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Ephesians 4:7ff., Part I.
Let's start today by simply reading our passage.
Ephesians 4:7:
Now to each one of us was given this grace/ministry according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Therefore , it says,
"Rising into the height, he captured captives,
he gave gifts to people."
Now the "he rose"-- what/who is (it) except that he also descended to the lower part of the earth?
The one descending-- he is also the one ascending above all the heavens,
in order that he might fill/fulfill all things.
And he gave, on the one hand, apostles,
on the other hand prophets,
on the other hand evangelists,
on the other hand pastors and teachers
for the fixing/equipping of the holy ones,
(1) for the work of service/ministry,
(2) for the building of Christ's body
until we all reach
for the unity of faith and the knowledge of the son of God,
for a perfect/mature man,
for the measure of the maturity of the fullness of Christ,
in order that no longer we may be infants,
being tossed by waves and being carried by every wind of teaching
in the trickery of people,
in cunning for the scheming of error/deceit.
Now speaking the truth in love, we must grow into him into/for him with reference to all,
who is the head, Christ,
from whom the whole body,
being joined together and being held together through every supporting ligament according to the working by measure of each part, makes the growth of the body for the building of itself in love.
Over the years, I've read my fair share of commentaries and academic journal articles on the Bible.
I have never, ever, read more passionate-- and even angry-- scholars on any other subject, than I have on today's verses.
At first, I was surprised by this-- amused, really, if I'm going to be honest.
You don't expect to see that kind of heat in the types of books I was reading.
But then eventually everything clicked all at once for me , and I got it.
This is a passage that changes everything about us as a church.
That said, this is a tricky passage.
I'm not going to lie.
It's hard.
I don't know how to explain all of it.
And I could spend a lot of time describing the different ways scholars have wrestled with bits and pieces of it.
And at the end, what I would say about each of the tricky bits is, "I don't know who is right."
But even though some of the details are tricky, the main points are pretty straightforward.
So what I've decided is, I'm not going to try to cover every little detail of the passage.
I can't.
I don't understand them.
That makes it easy, right?
Instead, I'm going to focus on the main points, and try to help you see the flow to Paul's argument.
If you really understand what Paul is saying, it has the potential to completely change how you understand the church, and your role in it.
We will have to work at this one, but the end result will be worth it.
The other thing I'll say up front about this passage is that I'm not going to get through the whole thing in one week.
I try really hard to get through a section each week, because I'm sneakily trying to help you all learn how to read and understand larger sections of Scripture at a time.
But this is going to be an exception to the rule.
Verse 7 starts like this:
Now to each one of us was given this grace/ministry according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Let's flip back to Ephesians 3:8 to start this, so we start this right.
There, Paul said this:
To me, to the least of the least of all the holy ones-- this grace was given,
to proclaim the good news to the nations of the fathomless riches of Christ,
and to enlighten everyone as to what is the stewardship of the mystery hidden from the ages by God-- by the One who created all things--
In Eph.
3:8, God gave Paul a specific ministry.
His job was to proclaim the good news about Jesus to the nations.
Paul calls this God's gift to him.
It's a privilege to have God give you a job to do.
It's a privilege to be entrusted with an important task.
And Paul was grateful for that.
He knows he doesn't deserve this.
It's important that you see how Paul describes this ministry.
He says, "this grace was given."
What we are supposed to hear, is that Paul was given a specific ministry that is both a privilege, and a responsibility.
"This grace was given."
This language is common for Paul.
He often describes ministry as "a grace that was given."
1 Cor.
3:10
2 Cor.
8:1 (this one is key)
Gal.
2:9
2 Tim.
1:9
Paul was given the grace-- the ministry-- of telling the Gentiles about what God has done for them in Christ.
The Macedonians were given the grace-- the ministry-- of giving money to the Jerusalem church that was starving because of a famine.
So let's turn back to Ephesians 4:7.
"To each one of us was given this grace according to the measure of Christ's gift."
Paul is not talking here about saving grace.
Paul is talking about specific ministries in the church.
God gave each of you a specific job for the church.
This job, this ministry, is both a privilege and a responsibility.
We don't all have the same responsibilities.
We are a unity in Christ, but we aren't all the same.
We don't all do the same job.
Some of us received one grace-- one ministry-- others received another.
But all of you have at least one ministry that you are supposed to devote yourselves to (Acts 6:4).
In verse 8, Paul then supports this idea that each of us is given a ministry by quoting Psalm 68:18.
Therefore , it says,
"Rising into the height, he captured captives,
he gave gifts to people."
At first glance, this verse looks really hard.
It never really gets any better, in my experience.
What we are going to do is focus on two things.
First, ask yourselves the question, who is the "he"?
Whoever "he" is, "he" did three things.
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