Chapter 4 is something of a turning point in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians

As in his other letters, the opening chapters tend to be more theological in nature, the concluding chapters being more practical

So here in Ch. 4 v1 Paul says:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

In other words, in the light of all the blessings I’ve been talking about, live appropriately

Cf. Rom 12:1-2     I urge you therefore…because of God’s mercies…

What blessings?

In Ch. 1 he tells us that in Christ:

• We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing
• We are chosen and adopted to be God’s children
• We have been redeemed by his blood and our sins have been forgiven
• We have the promise of the Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
• We have the assurance that Jesus is already seated at God’s right hand far above all…

In Ch.2 Paul reminds us:

• Of our lost condition before we became Christians
• Of the change that Jesus has made in our lives because of God’s love and grace
• That we are seated with him in the heavenly realms
• And that he has a wonderful plan for our lives
• These blessings are not just for those with a Jewish background but are for Gentiles too
• In fact, when Jesus died the barrier between Jew and Gentile was broken down
• And God is creating one new humanity out of the two by forming his church which is the new temple in which God lives by his Spirit.

In chapter 3

he continues the theme that the Gentiles are now fellow-heirs with the Jews

Because he has a special responsibility for Gentile believers he prays that we may grasp the greatness of God’s love for us and that we might be filled with all the fulness of God!

And if this seems an unrealistic aspiration, he reminds us that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or even imagine!

Now in Ch 4 in the light of all these amazing blessings, he encourages us to:

live a life worthy of the calling we have received.

How can we be sure we are doing this?

4 ways:

• By recognising the Lordship of Christ
• By working relationally
• By growing up individually
• By fulfilling our responsibilities in building up the body of Christ (the church)

 

Let’s read the passage together.

1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism

6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

8 This is why it says: ‘When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.’

9 (What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?

10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,

12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

 

So how can we be sure we’re living lives worthy of our calling?

By recognising the Lordship of Christ

 

1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it

10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service…

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

By working relationally

(There were probably tensions between Jewish and Gentile believers)

To work relationally we must have a loving respect for all other believers

2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

The qualities in v.2 are especially relevant to our relationship with other people

The fact that he encourages them to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit suggests that maintaining unity in the local church is something that needs to be worked at. It doesn’t come automatically!

One reason for this is that people are so different

Despite our differences, however, there is much that unites us

The Ephesian church was a mixture of people some of whom were Jewish and others Gentile by background, but who were all now one in Christ (Eph. 2:11-22, esp. v.15)

Paul stresses this unity in vv.4-6, which leads us to our next point:

To work relationally we must recognise the things we all have in common

3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism

6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Note:

• 7 references to one
• 4 references to all
• the reference to the Trinity

To work relationally we must recognise and respect our differences

The differences between us are God-given

Each member of the body has a unique contribution to make

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

The theme of unity and diversity is a common theme in Paul’s writings

For example, compare 1 Corinthians 12

In both passages Paul teaches that:

• the church is the body of Christ
• its members are very different from one another
• but must seek to be united by showing their love for each other
• by building one another up with the gifts God has given them

There is also a reference to the Trinity in both passages which may well reflect the idea that just as there is diversity and yet unity within the Godhead so too there is to be diversity and yet unity within the body of Christ

By growing up individually

The main emphasis in verses 11-16 is growth of the body (v12)

But the body cannot grow unless its members grow individually

12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants…

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

 

By fulfilling our responsibilities in building up the body of Christ (the church)

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,

12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

From this passage we learn four main things:

• The church is the body of Christ, who is its head
• God’s purpose is for his church to grow
• God has equipped his church to enable this to happen
• For this to happen we must work in unity

The church is the body of Christ, who is its head

 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

God’s purpose is for his church to grow

12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

 God has equipped his church to enable this to happen 

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,

12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

For the church to grow we must work in unity

2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism

6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

 

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

 

So, the body must grow, and it must grow strong

It must reach maturity

This involves:

• Unity in doctrinal understanding (v.14)
• Unity in working relationship (v.16).

