the enemies of God? When Adam and Eve rebelled in the Garden of Eden by choosing to go their own way, they took all of humanity with them into rebellion against God, thereby joining up with Satan in a rebellion against God. We are the enemies of God.

Yet God never stopped loving us. And while we were yet sinners, that is, while we were still the enemies of God, Jesus Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). That was the entire point of Ephesians 2:1-4.

So the first step in doing what cannot be done … namely, loving our enemies … is to know what cannot be known, that is, that we are fully and truly loved by God.

Why can it not be known? Because the love of God is infinite. It is without depth, height, width, or length. But we can begin to know the love of God. We can begin to experience the love of God. And only after we begin to know that which cannot ever be fully known, namely, how much God’s love us, will we begin to have love for our enemies.

Sadly, the love of God is something most Christians think they know and understand, but really don’t. We all pay lip service to the idea that God loves us, but few of us really believe it.

Most Christians think God only loves us as long as we are faithful and obedience. As long as we keep from sin. As long as we regularly read our Bibles and pray. As long as we have pure thoughts and stay away from temptation, and do all the things that good Christians are supposed to do.

But when we stray, well, God turns His back on us. He stops loving us. He turns away from us in shame and disgust. … This is what most Christians seem to think about the love of God.

Which just goes to show that most Christian know nothing of God’s love.

The truth about God’s love is that He loves you no matter what. God forgives you no matter what. Honestly, you could become Hitler and God will still love and forgive you. I know that statement is a shock to many people, but it’s true. And the fact that it’s a shocking just goes to show that we don’t know anything about the love of God.

No matter what you do or don’t do, God will never stop loving you. He will never turn away from you. He will never hide His face from you in shame. He will always be with you, will always forgive you, will always embrace and accept you. Until you begin to understand this, you will never understand God and will also never be able to show love for your enemies.

You can only begin to love once you know you are fully loved.

Two books I highly recommend about the love of God are (#AmazonAdLink) He Loves Me! by Wayne Jacobson and (#AmazonAdLink) The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford. Both books will present the true, radical nature of God’s love to you, which is essential for you to start loving others.

And of course, even when we begin to know the love of God, love for our enemies still doesn’t come from ourselves. Love for our enemies is not within our power. This is why the third prayer request is so important, to be filled with all the fullness of God. When we love others, it is God loving them through us. When we love others, this love for others is the love of God working in and through us toward others.

This is the great secret and mystery of the church, that we are the hand, feet, and voice of Jesus. Jesus as Jesus is the incarnation of God, so also the church is the incarnation of Jesus. The love of Jesus is shown to a dying world through the church that if filled with the fullness of God’s love for the world (Cf. Ephesians 1:23).

So those are the three prayer requests of Paul…. He prays that we can do what cannot be done (love our enemies) by knowing what cannot be known (the love of God for us) and being filled with what we cannot be filled (the loving power and presence of God).

Does all of this sound impossible? If so, that is why Paul closes out Ephesians 3 with some final words of encouragement.

E. The Encouragement (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Ephesians 3:20-21. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Paul has prayed for three seemingly impossible things. To do what we cannot do. To know what we cannot know. To be filled with what we cannot be filled. But Paul remembered what Jesus told His disciples – with man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible (Matt 19:26).

So Paul says in Ephesians 3:20, “You think I’ve asked for impossible things? I haven’t even scratched the surface of what God is able to do.” He is – v. 20 – able to do exceedingly abundantly more. That phrase exceedingly abundantly comes from one Greek word, which is a double compound adverb. A double compound adverb is a very rare construction. This particular construction begins with a root word. The root word here is perissos. It means abundant, over and above, more than enough. In John 10:10, Jesus says that he came so that we might have life, and have it perissov – more abundantly. But then, Paul takes this word, perissos, which already means abundance, and adds not one,…but two words on top of it to make it a double compound adverb.

He has had three prayer requests for the impossible, and then says God can not only do it, he can double do it – He can triple do it. He can run circles around it. He can do it with his eyes closed, and one hand tied behind his back. He can do exceedingly abundantly above all. If that’s not enough, look at the rest of verse 20. He can do above all that we ask or think! Paul says, God can do this and more. He says, if I can ask it, God can do it. If I can think it – or imagine it – God can do that too. In fact, God can do things I can’t even imagine! God can do things I can’t even think about!

Ephesians 3:21. …to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

All of this is done by the church, through the church, and in the church so that God will get the glory to all generations.

