Eph-80-81 - Lesson 34 - Ephesians 5: 9-12
Publication Date: 05-27-1981
On Ephesians 4:25 where I want to begin tonight, or where we will begin tonight , the first part of what the Research Team gave me is the work that Walter Cummins published in our wonderful Way Magazine on "The Spoken Word." Also, as we cover Ephesians 4:28 tonight, I had all the information in front of me from another article that Walter Cummins has in the... has had in the Magazine. The first article on Ephesians 4:25 is entitled "The Spoken Word." The one on Ephesians 4:28 is "Workers for God." Both of these pieces of work by Walter are absolutely superb. And I believe that they should appear and will appear in our research journal GMIR whenever we begin publishing that. {GMIR Aramaic word meaning ' to perfect, accomplish , mature, complete, arithmetically to be divisible without any remainder.}
And I noticed again that some of the things that were stated are just so beautifully and logically presented, I'm truly thankful for, not only Walter, but the whole Research Department. I think our Biblical Research Department is just second to none. And it' s even going to be better by God' s mercy and grace next year and in years to come than it is at this time. And right now I do not believe that our Biblical Research Department needs to take a back seat for any academic institution or work in the world.
And I thought today, I have never... I've never thought of Walter Cummins in any other capacity than to be my assistant. I know Vince Finnegan, you know, on the books is my assistant. And that' s great. But I've never thought of Walter Cummins in any other capacity for so many years as always being my assistant. And I think he' s just the most wonderful person that any president could have as his assistant. And also to be chairmen of the Department of Greek, and then the coordinator of the Biblical research of The Way International. For any one man to have that position and that responsibility is an awesome reality and I'm real proud of Walter and real thankful for him. But I am also thankful for the rest of our wonderful men and women in the Research Department.
I would like for the Corps all over the country to go to the Magazine and find "The Spoken_Word," that's the title of it, dealing with Ephesians 4:25 and other scriptures, and before the next Corps meeting next week, you endeavor to master that great piece of work by Walter Cummins. It's just, you know, the spoken Word. Over fifty Greek words are used in the New Testament in connection with the faculties of utterance. Over fifty. And then he takes the most important ones and he lists them and it' s just. .. it' s just a piece of research work that you should really as a Corps master in your heart and in your life.
Ephesians 4:25 in the King James reads, Wherefore put away lyin g, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.
The ' putting away' was interesting to me again because of the Greek word aniko, a-n-i-k-o.
And this word is ' the putting away,' this word ' put away,' aniko, is the same root word as in 4:22, where we use the word ' rest,' meaning ' to rest.' Is that right? Yep, that is right. I taught you that,
didn't I? Did I or didn't I? Doesn't look right to me. It is the same root. What chapter am I missing? Am I missing anything? I don't know. Right now I'm screwed up, ha ha. First time today. You check the word again and I'll do that, too and see what I'm missing here.
But a-n-i-k-o is the word for ' putting away from you. ' To put away. And it' s the same root as the word ' rest.' I don't know where the word appears, but it's got to be in there.
Now, that word ' speak,' every man speak. That word ' speak ' is from the Greek word
laleo, l-a-l-e-long-o. And that' s where Walter' s article on "The Spoken Word"_c omes in because that is.. .he uses that word laleo in here, which I teach in Corinthians when I teach the Foundational Class. And he says the word is employed 24 times in I Corinthians chapter 14. I had forgotten that.
This word is truly significant. I couldn' t quite understand it Research Department, what you said on page 26B 16, where you defined it ' to make vocal utterance,' ' to babble,' 'to talk,' 'to exercise the faculty of speech without reference to the words spoken.' I just wondered if there might not be another word that could be substituted or utilized at this point. I know that Zachariah 8:16 is the quotation that is used here, or spoken of. And that Zachariah 8:16 adds force to what is said by using a quote, a quotation. That' s why my question to the Research Department is, How can it be without reference to what is spoken if it is truth plus the quotation of the Word of God that's given. It doesn't quite fit for me.
'With his neighbor' has to be a believing neighbor. This 'speak truth with his neighbor' is a figure of speech gnome, g-n-o-m-e, which simply is a citation. And that' s a citation from Zachariah 8:16.
There are a series of figures of speech, Corps, in chapter four which just put the 00mph, the highlight, to the particular things that are set whereby you put off the old man. This phrase here 'speak every man truth with his neighbor' is one of them. The other one appears in verse 26, 'be angry and sin not.' ' Steal no more' is another one. 'Corrupt communication' is the fourth one. 'Grieve not the holy spirit' is the fifth one. ' All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking' is the sixth. And then ' be kind' and so forth, is the seventh.
You see, the last phrase in that verse, in King James, For we' re members one of what? [Another] And it' s relative to the neighbor. Now you just look at that. Wherefore put away lying, speak every man truth with his what? [Neighbor] For we are members one of another. That doesn't mean just a neighbor who lives next door, but it has to be a believing neighbor because we are members one of what? [Another]. You could not be a member ' one of another' ifhe was an unbeliever. That's how I know this is going to work. This tells me that the neighbor is a believer. And this ' we' re members one of another' continues the imagery of the Body of Christ.
The literal according to usage of this verse is as follows: Wherefore put away the lie... and I believe in my heart, before I go on with the literal that until man is born again, it's all a lie anyways. And that' s why I believe that this translation will fit in the light of that knowledge. Because when a man is not born again, his whole life is just a lie. Now you're born again, and that ' s why I think the text states it ' wherefore put away the lie,' the life you' ve been living , the screwed up life you have lived outside of God. It' s been just a life of a lie. It' s not truth. It' s just the opposite of truth and that's my reason for translating it this way... Wherefore put away the lie.
