Eph-80-81 - Lesson 28 - Ephesians 4: 1-8
Publication Date: 04-15-1981
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).
Bless you. Take your Bibles tonight and we are in Ephesians four. Ephesians chapter four. Last week I was in Tinnie, New Mexico, so I did not hear the teaching, nor did I. ..I wasn't involved in it. But after I got home, I got the tape and Walter taught so beautifully. And he handled the first three verses of Ephesians chapter four. But he did not give you the literal according to usage, nor the expanded translation of it. So tonight, the first thing I'd like to do is to give you the literal and then the expanded translation of verses one, two, and three.
Verse one, the literal is: Therefore, I, a prisoner of the Lord, lovingly implore you that you walk worthy of the calling wherewith you are called.
The expanded one is: Therefore, I, a sold-out prisoner in the Lord and for the Lord, lovingly beg you that you walk and live in such a manner as the standard requires of called saints. That' s verse one.
Verse two, literal according to usage: In all lowliness of mind and quietness with patience, holding one another up in love. With patience holding one another up in love.
And this is the expanded one: Which is in all humility of mind, serving God and one another in meekness with great patience, holding up and sustaining one another in the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation.
Verse three, literal according to usage: And diligently safeguarding the unity of the spirit in the bond which is peace.
The expanded one according to usage of verse three: And diligently and watchfully endeavoring to safeguard the unity of the spirit, staying spiritually unified, being bound together by that which makes for peace. I think that's a tremendous translation.
And diligently and watchfully endeavoring to safeguard, to safeguard the unity of the spirit, staying spiritually unified, being bound together by that which makes for peace.
You see, Corps, unity without humility is impossible. Whenever somebody gets an egotistical, or a something of a self-importance idea, you cannot maintain the unity. Unity without humility is absolutely impossible. And over here at the Indiana Campus, we just finished a segment of the Class that utilized James 3:17. And I thought that was real appropriate in the light of these verses that I have just given you, that Walter taught last week. But I gave you the literal and then the expanded one.
Talking about staying spiritually unified, being bound together by that which makes for peace. Remember, you just heard over here at the Indiana Campus within the last 45 minutes , less than that. It talks about the wisdom that is from above in James 3:17. The first thing, it is pure. Then it' s peaceable. It is gentle. It is easy to be entreated. It is full of mercy. It is good fruits. Without partiality. And it is without hypocrisy. That ' s verse 17 of James three which fits right in with the translation of verse three of Ephesians chapter four.
Now tonight, I want to begin with Ephesians four and in verse four, the King James says, There is one body, one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.
The words ' there is' is not in the Greek, but it is in the Aramaic, namely, in the words of ' that you will be.'
The ' one body,' that ' s the Church.
The first three items in this section all relate to the Church, the one Body. In that Church, there is one spirit which is the new birth, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Inside of the Church, everybody has to be born again, else you' re not a member of what? [The Church] The Church, the Body. There ' s one spirit. There is one hope, which is the gathering together for the Church.
The second three items all relate to Jesus Christ. First three relate to the Church, the one Body, one spirit, one hope. That' s the Church. The second three items relate to Jesus Christ. One Lord, one faith, one baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.
The seventh item in the list here in Ephesians four is: God the Father, who is above all, through all, and in you all.
In verse four, the ' one spirit' is the ' new birth.' And these different words that appear in here, the different one, one, one, different times, one, one, one, all the way through verse six is the figure of speech known as anaphora, a-n-a-p-h-o-r-a.
The word ' one' forms the basic striking central idea of this passage. And that's introduced by the word ' unity.' You have unity because you have one spirit, one calling, one hope, one Lord, one baptism, one God.
Those words ' called in one hope of your calling.' ' Called' and ' calling' is the figure of speech called polyptoton, p-o-l-y-p-t-o-t-o-n, which is when a word is repeated in different inflections or parts of speech.
The word ' called ' is a verb, Corps. And its associated noun is the word ' calling.' The unity in the Body of Christ is God' s calling. Not from man calling himself or working himself up. Not from man' s thoughts or actions. Because, all of man' s endeavoring on his own part always tends toward division.
The literal according to usage of Ephesians 4:4 is as follows: That you will be in one Body and in one spirit even as you are called in one hope of your calling.
The expanded of verse four is: For you are in the one Body of the Church because of the new birth, even as you are called in one hope because of your being called of God.
