Eph-80-81 - Lesson 27 - Ephesians 4: 1-3
Publication Date: 04-08-1981
Victor Paul Wierwille (December 31, 1916 – May 20, 1985) dedicated his life to the research and teaching of the Bible. In his quest for truth he consulted and worked with some of the most outstanding individuals in Biblical studies and Christian living; including Karl Barth, Joseph Bauer, Glenn Clark, Karl J. Ernst, Joseph Friedli, Louis C. Hessert, Elmer G Homrighausen, E. Stanley Jones, George M. Lamsa, Richard and Reinhold Niebuhr, K. C. Pillai, Paul Tillich, Ernst Traeger, and many others.
Dr. Wierwille received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from present day Lakeland College, and conducted graduate studies at the University of Chicago and Princeton Theological Seminary. It was at Princeton that Wierwille earned the Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. He later completed his Doctor of Theology degree at Pike's Peak Bible Seminary and Burton College in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
Dr. Wierwille was the author of numerous books in the field of Biblical research, including Are the Dead Alive Now?; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today; Jesus Christ Our Passover; and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed. Additionally, he developed and taught several comprehensive classes directed toward helping people to understand the Bible and to increase the power of God in their lives, such as the Power For Abundant Living series, Living Victoriously, and the University of Life courses. Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille was the founder and president of a world-wide Biblical research, teaching, and fellowship ministry for forty years; as well as the founder and president of several Biblical research centers, colleges, leadership training, and Christian outreach programs associated with it.
Victor Paul Wierwille served the Lord with unending joy all the days of his life as he travelled continuously throughout the world to hold forth the Word of God. He reached thousands of people during his lifetime through his live presentations, numerous radio and television broadcasts, film and video classes, and recorded teachings. And countless others continue to enjoy and be enriched by his books and hundreds of hours of recorded works, many of which are available in the public domain. A detailed listing of his work, as well as more information about his life and teachings can be found at Eternally Blessed (www.eternallyblessed.org).
Teacher: Rev. Walter Cummins:
Well, greetings and God bless you and let's go to Ephesians chapter four. Last week, Dr. Wierwille finished up the great doctrinal section of this tremendous Book, the greatest wisdom in the world that's ever been revealed , the tremendous knowledge that God made available in six short chapters... what we know as six chapters. And boy, it' s just jammed packed.
And I think you've seen perhaps that Ephesians, for one thing, is loaded with figures of speech and particular kinds of figures of speech. There was quite a few polyptotons and dual genitives and a few other things. You know that there are a number of dual genitives throughout the New Testament; we've talked about dual genitives. But there' s fourteen of them jammed packed in Ephesians. I think it's fourteen, isn't it John? [That' s what I found] Fourteen of them and ten of those... [Ten of those are in the first three chapters].. .in the first three chapters , the dual genitives. And they' re very significant in emphasizing certain things in the Book of Ephesians.
By the way, that one in Colossians, we were looking at today. According to the Christ in you, [Riches of the Mystery] Right, the riches of the glory of the Mystery, which is Christ in you. The riches of the glory...the riches of the glory of the Mystery. See, dual genitive, to really emphasize that particular statement.
But here we go in chapter four now, and this begins the great practical section of Ephesians, four through six. And it says ...
4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
:3 Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
It starts out with these words ' I therefore.' And in the Greek, as well as the Aramaic, you have that word ' therefore.' And it sets this in correspondence with that which went before. Whenever you see a ' therefore,' you ask yourself, ' why is it therefore' or something. It connects this great doctrinal section of one through three, with the great practical section, four through six. And the word
' therefore' is like a fulcrum. Craig was talking about a fulcrum of history a while ago, which Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone and. ..of history, and that kind of thing.
But this is the fulcrum of the Book of Ephesians, that word ' therefore .' If God did all this for you in chapters one to three, then therefore.. .now we do this. This is how we ought to conduct our lives.
And the order of the words in the first part of this verse in the Greek and is very similar in Aramaic is ' I exhort therefore you.'
' I, the prisoner of the Lord.' You switch those words around where they make sense in English, it would be: Therefore, ' I,' the prisoner in the Lord, ' I' exhort you. Because ' I' could be there with just the verb, but it has an extra pronoun which makes that ' I' emphatic. ' I,' the prisoner of the Lord, ' I' exhort you.
Regarding these opening words and the fulcrum that I mentioned , a man by the name of Mohl says that, Hitherto, the Apostle has dealt with the eternal and spiritual aspects of redemption. He now comes to their sequel and manifestation in conduct and life. I thought that was pretty good.
- F. Bruce says it very simply, just like we do that, Ephesians 4:1 shows transition from the doctrinal to the practical. And that' s exactly what it does.