You've got to go with that translation. You have no other text to go by both from Aramaic and Greek it's 'lie.' Not 'lying.' If the Research Department has anything to share in the light of that, I'd be blessed to hear, but you' ve heard my reasons for translating it, Research Department, this way.
Now since they're born again, their whole life is changed, so the life of lying, and living a lie, and being a lie, and being false, is to be put away.
And every man... this is the translation ... and everyone, everyone. The word ' man' you could use because it's an inclusive noun, but I prefer to use the word ' one.'
Wherefore put away the lie and everyone speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another. That is literal according to usage.
Now for the expanded according to understanding. It's not bad. Because of this... What we coughing for? Everybody sick?...Because of this... and the reason I went in the expanded along this line is because verse 24 last week told us that we are created by God in righteousness and in true purity, through holiness. Twenty four.
That's why 25, Wherefore ... 'wherefore' can be translated 'because of this.' Because of this what? Being created in righteousness and truly pure. See it's an inside job.
Because of this being created in righteousness and truly pure by the grace and the love of
God.. .Because of this being created in righteousness and truly pure, you put away, completely lay to rest the lie that you have been and were living and each one of you speak the truth using a quotation from the Word with his believing neighbor for we are members one of another in the Body of the Church.
Robinson {Edward} said, he translated, 'speak every man truth with his neighbor' and he said it's from Zachariah 8:16 which adds force to what is said by using a quote. That's why I translated that. I think that' s great. It adds force to what is said. If you're speaking to someone, it adds force to what you say by using a quote, a quotation from God's Word. In other words, ' you share the Word with them.' That' s why I went with that translation. I want to give it to you again in this sense.
Speak the truth using a quotation from the Word, which means 'share the Word.' Quote the Word to them. Tell them what the Word says, with his believing neighbor. Why? For we are members one of another in the Body of the Church. This verse is just mind blowing.
Here, you have a born-again believer neighbor who needs to grow up a little more. So what do you do? Each one speak the truth to that neighbor, that believer, using the Word, quoting the Word because we' re members one of another in the Body of the Church. It's a real positive thing to do.
Verse 26 in King James reads, Be angry.. .ha ha... we like that one, don't we. Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
Here is a verse of Scripture that' s very, very difficult for most people. And it' s not too easy for us either. But I think we are able to share the truth of the greatness of this and it's been burning in my heart for a long time to do this with our people.
Everybody has problems with ' how can you be angry and not sin?' You know, how can raise hell with something and not be sinful in doing it? Teed off and not be sinful. And how can you go... and what does it mean 'don't let the sun go down upon your wrath?' See.
In the context, here, verses 26 and 27 deal with your believing neighbor, specifically. Then the Greek word for ' anger' which is from the root orge, o-r-g-long-e means 'anger together with the desire of revenge .' That' s bad. That' s a heavy. The Hebrew word means ' to kill, and all the tumults of passion that terminate in killing.' So it's a real heavy word when it said ' be angry.'
And the way I believe it's used in God' s Word, ' be ye angry' means ' it's a long time anger with your believing neighbor until a change has ensued.' The desire to... of revenge is a change. And I, knowing the Word in the light of the new birth, it's where a change finally comes about. Until that time, you just, long-term, you just stay put witnessing the Word, sharing the Word. You do not dislike the believing neighbor; you simply dislike that he is not fully accepting the Word and walking on it. So it' s a long-term anger until a change has ensued. You just stay faithful.
I don't know what else to do with those words. It is a righteous anger. Yet it is a righteous anger without sin.
Among the scholars, there is a disagreement on these words. Well, I don't know about my being a scholar; that I don' t anything about being about. But it's simple to me because righteous anger is commanded by God's Word when it says ' be ye angry.' Well, the scholars can fight about it. I don' t care. It' s a command. Not just permitted to get teed once in a while when somebody' s off of God' s Word, a believer is off of God's Word. You' re always teed off righteously at any believer, born-again believer, who is off of God' s Word. And for those of us in the Way Ministry, it' s been a lifetime.
Get into it with them on... Oh what subject do you want to talk about? Baptism? Food? One God? See. All that stuff.
The Aramaic is accurate in the words ' and sin not.' It literally translates ' and you will not sin.' Again, this ' be angry and sin not' is that figure gnome. Quotation. A citation from the Old Testament. It' s from Psalm 4:4. But in King James, Psalm 4:4, it's translated 'stand in awe.' The real sense of the Hebrew is ' one of admonition;' sin not. Where we' re admonished to not sin. Sin not.
' Let not the sun go down on your wrath. ' Ha ha. That again is beautiful. People went to bed when the sun went down, when it got dark. That's when they went to bed. So what that simply is saying, ha ha, ' don't go to bed teed off.' Don' t let the sun go down on your wrath. In other words, go to bed; don' t go to bed mad. ' When you go to bed' is what it means. Let not the sun go down when you go to bed. And they went to bed when the sun went down. When it got dark, they went to bed, see.
' Upon your wrath.' And the word ' wrath' here is basically ' irritation.' Ha ha. Previously when I taught Ephesians, I made mention of this fact, ' don' t let righteous anger shake you, wondering if it was right on. When you go to bed, go to sleep.'
