Sermon Tone Analysis

*/Ephesians 4:1-6/*

 

            Chapters 4-6 introduce the practical section of Ephesians while chapters 1-3 were doctrinal.

Paul always gives the doctrine first and then follows that with the practical.

For example, this is his structure in the book of Romans.

Chapters 1-11 are doctrinal and chapters 12-16 are the practical outworking of the doctrine.

In Ephesians chapters 1-3 Paul gives only 1 command, in chapters 4-6 he gives 40 commands.

There is a clear shift.

However, “In the mind of Paul doctrine and ethics go hand in hand.”[1]

One cannot separate doctrine from ethics in such a way as to give the idea that one is sufficient without the other.

One must not merely study doctrine, doctrine, doctrine, but he must balance this with a study of the practical outworking of the doctrine.

Doctrine and practice must go together.

Throughout chapters 4-6 Paul stresses the believer’s “walk” which is a metaphor for Christian conduct or lifestyle.

Rather than looking at the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous we might say this is Paul’s portrait of the Lifestyle of the Christian.

Paul’s teaching on the unity of Jew and Gentile in one body is the primary stimulus for the practical ramifications of this union here on earth.

We must have the knowledge of the unity of Jew and Gentile if we are to be able to practice the following commands.

Paul is not presenting some abstract morality; something that you can remember and live out independent of history.

Paul is grounding Christian ethics firmly in history.

The way you want to think about Ephesians is basically in terms of several key historic events mentioned in chapters 1-3. 1) The Eternal Plan of God and His Sovereignty, 2) God’s Pre-Planned World History (1:3-14), 3) the Fall of Satan and Man which caused division and strife among the human race (2:1-3), 4) the hostility between Jew and Gentile (2:11-12) 5) the Cross and Man’s Salvation which restores unity for believing Jews and Gentiles (2:13-23; 3:2-13).

These historic events are the pegs you want to hang the practical applications on.

We might put it this way, when you are struggling to “love” your fellow Christian you ought to train yourself to think back to the hostility between Jew and Gentile that preceded the cross of Christ and how Christ created unity between Jews and Gentiles.

The death of Christ is the historic event that should come to mind.

That’s the historic peg you should hang your hat on so that you can get re-oriented in your thinking and “loving” your fellow Christian.

There is a lot of practical stuff in Ephesians.

“In fact, Ephesians contains more specific practical applications for daily life than any other NT book.”[2]

*A.

Walking in Unity (4:1-16)*

 

            Now, in chapter 4:1-6, in light of our positional unity with believing Jews and Gentiles Paul exhorts us to walk in unity with one another.

Then he reveals the basis for this unity in vv.

4-6 as the Triune God.

Next week we will look at vv. 7-16 where the topic is diversity within the church.

Just like there is unity and diversity in the Trinity there is unity and diversity in the church.

The church is a reflection of the Triune God.

 

 

*            1.

Exhortation to Unity (4:1-3)*

* *

*/Greek Text 4:1 Parakalo (verb 1SPAI) oun (coord conj) humas (pronoun 2PPP) ego (verb 1SPAI) ho desmios (adj NSM) en (prep) kurio (noun DSM) axios (adverb) peripatesai (AAInf) tes kleseos (noun GSF) es (relative pronoun) eklethete (verb 2PAPI),/*

*Translation 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called,*

 

*Parakalo oun humas ego, “Therefore I exhort you”.

*The first three Greek words are also used in Romans 12:1 and 1 Cor.

4:16.

In Romans 12:1 it follows a doxology (11:33-36) just like here in Ephesians (2:20-21).

Whenever we see /oun /“*therefore*” we have to ask what is it *there for.

*It is there to refer back to everything in chapters 1-3.

This is Paul’s way of linking what follows to the previous doctrinal discourse.

Paul wants to draw inferences from the doctrine.

If X is true then Y should follow.

The /ego /“*I*” obviously refers to Paul and personalizes the exhortation.

Paul is the one who is in prison because of the will of God.

Most translations say something like *I implore you *or *I entreat you*.

This is not as strong as the Greek intends.

To get the full flavor of the original text it would be better to translate it *I exhort you* urgently.

The key idea here is that Paul is authoritatively exhorting the Ephesian believers toward action.

In light of what you now know I exhort you to act on that knowledge.

These are Paul’s friends but just because people are friends does not remove the need for authoritative exhortation.