Now the word ' prisoner.' Back in chapter three and in verse one, he says, 'For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ.' Now there, it tells you he was ' the prisoner of Jesus Christ,' the one that he was bound to. Here it says ' the prisoner of the Lord. ' But in both the Greek and the Aramaic, it is ' in the Lord. ' The Aramaic, it's the prefix beth. In the Greek, it' s the preposition en, e-n. And both of those mean ' in.' He was the prisoner ' in the Lord. ' And to be ' in the Lord' means what? [Sold out] It means ' sold out commitment.' It' s more than ' fellowship.' To be ' in Christ' is ' fellowship.' To be ' in the Lord' is ' sold out commitment,' see, where you ' re sold out.
And Paul, right on this fulcrum says, ' I, the sold out prisoner in the Lord.' That' s the essence of it. And ' prisoner,' also emphasizes that. You know, that he' s sold out. By the way when the Book of Ephesians was written, Paul was evidently in prison, literally, at Rome. As a matter of fact, there' s some post scripts that appear on some of the manuscripts that indicate Paul was writing from Rome to the Ephesians.
But, this is the word ' prisoner.' In the Greek, it' s d-e-s-m-i-o-s, desmios . And it's related to another word desmos. Just take the ' i' out of it, d-e-s-m-o-s , desmos, which means a ' bond,' or a ' band,' ' that which binds together,' a ' bond.' And a prisoner is one who is ' bound;' he has bonds upon him.
Now, there is a different word used in 6:20, where he says, For which I am an ambassador in bonds.
Now that' s not this word desmos. It' s another word spelled h-a-l-u-s-e-i , halusei. And it means
' chains.' Literally ' chains.' I'm an ambassador in chains. For which I am an ambassador in chains: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Different things like this sort of hint at what
Paul ... where Paul was at the time he was writing, although it doesn't emphasize the fact that he was a physical prisoner. But he was a prisoner in the Lord. You know, not a prisoner in jail, but a prisoner in the Lord, because that' s a greater thing to be bound to than the shackles they put on you, or the chains. ' I, the prisoner in the Lord. '
' Beseech you' is your next word ... words. The word ' beseech' is the Greek word parakaleo , spelled
p-a-r-a-k-a-l-e-long-o, parakaleo. And Dr. Wierwille gave this as 'to comfort and exhort,'
' encourage,' or ' lovingly implore. ' And those are all beautiful definitions of the word. The ' lovingly implore' really communicates the heart of the word. Because it' s... when you break it down, para means ' beside' and kaleo means ' to call.' You may have seen this in some other things you ' ve studied in Greek. But, kaleo is ' to call.'
I think of somebody calling, hollering, and somebody comes in response. That's the word ' call.' But it' s ' to call beside.' And I have the picture in my mind of someone calling someone to his side, saying, Come here and sit down, I want to talk with you. Have you ever had someone do that to you?
If you've ever had Dr. Wierwille do that to you, it' s a great experience, ha ha. When he says, Come over here and sit down, I want to talk to you. It' s like David was... had shared in the staff meeting the other morning about Dr. Wierwille calling him over at what was it, six o' clock in the morning and he poured him a cup of coffee and said, Drink it. And David drank it. But it's the first cup of coffee he ever had. [Laughter] But it' s just that closeness when someone like Dr. Wierwille calls you to his side and says, Come here and sit down, I want to show you something in the Word. I want to explain something to you, see.
Uncle Harry, I know, he and I, when we would ride to work every morning, when he had the furniture place in Spencerville. And I'd be driving the van and he' d be sitting beside me. And every once in a while, he' d just put his arm over on the back of the seat, but somehow the edge of his hand always rested on my back. And I just felt a special part of him. I felt blessed, you know. I don' t know if you've ever been in situations like that, but I... you know, when somebody calls you to their side, it's an encouragement. It' s to ' lovingly implore ' in that sense.
Last night I was sitting in the swing in my back yard and my son...I told him to come over and sit down beside me on the swing. And he says, No, I want to sit on your lap. I said, Aw come on, sit on the swing. He says, No, I want to sit on your lap. I thought that was real nice. Of course the reason he didn't want to sit on the swing is because of all the bird stuff that was on it. [Laughter] But, you know, we do that with our children, where we call them to our side. We lovingly implore or encourage them, see.
And that ' s this great fulcrum that it starts out with: Therefore, see... Therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, the sold out one. I'm sold out, committed, nothing can move me. You know, God' s just revealed the greatness of this doctrine regarding who you are in Christ. And now, we' re going to put it into practice, see. And I'm sold out to the whole thing. I encourage you. I lovingly implore you or call you to my side, and say, Come on.. .in other words I am saying to you, Come over and sit down. I want to tell you what this is all about, how to utilize it. I want to show you how this machine works, see. That's the essence of it.
Now, what is it he is going to lovingly implore us to do? That you walk. And of course, the word
' walk' is a Semitic expression. It is not found in Greek. As a matter of fact, we use it commonly, but the reason we use it so commonly in English is because of its carry over from the Bible. It is not... it did not originate in the English language. But this word ' walk' occurs eight times in the Book of Ephesians. And of course, one of them is this one, where we' re to walk worthy of the vocation.