Now, this is what we have done with it in the literal, ha ha, according to usage. I got more papers up here than Carter has liver pills, or something. Then, I can' t find my... whatever it is I take off of it.
Okay, verse 26. You be righteously angry.. .this is literal according to usage.. .and you will not be sinning. Don't go to bed even with a momentary irritation, ha ha.
I don't think you get nearly as much fun out of this as I do. It's neat. It's absolutely scrumptious, see. At the opening, is that heavy word, remember? Anger. So it's a real heavy time. So what he is saying, in the heavy time, when your standing on God' s Word and sharing that with the believing neighbor, you' re righteously angry... you're not sinning. And you don't even go to bed with a momentary irritation. In other Words, when you go to bed, thank God the day is over. Say your last prayer and start snoring.
Boy, that would save a lot of sleeping pills, wouldn' t it? Practicing that principle. Boy, oh boy, what a tremendous Word. And hardly anybody understands verse 26. They argue about it, but they don' t get the understanding.
Now this is the expanded one according to understanding, I hope. And again, I would like to just lay some things before the Corps, and especially before the Research Department. I translated the first part of verse 26, You always stay angry with an all-out desire to have them to change which anger will not be sin on your part.
Then I have another translation of that first part of it: You be righteously angry, 'teed off' with sin... 'Teed off' I put in quotes. But don't you sin by acting ' holier than thou' vaunting yourself by acting so righteously like you never sin.
I do not know which one of those two the Research Department feels would be the better. The last part of the phrase that I translated which would go with both of these that I have given you here on the expanded one for understanding. This, the last part, goes with that first one and with the second ... also.. .even if it is only a momentary irritation. When you go to bed, go to sleep. That's what I did with it.
Now, verse 27. King James says, Neither (or neither) give place to the Devil. The word 'place' is simply a portion, a part. No believer will give full place to the Devil, but he may be giving a part, a portion. He' ll mark off a spot, ' this is Devil' s permission over here, over here, no permission, you know. And you really give the Devil a portion or a spot if you stew about it after you go to bed and you toss and you tum and can' t sleep.
This word 'the Devil,' ' the Devil' in the Aramaic is a very interesting and exciting Word to me and it blesses my heart. It' s a compound word where the first part means ' to eat' or ' to devour.' The latter
' to slander' or ' to accuse. ' So when I got to translating this, literally according to usage, verse 27 reads: Do not give any portion or space or an opportunity to the Devil. So I used those three words synonymously: portion, space, opportunity. Do not give any portion or space or an opportunity to the Devil.
The expanded according to understanding: And you will not give a toehold, an opportunity or an occasion for the Devil to eat you. Ha ha. I get more fun than you ever will out of working this stuff, huh.
You see, and to me, that communicates to my understanding. John 10:10. The thief cometh not but for to what? [Steal, kill, and destroy] Right. To eat you out. To beat you. And that's why that Aramaic word, on the word ' Devil' really thrilled me.
And that ' s why I put it into the expanded translation: And you will not give a ' toehold.' Now, at L.E.A.D., you know how important it is to get a what? [Toehold] Ha ha. And when you' re really climbing in, you' re blessed for a toehold. How thankful you are when you get a foothold. Now the adversary can never get a foothold in a believer' s life until he first has a toehold. That's why I translated it that way.
Do not give... and you will not give a toehold ... shave all the rocks off... an opportunity or an occasion for the Devil to eat you. And that' s exactly what he likes to do to believers.
Now we go to verse 28. King James says, Let him that stole steal not more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. And here again, is another great work that I believe should be in our research journal GMIR, Walter' s work on " Workers for God."
It' s just tremendous where he... you know... he just goes into God' s men are called many things in the Word. They' re called: fellow workers, ministers, or servants, slaves, fellow slaves, partners, messengers, soldiers, fellow soldiers, athletes, fellow athletes, stewards, ambassadors, witnesses, all of those. And he covers them so beautifully. And I love very much how he covered the word ' slave,' because it' s a much stronger word than to be a minister, or to be a servant. It is to be one who is branded, marked out, sold out. And baby, from that day on, there are no ifs, and' s, or but' s. You never budge on it. You are branded. Most believers are never branded. They may be servants, they may be ministers, but they are not branded. When you' re branded, you stay faithful. You do not budge. You do not change. You stay put. If all hell breaks loose, you still live the believing Word.
I think the prophet once said, If I was in the midst of hell, God I know you' d be there. (Psalm 139:8) He' d be there. That' s the doulos. That, of course, is just a tremendous piece of work.
And the other great part that I think... and this is a second piece that I want the Corps to master before next Wednesday night, " Workers for God," the work on ' witness.' You see, it's the same word basically that's translated ' martyr,' see. And we got a lot of those canonized. That's not at all what a witness is. A witness is a living example, not a dead one. The word 'martyr' simply means that you lay down your life in witnessing. And boy, when you put the doulos together with ' witness,' then you' ve got power for abundant living. It's just a fantastic work by Walter and I' m real grateful that it was published. Because once it' s in print, people can take a look at it if they want to.
I'd like a cup of coffee, please.
Now, we are in verse 28. The Aramaic translation is ' and he who was stealing.' I understand it from the English, ' let him that stole,' past tense. The Aramaic is real simple, real strong. ' And he, the one who is born again, who was, past tense, stealing.'
Thank you.
His whole life was one of those before he was born again.
Whenever you bring a cup of coffee to a right-hand man, you put the handle to the right. When you serve a cup of coffee to a left-hand man, you put it on the left-hand side and put the handle to the left. Corps principle number seven or something, ha ha. Mrs. Wierwille would say, Well, be thankful you even get a cup of coffee. [Laughter] Ah, you're wonderful.
