Continuing with
Ephesians 4:17, what does the word “Gentiles” mean in this context (see
previous post)? Does it mean the same as it does in Ephesians 2:11-14? “Therefore,
remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh…that you were at that
time separate from Christ…but now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off
have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who
made both [Jew and Gentile] into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing
wall.”
In other words,
is Paul including the Christian Gentiles who he is writing to, those who are
the Temple of God (Eph. 2:17 – 22), in the group of Gentiles who are walking, “in
the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded
from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the
hardness of their heart, and they, having become callous, have given themselves
over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness”
(Eph. 4:17 – 19).
Would the Christian
Gentiles hearing Paul’s letter read have thought, “He’s talking about us”? Or
would they have thought, “He is talking about the way we used to be before we
were given new life in Jesus Christ. Because we are now the Temple of God, the
People of God, the elect of God, holy and blameless (chapters 1 and 2) in
Christ, we have been given a new Way of Life; Paul is writing about the peoples
of the world right now (4:17ff), and he is reminding us that we are to “no
longer walk as the peoples (Gentiles, ethnic groups, nations) walk, we are no
longer to go on walkabout with them.”
Why is this
important? Why does this matter today?
It matters because
the Church is not the world and the world is not the Church; we are to be a
City set on a hill, the Light of the world in Christ, and we are not to live as
the world lives – we are, in Jesus Christ, to be distinct from the peoples and
nations of the world. As we work through Ephesians 4:17 – 5:21 I hope we will
see the glaring differences between the People of God and those who live
according to the spirit of the age, “the prince of the power of the air,”
(2:2).
Much preaching
and teaching assumes there is no difference between the Church and the world. We
have been seduced by materialism, politics, economics, earthly nationalism,
entertainment, excessive sports, sensualism, gluttony, the academy, religious
showmanship, spin and deceit, vitriol and anger, sloth, and profanity – I am
sure you can add to this list. (Ponder 1
John 2:15 – 17).
While Paul spends
1:1 – 4:16 establishing that we are the People of God from eternity past, and
sharing the Grand Plan of God that Jews and Gentles come to be One People in
Christ (2:13; 3:4 – 8), he also makes a foundational point in 2:1 – 3 that
serves as both a cardinal truth regarding our redemption in Christ, and as a
backdrop to 4:17ff:
“And you were
dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked
[here is that world “walk” again] according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that
is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all
formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, even as
the rest [of humanity].”
Thank God that what
follows in Chapter 2 is that we have been “made alive” together in Christ, that
we are no longer dead in our sins, and that we have been incorporated into the
People of God, the Temple of the Living God.
There are really
only two kinds of people on earth, those who are alive in Christ and those who are
dead in trespasses and sins. Or we might say, those who live in Christ and
those who live in the world. Or those who draw their life from Christ, and
those who draw their life from the world.
Therefore, when
Paul uses the term “Gentiles” in Ephesians 4:17 he is referring to the unregenerate
peoples of the world, for once again, there are only two types of people on
the planet, those who are spiritually alive in Jesus Christ and those who are
dead in their trespasses and sins.
Furthermore, if
we are not living in this awareness then we are not living with a Biblical
understanding of who we are in Christ, along with our mission, and the
condition of those who remain in the world.
Let’s be clear
about this, those who are alive in Jesus Christ, who are His disciples, are
not of the world. Can we hear the words of our Lord Jesus?
“If the world
hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of
the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world,
but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” John
15:18 – 19.
The Apostle John
writes, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater
is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world;
therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are
from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not
listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” 1
John 4:4 – 6.
Is this the way
we think and live? Is this the language we use in our congregations and small
groups? If we do not see this then we will gloss over what follows Ephesians 4:17
– because we will not have eyes to see; our vision will be dimmed by what we
think is Christianity, and it is a Christianity that is without distinction
from the world, without obedience to Jesus Christ, without a sense of holiness
and purity and their opposite.
O dear friends,
when we fail to see the distinction between the
City of God and the city of man, between the Kingdom of God and the
kingdoms of this world, we will be seduced into ungodly alliances in politics,
in earthly nationalism, in entertainment, in economics, in education, in
sports, in business…in every conceivable aspect of life.
And sadly, so
very sadly, we will offer our children to the world, and the next generation,
and the next generation. The slippery slope has shot us into the abyss – and we
are so accustomed to darkness that we don’t even know it.
Dare we gloss
over Ephesians 4:17 – 5:21?
Dare I?
Dare you?
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