The first occurrence is in chapter 2:2, where it says, Wherein in time past ye walked... you walked according to the course of this world. It deals with your former ' walk,' your former conduct, your former manner of life.
Then in chapter 2:10, it says, We are His workmanship, Hispoiema, masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should what? [Walk] Walk in them. We ' re to walk in these good works. We're His workmanship created for good works that we walk in those things. Now that was part of the doctrinal section, to show us why He put this within us. It wasn't just so it' s was there, so it looks nice. It wasn't like a vase you set on your mantle and look at. It was something that you could utilize, to walk by, to walk in the good works by that masterpiece created within you, see. Now those are the only two. One is the former walk, and one is the purpose of your having that masterpiece inside today. The only two places of ' walk' in the doctrinal section of Ephesians.
Then in chapter 4:1, right here on the fulcrum, the transition between chapters one to three and chapters four to six, it says, Walk worthy, Walk worthy. Then in this practical section it's used five other times.
The first two are in verse 17 where they are used in the negative sense. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as the Gentiles walk, see. Walk not as the Gentiles walk. Both of them there are used in that negative sense. We're not to walk that way like our former conversation in 2:2. We' re not to walk that way. But God put the masterpiece in us to give us another way to walk: Walk worthy.
And then there' s three other places where it basically deals with how you walk worthy. And that is in chapter 5:2, Walk in what? [Love] Love. Walk in love. We' re to walk in love. ' To walk worthy' then is ' to walk in love .'
In verse 8, You were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light. We ' walk as children of light.' You are light, now walk as children of light. You walk in love and walk as children of light.
And then you get down to verse 15. It says, See that ye ' walk circumspectly,' or accurately with precision. That you don' t walk, you know, just messing around, but that you're sharp in your walk.
So you walk in love, you walk as children of light and you walk sharp, walk accurately, see. And that all ties in to where we are here in chapter 4:1. This is the springboard, the fulcrum, the tie in between the first doctrinal section and the later practical section. That you walk.
' Worthy' is an adverb. Should be ' worthily.' Okay. Worthy is an adjective. Worthily is an adverb. You walk how? Walk worthily, see. Walk worthily. This word in the Greek is axios, a-x-i-long-o-s, axios.
Wuest gives this as ' in a manner worthy of,' 'to be compared,' or ' comparable.'
The adjective form of the word means ' having the weight of another thing,' or ' weighing as much as another thing.' And that' s real interesting, because this word is derived from another Greek word ago, a-g-long-o, ago, which means either ' to estimate,' 'to value,' or ' to draw down on a scale, as
weights draw down the beam of a balance until the pans are level.' Now you know what a scale looks like, a balance scale? When you've got an object on the one side, you have to put enough weight on the other side until that baby balances. That's the word axios.
If somebody gave you a bicycle. Put that on the one side. You would be expected to utilize that bicycle what it' s designed to be used for. You wouldn't use that bicycle to run into the person that gave it to you as often as you could, would you? [No] If somebody gave you an automobile, it would take a little more to offset the balance, to get it to balance, to be level. Somebody gave you an automobile, you would be expected to drive that properly, that would give credit to the person that gave it to you. You wouldn't want to use it in a... as a getaway car in a bank robbery. Or you wouldn't want to use it to run into as many people as you could. You'd want to use it for what it's designed to be used for, and it would be a blessing to the person that gave it to you.
Now, suppose you had the whole world on the one side of the balance. It would take a lot more to offset the scale. But God hasn't given us the whole world. He' s given us a lot more. He's given us everything that' s in chapters one, two, and three of Ephesians. Now that's what is on the one side of the scale. Then to walk worthily, we have to put enough on this side of the scale, the other side of the scale, that causes it to what [Balance] Balance, see it? That's the word axios. And this is the fulcrum between the doctrinal section and the practical section. To walk worthily is to walk with a balance that whatever you have in chapters one to three, you walk that way in chapters four to six. That's the balanced walk. Got it? Isn't that tremendous. [Yes] That word axios?
The practice of the doctrine and the knowledge of the doctrine have to be counter balanced. You have the knowledge of the doctrine in chapters one to three. You have the practice of that doctrine in chapters four to six.
Dr. Wierwille gave us Romans, I believe in the previous teaching, Romans 16:2, where it says.. .that you... talking about Phebe.. .I command ... verse one.. .I command to you Phebe our sister which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: that you receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you, see. Receive her in the Lord as becometh saints. 'As becometh saints' is ' as is worthy of saints.' That's that word axios, again.
What' s she worth? Well, if she's applied the doctrinal section... well, actually, if she has the doctrinal section and she' s applied that, then she's balanced. But then your service that you render to her should balance that, see. That you receive her as becometh saints, as is worthy of what she did, see.
