Posts Tagged ‘Harold W. Hoehner’

The Call to Preach, Part 2

Posted: August 20, 2010 in Homiletics/Preaching, Pastoral Theology
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In his testimony about the call to preach, John Piper, wrote: “The calling to preach and pastor had become irresistible.” Paul describes his call in Ephesians 3.

The Call to The Ministry and The Call to Ministry is not Either/Or but Both/And.

God called Paul to preach the truths in Ephesians 3:1-6 as he states in 3:7: “I was made a minister.” This historically happened in Acts 26:14-18.

1. What are the Evidences of God’s Call to the Ministry? (See Part 1)

2. What are the Characteristics of God’s Call to the Ministry?

A. Service: “Whereof I was made a minister.”

The word “minister” “is used of a ‘waiter’ at a wedding feast” (John 2:5, 9) (Harold W. Hoehner. Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002, 449). The preacher serves God’s people God’s Word. I worked my way through graduate school by serving as a waiter at a seafood restaurant. The customers would complain to me if their fish was not good.  I felt like saying, “I did not gig your founder, nor did I cook it, I only served it. Why are you complaining to me?” The same is true sometimes with serving God’s people God’s Word. They complain to us about the food. It is our job to faithfully serve God’s Word. We can’t help if a bone gets stuck in their throat.

B. God’s power: “According to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power” (Ephesians 3:7b).

It is true that all believers have this power, as Paul made clear in his first Prison Epistle prayer (1:19) and therefore all believers should be experiencing this equipment in ministry in and through their local church. Every believer, including the pastor, has the omnipotence of God behind his call to serve. Paul made a great statement on preaching in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 when he said he did not preach with eloquence or erudition, but “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

C. Humility: “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given.”

Paul felt undeserving of salvation (1 Timothy 1:11-15) and the ministry (Ephesians 3:8) “Because,” as Paul made clear in 1 Corinthians 15:9, “I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” God help us preachers to possess the humble attitude of Paul even when we are criticized for serving God’s Word. In Philippians 1:14-18, instead of retaliating against those who attacked him, Paul rejoiced that souls were saved under their ministry. Someone asked Spurgeon: “How can we reconcile the Calvinists and the Arminians?” Spurgeon replied, “You don’t have to reconcile brothers.” We need this attitude of humility today.

A must read for all believers, including pastors, is C. J. Mahaney’s Humility: True Greatness. Mahaney starts chapter one, “The Promise of Humility” by referring to Jim Collins’ bestseller, Good to Great. The result of Collins researching 11 corporations which had become great was that each corporation’s CEO was “quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, did not believe his own clippings” and thus respected by their employees.

Humility not only attracts the attention of the world but, vastly more importantly, God according to Isaiah 66:2: “This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my Word.” In addition to attracting God’s attention, humility moves God to fulfill the promise of humility which is found in James 4:6, “God…gives grace to the humble.” As I read this chapter, I am asking myself, “Is God looking with pleasure on my life because of my humility?” “Am I experiencing His grace, His spiritual strength, in my life and ministry because of my contriteness?”

3. What are the Ministries of the God Called?

A. For Paul: “To make all men to see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:7).

B. For All Preachers.

It is our ministry to preach “the unsearchable riches of Christ to make men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God.” “Paul is saying in effect, ‘I am not only called in the vertical area to preach the unfathomable riches of Christ, but in the horizontal area to teach about the administration, the stewardship of dispensation, of the mystery of the church age’” (MacArthur, page 95). We must preach so men can be vertically related to Christ and once that is true they will be horizontally right with one another in unity. Translated, we preach to win men to Christ or as Paul will later say to Timothy, “Do the work of an evangelist.” Then we preach to win them to each other in unity and ministry.

4. What are The Results of God’s Call to the Ministry?

A. God’s wisdom will be displayed in the unity of the local church (Ephesians 3:10-11).

Even angels, “principalities and powers in heavenly places” (3:10), did not know about the church in the Old Testament. Since angels were created to praise God (Psalm 148:1-5) our unity in the local church can give angels cause to praise the Lord. While God revealed the mystery of the church to Paul and others, God did not reveal that mystery to angels. Angels must learn about this mystery by observing our unity in our local church.

God planned the church from eternity past, Christ accomplished its unity by His death on the cross (3:11) when He tore down the middle wall of partition, but the local church must display its unity. What do angels see, for they are watching (1 Corinthians 4:9; 11:10), as they observe our local church? Unity or division!

B. Believers’ responsibility (Ephesians 3:12-13).

Jews and Gentiles, “we,” for the first time, can now in unity access God together. In Acts 2, the church was in “one accord” and look what happened. The church in Acts 2 experienced for the first time what God the Father planned, what Christ accomplished on the cross, and what the Holy Spirit birthed. Unity can be a powerful weapon in God’s hands. Warren W. Wiersbe has a little book on prayers in the Book of Acts entitled, “Something Happens When the Church Prays.” Something also happens when the Church preaches, as Peter did in Acts 2 and experiences the results of this God called ministry.

Justin Taylor tells how God called John Piper to the ministry that puts a well-known personal face on this lesson. His post is entitled: 30 Years Ago Today: How God Called John Piper to Become a Pastor. I will post this testimony as Part 3 from the Gospelcoalition.

Week 10: The NEW Bible Institute on Ephesians: Slaves and Slave Owners, Part 3

Posted: January 2, 2010 in Ephesians Class, Sermons
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Do you agree or disagree with the Priest’s argument?

Paul includes in his development of the theme of Ephesians, The Unity Love can Bring, his discussion of workplace ethics and harmony which will address the Anglican’s logic. Remember the overall outline and development of the theme:

Ephesians 1-3 Theological Unity. Paul provides two perfect doctrinal models of unity that love can bring in the three Persons of the Trinity and the Body of Christ or the Church.

  A. Trinity (1:3-14). The three Persons of the Trinity worked perfectly together as demonstrated at creation.

  B. Church (2:1-3:12). There is total equality in the Body of Christ and no partiality is shown from God.

Ephesians 4-6 Practical Unity. This doctrinal reality must now be fleshed out in the local church in these five practical ways.

  1) “Therefore Walk” in Unity (4:1-16)

  2) “Therefore Walk” not as the Unsaved (4:17-32)

  3) “Therefore Walk” in Love (5:1-6)

  4) “Therefore Walk” in the Light (5:7-14)

  5) “Therefore Walk” in Wisdom (5:15-6:9)

Paul is still elaborating on how to walk in wisdom in 5:15-6-9 which is primarily accomplished through being Spirit-filled and mutually submitting to one another in three life-relationships. The last is employee/employer.

1. Christian Employee’s Attitude of Submission in Ephesians 6:5-8

First, as with the first two life-relationships, the subordinate partner is addressed first and then the one who is responsible for leadership (wives/husbands; children/parents; employees/employers.

Next, the command is stated: “Employees obey.”

