Latin-American Reformed Seminary Ephesians

May 2018

Lecture 9
Ephesians 4: 17-32

Intro

- We have now reached

o What is, perhaps
 The most important
 Passage
o In this letter.

- As we have noted
o Several times
 During this series,
 This letter
o Is a letter
 Of two halves.
o In the first
 Half
 (In the first three chapters)
o The Apostle
 Gives one of the
most beautiful
descriptions
 Of the
Gospel ever
written.
- He brings us face-to-face
o With the wonders of the Gospel
 Showing us
 Both the dire depths
o Of our sin

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 And the exalted heights

o Of God’s love for us in
Christ.
- He confronts us
o With the almost unbelievable
 Riches
 Of the salvation
o That we have in Christ.
- In those first three chapters
o Paul gives us a
 Literally
 Wonder-full
o Description of the Gospel,
o And how God,
 Full of grace and
mercy
 Takes sin-
deadened
rebels,
 And
redeems
them, and
adopts
them and
gives them
 Every
spiritual
blessing in
the
heavenly
places.

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- It is magnificent.

- But as we have noted

o Paul does this
o He writes those chapters
 Not so that we might simply
 Intellectually understand our
salvation.
- He wants us to do that…
o He wants us to gaze into the gospel
 And behold more and more of its riches.
o But he also does it
 So that we
 Might understand better
o How all of this drives and
informs
 Our lives.
- Paul wants his readers
o To understand
 Just how magnificent this Gospel is
 So that we understand just how
radical this Gospel is,
o And therefore just how
thorough
 The consequences
of that Gospel are.

- And so
o With ch. 4
 He brings all the doctrine

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 Of the first three chapters

o To bear
 On the lives of his
readers,

- And,
o He has shown us,
 That first and foremost
 This Gospel
o Must, necessarily
 Manifest itself
 In a humble
life,
 That seeks
the welfare
of its
neighbor.

- If we understand
o Ephesians 1 and 2
 And all that we have received from God
 Through Christ,
o Then we can never
 Put ourselves first.
 When we understand
 All that we have received from God
 And when we understand
o Just how much we didn’t
deserve any of it,
o Then we are compelled
 To live a life of profound humility.

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- But from that broad, foundational, paradigm-setting ethic

o Paul has narrowed in to apply it
 To how we understand our gifts,
 (he’ll do that for the rest of the
letter,
o Narrowing in and focusing
more and more on how this
Gospel-driven humility
ethic applies in various
situations)

- That general ethic of humility

o Bears down
 On how we understand our gifts
 Even/especially
o If we have been given
prominent gifts
 That place in
positions of honor.

- And,
o Here
 With verse 17
 Paul continues
o To narrow his focus.

- And here
o With verse 17
 Paul now applies this

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 To how we relate
o To the culture
 That surrounds us.

- Having dealt
o First and foremost
 With how this informs and transforms
 Life within the church,
o Paul now applies
 The Gospel
 To how we understand
o Our relationship to the
culture
 That surrounds us.

- And he begins
o By reminding his readers
 Of the fundamental nature and dynamic
 Of non-Christian worldviews.

- What we get to here

o Is really
 One of the most
 Profound critiques
o And distinctions
 Between how
 A Christian
views the
world
 And now a
non-

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Christian
views the
world.
- In this passage,
o In these verses
 In ch. 4
 Paul beautifully
o Gets down to the very
substance
 Of how we view the
world,
 And reveals
to us
 Just how
radically
different
 The way
the
Christian
views the
world
 Is from the
way the
non-
Christian
views the
world.

I. What does it say?

- And he begins
o By describing

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 The worldview
 Of the non-Christian
o Who he refers to here
 Simply as
 The
“Gentiles”.
- And the picture
o That Paul paints of the Gentiles
 Of how non-Christians view the world
 In verses 17 through 19
 Is, really, pretty bleak.