Indeed, close friendship makes authoritative exhortation more effective!

*ho desmios en kurio, “the prisoner in the Lord,”*.

This is similar to Paul’s designation in 3:1 as *the prisoner of Christ Jesus* but is a little different because he doesn’t use *Christ Jesus *here but *Lord *and doesn’t use the genitive (*of*)* *but the dative (*in*).

The difference is that in 3:1 Paul was emphasizing that he was a prisoner because of Christ whereas here in 4:1 Paul is emphasizing his union with the *Lord*.

*Lord *refers to the person of Christ throughout the epistle (2:21; 4:17; 5:8; 6:1, 10, 21).

In other words, Paul’s union /with/ the *Lord* (4:1) led to obedience /to/ the *Lord* which in turn led to being imprisoned /because/ /of/ Christ (3:1).

Because Paul’s readers are united /with/ Christ they too should learn to be obedient /to/ Christ whatever it may cost them!

No Christian should ever compromise the will of God!

*axios peripatesai tes kleseos es eklethete, “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called,”.*

*to walk *is the Greek infinitive /peripateo/ and is a metaphor for “conduct or lifestyle”.

Paul clearly has in mind a change of “lifestyle or conduct” that should result from the doctrine in chapters 1-3.

Christians are not to go on living the same way they lived before they became Christians (2:1-3).

Nor are they to attain some level of maturity and then stabilize.

They are to continually be undergoing a change of “lifestyle or conduct”.

No living Christian has attained total perfection.

The adverb /axios /(*in a manner*)* *speaks about the way in which we’re supposed to *walk*.

We’re supposed to *walk* *in a suitable manner *or *in a manner worthy *of our *calling*.

Our conduct should be consistent with our calling, our life with our lip, our duty with our doctrine, our walk with our talk, works with our words.

It seems obvious that a Christian should live as a Christian and not like the world but it seems we need a never-ending reminder of this principle.

The noun *calling *(/klesis/) and its verbal form appears in 4:1 and in 4:4.

We first saw this noun in Paul’s first prayer in 1:18 where he prayed that we might *know the hope of His calling*.

*Calling *means “to be invited or summoned” and is closely related to election.

The difference is that election occurs outside of time and *calling *occurs within time.

*Calling* is the /in time/ manifestation of God’s /before time/ choice.

For example, if you were planning a party election would correspond to who you decided to invite to the party.

Then you would make the invitations and send them in the mail.

Calling would correspond to the moment the individual received the invitation.

The call to come to the party was actually made when the person received the invitation and not when the decision was made to invite them to the party.

In this context *calling* refers not only to our call to salvation but also being called into one body, the Church since you were put in the church at the moment you believed.

Therefore, the call *to walk in a manner worthy of the calling *refers not only to the individual believer but to the corporate body of believers.

*with which you were called* is passive in voice meaning that the *call *to salvation came from outside of you.

God is the one who actively calls individuals to salvation and into the one body, the Church.

*you were called *is an aorist ingressive signaling that a change is supposed to take place in your lifestyle because *you were* *called*.

*/ /*

*/Greek Text 4:2 meta (prep) pases (adj GSF) tapeinophrosunes (noun GSF) kai (conj) prautetos (noun GSF), meta (conj) makrothumias (noun GSF), anekomenoi (PMPart NPM) allelon (pronoun GSM) en (prep) agape (noun DSF),/*

*Translation 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, enduring one another in love, *

 

*meta* *pases* *tapeinophrosunes* *kai prautetos, “with all humility and gentleness,”.*

In this verse Paul uses two prepositional phrases.

Both begin with the preposition *with*.

He’s describing the quality of walk and rather than using imperative verbs he uses prepositional phrases which function like imperatives.

He uses the preposition /meta /which is almost identical to the preposition /sun /but /sun /is more related to intimate personal communion (Col.

3:4) and /meta /with close association or attendant circumstances (1 Thess.

3:13).

In other words, our *walk* should be characterized by *humility and gentleness*.

These words have English meanings that do not necessarily correspond to what Paul intended to communicate so these word studies are helpful.

We can’t read our English understanding into these words or we’ll get confused.

*Humility* was not considered a virtue in the ancient world.

In fact, this word did not even exist before NT times.

Epictetus said that *humility* was “first among the qualities not to be commended.”[3]

But Paul mentions *humility *first of all.

*Humility *stands in contrast to pride.