Same way he gave us one in III John 6, where it talks ' after a godly sort' which is ' to be worthy of God.'
Now, the knowledge of the doctrine and the practice of the doctrine has to be balanced. The knowledge of the doctrine is where? Chapters one to three. The practice of the doctrine is four to six. And that has to be... to be balanced. I was thinking of this in light of the player/coach that Craig has been talking about. Because the coach has to have a tremendous knowledge of the game. But the player has to have tremendous practical ability in the game. But we are player/coaches. There' s very few player/coaches today. We've got to have the knowledge, chapters one to three of the doctrine, whose has got to be coaches in that sense; but we've also got to be athletes, players, chapters four to six, in that we have the practice of the doctrine. And it' s balanced. Then you're a player/coach. And that' s neat.
This is the fulcrum: having that balance between the knowledge and the practice of the doctrine. And it's all leading up to that great section in chapter six, where we are athletes wrestling in the contest, to be able to stand at the end, at the bema, to receive the rewards, see. If you want to receive rewards, somewhere along the line, you've got to get that balance, having your practical lined up with your knowledge, and that should be in accordance with Ephesians, see. Isn' t that neat? Boy, I think it is.
Wuest says that Paul' s exhortation is that the Christian lifestyle should weigh as much as the Christian profession. Isn't that neat? The Christian lifestyle should weigh as much as the Christian profession.
You can say what you are in Christ, but until you live it, you don' t have the balance. This is the balanced walk. To walk with a balance. To walk worthily. Have you ever heard the expression
' Practice what you preach?' The Research Team changed it to, ' Practice what you are.' Ephesians one to three tells you what you are. Now, four to six, practice what you are, ha ha.
We are player/coaches. We have the knowledge, one to three, but also the practical, four to six. To walk worthily is to have a balanced walk. To walk what you are. To practice what you are. That
' what you are' has to be balanced with ' what you do,' see. Practice what you are. Lifestyle and profession have to be balanced. Knowledge of the doctrine and practice of the doctrine have to be balanced. That's walking worthily.
Walk worthily. Have the balanced walk of the vocation. And the word ' vocation' is ' calling.' It means ' calling' in both Greek and Aramaic. The Greek word is k-l-long-e-s-e-long-o-s, kleseos. It comes from kaleo . It' s related to the word kaleo , to ' call.'
And then ' wherewith you were called.' The Greek word, the root of it again, is kaleo, kaleo ,
k-a-l-e-long-o. We' re to walk worthily of the calling of which you were called. And in the Aramaic, the same root is in both words. The same as in Greek, you have the same root in both words, see.
Kaleo. Walk worthily of the calling wherewith you were called. Of the calling to which you were called.
See, the word ' called' used in two different parts of speech here. And this is a figure of speech, polyptoton, p-o-l-y-p-t-o-t-o-n. You should know that one by now. It's a word repeated in a different inflection or part of speech. Here you have ' calling' which is a noun, and ' called' which is a verb.
The emphasis is that the calling is the standard by which a believer is to walk.
Now, what is the calling to which you were called? It' s chapters one to three. And that ' s the doctrine, the knowledge of the doctrine. But to walk worthily of that calling to which you were called is the balance. That ' s the balance, four through six. We' re player/coaches. We have the knowledge of the game, but we also have the practical ability in the game. We're coaches and we' re athletes, players. We' re involved. We' re doing it, see. Player/coaches. Walking worthily. Having that balanced walk. Whatever it says you are in Ephesians one to three, you put into practice in four to six. You've got the balanced walk.
That' s verse one: the fulcrum that ties the doctrinal and practical sections together.
Now, verse two. With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. In this verse you have what it takes for the balanced walk.
And I might mention verse three, ' endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.' ' Unity' is the great subject that's being introduced here.
We closed in chapter three, outside of the prayer, but in the last section before the prayer, we talked about the Mystery, the one Body. And now, in the practical side, the balance of that is to keep the unity of that one Body. Got it? See the balance? It' s one thing to have a knowledge of the one Body. Boy, isn't it great. We' re all one Body, the Body of Christ, Jew and Gentile, isn't that terrific? But then you go out and live like hell. You know, one person goes his way, somebody else does it. You' re always fighting among each other. Instead of Jew and Gentile, now you got Presbyterians, Baptists,
Catholics, Protestants , whatever, you know, the whole... you name them, 3,000, 4,000, I don' t know how many different groups all call themselves Christian, see.
One Body? Sure there' s one Body. We' re one Body. But no what? [Practical] See the balance? The balance. The balanced walk. And that' s this whole thing that ' s being introduced. And that idea of the ' unity ' being in this first section of chapter four carries all the way through, see. What do you have right after this section? One God, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. What do you have after that?
You've got the gift ministries. What' s their purpose? For the unity of the Body, see. To hold that Body together, that we' re no longer children tossed to and fro, see.