United heads and united hearts leading to united effort.

 

Unity in doctrinal understanding

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

 

Unity in working relationship

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,

12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

 

Love is the key to unity (vv 2-3, 15-16)

2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

 

The emphasis on work in these verses

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are not there to do all the work

They are God’s gifts to his church to prepare God’s people for works of service (v.12).

 

The importance of every part of the body

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

 

The church will only be what God wants it to be as the individual members find their place in the body of Christ and lovingly help and support each other. When they do, the body will make increase of itself (KJV).

 

Back to the beginning

We started with a challenge:

To live a life worthy of the calling you have received

 

From what we have seen, this in intimately connected with our relationship to and function within the local church.

 

Ephesians 3:14-21 A prayer for the Ephesians

 

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father,

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

 

In considering this passage we will look at:

• The reasons for Paul’s prayer
• The content of Paul’s prayer
• The audacity of Paul’s prayer

 

The reasons for Paul’s prayer

 

v1 For this reason

Compare v1

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles –

In v 1 this reason refers back to what he has been saying in Ch. 2 where he talks about:

The wonderful change that has been made in our lives by the grace of God

The fact that God has a plan for our lives and has prepared in advance good things for us to do

The fact that in Christ Gentile believers are now united with Jewish believers and that, through the new humanity he has made out of the two, God is building a holy temple in which he lives by his Spirit

In vv 2-13 he develops this theme (as we saw last time).

Looking back at this passage we can see 5 reasons why Paul was praying for the Ephesians and from today’s passage we can see another 2.

Seven reasons why Paul praying for them:

 

The Gentiles are now fellow-heirs with the Jews

6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

 

He has a special responsibility for Gentile believers

8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ

 

God has a wonderful purpose for the church

10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

He knows he (and they) can approach God with freedom and confidence

12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

 

He knows they are in danger of being discouraged

13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

 

To these we can add a further two reasons from today’s passage:

 

The fatherhood of God

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father

 

The power of God that is at work in us

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…

 

The content of Paul’s prayer

 

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, (pater)

15 from whom every family (patria) in heaven and on earth derives its name.

 

God is our Father

He has a family – in heaven & on earth

 

God is the source of all fatherhood

Fatherhood in heaven existed before fatherhood on earth

 

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches (the glorious riches of his Fatherhood)

he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…

 

God wants to reproduce his Son in us

He’s a rich Father!

But Paul does not pray that we might be materially rich

Rather that we might be strengthened with power…

and that Christ may dwell in our hearts…

‘Dwell’ here (κατοικειν) implies not just visit but abide

Christ is God’s Son.

He’s exactly like his Father (Hebrews 1:3)

If Christ lives in us, we will be like the Father

 

How? By faith and by love

 

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…

 

Through faith

Christ already lives in our hearts because of our initial faith in Christ as Saviour

But the Christian life is a life of faith from start to finish

Paul is praying that the nature of Christ will increase and grow in us as we go on trusting him

 

Through love

We have been rooted and established in love

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…

Our faith in Christ is rooted in God’s love

We didn’t love him, but he loved us

We now love him because he first loved us

 

 

God wants us to grasp the greatness of his love

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

 

God wants us to know this love

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

 

The audacity of Paul’s prayer

 

God wants us to be filled with all the fulness of God

19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God

 

This is not the same as being ‘filled with the Spirit’ (Acts 2:4, Eph. 5:18)

which relates primarily to gifts.  This relates to fruit, esp. love.

Is this possible?! Yes, because of his power that is at work within us

 

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us

 

21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

 

God is glorified when we love like Jesus.

 

Podcast Notes:

 

Welcome to Talk 11 in our series on Ephesians.

Today we’ve reached Chapter 3 and we’ll be looking at the first 13 verses.

But first let’s set it in context by reminding ourselves of what Paul has been saying so far.

