EPHESIANS 4:-5:5 STUDY & BREAKDOWN-
MY STUDY BIBLE IS A (NKJV)-A KJV IS ALSO GOOD TO FOLLOW ALONG, SOME OF THE WORDING CAN BE DIFFERENT IN KJV- I' M CURRENTLY WORKING ON A WAY WHERE I CAN DOWNLOAD LINKS TO THE ORTHODOX STUDY BIBLE-THAT COULD TAKE SOMETIME-PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH ME THANK YOU AND MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU ALL-SHALOM!!!
LIVE IN UNITY
EPHESIANS 4:1-6
4:1: PAUL is letting his listeners know and realize what has been given to them and to be in practice what they are in Christ: So, his focus of his letter is from what God does for us to what we are to do in response: How you believe must affect how you live; creed must influence conduct:
4:2-3: THE BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CHRISTIANS are the virtues that contribute to unity: We are man persons, we share one new nature: Though we are members of the most exalted body, the greatness is of God, not of ourselves: "Even the cohesiveness of this body is God's work in the SPIRIT"-(v. 3): So there is no place for extreme bickering and arguing: To live live as heavenly beings we are to walk in solidarity and humility on earth: Note here that one of the virtue listed not common to Greco-Roman philosophy is LOWLINESS, taught in word and in deed by Jesus Himself:
4:4-6: HERE IS THE MANIFOLD UNITY OF THE CHURCH: Christian morality is not based on ideas but on a living reality: THE LIFE OF THE HOLY TRINITY IN THE CHURCH AND ALL FOLLOWERS OF YESHUA: Paul combines the Three Persons of the Trinity-(one Spirit...one Lord...One God) with the Church, the sacrament of BAPTISM-(v. 5), and the theological virtues of hope-(v. 4) and faith-(v. 5) into one grand reality, the concrete basis for holy living: Each Persons of the Trinity sanctifies, but the sanctification is one, because the baptism is one, and the grace of the sacrament is one:
USE THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS
EPHESIANS 4:7-16
4:7-16: WHILE THE CHURCH IS ONE IN ESSENCE, it is diverse in gifts and function: Unity does not mean uniformity: We are all unique as individual members before God, with gifts and roles granted by Him: Diversity in operation is (1): Based on the ascent of the Son and the descent of the Spirit-(vv. 8-10) (2): Guided by specially gifted people (v. 11), and (3): for the sake of the maturity and stability of the body-(vv. 12-16):
4:8-10: Paul's rabbinic way of intertwining the Ascension of Christ-(He ascended) with the descent of the Spirit-(gave gifts) reveals the relationship between the body of Christ and the gifts of the Spirit: THE LOWER PARTS OF THE EARTH is either the earth itself, referring to the Incarnation; or burial or Hades, the place of the dead, referring to Christ's death and descent into hell-(1 Peter 3:19): Only Christ, as God and Man, can FILL ALL THINGS-(v. 10), that is, reign over the unification and fulfillment of creation:
4:11-16: THE GIFTS LISTED IN (v. 11) are limited to those who lead the Church: The Holy Spirit extends gifts to each person at chrismation, but the "ministry gifts" listed here from one leadership group responsible for equipping the laity for the work of ministry-(v. 12): Why is there a diversity of persons and gifting's in the Church??? For unity of service-(vv. 12, 13), for the preservation of truth-(v. 14), and for the operation love-(vv. 15, 16), the primary quality of Christian growth: The Church, in which Christian life develops usually, is not the primarily an organization, but an organism whose parts or members receive edifying power from Christ to grow up into Christ: Paul does not see Christians as isolated individuals walking towards perfection, but as members of the body, striving to reach the perfect faith and full of knowledge of the Son of God- Unity of the faith cannot be separated from the knowledge of the Son of God:
PUT OFF THE OLD, PUT ON THE NEW
EPHESIANS 4:17-24
4:17-24: THE PROCESS OF CHRISTIAN GROWTH requires our free will commitment to walk in RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS-(v. 24): A child of the light can no longer act as a child of darkness: A change of lifestyle is possible because Christ, the original NEW MAN-(v. 24): So Christ must be LEARNED-(v. 20), and relationship with Him must BE RENEWED-(v. 23), a process implying intimate relationship: Christ must be PUT ON-(v. 24), a clothing metaphor, an allusion to baptism and the baptismal robe...While spiritual grace makes man heavenly, righteousness is both a gift and a goal, a present reality and a promise to be striven for...
BE CHILDREN OF GOD-SEPARATE FROM DARKNESS
EPHESIANS 4:25-5:5
4:25-5:5: THE WAY WE LIVE affects our relationship not only with God but also with each other-for in Christ we are MEMBERS OF ONE ANOTHER-(Ephesians 4:25): The moral standard for the new humanity is the life appropriate to a child of God-(Ephesians 5:1)-of The Father-(Ephesians 4:32-5:1), The Son-(Ephesians 5:2), and The Holy Spirit-(Ephesians 4:30): Such a child fulfills two great commandments: (1): LOVE OF MAN- demonstrated in self-sacrificing service-(given Himself to us, Ephesians 5:2); and (2): LOVE OF GOD- manifested in worship-(an offering and a sacrifice to God): Paul is also saying that Christians must avoid sexual immorality, not just the act but thinking and talking about it also-(Ephesians 5:4); and greed, which treats things as if they were gods-(Ephesians 5:5): Ungodly thoughts as well as behavior can keep believers out of the kingdom of God:
4:25: LYING hurts the entire body of the Church and relationships in general: It is as if the eye were to see a trap and not tell the foot, or the tongue to taste poison and not spit it out:
4:26-27: "IF YOU FAIL TO MASTER YOUR ANGER ON THE FIRST DAY, then on the next day and even sometimes for a whole year you will still be dragging it out...anger will cause us to suspect that words spoken in one sense were meant in another: And we will even do the same with gestures and every little thing: Be angry with the devil and not your own member: This is why God has armed us with anger: Not that we should thrust the sword against our own bodies, but that we should baptize the whole blade in the devil's breast"-(JohnChr):
4:28: WE ARE TO WORK, not for personal gain and luxury, but in order to serve:
4:31-32: "CUT OFF CLAMOR and you will clip the wings of anger...there is but one thing in which it is useful to cry aloud-in preaching and in teaching"-(JohnChr):
4:32: WE CANNOT be content only to root out the weeds mentioned- in (V. 31); we must plant good fruit as well:
PSALM 36 (37) STUDY & BREAKDOWN
PSALM 36 (37)- Shows why the martyrs were willing to die-(v. 32): they were "looking for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come"-(Nicene Creed): The world to come is the theme throughout this psalm-(vv. 3, 9, 11, 18, 22, 27, 28, 29, 34, 39, 40): Prior to their martyrdom, the martyrs lived a godly life in light of the new world-(vv. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 16, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 37): Therefore, they are the best examples to encourage God's people to live Christian life in the same anticipation of the world to come: But the ungodly shall not inherit that world-(vv. 2, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 22, 28, 34, 35, 36, 38):
PSALM 112:7
He will not be afraid of evil tidings;
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
Don't be afraid just trust in the Lord trust me everything will workout if you keep the faith, the same faith Abraham lived by so long ago!!!
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