You get down to verse 16. Every part' s increasing it. Edifies the body. Edifies itself in love. See, unity. Don' t walk as the other Gentiles. The renewed mind... putting away lying, speak every man truth.. .it's unity, see. Be angry and sin not. Don' t let the sun go down upon your wrath. All these things bring unity of that one Body. Walk in love chapter 5:2, see. What does ' walking in love' do? Split up the Body? No, that' s what brings it together. Unity, see. Walking accurately, walking as children of light. Husbands and wives submitting themselves and so on, loving each other. What does it do to husband and wife relationships? Split them up? No, it unifies. It' s unity.
Children obeying your parents in the Lord. What does that do? Split up families? No, it unifies, see it? The only thing you fight against is in the contest. You fight against the adversary, chapter six. But it' s unity of the Body. If you're going to have unity of the Body, you have to fight against the adversary in the contest. Kick him out, see. Keep him from getting in and splitting up that one Body. It' s ' unity' all the way through this practical section.
Alright. Now, but verse two tells you what it takes for that balanced walk in order to maintain that unity. 4:1 tells us to walk worthily. 4:3 tells us to focus our efforts on maintaining our spiritual unity in the bond of peace. And 4:2, sandwiched between these two passages, gives us four vital ingredients, actually five, for accomplishing this walk which will maintain the unity.
The word ' lowliness' is the Greek word tapeinophrosune , spelled t-a-p-e-i-n-o-p-h-r-o-s-u -n-long-e. Long word, tapeinophrosune. It's a Greek word that occurs seven times in the New Testament. It' s derived from the words tapeinos , which means ' low' or ' humble.' Tapeinos is just basically the first part of that word, t-a-p-e-i-n-o-s. And it' s, the last part of the word is from p-h-r-long-e-n, phren, which means ' mind,' ' intellect ' or ' thoughts.' Phronema. Ever heard that one? It comes from this.
So, tapeinophrosune means ' low thoughts.' It' s just not ' lowness,' or ' humility,' but ' low thoughts' or ' humility of mind.' Its great Biblical usage is not derogatory, like many times you think of somebody that' s humble, you know, being a doormat for the Lord. But rather, it connotes ' an attitude of service, obedience, and respect.' It is used of ' a believer' s attitude in serving God.' And it all is mental. It' s attitude in serving God.
In Acts 20:19 is its first usage. Acts 20:19, where it says simply, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind. Serving the Lord with what? [Humility] Humility of mind. Tapeinophrosune . Humility of mind. It' s an attitude.
In Philippians, well of course you've got the one in Ephesians, but then in Philippians is your next one, chapter two. Philippians 2:3. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each.. .there it is ' lowliness of mind' .. .let each esteem other better than themselves. Where is it? [The mind] In the mind. It' s an attitude. And here it' s an attitude of service in the Body of
believers, or an attitude toward one another in the Body. And that is patterned after Christ' s attitude, because look at verse five: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God. But made of himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and made in the likeness of men: being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself... verse eight... see it? He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, see. He had that kind of mind. That frame of mind. That attitude.
An attitude: humility.
Colossians 2:18 is another one. It talks about, don' t let any man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility or a wishing humility. It' s not a real genuine humility of mind. It' s just a front, see. Because it says, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, so it can' t be real, genuine humility. But it's things like... down in verse: 21, touch not; taste not; handle not; don' t do this; don't do that; watch out brother... which perish with the using.
Verse 23. Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, see, or ' wish' worship. Wishing worship ... and humility of mind... there it is, another usage there. And neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. It' s all counterfeit humility of mind. And I've seen a few cases of that at times.
In chapter 3:12, you have another one. It' s there in a list, ' humbleness of mind,' it also has ' meekness' there.
And your other one you don' t have to look it up, I'll give it to you. I Peter 5:5. Now, that's that word
tapeinophrosune. Seven places it's used.
The ' humility of mind' springs from ' a true estimate of ourselves.' If you realize, that you had a little problem being righteous, a little problem saving yourself. And you realize that it has to be grace. And you let God tell you how you got saved, rather than you dictating the show. That would be humility of mind, see.
John Chrysostom stated years ago, If you... he was one of the early Church fathers.. .If you walk in lowliness of mind, tapeinosuphrosune, you know that all is of grace and you are able to be at once a generous and grateful servant. I thought that was interesting.
Now the word ' meekness.' It means ' meekness' or ' mildness. ' It occurs nine times in the New Testament, and indicates an attitude which does not fight against God or the Body of Christ, but is gentle and receptive. Now here it' s more than attitude, because tapeino suphrosune was the
mind, the ' attitude.' This is where it carries over into ' action' or into ' manifestation,' your meekness in what you do. You don' t fight against God. See, you can have an attitude of humility of mind, but then that has to carry over into your action , which would be meekness. It goes hand in hand with authority to help, and to give reproof.