In Ch. 1 he concentrates on the blessings of being in Christ.

 

In Christ:

• We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing
• We are chosen and adopted to be God’s children
• We have been redeemed by his blood and our sins have been forgiven
• We have the promise of the Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
• We have the assurance that Jesus is already seated at God’s right hand far above all…

In Ch.2 Paul reminds us:

• Of our lost condition before we became Christians
• Of the change that Jesus has made in our lives because of God’s love and grace
• That we are seated with him in the heavenly realms
• And that he has a wonderful plan for out lives
• These blessings are not just for those with  a Jewish background but are for Gentiles too
• In fact, when Jesus died the barrier between Jew and Gentile was broken down
• And God is creating one new humanity out of the two by forming his church which is the new temple in which God lives by his Spirit.

This theme continues in Ch. 3 to which we now turn.

1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles –

2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,

9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

In this passage I notice three main themes:

God’s messenger – Paul

God’s mystery – the inclusion of the Gentiles

God’s measureless love

 

God’s messenger

Paul was a prisoner

1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles

 

4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

 

6:19-20 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

 

Paul was a prisoner of Christ Jesus (v1) – not of circumstances – not of Rome

Cf. v7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

 

Paul was a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the Gentiles

13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory (Greek: is your glory)           NB There was a purpose in his suffering

 

Paul saw his suffering for the gospel as a great privilege

 

Or, more precisely, his ministry was a privilege, and if that meant suffering, so be it

 

2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

 

7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,

 

God’s mystery

 

Note the repetition of the word mystery in vv 3, 4, 6, 9.

 

2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.

8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,

9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

 

The mystery was something kept hidden by God

9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

 

5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

 

The mystery was made known by revelation

3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

 

10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

NB The inclusion of the Gentiles was God’s eternal purpose!

 

Paul had special (but not exclusive) insight into this mystery

 

3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

 

God has a specific purpose for each of our lives (cf. 2:10)

So what is this mystery that Paul is talking about?

 

6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

 

8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ

 

God’s measureless love

the boundless riches of Christ (8)

 

We are:

 

6 …through the gospel we are heirs together with Israel

members together of one body

sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

 

11… part of God’s eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

12 …through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

 

And all this is because of God’s LOVE

As we shall see next time:

 

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

(Apologies for missing fragments in the audio – this is due to a technical error at the recording stage)

Notes:

In our first talk in this series we said that the overall theme of Ephesians could best be summarised with Paul’s words in Chapter 5.

I am talking about Christ and his church.

This is particularly noticeable in our passage for today where Paul describes the church as a temple. But first let’s remind ourselves of what we said last time.

We started to look at Ephesians 2:11-22 and we saw that the main purpose of this passage is to show that through the death of Jesus:

• The enmity and barrier between Jews and Gentiles has been broken down
• Whether we are Jew or Gentile, citizenship in the true Israel is dependent on being in Christ
• Through the new humanity created by this, God is building a holy temple in which God lives by his Spirit.

The first two points we dealt with last time, so it’s the final point we’ll be concentrating on today, but first let’s read the whole passage again together:

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth (in the flesh) and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands) – 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

15 by setting aside (abolishing) in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,

16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

God is building a new temple – it’s the church!

This is the first of four metaphors Paul uses for the church in Ephesians:

• Building  (Ch.2)
• Body  (Ch.4)
• Bride (Ch.5)
• Batallion (Ch.6)

God’s temple is no longer a physical building

God’s dwelling place is not a temple or cathedral made of stone.

By his Spirit he inhabits the company of the redeemed.

The ‘church’ is not the place we go to on Sundays,

but the company of people who gather there in Jesus’ name.

Membership of the church (being part of God’s true temple) is not dependent on ethnic or religious background, but simply on being ‘in Christ’

It is ‘in Christ’ that the Gentiles have been brought near (v 13).

It is ‘in him’ (v 21) that the different parts of God’s temple are joined together.

And it is in Christ Jesus that we have been created to do the works which God has prepared for us to do (v 10).