See, ' let him who stole, steal no more.' 'Stole and steal,' that' s a figure of speech and is polyptoton p-o-l-y-p-t-o-t-o-n. It' s a repetition of the same root word in different parts of speech or reflections. But, that's not earth shaking right now in my heart.
You see, in some Eastern culture, it was not considered a sin or a shame to steal because that's the way they lived, the only way they lived. Somebody told me... or not only told me, one of our people, but it was in a national magazine, that the basic culture of Russia today is to steal. And in some respects I can understand this. If you don't have anything and you're starving to death and there' s a loaf of bread you can get a hold of... steal the dam thing. I understand that.
So this verse is really sharp, really sharp. Let him who stole, even though that man previously considered it the way to live and there was no shame in it, no sin in it. He said, Well, let that fellow who stole, steal no more. Something has happened on the inside of that man. Something that happened, where He is able to meet all of our need according to His riches in glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. More than conquerors.
A record in the Old Testament, I forget where it is, but it's in there, that it' s never, you never need to borrow or steal bread or... what is that in the Old Testament? Begging bread. One person stand and tell me. {Psalm 37:25, I have been young and now am old; yet have I seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread.} Psalm 27:25 who? {Psalm 37:25} 37:25. All the years, he's never seen the righteous to have to do what? {Beg bread} Beg bread.
First of all, I wish the Christian world could hear this. Secondly, I wish our government in the United States could understand it. The Word says, If you don't work, you don' t eat. A lot of that stuff. Well, what we've been doing is stealing from the people who are willing to work to give to the people who don' t want to work. That's a bunch of crap. That's stealing. That's why this verse is so hot in my soul tonight. Let him who stole, quit stealing, dang it. See.
Many years ago I was really knocked for a loop along some of this line in India, from Dr. Williams. I think he loved India maybe like I love the United States, I don' t know. Because only a man knows how much he loves his own country, I guess.
But... as we were traveling together, he said to me, Dr. Wierwille, I hear you have whores in the United States.
You know, I never had given it a thought. I just took it for granted. [Laughter] And I said, yeah. He said, Why does a rich country like the United States have whores?
And I said, I don't know.
And he said, I can't understand it. Cannot your women make enough money to live? Yeah, but they figure that' s cheaper and more pleasurable or something, I don' t know. And he said, Well, I think it's sinful that the United States has whores.
And I said, What do you mean?
And he said to me, why, I can understand India. He said we don' t enough food, we don' t have enough of anything hardly for a lot of people. And we have whores because that' s the only way they can continue to live physically.
And I thought to myself, well boy, that' s slapping me in the face good. And I took it as a wonderful lesson. There is no excuse in the United States for any women being a whore because she doesn' t need to get screwed and paid for it in order to get money so she can live. There's plenty of work available and if there isn' t she ought to get born again, then there' s a guarantee of work. ..other work, available. I tell you, when you' re honest, some of these men in other countries have some real logic behind their thinking. How would you have liked to have handled that? I just simply admitted, Well, I think we' re wrong in the United States. But I said, I think you' re wrong in India, too, because no reason to have whores here if you get them born again.
So I don' t know. But this verse today as I worked the final working on this verse 28 is when my heart really went back and burned with that truth that Dr. Williams had stated. Because in many Eastern cultures, it was not considered as sin or as shame to steal, if it was a matter of livelihood. You sometimes wonder who will live in the greatest condemnation before God and justice and judgment when the time comes.
For in most of what are called poor countries even, there is sufficient money, food, and other things for the people to live if those in positions of authority were not so selfish and egotistical, and want it for themselves , and let the rest of the world die... or a country die.
The word ' labor' in verse 28 is the word which literally means ' hard work resulting in fatigue.' That's how I felt coming from the woods last night. And I didn' t do anything. It was just hard work being there with the rest of you. Today I got so tired of being with some, I came home. Ah, you' re wonderful.
' Working with his hands' is an Eastern cultural type of thing. Today in our culture, you could have it, you know, the truth is working with your mind or working with your hand, whatever you' re working at. But in Eastern culture, every son was to be trained to work with his hands, even if he was the son of a king. Had to learn a trade, a profession of business.
Jesus Christ was a saddle maker. He made them to ride, I guess, what do you want? Tennessee Walkers , or? See. I think not only did he do that, Paul did it, too, you know. Someday I'm going to find a...or Walter, or some of those, are going to find me a manuscript to prove it. .. and a wonderful carpenter by trade. Many times doing carpentry work and being a saddle maker were sort of in the same household, because building carpentry and having saddles to use for their business and carrying on, were very, very closely aligned. Well, I won' t argue the point, but I wish we' d keep looking.
II Thessalonians.. .Do your hands ever get so dry you can hardly hold anything? Golly, mine are so dry tonight, I wonder why? II Thessalonians, chapter 3:10... this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he what? [Eat] Right. Even unemployment is no excuse for stealing. He just doesn' t eat. Goes and gets work. Boy, when I first saw the greatness of these principles many years ago, and then of course, I uniquely by God' s grace, inculcated that into our W.O.W. program and very dynamically in the Corps leadership.
Last week I was not here and Walter Cummins did such an admirable job of, again, teaching the Word. And he allowed me the privilege of doing the translations. So, beginning with Ephesians 5:9, the following is the literal according to usage of that verse.