- Paul says
o Essentially
 That the non-Christian world
 Is driven and shaped
o By a fundamental blindness
 To the things of
God
 That binds
them to
what can
be
discerned
by the
senses
 And
nothing
more.

- Look at what he says

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o “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you

must no longer walk as the Gentiles do”
 “Walk” here is being used to describe
 The pattern of life
o The trajectory and shape of
life
 (the same sense in
which he used it in
v. 1 of ch. 4
 In which he
commanded us to
walk in a manner
worthy of the
calling to which we
have been called)

o So how do the Gentiles walk?

 What are their lives characterized by?
 What is the shape and trajectory of their
lives?
 It is one that is driven by
 A fundamental futility of the mind:
o (v. 18) “They are darkened
in their understand,
alienated from the life of
God because of the
ignorance that is in them,
due to their harness of
heart. They have become
callous and have given
themselves up to

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sensuality, greedy to
practice every kind of
impurity.”
- Paul describes
o The non-Christian
 As captive to their senses,
 Only able to understand themselves
o And their place in this world
 By what they can
see and hear and
feel and taste and
touch,
o With the result
 That they pursue
 A life of debauchery and depravity.

- Now,
o We might read that and think
 “hold on, Paul,
 That is a rather harsh assessment.”

o After all
 I think we all know
 Non-Christians
o Who are upright and noble.
 We all know
o “virtuous people
 Who are not
Christians.
o I think if we are honest
 We all can think of some

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 People who aren’t Christians

o But whose lives and
characters
 Are better than
some of the
Christians we have
known.
- So,
o What’s going on?
 Well,
 First, we know that Paul
o Has not just gotten carried
away,
 Into careless
rhetoric:
 Our
knowledge
of the
integrity of
Scripture
means that
we know
 That Paul is
not just
getting
carried
away
 And saying
something
that is not
true.

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 (Scripture is
inerrent
(i.e. it does
not have
any
mistakes),
and it is
infallible
(i.e. it does
not
mislead)
 And we know
o That Paul is not just
painting
 With an overly
broad brush
 Either.
o Simply from what we have
seen of this letter
 Already
 We know
that it is a
carefully
considered
letter.
o Yes, Paul may get caught up
in the emotion
 Of the doctrine that
he is explaining and
applying here

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 Like at the
beginning
of ch. 3
o But he is never careless.
 His emotion may
get in the way of his
outline
 But its clear he has
an outline:
 He is
writing this
carefully to
make a
precise
point.
- So,
o How does that reconcile
 With what we have here?
- Well,
o I think the best way
 To understand
 What we have here is that
o Paul is using this language
 Not to consign all
non-Christians
 To one
category of
depraved,
outrageous
sinner,
o But to unveil for us

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 The motivations of
the heart
 That drive
their lives.
- (It’s important here
o To keep in mind
 The difference between
 Total Depravity and Absolute
Depravity
o Absolute Depravity says
that we are as bad as can
possible be.
 That is clearly
untrue.
 God, in His grace,
restrains our sin
 So that there are
moral non-
Christians.
o But what Paul is talking about here
 Is Total Depravity
 The idea
o That there is not a part of
our being
 That has not been
stained by sin.
 Our bodies have
been –
 It is why we
degenerate
and die.

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 But so have our

morals, and our
intellects, and our
reasoning.
 Every part of us
 Has been tainted and affected by
sin.
o That’s what Paul is talking
about here.
 He is not saying
 That every non-
Christian is
outrageously
immoral.

o What he is saying
 Is that every non-Christian
 Has been so bound
o So blinded by sin
 That they are
confined
 To the
things of
the earth,
 To the
realm of
the senses.)

- There is a logic to what Paul says here

o That is
 Perhaps best seen

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 If we read verse backwards:

- He says that the non-Christian/Gentile has a fundamental
o Hardness of heart which leads to an
 Ignorance which involves being
 Alienated from the life of God which
leads to their being
o Darkened in their
understanding
o And the result
 V. 19
 Is that they become
o Callous and
 Given up to
sensuality and thus
 Greedy to
practice
every kind
of impurity.
- You see what he is saying?

o He is not saying
 That everyone who is not a Christian
 Is an outrageous moral degenerate.

o He is saying
 That everyone who is not a Christian
 Has been so blinded by sin
o To the things of God
 That they can only
live in the sphere of
the sensual:

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 That is the
sphere of
things
discerned
by the
senses.