Whether we be Jew or Gentile it is only if we are ‘in Christ’ that we are part of his church.

The apostles and prophets are the foundation and Jesus himself is the chief cornerstone of the building v20

 At first sight this seems to contradict 1 Corinthians 3:11 where Paul says

No other foundation can anyone lay than that which has been laid – Christ Jesus.

 But it’s probably just a different handling of the same metaphor

Jesus here is the cornerstone against which the rest of the foundation must line up

Apostles and prophets both then and now only have authority as they square up to the teaching of Jesus.

Being part of the church is a very serious and yet a very wonderful thing

This ‘temple’ God is building is ‘holy’ (v 21), a place where God lives by his Spirit (v 22).

The temple must be holy if it is to be a place for God to dwell – and it is, because it’s made up of people who have been made holy!

This truth is reinforced by the choice of the Greek word Paul uses for ‘temple’ here.

In Greek there are two main words for ‘temple’.  One is hieron, the other is naos.

Hieron was usually used to signify the temple as a whole, including all its outer courts and precincts, whereas naos would generally refer to the innermost shrine

In a pagan temple this would be thought to be the dwelling place of the god to whom the temple was dedicated.  In the Jewish temple it would be the Holy of Holies.

The fact that Paul uses naos rather than hieron here to refer to the church as God’s temple may very well suggest that he sees the church as God’s Holy of Holies.

Not only may Christians have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19), but the church actually becomes the dwelling-place of God through the Spirit!

This most solemn and awesome thought is underlined by what Paul teaches the Corinthians:

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple (naos) and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

From this we learn that the local church – even a very imperfect local church like that of the Corinthians – is to be thought of as a holy temple in which the Spirit of God abides.

But this is no reason to be complacent. The fact that God dwells in his church is here used as a solemn warning to those who were destroying the church by their divisions.

When we gather in Jesus’ name the Spirit of God is present among us.  This should cause us on the one hand to be careful that our attitude and behaviour are pleasing to God, and on the other, to expect that the Spirit’s power will be manifest among us.  We are in the presence of God himself!

The importance of knowing our place in the building

21 In him the whole building is ( being ) joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

 

Note:

The importance of being together

The importance of being ‘fitly framed’ together (KJV)

Compare Paul’s metaphor of the church as a body in Ch. 4 where every part must do its work.

The building is not yet complete

We are being joined together (Present Participle)

Last time: Ephesians 2:1-10 Made alive in Christ

What you WERE and why (1-3)

We were dead in our transgressions and sins (1, 5)

We were by nature deserving of wrath (3)

Why?

We followed the ways of the world (2)

We lived in sin (2) because we lived among sinners (the disobedient)(3)

We followed the ways of the Devil (2)

We followed the desires and thoughts of the flesh (3)

We were by nature deserving  (children) of wrath

Why were we ‘deserving of wrath’? (Greek: children of wrath)

By nature, but because we followed our nature

However, 2 Peter 1:3-4

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 What you ARE and why (4-10)

What we are:

alive with Christ (5)

saved (5, 8)

seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (6)

God’s handiwork (10)

Why?

Cause

God’s love, mercy, grace and kindness     Our response of faith (not works)

Purpose

Now

v 10 …created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

in the future.

7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Now we turn to:

Ephesians 2:11-22

The main purpose of these verses is to show how, through the death of Jesus, the enmity and barrier between Jews and Gentiles has been broken down and that, through the new humanity created by this, God is building a holy temple in which God lives by his Spirit.

Let’s read it together:

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth (in the flesh) and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands) –

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

15 by setting aside (abolishing) in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,

16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

1 This passage is mainly addressed to Christians with a Gentile background

 

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth…

Note the use of you in verses 11, 12, 13, 17, 19

(Not we because Paul was a Jew)

2 The condition of the Gentiles before they came to Christ

They were ‘uncircumcised’

Circumcision was the sign of the covenant made between God and Abraham

To be uncircumcised was to have no covenant relationship with God

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth (in the flesh) and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands) –

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

To be separate from Christ is to be:

excluded from citizenship in Israel

foreigners to the covenants of the promise

without hope

without God.