5:9 of Ephesians: For the fruit of light in all of them is goodness and righteousness and truth. For the fruit of light in all of them is goodness and righteousness and truth.
Now the expanded one. And this expanded one is, I believe, uniquely interesting. Because this whole chapter deals with one God in opposition to the many gods that the mystery religion had in Rome.
And I expanded this because there are three words in verse nine: goodness, righteousness, and truth, those three words. But verse eight had declared to us that we walk as children of light. God is light. And that we are light, we are light in the Lord Jesus Christ and we walk as children of God. Then, this verse nine, verse nine, talking about the fruit of the spirit in King James...
I translated it, the expanded one: For the fruit of the light in your life is in all believers. Or should the Research Team decide to go with the singular, I would be amenable to saying ' is in every believer. '
For the fruit of the light, see. The light, God is light. When you're born again, you have God in Christ where? [In you] That's the light. Light. The fruit of the light in your life is in all believers.
Then in the center of the page, I put the word ' goodness' which serves to guard others from the adversary.
Then in the center of the page I put, ' and righteousness.' See, the fruit of the light in your life is in all believers, goodness, which serves to guard others from the adversary, and righteousness, the God given justification to every believer whereby that believer stands in the presence of God without any sense or consciousness of sin, guilt, or condemnation.
Then in the center of the page, I put ' and truth,' which will keep you from being deceived by the adversary and not fall into the error of having more than one God. That is the expanded and it' s just a tremendous Word.
Let me read it to you again. For the fruit of the light in your life is in every believer, goodness, which serves to guard others from the adversary, and righteousness, the God-given justification to every believer whereby that believer stands in the presence of God without any sense or consciousness of sin, guilt, or condemnation, and truth which will keep you from being deceived by the adversary and not to fall into the error of having more of having more than one God.
Then verse ten. Literal according to usage: Demonstrating what is well pleasing before God. Demonstrating what is well pleasing before God.
Then the expanded one: And thus by your walk, you continue to demonstrate that which is well pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ.
I think, Walter, I may be wrong on that word ' God' in that literal. I just see it here now. I have to double check that.
But here is the expanded one: And thus by your walk, you continue to demonstrate that which is well pleasing before and to our Lord Jesus Christ.
I do not know, Walter, why I would have gone with the word ' God' in verse ten. I don' t see it at all now. You have any light on that? Well.. .I don' t have the text work here with me to work it. So I'll have to check it later. ·
Walter: The Lord
Dr. Wierwille: Pardon?
Walter: It' s ' Lord' in the text.
Dr. Wierwille: It' s ' Lord?' That's what it ought to be. Walter, look.. .Demonstrating what is well pleasing before ' our' Lord or before ' the' Lord?
Walter: ' The ' Lord.
Dr. Wierwille: The Lord. That' s what we ought to put. Scratch ' God' and put ' the Lord.' I'm sorry I missed that. I just see it again. But that' s our Ministry.
Demonstrating what is well pleasing before the Lord. Okay.
Now verse eleven, literal: And have no participation with the bad fruit works of darkness, but rather reprove. That' s verse eleven.
The expanded one: And be not partaking, voluntarily associating, with those who have more than one God, their works are bad fruit of the dark one the Devil, but prefer to expose and bring them to the light of the truth that they are not believing rightly. Boy, what a tremendous thing.
You know verse 11, thus by your walk you continue to demonstrate that which is well pleasing before and to our Lord Jesus Christ and be not partaking, voluntarily associating, with those who have more than one God, their works are bad fruit of the dark one, the Devil, but prefer to expose and bring them to the light of the truth that they are not believing rightly .
Verse twelve, literal: For it is profanity even to talk about the things they do in worship in their mystery religion. That' s verse eleven... twelve.
The expanded one: For it is an... For it is an abomination even to mention the many gods and how they worship them in their mystery religion.
Verse thirteen, literal: For all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light and everything revealed is light.
Expanded of thirteen: For all the ways in which they worship their many gods are exposed by the light of the truth and manifest by the light.
Am I doing expanded or literal? [Expanded] I was already in verse 14 in my mind. I'd better come back to 13, huh? Trying to figure out how to get you into it.
Okay, we do the expanded one: For all the ways in which they worship their many gods, are exposed by the light of the truth.. .! gave you that didn' t I? [Yes]... and manifested by the light which brings everything to light.
Then we have here before me on this sheet, which will appear ultimately, is the one Walter gave you last week about The Expositor's Greek New Testament rendering of this verse, which I'm not going to give to you, but...I mean I'm going to read it to you, but I don' t expect you write it down. But this is... will be appearing and The Expositor' s Greek New Testament renders this verse 13 that I've just given you both literal and expanded as follows:
All these shameful things which are done by them in secret, when they are subjected to the open rebuke which Christians ought to give them are laid bare by the light of the Christian truth acting in their reproof so that the doers of them are made to see them in the odiousness of their real nature. For everything that is disclosed in its real colors ceases to be secret and becomes of the nature of light.
I think that' s a pretty good translation. Real thankful.
Again, I stand in utter amazement of the greatness of this chapter. And again, I would say I've learned perhaps more than any of the Corps students from working it along with the work that the Research Department did. I just never really knew that there was a whole chapter in here on just
' One God.' I just, I just.. .I knew 'One God,' but I never saw it in the greatness in which I'm seeing it now.
