Author: jwm

We live in a sadly war-torn world. Ultimate resolution will come, not by treaties or manipulation, not by missiles, bombs, and drones, but, according to Ephesians 2:11–18, by Christ preaching peace.

Christ is your peace. He destroyed the dividing wall of hostility. Christ destroyed the barrier, the wall of hostility which separated Jews and Gentiles. God was teaching his people that they were different from their pagan neighbors. Christ abolished the law with its commandments and regulations. Paul is not teaching that the Ten Commandments are irrelevant to believers today. Rather, he seems to be thinking of the details of the ceremonial regulation that made it impossible for Jews to have fellowship with Gentiles, without becoming ceremonially unclean. The reason for those ceremonial regulations continues—God’s people are different from the world around them. Christ abolished this in his flesh. Paul has in mind the death of Christ on the cross, see “through the blood of Christ,” verse 13.

Continue reading “Christ Preaches Peace”

How are God’s work and your activity related in the matter of salvation? In Ephesians 2:8–10, Paul tells you that you are saved by grace through faith, but God’s purpose, as he works in you, is for you to do good works.

Your salvation is by grace through faith. God, not you, receives the credit for your salvation. Paul began this chapter on a negative note, describing us as being dead in sin, unable to initiate our salvation, being enemies of God, and walking in disobedience. That led to a focus on what God has done in raising us with Christ and seating us with him in the heavenlies. Now he repeats for emphasis, reminding you in verse 8 (as he did in verse 5) that it is by grace that you have been saved. Salvation means deliverance from the guilt, condemnation, and enslaving power of sin. Grace is God’s free, undeserved gift. If we were dead in sin, our salvation is indeed gracious. This time he adds that our salvation is by grace through faith. Faith is a gift of God (as we will see), but that does not mean that God believes for us. We are the ones who exercise faith. Faith is not passive–but at its heart it involves receiving and resting upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation, see the Westminster Confesion if Faith 14.2. Salvation is 100% God’s work. Faith is instrumental. We are saved through faith, not on the basis of faith.

Continue reading “By Grace through Faith”

We marvel at stories of someone who was at the brink of death and was brought back. In Epheisans 2:1–7, Paul tells you that something even more wonderful has happened to you, if you trust in Christ.

Remember that you were dead in sin. When you were dead, you lived in sin. Your natural state is one of death—not physically, but you are lifeless in your relationship with God, and as unable to initiate a correction of that as someone who is dead. The theological term we use to describe this is “total depravity.” When you were dead, you lived in transgression and sin. “Living in sin” is not limited to sexual immorality, but means living a life outside of the bounds of God’s will, contrary to God’s law. Paul’s language of “walking” in sin describes a life which, step by step, rebels against God, see Psalm 1. God is faithful to his covenant. But we, by nature, are covenant-breakers, rebels against God. Notice that Paul speaks not only of “you” in verse 1, but also of “all of us” in verse 3. None of us are off the hook. By nature we tend to lead misguided lives, following the ruler of the kingdom of the air (a description of Satan). There is no neutrality. You cannot simply ignore God. Total depravity does not mean absolute depravity. Not every unbeliever is a Stalin or an Adolph Hitler. Your total depravity is part of the problem of sin that affects you from birth and even before, Psalm 51:5. We come by sin naturally. The problem has a long history. It traces back to our first parents, to their first sin, the guilt of which is imputed to us, Romans 5:12, and the corruption of which permeates us. (Don’t forget that your salvation flows from the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to you.)

Continue reading “God Made Us Alive!”

What do you need when you live in a culture that largely opposes or ignores Christ? What do you need when you find yourself discouraged with your own growth in gace, you own progress in the Christian life? What do you need when you are tempted to fall back into an ungodly way of living? Those may be relevant questions for you, but they were also questions for the church in Ephesus. For both them and you, it helps to have people praying for you. In Ephesians 1:15–23, Paul describes his prayer for the church in Ephesus. Paul may not be praying for you, but other believers are. At the heart of Paul’s prayer is Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead.

See with the eyes of your heart. Know the hope of your calling. Pray for the enlightening work of the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, verse 17. Yet his focus is not on himself, but on your Savior.

“The impact of the ‘enlightenment’ that Paul wishes for his audience is a little diminished in the modern world. Today we rarely experience life without street lamps or even the ambient light of a city affecting even rural areas. In Paul’s day, where torches or bonfires were the biggest lights available, normal illumination was provided by the tiny, flickering flames of lamps. Dep darkness was the norm at night. In such a world, Paul prays that God would cast his piercing spotlight for the Ephesians’ mind’s eyes and then would rise the messianic morning star in their hearts (2 Pet 1:9; cf. Amos 5:8; Matt 4:16; Acts 26:18; 2 Cor 4:6; Heb 10:32).”

S. M. Baugh, Ephesians, p. 118

Continue reading “Your Hope — Christ’s Resurrection”

Can a Christian find him or herself struggling and discouraged? How do you know that God has actually redeemed you, that you will ultimately be part of the new heavens and earth? In Ephesians 1:11–14 Paul tells you that God has given you a guarantee, a down payment — the Holy Spirit.

God has given you an inheritance. God works all things according to the counsel of his will.God works out everything. God has chosen you (or given you an inheritance), but that is part of a broader, sweeping, plan. Verse 11 looks back to verse 4. He works all things according to the purpose of his will. Paul’s emphasis is on God’s planning, ordaining, choosing, activity. Remember that verses 3–14 are interconnected! God’s plan, or decrees, are all-inclusive. Paul tells us God works out everything. Even seemingly insignificant details are included in God’s plan, Matthew 10:29, 30. That comforts you in an uncertain world.

“The truth of God’s omniipotence and independence from his creation stands in sharp contast with the old pagan beliefs of the Ephesian audience, for whom even Zeus, ‘the father of the gods and of men,’ bowed to the inevitable will of the inscrutable fates…. One of the more memorable examples of this was when Zeus held up the golden scales and sorrowfully acknowledged that the death of his hero, Hector of Troy, at the hand of Achilles was sealed by the fates (Homer, Il. 22.207–13).”

S. M. Baugh, Ephesians, p. 93

Our western culture may not talk about the fates, but many philosophers and scientists talk about a universe ruled by chance. Although even the sinful acts of men are included in what God purposes, God is not sinful! How can the wickedness on earth fit with the plan of a sovereign God? The arch-crime of history was the murder of the God-man, the Messiah. Men were responsible for what they did, but this was certainly part of God’s plan, Acts 2:23; 4:27, 28. Yet God is perfectly sinless, James 1:13.

Continue reading “God’s Down Payment on Your Inheritance”