Citizenship in Israel conveyed many blessings.

However, as Paul makes clear in Romans,

true circumcision is of the heart

as distinct from circumcision ‘which is done in the body by human hands’ (v11)

Romans 2:25-29 NIV

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a law-breaker. A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

Galatians 3:27-29 NIV

…for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

3 The condition of the Gentiles after they came to Christ

This can best be summarised as ‘United with the true Israel’

(Reminder: Jews are only part of the true Israel if they have believed as Abraham believed.

Gentiles who believe are as much part of the true Israel as Jews who believe.)

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility

 This is a clear reference to the stone wall in the Jewish temple which divided the Court of the Gentiles from the temple proper.

It carried an inscription in both Latin and Greek which ‘forbade any foreigner to go in under pain of death.’

This inscription was discovered by the French archaeologist, M. Clermont Ganneau, in 1871 (Foulkes, F., Ephesians, London, IVP, 1963, p.81).  Cf. Acts 21:29ff.  But now, through Christ, both Jew and Gentile have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit (v 18).

 The blessings that result from this are made clear throughout vv. 13-19.

13 brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 he has made the two groups one

and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

 15 he has abolished the law with its commands and regulations.

He has created one new humanity out of the two

16 he has reconciled both of them to God through the cross

17 He has preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18 we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household

NEXT TIME

The church as the new temple God is building.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

What you WERE and why (1-3)

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

 

Note:

We were dead in our transgressions and sins (1, 5)

We were by nature deserving of wrath (3)

 

Why?

We followed the ways of the world (2) We lived in sin (2) because we lived among sinners (the disobedient)(3) 1 Cor.15:33 Bad friends will destroy you.

We followed the ways of the Devil (2)

We followed the desires and thoughts of the flesh (3)

 

We were by nature (phusis) deserving of wrath

Why were we ‘deserving of wrath’? (Greek: children of wrath)

By nature, but because we followed our nature

 

However, 2 Peter 1:3-4

 

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

What you ARE and why (4-10)

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.

6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God –

9 not by works, so that no-one can boast.

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

What we are:

alive with Christ (5)

saved (5, 8) (— χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι, lit. You are having been saved)

seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (6)

God’s handiwork (10)

 

Why?

Cause and purpose

 

Cause

God’s love, mercy, grace and kindness

Our response of faith (not works)

 

Purpose

 

Now

v 10 …created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

And in the future

7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

 

… no eye has seen, … no ear has heard, and … no human mind has conceived …the things God has prepared for those who love him

1 Corinthians 2:9

Ephesians 1

17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (his holy people),

19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

 

What is this incomparably great power?

It’s the power that raised Jesus from the dead.

19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength

20 which he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given (name that is invoked), not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

What are the heavenly realms?

This is a technical term used by Paul only in Ephesians.

The heavenly realms are that spiritual area of conflict where Christians are engaged in battle with the forces of evil. They are the battleground where we are fighting the enemy.

6:12 Our struggle is against… the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

BUT

1:3 we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ …

1:21 Christ is at God’s right hand… far above all

2:6 we are seated with Christ…

3:10 Through the church God demonstrates his wisdom to the rulers and authorities…

The power that raised Jesus from the dead and set him at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms is a power made available to us!

This is manifested in two ways:

1. One day we too will be raised from the dead
2. Meanwhile, we have power over the enemy because we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6)

Welcome to talk number six in our series on Ephesians.

In the first five talks we were considering the first 14 verses of Chapter 1.

 

We examined exciting themes such as:

• the will of God for our lives,
• the fact that we are chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world,
• the fact that we are in Christ and all that that means,
• and what it means to be sealed with the Holy Spirit.

