Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 5:1-7.
“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children”
(Ephesians 5:1).
“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let
it not be once named among you, as becometh saints” (Ephesians 5:3).
The beginning of Ephesians 5 continues a theme commenced in
Ephesians 4:1 when Paul beseeched believers to walk worthy of the “vocation”
wherewith they were called. He was exhorting the Ephesians believers to live as
genuine and sincere Christians, not as a phonies or hypocrites.
One of the key statements that stands out as expressing this core
thought is found in Ephesians 5:3 which speaks of believers conducting
themselves in their practical living “as becoming saints,” or, as is fitting or
right for saints. “Saints” means “holy ones,” not super-believers, but ordinary
men and women who have been made holy and set apart by Christ.
What things are we to pursue and what things are we to avoid
if we desire to live in such a way as is fitting for professed followers of the
Lord Jesus?
Paul begins, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear
children.” The verb here for “to follow” in Greek is mimeo, which means
to mimic or to imitate.
Christ called men like Peter and Andrew, James and John to
leave their fishing nets and to follow him, to become his disciples and to
imitate him, to make him the model or template upon which they constructed
their life and behavior.
In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul said, “Be ye followers of me, even
as I also am of Christ.” The word for “followers” here is a noun that comes
from the same root as the verb mimeo in Ephesians 5:1. So Paul was
saying, “Be ye imitators or mimics of me, as I imitate or mimic Christ.”
In Acts 11:26 Luke says the disciples of the risen Lord Jesus
were first called “Christians” at Antioch. “Christians” was meant as a term of
disparagement, but the followers of Christ took it as a badge of honor. They
were “imitators” of Christ, little “Christs.”
Let us each examine our own hearts and lives. Are we following
Christ? Are we living in such way “as becometh saints”? May the Lord himself
help us so to do.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 4:17-24.
Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Paul uses here an inspired metaphor, based on taking off and putting
on clothing.
First, in v. 22, he exhorts the Ephesians believers to “put
off…the old man.” This is a call to put off the old way of life, the way one
lived when he was unregenerate.
When you get your clothes soiled and dirty, you take them off
and you put on fresh and clean clothes.
Paul then exhorts, “And be renewed in the spirit of your
mind” (v. 23). In Romans 12:1-2 Paul urged believers not to be conformed to
this world but to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Paul
then exhorts in v. 24: “And that ye put on the new man….”
Taking
off the old man is one part of the transformation, but it is necessarily
accompanied by a second part: putting on the new man.
Some
theologians rightly speak of the necessity of both mortification (putting
to death the old ways) and vivification (coming to life to the new
ways). We need both.
R.
C. Sproul offered the following thoughts on this passage:
Once I have been made alive to God through his divine initiative,
quickened by his regenerating grace, my heart now throbs with spiritual life.
There is now a radical discontinuity between my new self and my old self. It is
not a total discontinuity. A link
remains between the old and the new man. The old man has been dealt a death
blow, his destination is certain, but he is not yet dead. As Christians we are
to feed the new man with all the means of grace that God has appointed and at
the same time starve the old man denying him the occasions for sin (Ephesians,115-116).
The
saved man not only gives up swearing, but he uses his tongue to bless.
The
saved man not only gives up lust, but he gives his mind to wholesome and chaste
thought.
The
saved man not only gives up gluttony and sloth, but he takes up health and
diligence.
Paul
emphasizes here that the new man is a work of God’s creation. God made the
world by his fiat power, and he makes new believers by that same power: “which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
In
2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul likewise states that “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.”
May the Lord help us, in this age,
continually to put off the old man and put on the new man, until the time when,
by God’s grace, we enter into the state of glory.
Grace
and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
Back in 2019-2020 I did a 126-part audio series of unabridged readings
through all 10 books of Eusebius' *Ecclesiastical History* and offering a brief
commentary and notes on each section read.
I was reminded of the series when I got this encouraging email from a
listener yesterday:
Hello Pastor Riddle,
I am sending this note to thank you for recording
Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History. I recently completed the series and
it was so nice to be able to listen when I had time, usually in the car.
Your notes and commentary at the end were extra helpful to pull everything together
at the end of each episode and made the material much more meaningful and
memorable.
If interested you can find the series here.
JTR
There
is a major question about how to translate Ephesians 4:12, and a big part of
that involves a single comma.
The
older Protestant translations, like the AV, generally list three things that
the pastor-teachers are supposed to do:
“For
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ.”
First,
they are to labor at the “perfecting [maturing] of the saints.” Christ said, “Be
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”
(Matthew 5:48). In Colossians 1:28 Paul said the goal of his ministry was, “that
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”
Second,
they are to do the work of ministry. What is the work of ministry? We get an
idea of this from Acts 6:4 when the apostles said they wanted to give themselves
to prayer and the ministry of the Word.
Third,
they labor “for the edifying of the body of Christ.” They want to see the
spiritual health, safety, and spiritual growth of God’s people.
In
the 20th century some translations removed the first comma and said
Paul was saying the task of ministers was to equip all the saints for
the work of ministry. Compare:
NIV: “to
equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built
up”
ESV: “to
equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”
It
probably won’t surprise you to learn that I think the older translation is
best. I think so for two reasons:
First,
it reflects the grammar of the original Greek construction better. There are three
distinct prepositional phrases (προς… εις… εις…).
Second,
theologically and functionally it fits better the description elsewhere given
of the special roles given to ministers.
The new
translations reflect a modern egalitarian view. I remember growing up in SBC
churches where the theme in many of those churches was “every member a
minister.” To a certain degree that is true. All Christians are called to ministry.
But not all are called to be pastors and teachers. See James 3:1: “My brethren,
be not many master [teachers]….” And it is this special role that Paul is
describing here.
JTR