The Christian employees are to “obey” their employers. Paul uses the same word he used in 6:1 with children and parents. Christian employees are to obey their earthly or human masters i.e., masters “according to the flesh” who is under their Master in heaven (6:9). Whether the employer is a believer or nonbeliever, the Christian employee is to obey.

Paul is even more specific about this point in 1 Timothy 6:1-2: “Let all who are under a yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.”

Why would believing servants or employees have to be enjoined to obey their believing masters or employers? Hoehner explains: “Tension between a Christian master and a Christian slave was a possibility since the slave knew that in the eyes of God they were equal. Yet, as in the other two pairs, wife/husband and children/parents, certain lines of authority needed to be observed” (Ephesians, page 808). You can hear a Christian slave misapplying Galatians 3:28.

True to form, Paul amplifies this command.

1) We obey with “fear and trembling.”

Not the fear of punishment, even though this was the case with much slavery in the first century, but with the fear of neglecting one’s responsibility. Paul preached with this same attitude according to 1 Corinthians 2:1-3:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.”

Whether in the field, factory, office, classroom, or pulpit, Christians should fear neglecting their work responsibilities that would dishonor God and His Word.

2) We obey with honesty or “singleness of heart to the Lord.”

Not with duplicity or pretending to be friends with the “Boss” to his face and cutting him to pieces behind his back. Paul adds, “as unto the Christ.” Employees obey their ultimate Master by obeying their human master. So our obedience has to be from the heart and to the Lord.

We serve Christ by serving our employers. We put in the time agreed upon whether by contract, salary, or hourly wage. Goofing off and wasting time is no different from stealing which Paul addressed in Ephesians 4:28: “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”

Employee thief is a huge problem and can be done two ways 1) Shop lifting 2) Wasted time on the clock. Watch the unbiblical logic in the video that quotes an Anglican priest who advocated shoplifting by the poor. There are other solutions to the situational ethics of stealing from others and disobeying God’s Word. For example, most churches help the poor in their communities. Just recently our church has helped two families in the last two weeks with food and rent. This is only one of many alternatives to stealing.

In the final post for this week, Paul will address the Spirit-filled employer’s responsibilities to his employees.

A Call to Salvation, Part 3

Posted: December 3, 2009 in Salvation
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A. There is a general or external call or invitation of the gospel. 

B. There is a special or effective call to salvation.

Charles Ryrie observes: The vast majority of occurrences concern the effectual call which leads to salvation. From such verses as Romans 1:1; 8:28; I Timothy 6:12; II Peter 1:3, 10 it is clear that the calling is not merely a general invitation but that mysterious yet effectual work of God through the Holy Spirit which brings man to saving faith in Jesus Christ. To those who are not called in this effectual sense, the gospel remains foolishness (I Cor. 1:21-25) (Ryrie, The Holy Spirit, page 62).

1. Who calls the sinner to salvation?

  a. God the Father “God is faithful, by whom you were called” (1 Corinthians 1:9).

     b. The Father called through the Son, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke. 5:32).

     c. The Son uses the Word and the Spirit (“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

2. Why does God call sinners to salvation? Because sinners are totally depraved.

Unregenerate men are not able to take one step, apart from the enabling power of the Spirit, in the direction of their salvation. The Arminian error which avers that a general and universal grace is given to all men by which they, if they will, may turn to God is exposed and reproved by a large body of Scripture, and no Scripture is found which sustains this error. Several of these vital passages may well be considered at this point (Chafer, Systematic Theology, pages 212, 213).

Richard Watson is an Arminian theologian who wrote of this sufficient or universal grace: “As all men are required to do those things which have a saving tendency, we contend that the grace to do them has been bestowed upon all” (Richard Watson, Theological Institutes, New York: Carlton & Porter, n.d. II, pp. 61-80). What is wrong with this position?

a. Sinners do not seek God for salvation (Romans 3:10-18).

      b. Sinners are totally unable on their own to understand the gospel (1 Corinthians 2:14).

      c. Sinners are satanically blinded (2 Corinthians 4:3-6) and controlled (1 John 5:19). “Those in Satan’s power will turn to God only as One who is greater in power than Satan moves them so to turn” (Chafer, p. 215).

     d. Sinners are dead (Ephesians 2:1).

Three Views on The Sinner’s Condition

The sinner is well    The sinner is sick    The sinner is dead                 

Peligianism                      Arminianism           Calvinism and Modified

3. How does God call sinners to salvation effectively?

  a. Through the gospel which is the external call (2 Thessalonians 2:13, 14).                              

     b. Through the Holy Spirit which is the effective call.

     c. Through Faith (Romans 10:17).

     d. Through Regeneration (Titus 3:5) or the new birth (John 3:5).

NOT

     a. Through regeneration which is done without the sinner’s knowledge.

As Grudem writes, “regeneration comes before saving faith” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994, p. 702).

Or as Berkhof defended: Regeneration is a creative work of God, and is therefore a work in which man is purely passive, and in which there is no place for human co-operation . . . ‘created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them’ Eph. 2:10 (Berkhof, p.465).

Berkhof also believed that in the case of children regeneration can take place years before they are effectively called.

The new life is often implanted in the hearts of children long before they are able to hear the call of the gospel . . . In the case of those who live under the administration of the gospel the possibility exists that they receive the seed of regeneration long before they come to years of discretion and therefore also long before the effectual calling penetrates to their consciousness (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1941, pages, 471, 472).

Wayne Grudem is not as extreme: “When we say that regeneration comes ‘before’ saving faith, it is important to remember that they usually come so close together that it will ordinarily seem to us that they are happening at the same time” (p. 702).

   b. Through the Word which is the external call.

      c. Through the Holy Spirit which is the effective call.

      d. Through faith which is the result of regeneration. Some Reformed theologians say that faith is a gift from God using Ephesians 2:8, 9 to support this view.

Robert Lightner addresses this issue. In all fairness it should be said that most limited redemptionists do not rule out the necessity of faith. Nevertheless, their strong emphasis upon Christ securing the salvation and even saving the elect in His death and at the time of His death makes the condition of faith for salvation seem rather unnecessary. This difficulty is frequently answered by limited redemptionists by their further insistence that Christ not only died for the elect, securing their salvation and saving them, but that He also procured at the same time the means whereby this salvation would be applied. That is, He purchased the necessary faith of the elect also, giving it to them as a gift which they in turn are to give back to Him at the point of salvation. Very seldom is an attempt made to prove from Scripture that this is true; it is rather a very widespread assumption on the part of strict Calvinists. Even though Calvinistic arguments defending this matter of faith as a special gift to the elect are wanting, reference is usually made to Ephesians 2:8, 9 as a proof text (Robert Lightner, The Death He Died, p.49).

Reformed theologian Wayne Grudem, however, breaks the  mold and gives the same answer as Lightner on why Ephesians 2:8, 9 can not mean that faith is the gift referred to the passage, but rather the entire act of salvation is the gift:

The word translated “this” is the neuter pronoun touto, which refers not to “faith” or to “grace” specifically in the previous clause (for they are both feminine nouns in Greek, and would require feminine pronouns), but to the entire idea expressed in the preceding phrase, the idea that you have been saved by grace through faith (Grudem, p.730). See Harold W. Hoehner for the same exegetical argument (Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary, pages 342—344).