- And so
o What that means
 is that the non-Christian
 is confined
o to the here and now
 when it comes to
their understanding
of the world and
their place in it.

- Yes,
o They may cover it
 With religious language
 At times,
o But when you get down to it
 Paul is saying
 Their conduct
o Is fundamentally driven and
directed
 By what can be
seen and heard
 Tasted and
touched.

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- We see it around ourselves –

o You ask most people
 What is a good life:
 And they will probably define it in
terms of earthly happiness.
o In our culture that often
includes some amount of
wealth –
 It is seen almost as
a right to be able to
buy what we want,
when we want –
 The credit-card
business is more or
less built on that
understanding.
o Or, if you ask people
 What is your greatest hope for your
children,
 They will often say something like
o “I just want them to be
happy.”
- It’s an earthly understanding of life.
o That success in life
 Is measured
 By our experiences here.

o And what that means

 Is that morality is relative.
 If a social standard
o No longer means happiness

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 For a significant
portion of people,
 Then it
should be
adjusted.
 We see it in the ongoing sexual revolution
 That is founded upon the
understanding
o That earthly happiness is
the greatest good,
 And so we should
just let people do
what makes them
happy.
 A life driven
by our
senses.
- Paul says here
o In the latter half of ch. 4
 If you want to know
 What directs
o The non-Christian
 Way of looking at
the world,
 Is the
senses.

- He says that the non-Christian/Gentile has a fundamental

o Hardness of heart which leads to an
 Ignorance which involves being

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 Alienated from the life of God which

leads to their being
o Darkened in their
understanding
o And the result
 V. 19
 Is that they become
o Callous and
 Given up to
sensuality and thus
 Greedy to
practice
every kind
of impurity.

- It is a worldview, Paul says,

o That stems
 From a mind darkened by sin
 And blinded to the transcendent.

- Despite its claim

o To be flowing out of an
 Enlightenment
 It is actually
o Being derived from a
profound blindness.

- It is a worldview
o That flows from a sin-induced
 Ignorance and hardness of heart.

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- But, (and this is Paul’s point here)

o As verse 20 says,
 It is essential
 That Christians understand
o That is not how we
understand life.

- And Paul is emphatic about this.

o Notice how he draws his readers in here
o With the question in verse 21:
 “But that is not the way you learned Christ!
– assuming that you have heard about him
and were taught in him”
 Paul is not suggesting that his
readers hadn’t heard about Jesus,
- Some commentators
o Have read that verse
 And thought
 That it must mean
o That Paul is writing this
letter
 To a group of
people
 That he
hasn’t met
yet.
o And that feeds into
 Speculation
 About who this letter was originally
written to.
- But I don’t think

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o That Paul is expressing a lack of familiarity

 With his readers in v. 21
 What is doing
o Is addressing his readers
directly
o And
 In the words of
C.F.D. Moule
 Calling
them “to
verify the
statement.’
(Moule)
- This is almost
o Paul’s literary way
 Of waking his readers up.
 Snapping his fingers
 Clapping his hands
o To see if they are paying
attention.