 

Today we turn our attention to verses 15-23 which in the NIV  are given the heading Thanksgiving and Prayer.

Ephesians 1:15-23 Thanksgiving and Prayer

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints (God’s people),

16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (his holy people),

19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength

20 which he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given (name that is invoked), not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

 

The reason for the NIV heading is very clear from vv15-16

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints (God’s people),

16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

 So let’s structure our talk by asking two questions:

• What is Paul giving thanks for?
• What is Paul praying for?

What were Paul’s reasons for giving thanks?

For all the reasons we have been considering in previous talks (outlined above)

But also, more specifically in vv15-16

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints (God’s people) 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you…

He gives thanks for their faith in the Lord Jesus

The church at Ephesus was now considerably larger than the 12 people mentioned in Acts 19 when Paul first visited them. Many others had come to faith in Christ and Paul rejoices at the good news. Of course, we too rejoice when we hear of people becoming Christians. And so do the angels! Nothing can give us greater joy than to hear of people being saved.

He gives thanks for their love for all God’s people

When you come to faith in Jesus, you are born again, or to change the metaphor, you are adopted into God’s family. You are one of his children. And all those who have come to faith in Christ are your brothers and sisters. How wonderful!

Without question we should have a love for all God’s people. But sadly this is not always the case. There can be divisions in churches, a problem which Paul deals with in the opening chapters of 1 Corinthians. And, as we will see in chapters 2 and 4, even these Ephesians needed to be reminded that we are one in Christ.

There is no contradiction here. The fact that we love one another does not mean that we do not need to be reminded to do so!

Nevertheless, Paul had much to give thanks for:

The spiritual blessings given to all who are in Christ (v3), which were the subject of our first five talks, and the specific blessings referred to in vv15-16

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints (God’s people) 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you…

And before we move on, just note the phrase I have not stopped…

Despite all these blessings, Paul knew that they still needed his prayers.

16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers

 

 What does Paul pray for?

 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (his holy people),

19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

He prays that God’s Spirit will give them wisdom and revelation. For what purpose?

So that they may know him better.

So that the eyes of their heart may be in lightened. For what purpose?

In order that they may know two things:

The hope to which he has called them

His incomparably great power

What is this hope?

V 18 the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (his holy people)

 

We have an inheritance in Christ!

But this verse talks about HIS inheritance in us!

How does this work?

By the fact that as God’s children we are joint-heirs with Christ.

 

Romans 8:17

Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

The Greek word is sunkleronomos. To be a sunkleronomos means that you inherit what they inherit. The word is used in three other places in the NT. This reveals that you can be a joint-heir with someone in any of three ways:

1. By sonship (Hebrews 11:9)
2. By marriage (1 Peter 3:7)
3. By grace (Ephesians 3:1-6)

And we are joint-heirs with Christ in all these three ways!

He is appointed as the heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2) and we share his inheritance with him!

But that leads to our second question:

What is the incomparably great power Paul is referring to?

And we will have to deal with that in our next episode 🙂

I hope you’ll join me.

Thanks for listening.

Last time we began looking at how Paul describes the gift of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 1:1-14. When Paul says we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, I suggested that this sealing refers to a secondary experience. Please go back and listen to my reasons for what I know is a controversial yet Pentecostal viewpoint.

In this episode we will continue to examine Paul’s description of the gift of the Holy Spirit in these verses.

A deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (arrabon)

In Ephesians 1:14 and in 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5, Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as a pledge. The Greek word he uses (which was originally a Hebrew word) is arrabon. This has a variety of meanings and no one English word is really adequate as a translation, and so it will be helpful to explore its range of meaning a little before applying it to these verses.

 One interesting use of this word is to be found in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament used at the time of Jesus and the Early Church) in Genesis 38:15-18. The details of what is a rather complicated story need not concern us here but Judah, we are told, sees a woman he thinks is a prostitute and offers her a young goat from his flock as payment for sleeping with her. As he doesn’t have the goat with him, the woman asks for a pledge (arrabon) as a guarantee that he will send the goat and Judah gives her his seal and its cord.