Verse five. King James reads , One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Many people talk about this verse as being the ' rite of baptism,' r-i-t-e. That is erroneous, because it does not imply the rite of water baptism. But it is a spiritual baptism. It' s not a physical one. It' s not water baptism, but the baptism with Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The literal according to usage of this verse five: One lord, one faith, one baptism. Simple.
But here is the expanded one: With one Lord, Jesus Christ, one faith of Jesus Christ, one spiritual baptism, with Christ in you.
Now we go to verse six. One God and Father of all, is King James, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
The only thing I care to remark about in this verse are the words ' all.' They ' re a figure of speech called epistrophe , epistrophe, it's spelled e-p-i-s-t-r-o-p-h-e. They' re successive phrases, clauses or sentences that end with the same word. As the word ' one' emphasized the unity of the Body, so the word ' all' emphasizes the extent of that Body. In other words, Corps, the Body of Christ completely encompasses and draws in every part. And these elegant figures of speech convey both the grandeur and the perfection of that Body.
The literal according to usage of verse six is as follows: One God, the Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all.
The expanded translation of verse six is: One God, the Father of Jesus Christ and all believers, who is above all, and yet in and throughout the body of everybody in the Body, ha ha, unto every one of us. I'll give that one to you again. One God, the Father of Jesus Christ and all believers, who is above all, and yet in and throughout the body of everyone. He is yet in and throughout the body of everyone.
See, that' s Christ in you the hope of glory. You' re in the Advanced Class. He is eyes behind your eyes. He' s ears behind your ears. Nose, nose. Remember we just. ..you just had the last hour that really dealt with this. The Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and all believers who is above all and yet in and through the body of what? Everyone. He is in and through the body of everyone. He' s eyes, honey, behind your eyes. He' s ears behind your ears, nose, toes behind your toes. Throughout the body of everyone in the Body. The Body of what? The Church. In the Body, unto every one of us.
Everybody in the Body.
The reason these last four words are added in this literal according to usage, is because of verse seven that comes up. In King James it says, But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. This word ' but,' din in the Aramaic, d-i-n, follows ' of us,' see. Follows of us.' So, unto every one of us, ' but' is given. You see that? In Aramaic it does this. And I think this is tremendous coming from our Research men and women. The Aramaic ' but' follows ' of us.' That' s why I took the words that are in the King James, ' unto every one of us' and put them at the end of verse six. In the body unto... what did I say. ..every one of us...end of verse six. Makes a lot more sense.
The word ' gift.. . '
Perhaps I ought to handle the word ' measure ' in that verse first. The ' measure' of the gift is the ' measure of the stature of Christ,' ' the measure of every part of the Body.'
Dorea, the ' gift,' dorea, d-o-r-e-a is the ' gift which benefits the receiver, the recipient.' You and I who got it. And here in this verse seven, it refers to the gift of pnuema hagion, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The measure of the gift of Christ. . .' of the gift of Christ,' that' s a dual genitive ' of the measure, ' of the gift, ' of Christ, dual genitive. And this verse seven and verse thirteen are the only occurrences of the dual genitive with the word ' measure.' So the word... the emphasis falls on the word ' gift. '
So this is the literal translation of verse seven: But, to each one of us is given grace according to the standard ... that's the word ' measure,' it' s the standard, the ' measure' is the ' standard' of the gift of Christ.
Now, here is the expanded of verse seven. And this, I think again, is tremendous: So there was given grace according to the standard benefitting the recipient, that is the gift that is Christ.
Verse eight in King James reads, Wherefore He saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
This Ephesians 4:8, these words ' led captivity captive' is the figure of speech known as gomgnome, g-o-m-g-n-o-m-e. And here, Paul is quoting Psalm 68:18. But he is adapting it to new circumstances, yet with some similarities. God' s choosing, Corps, to utilize Psalm 68:18 in here, is very notable because in Psalm 68:18, it refers to the Ark of the Covenant which is the actual, the ascent of God, whose presence the covenant represented, Ark of the Covenant represented.
Psalm 68:17 refers to Sinai, where the Ark was first constructed. And then it was placed in the Tabernacle there. And it was referring to God' s dwelling place among the Israelites, between the cherubims on the Ark. This Ark of the Covenant is the Ark of the Triumph. And this Ark traveled with Israel and represented God' s leading of Israel through the wilderness with fire by night, and a cloud by day above it, all the way to the crossing of the Jordan, and the placing of the Ark at Shiloh. Until many years later when David had the Ark of the Covenant brought to Jerusalem.
Psalm 68:18 speaks of the Ark's ascending to the mountain at Jerusalem where God could then dwell in the midst of Israel.