But Grudem does use John 3:5 to say that regeneration precedes conversion and faith is the result of regeneration. “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

When Nicodemus did not understand this example, Jesus used the story from Numbers 21 of Moses and the brass serpent. If a dying Israelite looked, he lived. He did not first receive life and then look. To Nicodemus Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

John Walvoord, in discussing regeneration states that eternal life is received by faith . . . This fact must be kept free from all confusion of thought arising from the concept of regeneration which makes it merely an antecedent of salvation, or a preliminary quickening to enable the soul to believe (Walvoord, The Holy Spirit, p.132).

The various appeals to respond to the gospel imply that conversion results in regeneration: “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:38;38).  “And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31).

This is not the position of Piper: So what verse 8 is teaching is this: We don’t cause the Spirit to bring about the new birth any more than we make the wind blow. Or to be more specific, the decisive act of will in the new birth is not ours. The Spirit’s will is decisive. To be sure, our will moves in the moment of the new birth. Change happens in us. There are perceptible effects of the wind—“ you hear its sound.”

“THE FACTUAL DATA” Sheet for Sermon Preparation:(For Pauline Epistles, Part Two)

Posted: November 7, 2009 in Homiletics/Preaching
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Part Two of “The Factual Data” Sheet is to assist the preacher in taking the three steps in Bible Study:

Step One: Observe, Which answers the question: “What does this text say?”

Step Two: Interpret, Which answers the question: “What does this text mean?”

Step Three: Apply, Which answers the question: “What does this text have to do with me?”

Here is what Mark Dever says about these three important steps:

  • Exegesis is simply drawing meaning out of a text. The three steps are observe, interpret, and apply. These steps will often overlap. But try to do one at a time.
  • Observing the text is simply asking “What does the text say?” So here you’re looking for repeated words or ideas, conjunctions, subject and object of actions, comparisons, contrasts, transitions, literary structure, verb tenses.
  • In observing the text, it helps to type the passage out, print it, and then mark up the printout using different colors to highlight the different lexical, grammatical, and syntactical features of the text.
  • Interpreting the text is simply asking “What does the text mean?” So here you’re synthesizing your observations, discovering principles, drawing conclusions, and seeking to discover what claim the text lays on your life. In Acts 10:9-16, the text says that Peter can eat what in the OT was unclean. What does that mean to me? I am not under the Law as a means of sanctification.
  • Applying the text is simply asking “What does the text mean for me?” So here you’re looking for concrete ways to obey the claim of the text on your life, or to put the principle into practice. The first of Mark Dever’s 9 Marks of a healthy church is expositional preaching and is worth reading.

I.  STUDY THE CONTEXT (Macro Hermeneuctics)

I am only partially answering some of these questions to demonstrate how “The Factual Data” Sheet works.

 1) Who is speaking or writing? Paul according to Ephesians 1:1; 3:1. Gather pertinent material concerning his background, life, and work. The background on Paul can be gathered from Harold W. Hoehner’s commentary on Ephesians and D. Edmond Hiebert’s An Introduction the New Testament, Vol. Two.)

2) To whom was the passage addressed and why? The believers at Ephesus. The background is Acts 18:19ff.

3) Where (locate on the map) was this book written? Ephesians was written from Rome during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment. Look up Rome on the map.

 4) Locate on the map any other places referred to in the passage. There is no other city or country mentioned in Ephesians. In Colossians 4:13, Paul mentions Laodicea and Hierapolis. If you were filling out  “The Factual Data” sheet on Colossians you would locate these cities on the map.

 5) When was this book written? A.D. 60-62 in Paul’s first Roman imprisonment in Acts 28. This becomes important, for example, in the significance of the Prison Epistle Prayers which (1:15-23; 3:14-21) are always for others, not Paul’s needs, and also are always for spiritual needs and not physical or material, even while Paul had both physical and material needs while in prison.

6) What is the purpose for the author writing this book? To encourage God’s people to love each other and God in order for there to be unity in the church. Harold W. Hoehner documents this well.

7) What is the theme of the book? The Unity that Love can Bring. “What did it mean to the original audience?” must precede “What does it mean to my audience?”

8) Give the development of the theme (the overall outline of the book).

I. Theological Unity in Ephesians (Chapters 1-3)

A. Theological Example of the Trinity (1:3-2:10)

B. Theological Example of the Church (2:11-3:21)

II. Practical Unity in Ephesians (Chapters 4-6) Seen in the 5 “Therefore Walk” passages.

A. “Therefore Walk” in Unity (4:1-16)

B. “Therefore Walk” not as the Unsaved (4:17-32)

C. “Therefore Walk” in Love (5:1-6)

D. “Therefore Walk” in the Light (5:7-14)

E. “Therefore Walk” in Wisdom (5:15-6:9)

9) Are there parallel passages elsewhere in Scripture that can help me understand this passage? Of the 155 verses in Ephesians, the content of 78 of them is repeated in Colossians with some differences. This is why the two books are called the “Twin Epistles” (Robert Gromacki. New Testament Survey, page 241). The parallel passage of Ephesians 4:24 in Colossians 3:10 helps us understand that at salvation the image of God lost with the Fall of Adam was regained through Christ at our conversion.

2. EXAMINE THE DETAILS OF THE PASSAGE SELECTED TO PREACH (Micro Hermeneutics)

 1) Identify important doctrines

A. The doctrine of the Trinity is mentioned 8 times: 1:3-14; 1:17; 2:18; 2:22; 3:4-5; 3:14-17; 4:4-6; 5:18-20. The Trinity is Paul’s perfect example of unity for the church to emulate.

B. The doctrine of the Church or the Body of Christ is also important because there is also perfect unity of Jews and Gentiles positionally in the body of Christ. The word “one” is mentioned by Paul 14 times in Ephesians. Jews and Gentiles, who were bitter enemies in the Old Testament, are now “one” (2:13-15).  These two doctrines help the preacher know what is the big theme of the book.

2) Identify the grammatical introductory words: Around these three words: Eph 4:17 “Therefore,” 4:20 “But,” 4:25 “Wherefore,” this section, (4:17-32) can be outlined.

Proposition: We must not live like the Unsaved (Eph 4:17).

I. Because the unsaved are totally depraved (4:17-19). “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk” (4:17).

II. Because believers have been changed (4:20-24). “But you have not so learned Christ” (4:20).

III. Because believers do not practice the sins of the unsaved (4:25-32). “Wherefore putting away lying” (4:25).

3) Identify important theological words. Paul piles up the theological words in the 4:17-19 that describe the totally depraved nature of the unsaved. Notice that the division of these theological words becomes the subdivision for main point I.

Proposition: We must not live like the Unsaved (Eph 4:17).