- The point that he is making here

o Is so crucial
 For how his readers
 Understand their place in the world
o Over and against
 How the Gentiles,
the pagans, the
non-Christians
understand their
place in the world,

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o That he wants to make sure

 That we are paying attention.
- He doesn’t want this the logic of this to escape his readers
o And so he invites them/us in
 To verify
 That if we have indeed learned
Christ,
o (which is the assumption
undergirding this letter:
that we, the readers are
Christians – that chs. 1 and
2 are true of us)
o He invites us in
 To verify that
 We have indeed learned Christ,
 So that we can
 Then see how
o Our lives
 In light of the
Gospel
 Are so
radically
different
from those
of the
world
around us.
o Paul wants us to connect
 The dots
o He wants us to follow his argument,
 Down from the

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 Exalted heights of the Gospel

o At the beginning of the
letter,
o Down through
 The general ethic
 Of Gospel-
driven
humility,
 To this point.
 To this
understanding
 That our
view of the
world
 Is
fundamen-
tally
different
 From that
of our non-
Christian
neighbor.
- And he wants us to see
o That it is fundamentally different
 Because our perspective
 Of life in this world
o Is fundamentally different.

- What Paul wants us to see

o Is that our lives
 Are not shaped and driven

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 By the here-and-now,
o By what can be discerned
by the senses,
o Our lives are shaped
 By the work of God
 Eternity past,
o Which has elected us to life
as the sons of God
 In Eternity future.

- You remember
o In ch. 1
 Paul emphasized
 That the benefits we receive
o Through Christ now
 Are the fruitions of
God’s work in
eternity past.
- Turn back with me there
o To ch. 1 v. 3
 “Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places,
 Even as he chose us in him before
the foundation of the world
o That we should be holy and
blameless before him.”

o Verse 5

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 “In love he predestined us for adoption as

sons through Jesus Christ
 According the purpose of his will,
o To the praise of his glorious
grace,
 With which he has
blessed us in the
beloved.”
o Verse 11
 “In [Christ] we have obtained an
inheritance, having been predestined
according to the purpose of him who works
all things according to the counsel of his
will.”

- Why is Paul being such a Calvinist about this?

o Because it is vitally important
 For how we understand
 Our Christian identities.

- As Paul meditated
o On the wonder
 Of salvation,
 He drove home
o That we have absolutely no
claim to any part
 Of that salvation
 Because the whole
thing was
determined by the

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will of God in
eternity past.
- Paul wants us to see
o The beauty of election
 The beauty of predestination.
 From all eternity
o God has chosen you
Christian
 To be his child.
o Because you were better
than anyone else?
 No.
o Because He saw in you
 Something worth
affirming?
o Because He saw your future
faith in Christ?
 No.
o The beauty of election
 Lies in the fact
 That we were languishing
o In our utter unlovability
o And yet God
 Simply because it
was (v. 5) according
to the purpose of
his will
 Set His
affections
on us

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 And called
us to
Himself.

- R.C. Sproul
o “Paul says explicitly that the sole ground of God’s
predestinating love is His own good pleasure …, not
anything the elect have done or will do”
o It was simply His own good pleasure.
 It pleased Him.
 That was all.

- And here
o Paul shows us
 How that is
 Intensely practical,
 Fundamental for how we
understand ourselves
o And our place in this world.
o This isn’t abstract theology
 This is intensely practical and profoundly
consequential –
 What Paul wants us to see here is that
 We don’t just live in the context of
the here and now
 We don’t just live in the realm of
the sensual:
o Our identities are wrapped
up and defined by
 The act of God in all
eternity.

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- What Paul is saying

o Is that Christians are an
 Other-worldly people,
 Shaped and defined by spiritual
realities
o Not physical ones.

o Our union with God

 By His grace
 Shown to us in Christ
o Is the very definition
 Of who we are.

- And the great consequence

o (Verse 22)
 Is that we then
 Consciously and intentionally
o Put off the old self
 Which belongs that
former way of life,
 Corrupted by its
deceitful desires
 (desires
that
promised
satisfaction
and
contentme
nt and joy

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and
security;
 Desires that
promised
salvation,
 But never
delivered)
o We consciously and
intentionally put that away
o And we put on the new self,
 V. 24
 Created after the
likeness of God in
true righteousness
and holiness.