A couple examples you might want to look at are Galatians 6:1, where it says... you've got to help other people. If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. You help others in that spirit of meekness. It' s action, see it? Helping others. Whereas tapeinosuphronsune was a frame of mind. Here it' s meekness which is action, helping others.
II Timothy 2:25, it says, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves. You have to have meekness to instruct those who are voting against themselves, who are taken captive by the Devil at his will. You can' t go in... you know... to lord it over...it has to be meekness. That' s the action that corresponds with humility of mind. Not fighting against God, and not fighting against the Body of believers. And the subject is what? Unity. Unity, see. And if you ' re fighting against the Body, you' re not approaching with meekness. You ' re fighting against God, you' re not building unity.
And by the way, this is not unity that' s trying to be determined by the Ecumenical World Council of Churches or any of these other organizations that are looking for peace on earth or unity in that respect. You never get unity that way. The only way you get it is via the spirit, spiritual unity.
Now, meekness follows directly upon humility of mind. For only a humble heart is receptive to the things of God and will not fight against God or the Body of Christ. Something I thought fit real well with this is something Dr. Wierwille shared with us the other night at a research meeting. He says, Position. ..and this is something to keep in mind when you are in leadership ... Position has no rights or privileges when men' s lives are at stake. Only the function of the position would be important.
Position itself has no rights or privileges when men' s lives are at stake.
That's why ' humility of mind' and the corresponding action ' meekness ' is the attitude, as a leader , you have to have, no matter position you ' re in, to help and to serve other people. Otherwise, you ' re going to split up the Body. There's not going to be unity.
The next word, ' longsuffering.' It' s in the Greek makrothumia , m-a-k-r-o-t-h-u-m-i-a , makrothu rni a. From makros meaning ' long' and thumia which means ' wrath.' Having long wrath, ha ha. It means not being angry for a long time. Doesn't mean that. It just means that ' you hold off for a long time before you let your wrath go out.' Not a quick-tempered person. Not having a short fuse. Okay?
And it means. ..it' s used of ' patience in respect of persons.'
Now there' s another Greek word that' s used...not here... but that ' s used for ' patience in respect to things, circumstances, and conditions. ' But this one is used with ' patience in respect to persons.' Why would this word be used here? Because we' re talking about the unity of what? The Body. The one Body. Okay? That' s why it's this word rather than the other.
Now the last word. ..well, it' s the fourth word.. .is ' forbearing' which is taken from the Greek word anechornai, a-n-e-c-h-o-m-a-i , which literally means ' to hold up,' ' to sustain,' or ' bear with.' We are to sustain one another in love.
And ' in love ' would be your fifth thing here, which has to be ' the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation.'
Now this verse I said was the key to ' walking worthily' of verse one. You have to walk with humility of mind. The corresponding action which is meekness. And it has to be with longsuffering, patience with respect to the people that you' re ministering to. You can't have a short fuse. You've got to let people grow up on their own. And it' s with that patience with respect to persons that you sustain them. That you uphold them. That you build them up. And you do it in the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation.
The basis for walking worthily is humbleness of mind, that is, willing to follow God' s guidance. This humility of mind must then be accompanied by meekness. Humility is a state of mind that arises from
an acknowledgement of God' s true estimate of ourselves; not your own true estimate, God' s true estimate of ourselves. And meekness is the corresponding action that follows such a frame of mind. You realize what God did for you, then you don ' t have any trouble in helping others.. .in being meek in your actions in working with others in the Body. Such actions are evidenced by patience with people. And we must sustain, bear with, or hold up others until they are strong enough in the Word to walk on their own. And all of this must be done with the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. These five things is what it takes to walk worthily of the calling, chapters one to three, wherewith you were called.
You can' t have the balanced walk, the balanced walk, without these five. And you can' t have the unity of the one Body without these five. You can't dictate the show. Tell God how to run it. Save yourself. Make yourself righteous. You' ve got to realize what God did for you. Then in the meekness, you don' t fight against God, but with meekness you serve God and you serve your fellow man. And you can' t have a short fuse. You've got to have patience. Let people grow up.
And you can't be unwilling as a leader , unwilling to help. Position has no rights or privileges when men' s lives are at what? [Stake] Stake, see. We' ve got to be willing to help others. Let them step on our feet until they grow up. And we do it by manifesting the spirit, renewing our minds, walking with the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. That's the five necessary ingredients it takes if you' re going to have that balanced walk.
Verse three. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The word ' endeavoring' is ' to be diligent.' The same word, I mean the word in Aramaic means that. The word in Greek means that. The word in Greek, of course is related to that word in II Timothy 2:15, remember? Spoudazon. Right. ' Study.' And in this chapter 17 of The Bible Tells Me So, Dr. Wierwille covers it quite thoroughly, when he talks about the word spoudazo, ' study' is a derivative of spoudo. And the word spoudo means ' immediately.' Remember, they came with haste, the shepherds came with haste. That was the word spoudo. Well, they went immediately, right away, pronto. Time was involved. That' s the essence of spoudo: time and the brevity of time involved. To hasten or hurry requires some effort, but the emphasis is on speed or time. That's this word spoudo. To hotfoot it out of that place. Run like crazy. Move out. That's when God told Paul, make haste... ha ha... to leave Jerusalem.