I. Because the unsaved are totally depraved (4:17-19). “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not  as other Gentiles walk” (4:17).

A. Sinners are totally depraved in their minds: “vanity of their minds,” “the understanding darkened,” “the ignorance that is in them,” “blindness of the hearts or mind.”

B. Sinners are totally depraved in their emotions: “who being passed feeling.”

C. Sinners are totally depraved in their will: “Have given themselves over unto lasciviousness.”

4) Identify important tenses. The differences in the tenses in 4:22-24 form the subdivision for point II.

Proposition: We must not live like the Unsaved (Eph 4:17).

I. Because the unsaved are totally depraved (4:17-19).

II. Because believers have been changed (4:20-24).

A. The tense of “put off the old man” in 4:22 is aorist. The old unregenerated man has been put off and is final.

B.  The tense of “be renewed in the mind” in 4:23 is present or continual. The new nature is being renewed by the Holy Spirit (3:16).

C. The tense of “put on the new man” in 4:24 is aorist. The new regenerated man has been put on and is final.

5) Identify important patterns. The identical pattern of the five “therefore walk” sections is how the theme of unity is developed in the practical second half of Ephesians as seen above. The identical pattern in 4:25-32 become the subdivisions for point III. Each of the fives ways believers do not practice the sins of the unsaved has an identical pattern of a negative command, positive command, and a reason for the positive command. Here is what it looks like:

Proposition: We must not live like the Unsaved (Eph 4:17).

I. Because the unsaved are totally depraved (4:17-19).

II. Because believers have been changed (4:20-24).

III. Because believers do not practice the sins of the unsaved (4:25-32).

A. Lying (4:25)

1) Negative command

2) Positive command

3) Reason for the positive command

B. Anger (4:26-27)

1) Negative command

2) Positive command

3) Reason for the positive command

C. Stealing (4:28)

1) Negative command

2) Positive command

3) Reason for the positive command

D. Corrupt Speech (4:29-30)

1) Negative command

2) Positive command

3) Reason for the positive command

E. Bitterness (4:31-32). I am only developing this point because it is linked to the “therefore” in 5:1.

1) Negative command: “Let all bitterness…. be put away.” These sins from bad interpersonal relationships begin internally with bitterness and anger and if not confessed become outward outbursts. Like a boiling pot of water which spills out all over the kitchen doing all kinds of damage.

2) Positive command: “And be kind one to another tenderhearted, forgiving one another.” Just as God is unconditionally kind to us (Luke 6:35b), tenderhearted or compassionate and forgiving of us so should we be to others who have hurt and disappointed and even betrayed us. For all of these sins we have committed against God.

3) Reason for the positive command: “Even as God in Christ has forgiven you.” God has forgiven us unconditionally. We should forgive without exacting first a pound of flesh. God has forgiven us eternally. We should forgive and not hold grudges. God has forgiven us completely. He is not keeping records. “Love doesn’t keep records” in 1 Corinthians 13:5. If we keep bringing up someone’s fault against us then we have not forgiven. The unsaved get even. Believers forgive like our Savior who on the cross prayed for His enemies, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Is there someone for whom you need to pray this prayer and act like Christ rather than the getting like even world?

Week 4: The NEW Bible Institute on Ephesians: “Five Marks” of a Healthy Church (Ephesians 4:12-16)

Posted: October 27, 2009 in Ephesians Class, Sermons
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Week  4 Assignment: Pages 133-162 in MacArthur and Eph 4:7-16.

What would you list as marks of a healthy church?

1. A large congregation

2. Programs for every age group

3. Plentiful parking

4. Vibrant music

5. An increase in baptisms and membership

6. Giving (More than 20% of the people giving)

What are the Marks of a Healthy Church according to the church consultant of all church consultants, the apostle Paul, to whom primarily was given the revelation of the Church?

In chapters 4-6, Paul has clearly moved from doctrine to practice (orthodoxy to orthopraxy) with his “Five Walks” of the Believer.

1. “Therefore Walk” in Unity (4:1-16)

2. “Therefore Walk” not as the Unsaved (4:17-32)

3. “Therefore Walk” in Love (5:1-6)

4. “Therefore Walk’ in the Light (5:7-14)

5. “Therefore Walk” in Wisdom (5:15-6:9)

1. “Therefore Walk” in Unity (4:1-16). We are not surprised that Paul begins his practical section with unity when that is the theme of Ephesians. Paul gives two ways for a congregation to “walk” or move forward in unity.

A. We can walk in unity by humbly co-operating with one another (4:1-6). We discussed these verses last week (Orthodoxy verses Orthopraxy).

B. We can walk in unity by using our spiritual gifts selflessly for others (4:7-16)

1) In verses 7-11, Paul describes the giving of spiritual gifts by the Ascended Christ.

    a) At the end of verse 8, Paul says that the ascended Christ “gave gifts unto men” or His Body so His Body could function on earth. A list of those permanent service gifts that are operative for today are listed in Romans 12:3-8. I would suggest you study those gifts and identify which gift or gift mix God has given to you.

    b) In verses 11, Paul adds that Christ has also given gifted men to lead His church. The first two, apostles and prophets, were used by God to lay the foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:19-22) and once the revelation of the church and the canon of Scripture were complete these offices ceased. But the next two, evangelists and pastor/teacher, continue to this day because we need leaders to win people to Christ and leaders to equip them to serve the body of believers to which God has added them.

2) Next, in verses 12-16, Paul states the purpose for giving gifts and gifted leaders to the church.

The purpose of the gifted leader called pastor/teacher is to equip the members of the church to do the work of the ministry as laid out in 4:12.

1. “Perfecting” comes from a medical work by the first century surgeon, Apollonius Citiensis, who wrote a commentary on Hippocrates. “Perfecting” was the setting of a broken limb or bone (Harold W.Hoehner. Ephesians, page 549). The ministry of the pastor/teacher is to make the body healthy through faithfully preaching expository messages.

2. The immediate goal for the pastor/teacher is to motivate the saints to do “the work of the ministry” which according to Acts 20:24 is to the Lord. The pastor must get his members out of the bleachers onto the field involved with the team. Christianity is a contact sport.

3. The ultimate goal is not just busyness, however, but ministry that “edifies or builds of the body of Christ.” Paul will come back to this thought and very words at end of this unit in verse 16.

Pastors/teachers primarily equip the saints to do the work of the ministry through “prayer and the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:1-7).

    a) Epaphras made healthy his congregation through prayer (Colossians 4:12): “Epaphras…always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect (same word “prefecting” in verse 12)” On a regular basis, the pastor prays Prison Epistle like prayers (1:15-23; 3:14-21 for the spiritual needs of his people.

     b) Timothy had the inspired Scriptures which were profitable to “perfect” or make healthy in 2 Timothy 3:14-4:3. Paul called inspired Scripture “sound or healthy doctrine” in 4:3. To be healthy, God’s people must eat right. They must lay off the Hardee’s Thick burgers and eat more fruit, fiber, and veggies. We pastors must help them develop a taste for healthy doctrine through consistent, expository preaching.