- The image that Paul uses there is that of changing clothes:

o We take off the old, filthy, frayed, inadequate
clothes
 And we put on new, righteous and holy
ones
 We exchange our old
o Earth-bound identities
o For ones
 That are shaped
and driven by the
salvation that we
have received from
God in Christ
 A salvation
that was

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planned in
eternity
past,
o And in that way we find our humanity restored.

- You see
o Sin debases us
o It animalizes us.
o Animals live
 In the world of the senses.
 It’s all they know.
 What they can hear and see and
feel and taste and touch.
o It’s all they know.
o And sin
 Brings us down to the level of the animals,
 And in doing so
o It degrades that image of
God
 That was uniquely
applied to
humanity.
o But when we learn Christ
 When we become Christians
 We put away that corrupted,
debased, animalized
o Old man.
 And we put on the new self,
 Created after the likeness of God.
o We bear the family likeness

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 And our
righteousness and
holiness is restored.
- We are elevated
o From the realm of the senses
 To the realm of the eternal.

II. What does it mean?

- And you understand
o This is so important
 Because it is
 What drives
o And underpins
 The Christian ethic
 That Paul is
promoting here.

- Paul is describing a way of life

o That surrenders
 The desire to be happy.
o The greatest goal
 Of the Christian life
 Is not happiness.
 It is the glorification of God
o And the good our neighbor.

- Think about it.

o Think about the call
 To radical humility
 At the beginning of this chapter –

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o That is not always going to

make you happy.
o It is an invitation to be
taken advantage of.
o It is a way of life
 That shrinks back
from the spotlight.
 And if we’re honest
 The spotlight feels
nice.
 It feels nice to be
honored for our
achievements,
 It feels nice to be
given honor and
credit.
 It feels nice to have
people applaud us
for our service.
 It makes us happy.
- But what Paul has been commending
o At the beginning of ch. 4
 Is a way of life
 That gives that up.
 A way of life
 That shrinks back,
 That is concerned simply
o With the glory of God
 And the building of
His children.
o It is a life

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 That says in the words of the hymn,

 “Riches I heed not, nor man’s
empty praise.”

o A life that is able to say

 With Paul at the end of Philippians,
 Philippians 4:11–13
o “I have learned in whatever
situation I am to be
content. I know how to be
brought low, and I know
how to abound. In any and
every circumstance, I have
learned the secret of facing
plenty and hunger,
abundance and need. I can
do all things through him
who strengthens me.”

- What will drive you on

o In a life of
 Self-denial
 That will, at times, compromise
your happiness?
o This will!
- This understanding that we don’t live in the realm of the
here-and-now.
o We live in an eternal context,
 that makes our happiness
 Not inconsequential,
 But not primary.

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o It’s not unimportant,

o It’s not the most important
thing.
 The most important
thing about you,
Christian, is that
God in eternity past
resolved to love
you.
 That’s the
fundament
al context
of your life:
 That you
have come
to know
Christ/learn
Christ
 Because
God in
eternity
past
resolved to
love you
and draw
you to
Himself.

Conc.

- You see

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Latin-American Reformed Seminary Ephesians
May 2018

o This book
 Has a radical thesis.

- What Paul wants his readers to understand

o Is that Christianity is no hobby.
 It can’t just be tacked on to our lives,
 Or given lip-service when we’re
feeling particularly spiritual.

- To understand the Gospel

o Is to, literally, be given a new life.
 The old has gone,
 The new has come.
o It changes our ethics, our
ambitions, our hopes, our
dreams, our relationships,
our work, everything
 Changed by our
salvation.
- And what Paul wants us to understand
o Is that we won’t truly grasp what that means
 Or be able to apply it
 In a world of temptation
 A world that is filled with
o Plausible arguments (to use
his phrase from Colossians)
 Unless we understand
 What we have received
o From God in Christ.
- And so
o The most important thing

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Latin-American Reformed Seminary Ephesians
May 2018

 That you can do

 As you pursue a life of holiness,
 Is come back again and again
o To Ephesians 1 and 2
 And remember
 And beat in to your
head continually
 That you
are a
debtor to
mercy
alone.

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