But the word spoudazo has that basic idea of hurrying, but there is a little more to it. It has this idea of ' exertion of effort.' There' s more emphasis on the exertion of effort. In II Timothy 4:9, it says... Paul is telling Timothy .. .Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me. That means, put everything you' ve got into it to get here, see. It' s talking about the effort that ' s required, more so than the hurrying. But hurrying is involved, too.
Hebrews 4:11 is another good one he cites here. Let us labor therefore to enter into the rest. Well now, can you hurry to the gathering together? Or to the rest? No. But you can work diligently toward it, see. Putting every ounce of your being, like Craig was talking about before. Really putting your heart and soul into life. To live it. To motivate others. To help people. Spoudazo.
The depth of the meaning of this word is ' to expend a diligent effort, remembering the brevity of time.' In other words, give it everything you' ve got. God is telling us to exert an effort earnestly and diligently , utilizing our time wisely. The emphasis is on ' effort.' But the root, spoudo, brings across the ' wise use of time.'
Many people exert an effort, but waste too much time, ha ha. Ever seen those? Others hurry, but exert little effort. I've seen those, too. We are told to exert the effort and utilize time wisely. And then he talks about the football games, in which the last two minutes of the game, they seem to make a lot of touchdowns. Theoretically speaking, if they can make that many touchdowns during the last two minutes, they ought to be able to make it during the other 58 minutes. But their mind is geared to, you know, we got to hurry and we've got to put all of our effort into it in the last two minutes, but not the rest of the game. And that ' s why it happens.
Well, we're always in the last two minutes of the spiritual contest, alright? So we've got to put all of our effort, everything into it. Not wasting time, but doing it. That's why, when you're walking worthily of the calling wherewith you were called and doing those five things we talked about in verse two, you've got to then put everything you've got into it. Endeavoring, being diligent. But more than that, doing it with speed, not wasting time, but on the other hand, putting everything you've got into it. And the emphasis being on the stress, the effort that you put into it to keep the unity of spirit.
Wuest simply says, translates this, Doing your best. I would say, Doing better than your best. Putting more into it than you think you can, see. I at... at least I understand that. Doing better than your best. Because I know the human mind and how there' s a tendency to say, Well, this is as far as I can go.
And then all of a sudden you discover you can go about ten times that far, ha ha. Maybe you discovered that in running sometime or another, huh? I don' t know.
Marcus Barth says, It involves a full effort of the whole man; urgency, initiative, diligence , do it now. Mean it. You do it. I mean it. That's what he says. He says there is no good English equivalent to the word.
But Dr. Wierwille gives what I believe covers it the best you can in English, An active, watchful, diligence.
You can't dawdle if you're going to keep the unity. You know why? Because if you let down for a second, the Devil will get in there and try to split up the Body. He' s always working to split up that one Body. That's why we can' t dawdle. That's why we've got to be diligent. Put all of our effort into it, plus. And not waste time. Not let down our defenses. To keep that unity of the spirit. That's what he's saying here. That's how urgent it is and that' s what it's going to take to have the balanced walk. To walk worthy of what you've got in chapters one to three. Do you see it?
The word ' keep' means ' to keep by guarding,' or ' to guard by exercising watchful care,' ' to safe guard,' or ' to maintain. ' It' s ' to keep as a treasure,' to keep as a treasure. Remember , Mary treasured these things in her heart or kept them in her heart, the things that were spoken of her son? She kept in her heart. She guarded it. She kept them. What would you do if you had a treasure? You wouldn't sit around and keep your eyes on it all the time, would you? But you'd make sure it was protected, guarded. That' s the way you've got to be with the unity of the spirit, see. That you're absolutely convinced on your side of the battlefield, the contest, the running, whatever you're doing, you cannot let the adversary get in and disrupt that unity.
The word ' unity. ' And like I said, it' s the key word to this practical section here. And this word is only used twice in the whole New Testament. And they' re both right here in chapter four.
And this is the one, the unity of the spirit. And that' s what we endeavor to keep today. In verse 13, you have the second usage. {12} For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ, {13}Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Unity of the faith and the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God. When will that be? When Christ returns. So can you have a unity of the family faith today? [No] But you can have a unity of the Body. Can you have a unity of the knowledge of the Son of God? No. But when Christ returns you will. Until that time though, you can have the unity of the one Body.
I thought that was real interesting, because, boy, maybe we don' t know everything and maybe we don' t agree on quite everything. I think we agree on more than what we disagree, ha ha. But those things where we disagree, we' re able to hold them in abeyance. And if we never get the answer today, we still hold them in abeyance because we' ve got so much more of the Word that we do agree on. And when Christ returns, then we' ll have that perfect knowledge, the unity of the knowledge and the faith. See it?