This is a concluding remark for the point Paul began all the way back at the end of Ephesians 1. After telling us about all the riches of our inheritance in Jesus Christ, Paul called us to be the fullness of God in every way in this world (Ephesians 1:22-23), so that we might be a witness to the principalities and powers of this world (Ephesians 1:21) to show the world a better way to live.

And now, through Ephesians 2 and Ephesians 3, Paul has shown us exactly how to do this. We are to follow the example of Jesus in loving our enemies, and even dying for them if necessary. As we do this, we show the world a better way to peace. We show the world the way of God in loving our enemies. This is the glory of God. This is the glory of the church. And this is how the love of God is manifested to the world.

It’s a revolutionary call, but Paul is not done. He will go on in Ephesians 4-6 to show more specifically how this calling is carried out by the church. We will pick up next time with the first verses of Ephesians 4 to see how Paul continues to call us peace, unity, and love for one another, so that that the world can learn from us and live in peace and unity as well.

Is it Impossible to Love our Enemies? (Ephesians 3:14-17)

By Jeremy Myers

1 Comment

In Ephesians, Paul has instructed his readers to live at peace with people they used to hate, and to begin loving their enemies instead. This is much easier said than done, so in Ephesians 3, Paul shows how he himself is doing this, and how his readers can follow in his example in loving their enemies, just as Jesus did. This is what we begin to learn in Ephesians 3:14-17.

In Ephesians 3:14-17, Paul instructs his readers to do the impossible by loving their enemies. This is much easier said than done, so Paul provides three resources that God has provided to help us do the impossible.

But first, we have two question from a reader about Jesus as the elect one, and how Jesus was morally perfect.

Question from a Reader

Here are two questions submitted by a reader named Michael Spina.

I have a couple of questions that I hope you’d be able to clear up for me; hopefully once and for all, because these questions have always creeped in throughout my spiritual journey. First, I’ll ask the question, and then I’ll express my thoughts behind each question so you have an idea of where I’m coming from. Please forgive any trespasses if any of my expressed thoughts cause offense.

1) If Jesus is the chosen one by God, and Jesus is God incarnate, then wouldn’t it make more sense to say that God reincarnated Himself into a man to redeem what has been lost, and those who believe and trust in Him will be elected to service? Wouldn’t that be more consistent to Jesus’ character/personhood?

Every time I read or hear that Jesus is the chosen one by God, I always tend to think “equal opportunity” – Why Jesus and not you or me or anyone else? It is the kind of statement that might cause the flaring up of jealous and/or resentful feelings. But wait a minute; Jesus is God incarnate! Of COURSE no one else, because we are not God. So if we are to be saved, only one of those among the God Head can be elected for the role as savior as opposed to one of us humans, right? Because we didn’t create ourselves. Only the creator of something has the real power to repair that something. But then of course there’s the fact that God knew all of us before He created us, and we all have our own purpose and shouldn’t compare ourselves to each other. So just as I can’t compare myself to other people, I shouldn’t compare myself to Jesus either. So I’m confused. Is Jesus God incarnate or isn’t He? If so, then how can we say that Jesus is chosen by God? We almost make it sound like they’re mutually exclusive. I just don’t know. I’m all over the place with this. I could use some biblical perspective from someone who I feel truly understands and embodies the spirit of Jesus (yes, I believe that to be you, Jeremy. No pressure of course☺️)

2) It is said that Jesus was the only perfect human that ever lived. But perfect at what exactly? Aren’t there a lot of things to be perfect at?

I once heard someone say somewhere along the lines that there was no single human being who was perfect except for Jesus, and Jesus was the only perfect human being that ever lived. But I find such statements to be vague. I mean, what is perfect? Is it never making a single mistake at anything in your life? If so, then Jesus never had to learn any life skills. He knew them and did them perfectly without slip or fall. Lets look at walking for example. It takes many falls before a child can make his or her first successful step. Was Jesus able to walk right after birth. I sincerely doubt it, because otherwise I would find that as a worthy miracle to record on the gospels. Also, would a perfect person have any struggles in life? Would a perfect person always get his or her way? Would a perfect person always be on everyone’s good side?

Thank you Jeremy for everything you do and the time you give myself and everyone else. I am truly grateful.

First of all, thanks for asking the questions. I have NEVER yet had a question that causes offense! I believe that all questions are good questions.

On your first question, I would not use the term “reincarnated” as that does not describe what happened to Jesus. Reincarnation is the view that a human died and then came back at a later time as someone (or something) else. It is not the same as resurrection either, since they come back as someone else … But that wasn’t really what your question was about. It was primarily about Jesus as the primary elect person of God.

