Ephesians 6:5-9, Being convinced of our new life.
Wednesday February 16,2022The life that is exceeding, abundantly, beyond all that we could ask or think is the only form of legitimate self-interest. The reward to this life is wonderful, like heaven is wonderful. It is not selfish to want heaven in your life, since in contrary to human selfishness, heaven is a selfless place.
Living in a manner worthy of our calling demands being convinced of who we are in Christ and how fitting and necessary is the Way.
Rom 8:31-36 What then shall we say to these things? [the type of people God has made us to be revealed in this chapter] If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? [persecution] Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. [remember this and be at peace] 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written [Psa 44:22 – great suffering in life despite being faithful to God],
"For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
Look at the next two couplets. This song is about the suffering of the faithful.
Psa 44:23-24 Arouse Thyself, why dost Thou sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever. Why dost Thou hide Thy face, And forget our affliction and our oppression?
Rom 8:37-39 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We must become convinced that we are the new self.
Paul uses perfect, passive participles of sozo to reveal eternal security “you have been saved” (Eph 2:5, 8).
Eph 2:5 (by grace you have been saved)
Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast
Going back to Psa 44 quoted by Paul in Rom 8:36, how are we going to keep our heads up when we’re suffering and we know that we have been faithful to God? What is going to prevent us from seeking relief in some other way than faith? When we are convinced of who we are and that God’s way is the only way.
In both instances Paul uses the perfect passive and here the perfect tense has important theological impact. The perfect has no equivalent in English and so we have a hard time understanding it. We use helping verbs like “has been saved” or “have been saved” but still this does not convey the meaning of the perfect tense. The perfect represents an action that is completed in the past but emphasizes the results of that action to the present time. Greek has a general past tense (aorist) that is undefined past. Paul could have used it in Eph 2:5, 8-9, but he chose the perfect tense. The theological meaning he conveys is that the results of the verb, salvation through faith, continue at least to the time of his writing. But, unless salvation is had some other way in the present day, those results of salvation by faith continue to the present time, and for all time. So unless there is something you can do to have God unsave you, and there isn’t, then you are saved forever by your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Nothing can be added to His work.
We must become convinced that only the new self is our life, Joh 6:63.
Joh 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
All the verb tenses in this sentence are in the present. The Spirit gave life then and He gives life now. The word of God was spirit and life then and it is now.
We must learn to see ourselves as the new self in all situations, every day. We must become convinced that sin is going to produce more sin and be convinced of the effects that are sure to come which are darkness, ignorance, and misery. Keeping short accounts, we nip isolated sins (sin clusters) off our conscience by humble confession and repentance so that we stop the sinful thinking or behavior and return to divine thinking. In everything, before every person, in every role, we are God’s sons and daughters and we think and behave like Him.
Gal 3:26-27 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
When people see us they see the thinking, conduct, behavior, and speech of Christ. It is indeed the greatest calling God has given to anyone. And in this age, that calling is given to people who remain stuck in a dark and fallen world. When this same calling (New Covenant) is given to Israel at the second coming of Christ, Christ will be ruling the world. In our age, we walk this walk while Satan is the ruler of the world. Our calling is certainly unique and, in my opinion, the most challenging.
That thought returns us to the idea of having a singular heart to Christ.
Eph 6:5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ
Make no mistake, this isn’t impossible, it just takes faith to consciously and daily give our whole lives over to God. God has made it so that we cannot be renewed in our minds without our cooperation. Rightly so, we would not be people in His image if we didn’t choose it. The more knowledge we gave about God and His plans and purposes from the Word of God (and only from that source), our faith will increase. |