This illustration helps us to understand the general meaning of the word arrabon. It may be defined as the deposit that pays part of a debt and gives a legal claim.  The seal which Judah gave Tamar as a pledge (arrabon) was only a small part of what he gave her but it did guarantee that she would eventually get the greater gift, the goat she had been promised. The pledge was, therefore, also a token of a greater gift to come and the evidence that a promise had been made. 

Bearing this in mind it’s not surprising that arrabon can also mean an engagement ring. An engagement ring is visible evidence that a promise has been made, but it also indicates that something far better is to be expected in the future. And this is very much how Paul uses arrabon with regard to God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to the Christian. If we understand the church to be the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33), we could think of the Holy Spirit as the church’s engagement ring, Christ’s gift to his bride pointing forward to the day when she will be united with him at ‘the wedding supper of the Lamb’ (Revelation 19:7-9).

So how does all this affect our understanding of the three verses where arrabon is used in the New Testament? It surely backs up the idea that our present experience of the Holy Spirit is God’s way of guaranteeing our future inheritance. This is clearly indicated in 2 Corinthians 1:22 where the Holy Spirit is described as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. This includes the ultimate fulfillment of all God’s promises (v 20) and the assurance that we will one day be given a resurrection body (2 Corinthians 5:1-5, cf. Romans 8:11) and enter into our full inheritance as Christians:

Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession…(Ephesians 1:13-14).

The redemption of those who are God’s possession.

Now Romans 8:19 tells us that the whole of creation is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed while we ourselves are waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (v 23) and Ephesians 4:30 says that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption.

This, together with Ephesians 1:13-14, which also speaks of our being sealed until our redemption, links our present experience of the Holy Spirit with that future day when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven and the dead in Christ shall rise, and when we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord are caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The day of redemption is the day when Jesus comes again. Paul calls it the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23) because it is on that day that our mortal bodies shall become immortal (1 Corinthians 15:50ff). Up to now the world hasn’t really understood who we Christians are! It’s been something of a secret. But on that day, when the entire universe shall be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God (Romans 8:21), then the sons of God will be revealed to the whole creation. But until that day, and for that day, we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and received a taste in advance (arrabon) of the powers of the age to come.

Welcome to the fourth talk in our series on Ephesians.

We have been looking at the first 14 verses of chapter 1. So far we have seen that Paul is praising God for blessings in the heavenly realms (v3). These include:

• The will of God 1-4-5-9-11
• Election and Predestination 4-5-11
• In Christ (10 references)
• The gift of the Holy Spirit 13-14, which is our theme for today.

Obviously this is a vast subject, so today we’ll concentrate specifically on what Paul is saying in Ephesians 1:13-14.

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.

Today there are four aspects of these verses which I would like to look at in more detail. They are:

1. When you believed
2. Marked in him with a seal
3. A deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
4. The redemption of those who are God’s possession.

When you believed

As I mentioned in an earlier talk, the Authorised Version (KJV) translates this as

after you believed.

It is not my intention in this talk to get into the technicalities of the use of aorist participles in the Greek language. It’s enough to say that either translation is perfectly acceptable from a grammatical point of view. However the issue of whether we receive the Spirit at or after conversion is very important. In the case of the Ephesians, it is very clear from Acts 19:1-6 that the Spirit came upon them after they had come to faith in Christ and been baptised in water. The same is true of the Samaritans in Acts 8.

Paul’s question to the Ephesians in Acts 19:2 “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” clearly implies that it is possible to have come to faith in Christ without having yet received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Yet Paul is very clear in Romans 8:9 that if anyone does not have the Spirit they do not belong to Christ.