In Psalm 68:19, while God was dwelling among Israel, He always loaded them with benefits of success and blessing.
The leading of those who capture captives. That phrase in Psalm 68:19 {68:18} would be very significant to the Gentile readers, because it would picture for them the image of the triumphal procession that' s discussed in I Corinthian' s 2:14, which we have handled at a previous occasion. The words ' leading those who capture captives' is also descriptive of the Ark' s triumphal march all the way from Sinai and finally to Jerusalem. And Jesus' s triumphal ascension.
Pentecost, Corps, is regarded as the anniversary of the ' law of giving,' or the 'the giving of the law ' to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Moses actually ascended Mt. Sinai a total of seven times. Three of those are in Exodus 19, in the days leading up to the giving of the Law. Exodus 19:3 is the first ascent. And it says it was in the third month. Exodus 19:8 was Moses' s second ascent. And this was three days before the giving of the Law. Exodus 19:20 is Moses' s third ascent and that was on the day the Law was actually given. With this third ascent of Moses, a thick cloud is spoken of in which God comes to Moses on the mountain.
The similarities between Moses's ascents and the law of giving, with Christ's ascent and Pentecost is remarkably interesting. Moses's ascent and Christ's ascension were both preparatory to great revelation which God would make known to His people. In Exodus it was the Law; in the Book of Acts it was Pentecost, Christ in you, the hope of glory. It' s also significant to me that on Moses ' s third ascent, which was the day of the giving of the law, which included God' s appearance to Israel, it was in a cloud that He appeared to Moses. And on Jesus Christ' s Day of Ascension, Jesus Christ was received up by a cloud. And that tells me it was God who did it.
Pentecost was the anniversary of the giving of the Law. God' s usage of Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8 is an extremely powerful usage of the figure of Speech gnome, g-n-o-m-e, because it sets out the greatness of Jesus Christ's ascension and its benefits.
This word ' captive' in verse eight {Ephesians 4:8}, or the word ' captivity' in verse eight, he led captivity,' that' s the word I'm after. That word is put for ' those who capture,' not for ' the captives' as others suggest. There' s so much work done along this line, but I do not believe it' s necessary for me to go through all of it. I'll just give you the literal according to usage and explain it to you. Then you'll all know it.
{Literal} Verse eight: Therefore, it is said that when he ascended up above the heights, h-e-i-g-h-t-s , he led those who capture captive and made available gifts to men.
And here is the expanded one, verse eight: For this reason , therefore, it is said that he ascended up, passed through the heavens to the heights and captured the multitude of those who capture, and made available unto men gifts to benefit them and others.
For this reason, therefore, it is said that he ascended up, passed through the heavens to the heights and captured the multitude of those who capture , and made available unto men gifts to benefit them and others.
When Jesus Christ had completed everything, he led captivity captive. The captured, the multitude of those who capture people, Jesus Christ captured. That' s why the Word of God says that Christ in us is greater than he that' s in the world. Why we can grind the Adversary under our heel. That there is no devil spirit that can ever stand against the believer who believes. That' s what the word ' believer ' means. Can' t stand against the believer, for he captured the multitude of devil spirits who do what?
Capture. That' s the verse. It' s tremendous.
In this practical section that we have moved into in Ephesians four starting last week, and continuing tonight, I'd just like for the Corps to sit back, not write, not take any notes. And I'd like for you to just listen to me as I read to you, starting with verse one, these expanded translations and get the great impact of them:
Therefore, I, a sold-out prisoner in the Lord and for the Lord, lovingly beg you that you walk and live in such a manner as the standard requires of called saints
Which is in all humility of mind, serving God and one another in meekness with great patience holding up and sustaining one another in the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation.
And diligently and watchfully endeavoring to safeguard the unity of the spirit, staying spiritually unified being bound together by that which makes for peace.
For you are in the one Body of the Church because of the new birth, even as you are called in one hope because of your being called of God.
With one Lord Jesus Christ; one faith of Jesus Christ; one spiritual baptism with Christ in you, One God the Father of Jesus Christ and all believers, who is above all, and yet in and throughout the body of everybody in the Body unto every one of us.
So there was given grace according to the standard benefitting the recipient, that is, the gift that is Christ.
For this reason , therefore, it is said that he ascended up, passed through the heavens to the heights and captured the multitude of those who capture, and made available unto men gifts to benefit them and others.
Those are the first eight verses of Ephesians chapter four. That ' s all for tonight. God bless.