Sermon Tone Analysis

Summary

3

Why Ephesians is such a strategic letter: Balance, Breadth, and Location

The Flow and Organization of Ephesians

Consider the location of this chapter and the flow of the book thus far.

I. Introduction (1:1–14)

A. Greetings (1:1–2)

B. Spiritual blessings in Christ (1:3–14)

II.

Paul’s Prayer of Thanksgiving (1:15–23)

III.

Salvation by Grace through Faith (2:1–10)

A. Hopelessness and helplessness without Christ (2:1–3)

B. Hope in Christ (2:4–10)

IV.

Unity and Peace of Christ (2:11–22)

A. Unity of Christ’s people (2:11–15)

B. Peace with God (2:16–18)

C. Implications of Christ’s peace (2:19–22)

V. Revelation of the Gospel Mystery (3:1–13)

A. Paul’s apostolic ministry (3:1–7)

B. The mystery and wisdom (3:8–13)

VI.

Paul’s Prayer for Strength and Insight (3:14–21)

VII.

Unity of the Body of Christ (4:1–16)

I. Introduction (1:1–14)

A. Greetings (1:1–2)

B. Spiritual blessings in Christ (1:3–14)

II.

Paul’s Prayer of Thanksgiving (1:15–23)

III.

Salvation by Grace through Faith (2:1–10)

A. Hopelessness and helplessness without Christ (2:1–3)

B. Hope in Christ (2:4–10)

IV.

Unity and Peace of Christ (2:11–22)

A. Unity of Christ’s people (2:11–15)

B. Peace with God (2:16–18)

C. Implications of Christ’s peace (2:19–22)

V. Revelation of the Gospel Mystery (3:1–13)

A. Paul’s unique apostolic ministry (3:1–7)

B. The mystery of the Gospel and the wisdom through the church (3:8–13)

VI.

Paul’s Prayer for Strength and Insight (3:14–21)

VII.

Unity of the Body of Christ (4:1–32)

A. Exhortation to unity (4:1–6)

B. The different gifts (4:7–10)

Exposition

Ephesians 4

This opening verse is the new theme and transition to the 2nd half of the letter to the Ephesians.

Paul has laid out in short “who God is ad what He’s done” and now he is moving on to “who you are and what you should do” as a result.

Simply put, you should live a life that is totally surrendered and totally shaped by the incredible reality that YOU WERE CALLED BY GOD.

He loved you so deeply that He sent His son to live the life humans were meant to live, die the death humans deserved to die, and rose again offering His perfect sacrifice for you.

Then He called you by name.

That is a great gift.

And it demands a total surrendering of everything else.

We no longer call the shots.

We surrender to the King who died to purchase our hopeless debts and make us NOT JUST HIS SERVANT, NOT EVEN JUST HIS FRIEND, but HIS OWN CHILD.

Ephesians 4:2

Ephesians 4:2-4

Ephesians 4:2-6

This forms the centerpiece of living a life worthy of our calling in this particular section.

It is to be totally surrendered to God and therefore completely reoriented around His commands.

So what are His commands?

Matthew 22:

So this means that we are now willing to totally reorient our lives around what truly loves others out of reverence for Christ.

So this means that we are now willing to totally reorient our lives around what truly loves others and seeks a bond of loving unity in all things out of love and reverence for Christ.

So this means that we are now willing to totally reorient our lives around what truly loves others and seeks a bond of loving unity in all things out of love and reverence for Christ.

Just take a look at each of those statements:

HUMILITY:

Unity always begins with humility.

Out of humility can come true gentleness.

Out of true humility we can be patient with one another.

And that true humility comes out of...

(1) a knowledge of our deep deep brokenness, weakness, and need for Christ along with...

(2) a knowledge that we are deeply loved by Christ in His great kindness.

We make allowance for each other’s faults because...

(1) We have faults

(2) God loved us and forgave our faults by sheer mercy

Therefore, we pass the same along to others… no exceptions.

UNITY

Ephesians 4:

This forms the basis of what I believe God put on my heart to speak.

3 The apostle has urged his readers to display humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love since they are necessary to achieve the aim of the exhortation: Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Without these graces which are essential to their life together, they would have no hope of maintaining the unity of the Spirit, a unity in the body of Christ about which Paul is deeply concerned.

This second participial clause (‘making every effort …’) is stylistically parallel to the previous one, and also functions as an imperative.26

Paul’s appeal is urgent and cannot be easily translated into English.

The verb he uses has an element of haste, urgency, or even a sense of crisis to it,27 and has been rendered by Barth as: ‘Yours is the initiative!

Do it now!’28

Further, the exhortation is an unusual one.

The church’s unity is described as the unity of the Spirit,29 which signifies a unity that God’s Spirit creates30 and therefore not the readers’ own achievement, yet they are exhorted urgently to maintain31 it.

God has inaugurated this unity in Christ, through the events described in Ephesians 2:11–22, as a result of which believers, Jew and Gentile together, have access to God ‘in one Spirit’ (2:18)

ONE:

“Lord:” (κύριος, kyrios) Jesus Christ (King Jesus Messiah)

“Faith:” (πίστις, pistis) Way of Life (proceeding from Belief in the Gospel)

TOTC Pr

“Baptism” (βάπτισμα· baptisma) Immersion/Cleansing/Initiation to allegiance and belonging

κύριος, ου, ὁ owner, master, lord; Lord κυριακός, 3 kyriakos belonging to the Lord* 1. Occurences in the NT — 2. Meaning — 3. Secular usage — 4. Voc.

κύριε used of Jesus — 5. Yahweh / God as κύριος in fixed expressions — 6.