This is a big subject and I dealt with it in some detail in a  previous series of podcasts and in my book, The Holy Spirit – an Introduction. Perhaps the easiest way to explain it is as follows:

Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit from the moment of conversion, but not all have the empowering experience which Jesus describes as being baptised in the Spirit in Acts 1:4-8. In NT times Christian initiation comprised three elements:

1. Repentance and faith
2. Baptism in water
3. Baptism in, or receiving the gift of, the Holy Spirit.

In my view, what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 1:13-14 is C, though many would argue that he is referring to the Spirit’s work in regeneration which occurs at A. But that may be because some don’t believe in baptism in the Spirit as a separate work from conversion.

So, to decide which translation is more appropriate, we must now turn our attention to the significance of two closely related metaphors:

• Marked in him with a seal
• A deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (pledge)

Marked in him with a seal (sphragizo, sphragis)

Mankind has been using seals for thousands of years now and their use has changed relatively little.

To mark an object as the property of its owner.

Just as I might write my name in a book as evidence that it belongs to me, so a seal would provide evidence of ownership.

It may be this that Paul has in mind when he refers to Abraham’s circumcision as a seal in Romans 4:11. Abraham had been given the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith before he was circumcised. It was his faith, of course, not circumcision that made him right with God, but circumcision was the outward sign or seal that, because of his faith, he belonged to God.

Similarly, when we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, that is a sure sign that we belong to God. Like Abraham we belong to God because we have believed, and having believed (Ephesians 1:14) we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

So, is it the work of the Spirit at conversion or the baptism in the Spirit that seals the Christian and gives him the deposit which guarantees the things to come? In my view the natural way to read Ephesians 1:14 is to understand the sealing to follow the believing.  Furthermore, as Stanley Horton has pointed out, the seal did not cause ownership. It only recognised it. It’s possible to belong without being sealed, just as it’s possible to be engaged without having an engagement ring!

Of course born-again believers who have not been baptised in the Spirit will make it to heaven! But in my view they’re certainly missing a lovely foretaste of the miracle-powers of the age to come. And if Paul appears at times to suggest that all Christians enjoy these blessings, we need to remember that in New Testament times the baptism in the Spirit was an at/after conversion experience. All Christians did enjoy them then!

To give validity to a document

Degrees, diplomas and certificates usually carry the seal of the university or college awarding them as evidence that they are genuine, and seals are frequently used in legal documents for a similar purpose.

A biblical example of this is to be found in Jeremiah 32:10ff where the prophet, having bought a field for seventeen shekels of silver, signs and seals the deed of purchase and has it witnessed. Perhaps we can learn from this that being ‘sealed with the Holy Spirit’ we are not only marked out as belonging to God, but as, in some sense, having validity.  We are the genuine article, we really do belong to him.

As a mark of authority

This leads us to another important aspect of the use of seals. When I was a Bible College principal, I used the college seal to give validity to the diplomas we were awarding. But I had to be careful that I did not let the seal fall into the wrong hands, for whoever had that seal effectively had my authority. On the other hand, if I entrusted the seal to a loyal staff-member, by giving them the seal I delegated my authority to them.

This has, in fact, been a recognised use of seals for thousands of years. To hold the king’s seal was to possess his authority. When Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the whole land of Egypt he gave him a seal in the form of a signet ring (Genesis 41:41-42). The seal meant that he had Pharaoh’s authority.

When Jesus gave the disciples the great commission he sent them out with his authority, but he told them not to go until they had first received the Holy Spirit. There is thus a sense in which the Spirit is the source not only of our power, but of our authority as we go out into the world to preach the gospel.

To keep the contents of a letter secret

Sometimes envelopes are sealed with wax so that the person who receives the letter knows that no-one else has read it since it left the sender. We know from Isaiah 29:11 that, even in Bible times, seals were used in a similar way:

If you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say to him, ‘Read this please’, he will answer, ‘I can’t; it is sealed.’

So one purpose of a seal is to keep something secret – but not for ever! When someone seals a letter it is not their intention that the letter should never be opened. There is always a right time for the seal to be broken. It is then that the secret is revealed. More on this at the end of the next talk.