I thought I always understood, and did to a degree at least, that section that talks about wives submitting yourselves one to another, which will be coming up next time. But I understand it bigger than I ever saw it before because it relates itself to One God. That' s why a wife submits herself unto her husband because it' s... like there is only one God, you submit yourself to that One God as a believer. .. that' s why this will all just blow the lid right off the top of your stack when you really work it. It' s just, it's just unbelievable, honey.
Here it sets like a diamond and just basically nobody' s ever seen it. Because we' ve been so tied up with wrong teaching of the trinity and everything else, we just never saw the One God in here. Whole chapter at the apex of the revelation given to the Church deals with nothing but One God. Must have been pretty important.
That' s why Satan has blinded our eyes. He doesn't want us to see it. He doesn't want people to understand it, see. I'll show you later on how the greatest of all scholars missed the whole boat on the thing. It' s in here someplace coming up, see. Just never saw it.
Well, I'm in verse 14. King James says: Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Remember now that we just handled this 13th verse, the last part of it. It says, And manifested by the light which brings everything to light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light.
' Wherefore' is ' because of this.' Because of this. Because of this what? Because of this light which is God in Christ in you in every believer. Because of this light we' re to walk in it. And because of this it says ' we' re to wake up,' ' be aroused,' ' turn on the alarm.'
' Thou that sleepest' is ' you who are asleep on this thing.' If you ' re asleep on this, wake up. Wake up. And not only wake up, get up, arise. Do something about it. The ' arising' is used of people who are awake and then have the ability to get up. You know, no use saying ' get up' if you don' t first wake up, right? Try it some morning. [Laughter]
' From the dead' is literally ' from out of the house of the dead ones.' Then the Messiah, Christ, will be light to you. Shall give thee light. Will be light to you.
The literal according to usage of that verse is as follows: Wherefore it is said, Wake up sleeper. ..this is not my Corps girl that I like, ' Sleeper' ... and our Corps girl that I like to sing with. Wherefore it is said, Wake up sleeper and get up and out from the dead and Christ will be light to you.
See, if you' re asleep at this stuff, then somebody wakes you up, then you got to get up and get out from the dead. And if you do that, then Christ will be your what? Light. If you don' t, you just stay in what? Darkness. Worship three gods. God the father, god the son, god the holy ghost. Just ' god-ing' it all over the place.
Now the expanded one is just fantastic: Because of this light brought on the unfruitful works of darkness...it's ' brought on' the unfruitful. It' s ' exposed on.' It' s ' manifested on' because of this light which is ' brought on.'
Maybe if I put ' which is' in there, it would be better: Because of this light which is brought on the unfruitful works of darkness, the many gods worshipped in the mystery religion, it is plainly to be understood, ' Wake up man and get out of the house of the dead and Christ will be light to you. ' There it is.
Worship many gods in the mystery religion. It must be plainly understood. Wake up any of you that are in that kind of living , many gods. Wake up, man. and get yourself out of the house of the dead because those who have more than one God are abiding in the house of the dead. It' s stinky. It' s dead. Wake up and get up and out. And when you do this, then Christ will be your light. He cannot be your light as long as you believe there are three gods or three thousand. He is not your light.
Then verse 15. King James says: See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise.
This ' see then' could be real neat in the light of ' the light.' You know, the light. Once you get out, see. Then you see, right? Long as nobody has shown you that light, you' re still in the house of the dead. You never see. You're so absolutely convinced Jesus Christ is God, holy spirit is God, Mary is the mother of God, and I don't know what Jehoshaphat is. [Laughter] See. It' s just confusion. See.
It is an imperative command, this word. It means ' to really mentally discern, get sharp , people. In other words, ' pay close attention' is what it means, honey. Get your head into it...of how you ought to walk. ' That ye walk of how ye ought to walk.' That's the Aramaic.
Hebrew, you know, Hebraism of this thing is ' how to conduct your life' is what Thayer says.
This word ' circumspectly,' I think to most people means ' going in circles.' But it isn' t. It' s basically ' honorably.' It is used, the Greek word is used in relationship ' to climbing to the summit of a mountain peak.' It is so precise...taking one to the tip of the summit. A mountain climber would understand that. One wrong footing. .. whoo, down you go, right? That' s the accuracy of this word. It means ' exact.'
The word ' strictest' or ' straitest sect' in Acts 26, is this word, ' straitest sect' that he belonged to, the Pharisee' s, Paul. It' s the one where... who took Aquila and Priscilla home? Apollos. And he instructed them more perfectly. The word ' more perfectly' is this word. Sharp. Pointed. Right at the pinnacle of truth. Right at the top. It' s a................................. kids, it' s just a fantastic thing. Yeah.
Mohl says: It' s ' remembering the importance of details.' Ha, ha, ha. Isn' t that nice?
This word ' fools ' is ' unwise,' you know. Unwise fools. In my mind it' s being stupid. And, ' but as wise' is 'with applied knowledge with wisdom,' see.
The literal according to usage of verse 15 is as follows: Watch then that you walk with precise accuracy, not unwise, but wise.
Here's the expanded one: Be constantly alert then regarding how you walk or conduct yourself with great accuracy, not stupid, but as the wise believer walks.
Be constantly alert.. .it' s tremendous.... then, regarding how you walk or conduct yourself with great accuracy, not stupid, but as the wise believer walks.
Verse 16 in King James reads: Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
The word ' redeeming' is the word b-u-y, ' buy' meaning ' to buy,' ' buy out,' buying out,' ' to make wise use of every opportunity for doing good.' It is like an intense buying which exhausts every possibility available. It' s being a sharpie. It is like buying out somebody before it goes on public sale. You buy it all before it gets to the market. That' s a tremendous figure of speech, metonomy of adjunct. And it' s a tremendous truth in here. You' ll see it in the translations more so.