Doesn't say we endeavor to keep unity of knowledge. Doesn't say that. Now it says that we're to be likeminded. But we don' t know everything and we've never said that we do. But we sure know a heck of a lot when it comes to the accuracy of the Word. You can put more of the Word together than anybody else in the world. And if you've read a few books, you know how they hash the Word to pieces. And it doesn't fit. And there is no results in their lives. There is no power working in them.
But boy, when you know the Word, at least some of it, and you're able to put some of it together, then you start seeing results . And that' s what we have here.
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And that usage of ' spirit' there, in the holy spirit book, is as an adjective or adverb, meaning ' spiritually united,' which means it' s a figure of speech antimereia, spelled a-n-t-i-m-e-r-e-i-a, antimereia, where you have an exchange of parts of speech. The literal statement is ' spiritual unity,' but the adjective ' spiritual' is changed into the noun ' spirit,' and it's put in the genitive case. And it's necessary to understand this figure in order to explain the meaning of ' unity of the spirit.'
If this statement had been intended to be literal, the adjective ' spiritual ' pnuematikos in the Greek, would be available, being used some 26 times in the New Testament. But the figurative phrase ' unity of the spirit' is used for emphasis. And that' s why it' s used here, to put emphasis on it. See, it' s
' spiritualunity' is the literal truth of it.
' In the bond.' And here you have the word sundesmo, s-u-n-d-e-s-m-long-o. And in that you see the word desmos again, that we talked about before, related to prisoner, desmio s? Demos means ' bond.' Well, this is ' bond together,' sun, together, see. ' Bond together. ' And that bond, the thing that is our bond that binds us together is ' peace.'
Marcus Barth says that this word sundesmo is used of wooden beams that hold together a house, or fastenings that hold together a garment, or ligaments that hold together different members of the physical body. It is also used in Classical sources of that which preserves the unity of a city, like loyalty, or laws.
The word ' peace' is a genitive of apposition, or ' of peace.' It' s ' bond of peace.' In other words, it should be translated ' the bond that is to say peace,' or ' the bond which is peace,' because the peace is the bond, see.
And the word ' peace' there in the Aramaic is shlma, s-h-l-m-a. It' s not that other word that was used of a peace treaty between Jew and Gentile. It' s the peace between man and God, see.
So we are diligent, putting our every effort in the minimum time into everything to guard, to keep by guarding that unity of the spirit, or spiritual unity. The spiritual unity in the one Body in this bond that which binds together, which is peace, see. Keeping peace. And it' s not peace like the world talks about peace, it's spiritual, see. Peace in that sense.
And again, maybe we don't know everything. And maybe there' s places in the Word that we don't quite understand. And there' s places in the Word where we have to say, Well, I don' t know, or I believe this is true, but I'm not sure. But there are things in the Word that we do know because we've studied and we've seen how it fits throughout the Word in both Greek and Aramaic and English and I suppose, French and German and all the other languages as well.
If we find new light, we have to be willing to change. I think of many, many examples. Not many, many, maybe, but some. .. where we've believed one thing.. .I suppose Dr. Wierwille could think of many, many, many. Where you believed one thing and then next week you find more light in the Word and you have to change what you taught the week before. Ha ha. See.
Now, you know, that' s a good way to disrupt the unity as far as the world is concerned, but not as far as the Word is concerned, because as we learn more, we put more of the truth on in our minds , we're able to hold the Body together better. The unity of that one Body. Spiritual unity. And you only have unity as you have the spirit, as you operate the manifestations of the spirit. You never have unity the way the world goes after it: sense knowledge wise, see.
Now, this is the fulcrum. And what we' re after in this practical section is to get our walk, our practical life in balance with the doctrine, the knowledge of the doctrine that we got in these first three great chapters. And basically, that boils down now as we start out with unity of that one Body.
And to do it you have to have humbleness of mind. You have to have meekness. You have to have longsuffering which is patience toward people, with respect to people. {Forbearing} Sustaining, holding up those people, helping them. And doing it in the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation.
Isn't that a great way to start out the practical section of Ephesians? See. It' s just like that balance. I think that balance is a beautiful illustration. We've got all this knowledge we've been learning. It' s all piled up over here. Now we've got to start putting it into practice. We've got to be player/coaches, see. You're not only a coach, but you' re a player. You' re involved in the game, see. So you ' re teaching and you' re doing, see.
That's why our teachers.. .you know...I don' t know of any other place that does this, but we do it. The teachers at the Way College and all the other Campuses are on the field throughout the year, but maybe one month out of the year, they come and teach that subject. The rest of the time, they' re out there applying it, see. Practical. They've got the balance.
So, that ' s the beginning of the great practical section of Ephesians. Thank you.