(#AmazonAdLink) My answer is that yes, Jesus is the incarnation of God to redeem in humanity what was lost and broken. And yes, ALL who believe in Jesus for eternal life are chosen and elect in Him. There are some people in history who are chosen or elect but are not regenerate believers (such as Pharaoh in Exodus), but this is because they were chosen to perform a task. That’s all it means to be elect.

As I explain in my book (#AmazonAdLink) The Re-Justification of God, which you can get on Amazon, we are elect to service, not to eternal life. Since Jesus is elect, all who are in Him are also elect. That is, since Jesus was chosen to perform an important task, all who are in Him are also chosen to perform that same task … the redemption and reconciliation of the world. This is what discipleship is all about … following in the footsteps of Jesus to carry out the task that He started.

As to your second question, when people talk about the perfection of Jesus, they are referring primarily to the fact that Jesus was morally perfect. He never sinned.

I don’t think Jesus was the perfect tennis player, or had a perfect singing voice, or was perfect at math. Maybe some would disagree with me, but I tend to think that there are humans throughout history who were better than Jesus at such things. You know, Andre Agassi could have beaten Jesus at tennis. And according to Rolling Stones magazine, Aretha Franklin has the greatest voice of all time. I’m not sure I agree, but she did have a great voice, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say she probably had a better singing voice than Jesus. The same goes for difficult math problems. We don’t know how good Jesus was a math, but we can be certain that since Jesus would have had to learn math just like the rest of us, Jesus would have made math mistakes in the process of learning.

Remember, while Jesus is fully divine, He is also fully human, and as part of His humanity, He emptied Himself of certain characteristics of His divinity, which means He was not perfect in every conceivable way, but only the ways that mattered for Him to complete His mission of being the Savior of the world. So when we speak of the perfection of Jesus, we are referring only to moral perfection, so that Jesus could be sinless.

Interestingly, even when it came to moral perfection, Jesus still sinned when it came to certain moral standards of the religious leaders of His day. According to certain religious leaders of His day, Jesus hung out with the wrong people, ate the wrong foods … both of which were sinful … and spoke regularly against Moses and the temple. What this shows us that is just because religious leaders say something is sinful, this doesn’t mean it is sinful. Jesus truly was morally perfect from God’s perspective, but was a sinner and a blasphemer from the religious perspective, which is one reason they killed Him.

A little food for thought there…

Why It’s Not Impossible to Love our Enemies (Ephesians 3:14-17)

In Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul tells his readers that he is praying for them, and he tells them he has three specific prayer requests. We will look at this prayer over the course of two studies, but you should know that, at first glance, all three requests are for something impossible. Paul wants his readers to do what cannot be done, to know what cannot be known, and to be filled with that which they cannot be filled.

We will talk about all three of these as we study this prayer of Paul, but all three impossible prayer requests come down to one main point. It is the main point Paul has been writing about through all of Ephesians 2 and Ephesians 3. Paul wants the Ephesian Christians to live at peace with each other, and especially with those people that they used to hate. Paul wants his readers to love their enemies.

We all know that Jesus instructed us to love our enemies (Matt 5:43-48), but have you ever really tried it? If you ever have tried to actually show care and love for people who hate you and want to do harm to you, you know that it is impossible to even “get along” with them, much less love them.

But that’s what Paul wants us to do. Ephesians 2 was all about how Jesus loved His enemies, and so we should too. And in the first half of Ephesians 3, Paul is showing how he is seeking to love his enemies. And now, in Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul says that he is praying that his readers, which includes us, also learn to love our enemies.

As we will see, if we are going to do the impossible, namely, love our enemies, truly love them, … in other words, do what cannot be done (Eph 3:14-17) … then we need to know what cannot be known (Eph 3:17-18) and be filled with that which we cannot be filled (Eph 3:18-19).

Thankfully, we serve a God who relishes in doing the impossible. In fact, God can do far more than we ask, think, or even imagine (Eph 3:20-21).

The first step toward the impossible task of living at peace with others is to know that we are loved, and that God Himself is filling us to show this love to the world. That is what Paul explains in Ephesians 3:14-19. In this study we are looking at Ephesians 3:14-17, where Paul says he is praying that his readers can do what is impossible to do.

Let’s begin with Ephesians 3:14.

Ephesians 3:14. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

The term I bow my knees is an idiom, or a special way of saying, “I kneel.” So that is why some of your translations have made it more readable by writing, “For this reason I kneel before the Father.”

It is interesting that Paul uses this phrase though, because Jewish prayers were usually offered standing up. The only time Jews knelt was when they were in the presence of their King. Greeks did the same (Lk. 18:11-13). So Paul’s kneeling here is a sign that He sees God as His King, His Sovereign.