In 4:13-16, Paul provides Five Marks of a healthy church where the saints have been equipped to serve by building the body to which God sovereignly placed them.

First Mark: There is a Unity of Faith (4:13a).

“Faith” in this verse is the objective body of truth or the essential doctrines of God’s Word.

1. These are essential doctrines that each member must be in complete agreement with to be a member of that church. Hopefully these doctrines are reflected your church’s doctrinal statement that all members understand and sign before they join your church.

2. There are other important doctrines with required limited agreement, such as music style for church services.

3. And then there are areas of complete liberty, “such as the rightness of armed resistance or the question of who wrote the book of Hebrews” (Mark Dever. What is a Healthy Church? pages 71-72).

What are essential doctrines that calls for complete agreement on to be a member of a Baptist church? I would include in that list the Virgin Birth of Christ, Christ sinless life, His penal substitutionary death on the cross, Christ’s literal and physical resurrection, salvation by grace alone by faith alone and in Christ alone, the inerrancy of Scripture, and the return of Christ of His church.

4. Paul expects God’s people not just the preachers to be Biblically literate enough to identify error. Paul wrote Galatians about heresy in the churches of Galatia not just the pastors.

Second Mark: There is Intimate Fellowship with Christ (4:13b).

“The knowledge of the Son of God” is what Paul prayed that the Ephesians would experience in his first Prison prayer in 1:17, 18a.  An intimate relationship can only be enjoyed by spending time together with each other. Individually we spend time with Christ in His Word and prayer. Corporately we spend time with Christ by assembling together around His Word and prayer so that the pastor/teacher can fulfill his ministry feeding the flock of God healthy doctrine.

Third Mark: There is Spiritual Maturity or Christlikeness (4:13c).

The result of the first two marks is a growing Christlikeness: “a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Notice that Paul used the singular “man” not “men.” The entire church, not just individual members, is to be more humble and gentle and Christlike in its relationships. More and more the virtues of humility (4:2, 3) are evident in our lives.

Fourth Mark: There is a Recognition of False Doctrine (4:14).

Healthy believers are no more weak, undernourished children who are easily deceived but are “meat eating” adults.

1. The Corinthians were spiritual babes still on milk, who wanted “meat,” and were carnally divided over men (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). When someone asks me who is my favorite preacher is, I respond, “I don’t have one favorite preacher.” I have lots of preachers I like to hear and read. I don’t want to get caught up in any cultic following of any single preacher so that I start interpreting Scripture according to that preacher rather than a consistent historical/grammatical hermeneutic.

2. The Ephesians were not to be spiritual babes concerning doctrine. They should be “meat eaters” that is, not just knowing the shallow, milk version of doctrine but the meat or more in depth version. Paul spoke the milk version of the gospel to the Philippian jailor in Acts 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”  There is nothing wrong with this version for the unsaved as demonstrated here by Paul. Paul wrote the meat version of the gospel to the Romans (1:15). The book of Romans is Paul’s most comprehensive, in depth explanation of the gospel in chapters 1:18-15:13.

3. If believers are not grounded in truth they will be easily deceived by “the sleight of men and cunning craftiness” of  TV personalities  and sending them their money.

Fifth Mark: There is a Speaking the Truth in Love (4:15-16).

It is not enough to be able to sign the doctrinal statement of your local church or detect false teachers a mile off and “earnestly contend for the faith” (Jude 3). We must “adorn the doctrine of our God” (Titus 2:10) by “speaking the truth in love.”

When we speak the truth in harshness, we do damage to the truth and those who need the truth. Humility expresses itself in “meekness” in its relationships (Ephesians 4:2). Pride is harsh and causes divisions (Proverbs 13:10).

A pastor friend told me of a couple in his church who had a son who was homosexual. The mom and dad were very concerned for their son and had talked to my pastor friend many times and had requested prayer for him. Finally, they were able to get their son to come to church and on that Sunday morning there was an evangelist speaking who went off on homosexuals calling them queers from the pulpit. He got a lot of “Amens” that morning but he also turned away that son. Did Paul condemn homosexuality? Yes, in the strongest biblical language (Romans 1:26-27). Did Paul win homosexuals to Christ? Yes, just read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. You don’t win sinners by making cute mocking remarks. Put yourself for just a few minutes in the shoes of those parents for whose son they were heartbroken.

This word translated “speaking the truth” is used only one other time in the New Testament and it is used by Paul with the Galatians in 4:16. Pastor Paul is heartbroken, that even though he spoke the truth in love, false teachers had turned the Galatians away from him.

How do we present truth to those in sin? According to Galatians 6:1 “in the spirit of meekness.” Jesus was not harsh even  with Judas Iscariot (John 13:27), His betrayer.

These Five Marks are necessary so that the body of believers where we serve “may grow up” (Ephesians 4:15). Not just grow older but stronger and healthier. Have we as a church grown stronger this year over the past year? Are these Five Marks more prevalent this year over last year? When our boys were little, we would mark their height on the inside of the pantry door each year and they would get all excited over the years growth. Maybe should mark where we are as a church, and come back next year and see the growth in these five areas.

These Five Marks are necessary for the members to gain strength from “the head, even Christ” (4:15) so we can supply our contribution to the health of the body to which God has added us to serve and build.  Each “part” (4:16) or member of the local body must be actively using his/her gift to build up the body. In fifth century B.C., Hipprocrates in De natura hominis used this very word “parts” when he “observed that good health proceeds when the various parts of the body function proportionately to one another (Harold W. Hoehner. Ephesians, page 576).

When every member of the body is healthy, the body can “walk in unity” and move forward and meet the potential God intended for that local body to accomplish.

Conclusion:

Am I a healthy member or a sick member?

Am I helping the body move forward or am I dead weight?

Am I making my “part” of the body strong or because of sin in my life is my “part” is like a stroke to the body. Have I paralyzed my “part” of the body. Paul asks a very searching question in 1 Corinthians 12:19: “For the body is not one member, but many….If the body were all one member, where were the body?” If I were the whole body, how healthy would the body be? If the whole local church where I attend were one member and that member was me, how healthy would my church be?

If the whole body used its gifts as I use my God given gift how would the body function? Would we be walking and progressing in “Unity?”

Week 3: The NEW Bible Institute on Ephesians, Part 3 “God’s Call to The Ministry Verses God’s Call to Ministry”

Posted: October 16, 2009 in Ephesians Class, Homiletics/Preaching, Sermons
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Week 3 Assignment: Ephesians 3:1-13.

In his book, So Beautiful, Leonard Sweet slams God called pastors, ordination, and any distinction between clergy and laity calling such ideas “heresy.”

Sweet writes: Presbyterian Robert T. Henderson and Southern Baptist Ed Stetzer are calling loudly for the de-clergification of the church. How “clergified” is your church? If the distinctions of “clergy” and “laity” are not biblical, where should our emphasis be—abolishing the clergy and making all of them ministers, or abolishing the laity and making all of us ministers?