The word ' time ' is ' the opportune time,' ' the right-on time.'
' Days are evil ' again is a metonomy of adjunct and a figure of speech.
But here's the literal, verse16: Buying out at every opportunity because the days are evil.
Here's the expanded one: As to buying up every opportunity to get people out of worshipping more than one god like they do in the mystery religions because the times in which we live are evil because of the many gods worshipped. That ' s the greatness of that verse.
You buy up every opportunity to get people out of worshipping more than one God. You buy it up before it gets to the market place. You get them as quick as you teach them the Word. Hit them right then and there. Don' t wait for them to get back to church next Sunday, into their trinity believing preacher. Teach them. Every opportunity to get people out of worshipping more than one God like they do in the mystery religion. Because the times in which we live are evil because of the many gods worshipped. That you can back up with both the Greek and Aramaic text. Tremendous thing.
Verse 17, King James, Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. The word ' wherefore' in Aramaic is ' because of this,' or ' on account of this.'
' And be ye not' is an imperative. ' Don' t you be that way.'
' Unwise.' ' Stupid in the mind' is what it is. ' No smarts.' It' s a ' want of mental sanity and sobriety,' meaning ' senseless,' ' crazy.' And this used... this word is used in the wild orgies that they had at the Temple of Bacchus. This word ' unwise.' Ha ha. They were really sexing it up, weren't they? Had many gods. Screwing with all of them. Oh my. Whoredoms . That ' s why He uses it that way.
' But understanding ' is the emphatic contrast of it. ' Understanding ' means ' to comprehend thoroughly.' Like sunesis, two rivers flowing together and becoming one.
' Be not unwise, but understanding' is a pleonasm, which is a figure of speech.
The word ' will' is really ' intense desire.' Some of the Greek manuscripts have ' of God' rather than ' of the Lord. '
Here is the literal of 17: On account of this... On account of this, don' t be senseless, but understand the intense desire of God.
The expanded one: On account of these many gods worshipped don' t you be stupid and empty headed, but thoroughly comprehensive in your understanding what the intense desire of God is.
And then comes verse 18. King James. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with, or by pneuma hagion, dative case, spirit.
This ' be not' is again an imperative. The Research Department has put all the imperatives together for us. I think it' s from Ephesians 4:17 on. I have a copy in the back room. I told Walter this evening before I came in, that must be a part of the notes that will be ultimately available on Ephesians.
The word ' drunk ' of course, you know what that is, ' intoxicated.'
' Excess' is just ' lack of self-control,' ' intemperance.' It' s like staggering around. Is it...isn't it in Acts 19 where it talks about the riot at Diana of the Ephesians, where they didn't know for what reason they were there? Isn't that the essence in part of that? That' s the meaning of this word. It' s translated ' riot ' in Titus and ' riotous' in Luke.
The word ' be filled' is not only ' to be filled to capacity,' but ' filled to overflowing.' But you cannot overflow until you are first filled to capacity.
The literal according to usage of 18: And be not drunk with wine which is debauchery . And that word spelled d-e-b-a-u-c-h-e-r-y. Research Department , Aramaic.. .look at your Aramaic word.
Every debauchery of every kind...now, now, I'll give you the literal according to usage...which is debauchery. Then, ' but be filled with the spirit.' Keep it simple. Okay.
{And be not drunk with wine which is debauchery of every kind but be filled with the spirit.}
Now we go to the expanded one that will really clarify it for you: And be not intoxicated with the wine dedicated to the gods they worship.
Even in our culture today, wine is dedicated and only the priest partakes of it. Some of you have been there, your heads go like that [nodding heads]. The rest of you just sit there. It' s alright.
Even they take water and it has to be dedicated to be made holy. Listen to this: Be not intoxicated with the wine dedicated to the gods they worship. They dedicated wine to the gods that they worshipped and then everybody drank it, until they' re drunk.
Remember Acts? These are not drunk with new wine as ye suppose seeing it is but, what? Third hour of what? [The day] Ah, this stuff is illuminating. Dedicated to the gods they worship until they' re drunk and into debauchery of every kind.
But.. .in contrast .. .But be constantly full and overflowing with spirit, ha, ha, ha. Not only be full, but what? [Overflowing] Overflowing with what? [Spirit] And the overflowing is going to be a manifestation.
We go to verse 19, King James. Speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
In the Aramaic, the word ' psalms, songs, and singing ' all come from the same root. There' s a tremendous background study that the Research Department gave me along these lines that when you finally get all of this and you really work it in your own heart and life, it will help you greatly.
But this word ' speaking ' relates itself to you ' doing the action without knowing what you' re speaking.' That would have to be in tongues. Speaking to yourselves, to, or with yourself, which you and I know is speaking in tongues, but the. .. many of the outstanding Bible scholars did not believe in speaking in tongues. They didn't understanding this.
That's why Vincent says, This does not mean communicating with one' s self, but with one another. That is not true. I wrote next to it, ' no deal.'
Literally he says, this is Wuest, or Wuest, he says, Literally is speaking with yourself meaning with your fellow believers. Now that cannot be. Then words lose their meaning. If speaking with yourself means speaking to somebody else, then we've just lost it. Then horses are cows. Soup is apple butter. [Laughter] And peanuts are Cracker Jack.