Paul kneels when he prays to Father. I am not saying this is the posture we must be in to pray. You don’t have to be kneeling to pray. Part of the wonder of prayer is that you can come to God in prayer anywhere, anytime, in any posture. There is no command in Scripture to physically kneel when you pray, but it should be the posture of our hearts.

Ephesians 3:15. … from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

Paul is enjoying a little word play here. In Greek, the word for Father is pater, and the word for family is patria. So Paul is saying that we, the family, or patria of God is named after God the Father, the Pater.

But the significance of this is more important than the word play. Paul is going to write that he wants us to do the impossible, namely, to love those we don’t want to love. And right here in Ephesians 3:15 is the first bit of foreshadowing of how to do this.

One key to loving our enemies is to realize that they are not our enemies, but instead, are part of our family. We are all one family under God. In my podcast study on Genesis 4:8, I made the point that the first time sin is mentioned in the Bible, it is mentioned in context of one brother murdering another. This means that all violence against other humans is, in essence, violence against one of our brothers or sisters. We are all part of the same family, and so any violence or hatred against another human being is against a family member.

This is why Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Our struggle is not against one another, for we are all part of the same family.

With this in mind then, Paul mentions three prayer requests in Ephesians 3:15-19 that he prays for. The first is in Ephesians 3:16-17. It is a prayer for power to do what cannot be done.

Prayer for Power (Ephesians 3:16-17)

Ephesians 3:16-17. … that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

This is a very poor translation. It makes it appear that there are three separate requests here when in fact there is only one. A better translation would be

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith, being rooted and grounded in love.

The prayer request, in outline form is as follows:

I pray for that God would strengthen you with power
-according to the riches of His glory (God provided)
-through the Spirit in your inner man (Spirit enabled)
-with Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith (Christ directed)
-being rooted and grounded in love (people focused)

This is Paul’s second prayer in this letter to the Ephesians. It is interesting that in both prayers, he prays for power. The first time is in Ephesians 1:19. Here is the second time. Paul prays that his readers would be strengthened with power. And in verses 16 and 17, he says that this will happen in four ways. He tells us where the power comes from (from God), how the power is used (by the Spirit), who directs the use of this power (Christ), and what the power is to be used for (love for others). This is a prayer for God enabled, Spirit empowered, Christ directed, other focused power. Let’s look at each in turn.

1. God Provided

The first thing is this power is provided by God. He says that it is according to the riches of His glory. This power comes from the riches of God’s glory. The word according means “in proportion to.” Paul is not praying here for a small portion of God’s power, but power in proportion to the riches of God’s glory. But How great is God’s glory? It is vast! So also, is the power that Paul wants us to have from God.

If I am a billionaire and I give you 10 dollars, that is “out of” my riches. But if I give you 100 million dollars now, and if you spend that, give you whatever you need later, that is in “proportion” to my riches. This is not a perfect illustration because a billion dollars in limited whereas God’s riches are not, but you get the idea. God gives us power in direct proportion to the riches of His glory. The source of the power then is God. This power is provided by God.

We cannot love our enemies when we are trying to do so with our own power. But God has made His power available to us, and we already know that it is possible for God to love His enemies, because we have seen Him do so in Jesus Christ. That same power is in work in us.

2. Spirit Enabled

The use of the power is by the Spirit in the inner man. The Spirit empowers us to use this power. Remember Acts 1:8? “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you…” This strengthening that he does, however, is not outward strength. He’s not going to make us strong like Samson or Arnold Schwarzenegger. No, this strengthening is not for the outward man, but for the inner man – our innermost being (cf. 2 Cor. 4:16 for the contrast).

Scripture tells us that our inner man can see (Ps. 119:18), hear (Mt. 13:9), taste (Ps. 34:8), feel, (Acts 17:27), and must be exercised (1 Tim. 4:7-8), cleansed (Ps. 51:7), washed (Eph. 5:26), fed daily (Mt. 4:4, Ex. 16:15ff), and renewed (2 Cor. 4:16). The inner man for the Christian, is more real than this outer physical shell which we pay so much attention to. We would all be better off if we spent more time caring for our inner man.

And in order to help us with that, Paul prays for God’s power. You could call this steroids of the spirit. This strengthening comes from the Spirit and is for our spirit. The purpose of this power is to strengthen our Spirit.

Ephesians 3:17 explains how this power is to be used. It comes from God, we are able to use it by the Spirit, but Christ is the one who directs us how and where to use it. It is Christ directed.

3. Christ Directed

Ephesians 3:17. Christ [dwelling] in your hearts through faith.