The heresy of clerisy (only priests are ministers) is killing the church. I heard the story of a member of the church approaching their pastor and telling him that they had been called into full-time ministry. The pastor did not respond in the manner they were expecting when he said, “Oh, I thought you were a Christian.”

This set the member back a bit. He answered that of course he was a Christian. Then the pastor said, “Then, too late…” by which he meant that when we became disciples of Jesus, we accepted the call into full-time ministry.

So much of the time we write a check and think we have done our part. Or, if we are really trying to be spiritual, we may go on a mission project for a few days a year. In reality Christ turns us into “Mission 365,” as my friend Tom Ingram calls it. We are in mission in the car, in mission at the grocery store, in mission at Starbucks, in mission on Twitter.

It is time to abolish the laity and make everyone clergy, “minister.” Or maybe we should abolish the clergy and make everyone laity, “ministers” (Leonard Sweet. SO BEAUTIFUL. Colorado Springs, David C. Cook, 2009, pages 5, 7).

Ed Stetzer defines clergification: This is the belief that the professionals carry out the real work of the church, and everyone else simply lends a hand here and there and says we should reject the “called to the ministry” for “called to ministry.”

I agree that there are abuses of vocational ministries as Stetzer rightly exposes. But that does not mean we abandon what is taught in Scripture? There is a special call of God to men to preach His Word. But, there is also a general call to all believers to serve (Ephesians 4:1). This attitude and view of Leonard Sweet is in stark contrast to some of the most influential preachers and teachers of preachers of the past and present.

Homilitican Lloyd Perry (Warren Wiersbe’s teacher): “The primary requirement for preaching is a divine call to preach” (A Manual for Biblical Preaching, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1965, page 4).

Pastor W.H. Griffith Thomas: “This is the Divine Call, and it is the foundation of all else” (Ministerial Life and Work, Chicago: The Institute Colportage Association, 1927, page 27).

Pastor and author on preaching Martin Lloyd-Jones: “Nothing but this overwhelming sense of being called and of compulsion should ever lead anyone to preach” (Preaching and Preachers, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1972, page 107).

Homilitican John Broadus: “The preacher should be a person with a call from God. Ministers are called as professionals, but they should never be persons with just a profession” (On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, ed. Vernon C. Stanfield, 4th ed., rev. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1979, page 13).

Charles Spurgeon: “It is a fearful calamity to a man to miss his calling” (Lectures to My Students, Grand Rapids: Associate Publisher and Authors, n.d., page 22).

G. Campbell Morgan: “The only men who can really enter this ministry are those whom the Lord chooses, calls, and equips, by the bestowment of gifts according to the wisdom of His will” (The Ministry of the Word, New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1919, page 127).

John MacArthur: “The gospel is spread by men whom God calls to proclaim it” (Ephesians. Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, 1986, page 93).

The Call to The Ministry and The Call to Ministry is not Either/Or but Both/And.

God called Paul to preach the truths in Ephesians 3:1-6 as he states in 3:7: “I was made a minister.” This historically happened in Acts 26:14-18.

1. What are the Evidences of God’s Call to the Ministry?

A. A God given desire to preach.

“The primary way this intuitive understanding of the call is manifested according to the New Testament is a desire for the ministry (I Timothy 3:1), caused by God (Philippians 2:12-13), and growing into a virtually irresistible constraint (1 Corinthians 9:16)” (Stephen J. Hankins. The Call to the Christian Ministry. Biblical Viewpoint: Unusual Press: Bob Jones University, n.d. page 88). When men would come to Spurgeon who were struggling with the call to the ministry of preaching and pastoring he is credited with saying, “If you can do anything else and be happy, then do it.”

God uses desires to lead all believers into His will as Psalm 37:4 indicates: “Delight yourself in the LORD; and he shall give you the desires of your heart.” Again, it is not either/or but both/and. God calls some men specifically to preach through a desire for His will and God leads other believers through desire into other ministries.

B. A God given ability.

“God never calls without equipping, and the very fact of equipment proves the call (Ephesians 4:11)” wrote W. H. Griffith Thomas (page 94). Paul refers to this reality in his life in Ephesians 3:7. Paul was made a minister by God to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, in other words, the ministry of preaching for Paul was not a career choice. In the same verse, Paul informs us that the God who called him equipped him with “the effectual working of His power.”

C. A God given recognition.

“The man who thinks he is called to the ministry must also meet, to a blameless degree, the qualifications presented by Paul in formal lists in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9… A man cannot lead people who refuse to follow him, nor can he provide spiritual food and protection for those who do not accept him as a shepherd” (Hankins, page 89). The local church at Antioch recognized that the Holy Spirit had called Barnabas and Paul to plant churches, laid hands on them, and sent them out as the church’s first missionaries (Acts 13:1-3).

2. What are the Characteristics of God’s Call to the Ministry?

 A. Service: “Whereof I was made a minister.”

The word “minister” “is used of a ‘waiter’ at a wedding feast” (John 2:5, 9) (Harold W. Hoehner. Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002, 449). The preacher serves God’s people God’s Word. I worked my way through graduate school by serving as a waiter at a fish camp. The customers would complain to me if their fish was not good.  I felt like saying, “I did not gig your founder, nor did I cook it, I only served it. Why are you complaining to me?” The same is true sometimes with serving God’s people God’s Word. They complain to us about the food. It is our job to faithfully serve God’s Word and leave the results to God.

B. God’s power: “According to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power” (Ephesians 3:7b).

It is true that all believers have this power, as Paul made clear in his first Prison Epistle prayer (1:19) and therefore all believers should be experiencing this equipment in ministry in and through their local church. Every believer, including the pastor, has the omnipotence of God behind his call to serve. Paul made a great statement on preaching in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 when he said he did not preach with eloquence or erudition, but “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not stanD in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

C. Humility: “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given.”

Paul felt undeserving of salvation (1 Timothy 1:11-15) and the ministry (Ephesians 3:8) “Because,” as Paul made clear in 1 Corinthians 15:9, “I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” God help us preachers to possess the humble attitude of Paul even when we are criticized for serving God’s Word. In Philippians 1:14-18, instead of retaliating against those who attacked him, Paul rejoiced that souls were saved under their ministry. Someone asked Spurgeon: “How can we reconcile the Calvinists and the Arminians?” Spurgeon replied, “You don’t have to reconcile brothers.” We need this attitude of humility today.

A must read for all believers, including pastors, is C. J. Mahaney’s Humility: True Greatness. Mahaney starts chapter one, “The Promise of Humility” by referring to Jim Collins’ bestseller, Good to Great. The result of Collins researching 11 corporations which had become great was that each corporation’s CEO was “quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, did not believe his own clippings” and thus respected by their employees.