Mohl says, It shows a mutual edification. And next to that I wrote ' no deal.' That's not true.
These ' songs.' It' s really interesting . Here we're back to Wuest again and here he' s right in what he says about the songs. Psalms. ' Psalms are songs to God.' Look at the accuracy of that one. He really doesn' t know what he saying, but he' s saying it right. Songs to God, or for God. Isn' t that beautiful? Love that stuff.
The word ' hymns' is to ' celebrate or worship with hymns.' When we speak in tongues, we do what? [Worship] Great truth.
Well, I don' t think there' s anything else in there I need to handle except to give you the literal which will bless your heart...of 19, literal according to usage: Speaking in tongues with yourself in psalms, and hymns of praise, and spiritual songs making a joyful song in your heart to the Lord.
This is the expanded one: Speaking in tongues with yourselves in songs to God worshipping and praising God.. .reminds me of Acts, doesn' t it? Praising God... worshipping and praising God in songs of the spirit by singing and singing in your heart to the Lord.
Verse 20: King James says, Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Aramaic is ' and be giving thanks.' When you' re speaking in tongues you will be giving what? [Thanks] That' s right. And of course it comes from the root of ' grace,' the word ' grace.'
' For all things' in the Aramaic is ' on behalf of every man.' That could be where the spirit makes intercession for the saints according to what? [Will of God] Will of God. Tremendous truth.
The words ' and the father,' ' God the Father,' in both the Aramaic and the Greek, they come at the end of the sentence.
So, I've handled it the following in the literal according to usage. Verse 20: Giving thanks all the time for every believer to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The expanded one: And keep giving gracious thanks on and in behalf of every believer in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. .. of our Lord .. .wait a minute... in the name of our Lord Jesus the Christ to God the Father.
Maybe I ought to read that again... And keep giving gracious thanks on and in behalf of every believer in the name of our Lord Jesus the Christ to God the Father.
That verse sure tells you again he couldn' t be God. Isn' t that something?
Now verse 21. King James. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
' Submitting yourselves' in the Aramaic is ' to be subject to.' And it' s the extra, extensive form of the verb ' to serve.' And thus it is 'to absolutely serve,' ' to be a slave absolutely,' ' a doulos absolutely.' That ' s this word, ' submitting yoursel f.' An absolute doulos in service.
Robertson says it' s an old military figure which means ' to line yourself up under.' The captain says, Jump, you jump. Sargent says, Right face, you do a left, huh? No. Up under. It is the true relationship of one believer to another believer, in general.
It means ' loving obedience under proper arrangement by deliberate decision of your own will.'
' In fear' is in the Aramaic 'in the love. ' And I've taught you before that in the King James, ' fear' is ' reverence , respect , awe.' But it' s interesting that Aramaic has the word ' love.'
And the word ' God' does not appear in most critical texts because it's the word ' Christ,' not ' God.'
So here's the literal of 21 according to usage: Absolutely be serving one another in the love of Christ. Absolutely be serving one another in the love of what? [Christ] Christ.
And this is the expanded one, and you ' ll like this: A slave lovingly, but absolutely obedient by his own deliberate decision of his will to each and every other believer in the same love wherewith Christ loved.
Now you just sit and relax while I read you the expanded ones and you' ll get the great impact of this ' One God.' I'll pick it up with verse eight of the last session:
A slave.. .now... verse eight. ..get my papers together here...
:8 For you were formerly in spiritual darkness, but now you' re light in the Lord. Therefore walk in like manner as he who is the light walked and as children of light, God.
:9 For the fruit of the light in your life is in every believer. Goodness, which serves to guard others from the adversary. And righteousness, the God given justification to every believer whereby that believer stands in the presence of God without any sense or consciousness of sin, guilt or condemnation. And truth which will keep you from being deceived by the adversary and not to fall into error of having more than one God.
:10 And thus by your walk , you continue to demonstrate that which is well pleasing before and to our Lord Jesus Christ.
:11 And be not partaking, voluntarily associating with those who have more than one God. Their works are bad fruit of the dark one, the Devil. But prefer to expose and bring them to the light of the truth that they are not believing rightly.
:12 For it' s an abomination even to mention the many gods and how they worship them in their mystery religion.
:13 For all the ways in which they worship their many gods are exposed by the light of the truth and manifested by the light which brings everything to light.
:14 Because of this light, which has brought on the unfruitful works of darkness, the many gods worshipped in the mystery religion, it is plainly to be understood. Wake up, man. And get out of the house of the dead and Christ will be light to you.
:15 Be constantly alert then, regarding how you walk or conduct yourself with great accuracy ; not stupid, but as the wise believer walks as to buying up every opportunity to get people out of worshipping more than one God, like they do in the mystery religions.
:16 Because the times in which we live are evil because of the many gods worshipped.
:17 On account of these many gods worshipped, don't you be stupid and empty headed, but thoroughly comprehensive in your understanding what the intense desire of God is.
:18 And be not intoxicated with the wine dedicated to the gods they worship until they' re drunk and into debauchery of every kind. But be constantly full and overflowing with the spirit.
:19 Speaking in tongues with yourselves in songs to God, worshipping and praising God in songs of the spirit by singing and singing in your heart to the Lord.
:20 And keep giving gracious thanks on and in behalf of every believer in the name of our Lord Jesus the Christ to God the Father.
:21 A slave lovingly , but absolutely obedient by his own deliberate decision of his will to each and every other believer in the same love wherewith Christ loved.
Those are the verses for tonight. Okay. God Bless. I love you.