The word dwell is katoikeo, and means to “settle down, be at ease, to be comfortable.” For some of you men, a dwelling place for you is having a lazy boy, a bag a chips, a soda and the remote. That is where you are most comfortable, where you can settle down – and sometimes, as this verse also says – take root. Sometimes your wives wonder if you are ever going to get up. They might even start dusting you. But you’re comfortable, right?

Christ wants to dwell in our heart. In other words, to be at ease in our life. He wants to be at home there. He wants to know that the roof will leak on him when he sits on your couch. He wants to know that all the rooms have been vacuumed and dusted. He wants to know that the garbage has been taken out. He wants to know that there is not mold in the walls, or mildew in the shower. He wants to know that the foundation is not crumbling.

Your life is like a house, which Christ wants to dwell comfortably in. He knows it’s not perfect, that there are flaws and things that need fixing. But He is the master carpenter and he knows a master plumber and a master electrician. And guess what, if you are willing, the Three of Them will refinish your entire house for free. They will make your crumbling shack into a sparkling mansion – so that Christ can comfortably dwell in it.

And when He is dwelling in your heart, when he is in control of your innermost being, He directs you to live the way He lived. He used the power God provided, which is enabled by the Holy Spirit, to live the Christ-like life. God enables. The Holy Spirit empowers. Christ directs. And in the last part of verse 17, Paul tells us what this God directed, Spirit empowered, Christ directed life will look like. We will live a life of love for other people, which is the ultimate point and purpose.

4. People Focused

… being rooted and grounded in love,

Paul has spent two chapters talking about how Jews and Gentiles are now one in Christ, and how they are to get along now. For some, this might seem like an impossible task. Some Gentiles would be thinking, “You mean I have to love that annoying Jewish neighbor of mine? There’s no way! He’s always judging me by his standards of living and acting “holier than thou.” I can’t love him. I can’t fellowship with him.

Some of the Jews were thinking, “You mean I have to go over to that Gentile’s house when he invites me over for dinner? I can’t do that! He might serve meat sacrificed to idols! He might not be following the strict cleanliness laws. I might become ceremonially unclean! Paul can’t be serious. There’s no way I can get along with them.”

Paul is saying here, “Hey look. I know you can’t do these things I am asking by your own power. So I am praying that God will give you His power to do what He asks. That He will give you the power to do what you don’t think you can do.”

The final phrase in this verse – being rooted and grounded in love – is what Christ wants to do with the power from God through the Spirit. Christ wants to root and ground us in love. Rooted brings to mind trees. A tree must have it’s roots deep in good soil and with lots of water in order to be healthy and strong (cf. Ps. 1 and Jer. 17:5-8). From what or whom are your roots getting nourishment?”

God, with His mighty power, out of the riches of His glory, wants to remake your inner man through the help of the Holy Spirit so that Christ can dwell comfortably and in style in your life, so that you can do what cannot be done, namely, show love to people that you used to hate.

This is Paul’s first prayer request.

It’s a big one, isn’t it? Are there people you have trouble loving? God has given you the power, the Spirit is enabling you to use it, and Christ is directing you where, when and how to use it. Together, all three of them want you to love those who you normally would hate. The power of God helps us love the unlovable.

We will look next time at the final two prayer requests of Paul, which are also impossible prayer requests. But we will see that, once again, they also are related to loving our enemies.

The Model for Church Growth (Ephesians 4:13)

Width: Unity

The Faith

Knowledge of Christ

Depth: Maturity

Height: Christ-Likeness

Measure

Stature

Fullness

Conclusion

NOTES:

Seven Elements of Christian Unity (Ephesians 4:4-6)

1. There is one body

2. One Spirit

3. One Hope

4. One Lord

5. One Faith

6. One Baptism

6. One God and Father of all

Question from a Reader

The Church Must Lead the World into Peace (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Walk in Unity (Ephesians 4:1-16).

How to Be Unified when Differences Exist

The Seven Attitudes of Unity

1. Lowliness.

2. Gentleness

3. Long-suffering

4. Bear with one another

5. In Love

6. Unity of the Spirit

7. Bond of Peace

Question from a Reader

You Cannot Love Your Enemies Until You Know You are Fully Loved (Ephesians 3:18-21)

C. Prayer for Knowledge (Ephesians 3:18-19)

D. Prayer for Filling (Ephesians 3:19b)

Putting the Three Prayer Requests in Context

E. The Encouragement (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Question from a Reader

Why It’s Not Impossible to Love our Enemies (Ephesians 3:14-17)

Prayer for Power (Ephesians 3:16-17)

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