Humility not only attracts the attention of the world but, vastly more importantly, God according to Isaiah 66:2, “This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my Word.” In addition to attracting God’s attention, humility  moves God to fulfill the promise of humility which is found in James 4:6, “God…gives grace to the humble.” As I read this chapter, I am asking myself, “Is God looking with pleasure on my life because of my humility?” “Am I experiencing His grace, His spiritual strength, in my life and ministry because of my contriteness?”

3. What are the Ministries of the God Called?

A. For Paul: “To make all men to see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:7).

B. For All Preachers.

It is our ministry to preach “the unsearchable riches of Christ to make men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God.” “Paul is saying in effect, ‘I am not only called in the vertical area to preach the unfathomable riches of Christ, but in the horizontal area to teach about the administration, the stewardship of dispensation, of the mystery of the church age’” (MacArthur, page 95). We must preach so men can be vertically related to Christ and once that is true they will be horizontally right with one another in unity. Translated, we preach to win men to Christ or as Paul will later say to Timothy, “Do the work of an evangelist.” Then we preach to win them to each other in unity and ministry.

4. What are The Results of God’s Call to the Ministry?

A. God’s wisdom will be displayed in the unity of the local church (Ephesians 3:10-11).

Even angels, “principalities and powers in heavenly places” (3:10), did not know about the church in the Old Testament. Since angels were created to praise God (Psalm 148:1-5) our unity in the local church can give angels cause to praise the Lord. While God revealed the mystery of the church to Paul and others, God did not reveal that mystery to angels. Angels must learn about this mystery by observing our unity in our local church.

God planned the church from eternity past, Christ accomplished its unity by His death on the cross (3:11) when He tore down the middle wall of partition, but the local church must display its unity. What do angels see, for they are watching (1 Corinthians 4:9; 11:10), as they observe our local church? Unity or division!

B. Believers’ responsibility (Ephesians 3:12-13).

Jews and Gentiles, “we,” for the first time, can now in unity access God together. In Acts 2, the church was in “one accord” and look what happened. The church in Acts 2 experienced for the first time what God the Father planned, what Christ accomplished on the cross, and what the Holy Spirit birthed. Unity can be a powerful weapon in God’s hands. Warren W. Wiersbe has a little book on the prayers in the Book of Acts entitled, “Something Happens When the Church Prays.” Something also happens when the Church preaches, as Peter did in Acts 2 and experiences the results of this God called ministry.

Justin Taylor tells how God called John Piper to the ministry that puts a well-known personal face on this lesson. His post is entitled: 30 Years Ago Today: How God Called John Piper to Become a Pastor.

Week 1: The NEW Bible Institute on Ephesians: The Introduction

Posted: September 17, 2009 in Ephesians Class
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This book study of Ephesians is important because we are studying a doctrinally significant New Testament Epistle. The New Testament Epistles are God’s final word on doctrine. Let’s consider some examples.

1. The doctrine of the Church. This doctrine is not in the Old Testament. Paul will explain this new doctrine in Ephesians 2:11-3:13.The doctrine of the Church is a Biblical mystery or a truth heretofore not revealed but now revealed by God.

2. The doctrine of the Rapture. There is no rapture in the Old Testament. Christ gave some teaching on the rapture in John 14:1-6. Paul gives the fullest description of the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

3. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The last word on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is in the Epistles. Before Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did not permanently indwell believers nor were believers baptized by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said, “For he dwells with you, and shall be in you…. at that day (Day of Pentecost in Acts 2) you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me (Baptism of the Holy Spirit), and I in you (Indwelling of the Holy Spirit)” (John 14:17 and 20). Paul gives the last phase of progressive revelation on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:9: “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” and the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:13.

Reading Schedule for Book Study of Ephesians

Week 1 Assignment: ”The Introduction” and “The Trinity” Read pages vii-36 in MacArthur and Eph 1:1-14 (Read and comment on the following  4 lessons: Introduction, Eph 1:3-5, Eph 1:6-12, Eph 1:13-14).

After The Introduction there are three lessons on Ephesians 1:3-14 and the Trinity’s involvement in our salvation are divided into three parts:

1. God the Father’s Election 1:3-6. I also added a video of MacArthur on Charles Spurgeon.

2. God the Son’s Redemption 1:7-12

3. God the Holy Spirit’s Sealing 1:13-14

I am dividing this week’s assignments into four different posts because of the length. After the Introduction lesson go to Election under Catergories. In this post I will discuss God The Father’s Election in Ephesians 1:3-6.

For the second post go to Unlimited Atonement under Catergories. In this post I will discuss the extent the of Christ’s atonement touched on in Ephesians 1:7-12. In this post are some important links. The first link is to a sermon by Mark Driscoll and second is a link to a PDF of Paul Hartog’s new book on Calvin’s view on unlimited atonement.

For the third post go to Sealing of the Holy Spirit under Catergories. In this post, I will discuss God the Holy Spirit’s Sealing in Ephesians 1:13-14.

Week  2 Assignment: “Salvation by Grace through Faith” Read Pages 37-63 in MacArthur and Eph 1:15-2:10. Read and comment on the two posts for week two. At the end of this post is the second post: “Our Spiritual Inheritance.”

Week 3 Assignment: “The Church” Part 1 & 2 and “God’s Call to the Ministry verses God’s Call to Ministry” Part 3. Read pages 65-98 in MacArthur and Eph 2:11-3:13. Read and comment on three posts: Eph 2:11-13 “The Church: Part 1 ” Eph 2:14-18 “The Church: Part 2″ and Ephesians 3:1-13 “God’s Call to the Ministry verses God’s Call to Ministry:” Part 3.

Week 4 Assignment: Read and comment on “Paul’s Prison Prayer” and “Orthodoxy verses Orthopraxy” and “Five Marks of a Healthy Church” Read pages 99-162  in MacArthur and Eph 3:14-4:1-16.

Week 5 Assignment: “Stop Living Like Unbelievers” Part 1 & 2 Read pages 163-191 in MacArthur and Eph 4:17-32.

Week 6 Assignment: “Walking in Love” and “Walking as Children of Light” Read pages 193-214 in MacArthur and Eph 5:1-14.

Week 7 Assignment: “Walking in Wisdom” Read pages 307-319 in MacArthur and Eph 6:1-4.

Week 10 Assignment: “Slaves and Slave Owners”: Read pages 321-329 in MacArthur and Eph 6:5-9. Read and comment on the four posts.

Week 11 Assignments: “How to Resist the Devil”: Read pages 331-344 in MacArthur and Eph 6:10-13. Read and comment on the Parts 1-3.

Week 12 Assignments: “How to Resist the Devil”: Read pages 345-373 in MacArthur and Eph 6:14-17. Read and comment on Parts 4-7.

Week 13 Assignments: “The Spiritual Warfare of Prayer”: Read pages 375-385 in MacArthur on Ephesians 6:18-24. Read and comment on the two posts (Parts 1-2) for our final lesson. Read and comment on the two posts.

