OUR UNITY IN CHRIST - MYSTERY AND IMPLICATIONS

-

My Ephesians

God’s grand plan is to bring all things together in Christ, whether things in Heaven or on earth, whether Jews or Gentiles. It was Paul’s prayer therefore that those who were already in Christ, believers,  would appreciate that they have the greatest estate through time and eternity, and realize what great calling they have received to be early partakers with God in the unfolding Divine scheme.

The revelation of God’s grand plan (mystery) was hidden from previous generations and even the “authorities in heaven” (2:5, 10), and is now being made manifest through the church.

In view of the above, believers are to walk in compassion (not condemnation) towards unbelievers, working to bring them in, seeing that they were themselves unbelievers a short while ago. Also, believing Gentiles should not consider themselves different from or opposed to believing Jews, since Christ preached peace to either group (2:17), and both have received the same Holy Spirit. Furthermore, believers’ differing gifts should make them complimentary and not contradictory of one another in building and preserving the church (4:16)

Walking in the light of being dearly loved children of God who ought to imitate their Father, even Gentiles should end up living lives that fulfill the moral aspects of the Mosaic law: They refrain from lying, anger (murder), stealing, rotten and malicious talk, sexual immorality, greed, indeed all wickedness (4:13). Rather, they expose all works of darkness, live and communicate with one another in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, walk in all humility and equip themselves to snatch souls from the dark world.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Story of Redemption as told through Israel

-
One very useful way of "unlocking" the Bible is to check how the Old Testament tells the story of the New Testament. After all the OT is said to be a shadow of the NT (Col 2:17, Heb 10:1). What would be our take on the following? Where do the realities of these shadows occur in the NT? 1. Journey to Egypt 2. Slaves to Pharaoh 3. The “futility” of all the plagues but one to weaken Pharaoh's grip 4. The Passover Lamb 5. Deaths of the firstborns that broke Pharaoh's grip 6. Pharaoh's pursuit 7. The Red Sea 8. The Desert 9. Pillar of Fire and Cloud 10. Manna 11. The Attacks in the Desert 12. The Apostasy and Punishments 13. The Midian Mix and the Grumblings 14. The Bronze serpent 15. Jordan 16. Manna stops 17. Warfare in Canaan 18. The Law 19. The Ark 20. The Tabernacle 21. The Gradual Take over If you really want to build people up, do not shy away from doing this. God contracted Israel mainly for the purpose of telling this story, to make salvation meaningful ...
Read more

BIBLE THROWBACK

-
The Bible explains itself. The Lord Jesus and the writers of the New Testament books and letters were proven by the Old Testament Scripture (OT). Their hearers and readers generally knew the OT context of their statements. Here are five key samples:   "FISHERS OF MEN" THROWBACK ““Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers. “Behold, I will send for many FISHERMEN,” says the LORD, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” Jeremiah 16:14-16 NKJV “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called P...
Read more

WE CAME TO PREACH CHRIST

-
*WE CAME TO PREACH* We came to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of our hearers asked us, "What shall we do to be saved from the wrath of God reserved for sinners?" We told them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and God will forgive them, give them power to serve Him and to fulfil the desires of the flesh no more. Before they could make a move one young guy shouted loudly, "Hell no! You've got it all wrong. Don't start with REPENT. How can these sinners stop sinning without the power of God transforming them FIRST?" We said, "But that is what the Lord Jesus preached in Matthew 4:17, and asked us in Luke 24:47 to preach". By this time, the people who asked what to do had started dispersing ... This guy continued, "By repent, Jesus didn't mean stop sinning, or regret whatever wrong you have done, because He knows you have no capacity to do that. He just meant change your mind about Him. In Greek it's cal...
Read more