Rebound Revisited, part 21. Cease and think truth – Eph 2:11; 4:14-6:24.

Title: Rebound Revisited, part 21. Cease and think truth - EPH 2:11; 4:14-6:24.

 

 

EPH 5:1

Therefore be [ginomai; become - PMI] imitators of God, as beloved children;

 

EPH 5:2

and walk [PAI] in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

 

This is the active command behind the passive in vs., 31.

 

EPH 5:3

But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named [PPI] among you, as is proper among saints;

 

This is a command for the ears, and therefore passive. Don’t listen to this garbage and even reprove those who are dishing it out, 5:11.

 

EPH 5:4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

 

EPH 5:5

For this you know [perfect active imperative of eimi with the present active participle of ginosko] with certainty, that no [unbeliever] immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

 

Choose to be this as you become more certain of this. No unbeliever has an inheritance, but every believer does, therefore what partnership or fellowship do you have with them and what should your conduct be?

 

EPH 5:6

Let no one deceive [PAI] you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience [unbelievers].

 

EPH 5:7

Therefore do not be [ginomai PMI] partakers with them;

 

“partakers” refers to sharing the same goals and mission, it does not mean to separate physically from all unbelievers. If that were the case then how could you be an ambassador for them?  

 

EPH 5:8

for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk [PAI] as children of light

 

EPH 5:9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),

 

EPH 5:10

trying to learn [dokimazo - proving] what is pleasing to the Lord.

 

EPH 5:11

And do not participate [sunkoinoneite  (fellowship with)- PAI] in the unfruitful deeds [not in original = the unfruitful of darkness] of darkness, but instead even expose [convict, reprove, rebuke; PAI] them;

 

EPH 5:12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

 

EPH 5:13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

 

EPH 5:14

For this reason it says,

"Awake [PAI], sleeper [thinking falsehood],

And arise [AAI] from the dead [carnal death],

And Christ will shine on you."

 

This verse and EPH 4:31 show Paul’s version of the recovery principle.

 

EPH 5:15

Therefore be [PAI] careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise,

 

EPH 5:16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

 

 

EPH 5:17

So then do not be [PMI] foolish, but understand [PAI] what the will of the Lord is.

 

Refusing to understand the will of the Lord is to be foolish and eventually to become a fool, hence the middle voice - you participate in the results.  

 

EPH 5:18

And do not get drunk [present passive imperative] with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled [present passive imperative] with the Spirit,

 

The ethanol can fully influence the soul or the HS can fully influence the soul. Both are received by what the believer chooses to understand. Walk in love, walk in light means there is an understanding, even a little, of what love and light are. It’s a matter of volition and knowledge and faith in that knowledge and not any ritual. As the Jew brought sacrifices without the reality of that sacrifice, so the CA believer can perform certain rituals without knowing the reality of the work and person of Christ. The process begins with the milk of the word of God and as new born babes we drink of it and begin to know. With understanding come more choices as options that God has given become more visible. The positive believer is fully influenced by God the Holy Spirit in a supernatural way from childhood, through adolescence and into spiritual adulthood, and the more that is known, the more influenced the believer can be.

 

Interestingly enough, when it comes to being fully influenced, God the Holy Spirit is not alone in doing so:

 

EPH 3:14 For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father,

 

EPH 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

 

EPH 3:16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man;

 

EPH 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

 

EPH 3:18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

 

EPH 3:19

and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up [aorist passive subjunctive of pleroo] to all the fulness [pleroma - noun] of God [the Father].

 

EPH 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

 

EPH 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

 

EPH 4:13

until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness [pleroma - noun] of Christ.

 

And there is something common about all three, besides the use of pleroma or pleroo - knowledge.

 

know the love of Christ, EPH 3:19 [fullness of the Father]; knowledge of the Son of God, EPH 4:13 [fullness of the Son]; walk as wise, understanding what the will of the Lord is, EPH 5:18 [fullness of the Spirit].

 

All three references concern the knowledge or wisdom of Jesus Christ - the revealer of the Father and the sender of the HS. He is the perfecter or completer of our faith.

 

HEB 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

 

HEB 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him [instead of His present joy] endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

HEB 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

 

HEB 12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin [i.e. don’t quit!];