Introduction to Book Study of Ephesians

Knowing the category of Paul’s Epistles helps to interpret them. From the chart, you access below, we see that Paul wrote Ephesians when he is in his first Roman Imprisonment which lasted two years. The probable order is Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and lastly Philippians. We think Philippians is last because unlike in his other Prison Epistles, Paul is anticipating a soon release (Philippians 2:24).  Click http://www.foundationsforfreedom.net/References/NT/Pauline/Pauline_Letters-Chronology.html for a chart on Paul’s Epistles.

The book of Acts furnishes background for ten of Paul’s Epistles

I like to mark in my Bible in Acts where Paul was when he wrote the Epistles and then go back and study the historical setting of each epistle.

Acts 14:28: After Paul’s first missionary trip, he writes Galatians at Antioch. See map of Paul’s first missionary journey.

Click http://www.apostlepaulthefilm.com/paul/journeys.htm for some neat animated and interactive maps of Paul’s missionary journeys. Just click on the map you want to view. You can also click on different cities for more information.

Acts 18:5: During Paul’s second missionary trip, he writes 1st Thessalonians at Corinth. See map of Paul’s second missionary journey.

Acts 18:11: During Paul’s second missionary trip, he writes 2nd Thessalonians (perhaps 12 months after 1st Thess. at Corinth).

Acts 19:21: During Paul’s third missionary trip, he writes 1st Corinthians at Ephesus. See map of Paul’s third missionary journey.

Acts 20:1: During Paul’s third missionary trip, he writes 2nd Corinthians at Macedonia.

Acts 20:2: During Paul’s third missionary trip, he writes Romans at Corinth.

Acts 28: During Paul’s 1st Roman imprisonment, he writes Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians, See map of Paul’s journey to Rome.

Background to Prison Epistles

Paul was in prison when he wrote these Epistles. Paul alludes to his prison experience in Ephesians 3:1; 4:1, Colossians 4:18, Philemon 1:1, and Philippians1:12-13. The question is “From which prison did Paul write the Prison Epistles?” There are three views.

1. Caesarea: Paul spent two years in prison at Caesarea (Act  24:27). One reason we do not  believe that this is the prison experience from which Paul wrote the Prison Epistles is because Philip the evangelist was in Caesarea and Paul does not mention him (Acts 21:8).

2. Ephesus: Paul indicated that he was “in prison more frequent” (2 Cor. 11:23). Proponents of this view say Paul is referring to short imprisonments as at Philippi (Acts 16). Supporters from the churches in Philippi could have more easily communicated with Paul at Ephesus.  A longer imprisonment seems to fit Paul’s circumstances better than a short one. Paul’s imprisonment at Rome was two years.

3. Rome: The traditional view (Phil. 1:13; 4:22). Paul refers to the Roman Praetorian guards and Caesar’s household he had won while in this imprisonment thus pointing to a Roman imprisonment.

Introduction to Ephesians

In the last decade of the fourth century the golden-mouthed Chrysostom of Constantinople states in the preamble to his homilies on Ephesians that this letter is full of Paul’s sublime thoughts and doctrines which he scarcely utters elsewhere but plainly declares here.

John Calvin considered Ephesians his favorite letter and he preached a series of forty-eight sermons on the book. J. Armitage Robinson considered Ephesians as “the crown of St. Paul’s writings.”

The two major divisions in Ephesians reveal Paul’s advanced theology.

1. Ephesians 1-3-Theological Unity (In this first division are three major doctrines)

A. Trinity (1:3-14)

B. Salvation (2:1-10)

C. Church (2:11-3:12)

2. Ephesians 4-6-Practical Unity

1) “Therefore Walk” in Unity (4:1-16)

2) “Therefore Walk” not as the Unsaved (4:17-32)

3) “Therefore Walk” in Love (5:1-6)

4) “Therefore Walk” in the Light (5:7-14)

5) “Therefore Walk” in Wisdom (5:15-6:9)

What about Romans? When we think of a doctrinal Epistle we usually think of Romans. Romans is Paul’s most doctrinal letter on Salvation or more specifically Justification. Ephesians, however, written after Romans refines and develops doctrines like the church and the Trinity that get little attention in Romans.

F. F. Bruce considered Ephesians the “quintessence of Paulinism” because it “in large measure sums up the leading themes of the Pauline epistles, and at the same time the central motive of Paul’s ministry as apostle to the Gentiles.”

Basic Bible Study Questions to Ask and Answer in Preparation for a Book Study

1.  Who Wrote Ephesians?

a. Paul: He identifies himself (1:1; 3:1). There is internal evidence (Paul refers to himself as prisoner and apostle) and external evidence (Ephesians was excepted by the early church as Pauline).

b. An apostle: He identifies his ministry (apostle means “sent one”).

1) Paul was sent to Ephesus in Acts 18:18-20:1 in AD 56 on his 3rd Missionary Journey.

2) There was a revival at Ephesus under Paul’s ministry about which you can read in Acts 18:18-19:22.

3) There was a riot at Ephesus because Paul’s ministry cut into the profit of the idol makers when the idolaters got saved and turned from their idolatry (Acts 19:23-20:1). Most of Paul’s persecution came from Jews but in Ephesus, his persecution came from the business community who were profiting from idolarty. Billy Sunday’s evangelistic campaign were so successful that nearly all of the saloons closed down and the owners threatened to kill Sunday (Click for Sunday’s famous “Booze Sermon” that him into so much trouble http://billysunday.org/sermons/booze.php3).

c. A prisoner: (3:1; 4:1) Paul now writes this Prison Epistle from Rome in Acts 28.

2. To Whom Did Paul Write? There are major two views

1. Did Paul write the opening verses without “in Ephesus” because he intended Ephesians to be cyclical (that is, sent to many churches not just Ephesus) and each church could insert its own name in the blank? Here are three arguments for “in Ephesus” not being in the original autograph.

A. “In Ephesus” is not found in 3 early Greek manuscripts (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and a 2nd century papyrus).

B. No personal greetings. If Ephesians had been written specifically to the Ephesians, surely Paul would have included a personal greeting since he labored there for over two years.

C. No treatment of local church problems. Most of the letters that Paul writes deal with church issues.

2. Did Paul write to the saints “at Ephesus” and later “at Ephesus” was dropped by a scribe? This is the preferred view for me.

A. “In Ephesus” is found in the great majority of older Greek manuscripts.

B. There are no personal greetings in Ephesians but there are no personal greetings in Galatians, etc (Perhaps greetings were left to be conveyed byTychicus as stated in 6:21 when he personally delivered the letter to the Ephesians).

C. There is no treatment of local church problems because Paul was writing about the Body of  Christ or the universal church and not the local church and it’s problem and because perhaps Paul intended for Ephesians to be read by other churches after the Ephesians had read it. According to Acts 19:10, Paul’s ministry at Ephesus was regional and maybe he wanted to minister with this letter to the churches he indirectly planted in Asia. Some believe the seven churches in Revelation 1 & 2 were started as a result of Paul’s ministry at Ephesus (Click for a unique study of the Seven Churches in ancient Turkey http://sevenchurches.org/).

D. No manuscritpts have been found with “in Ephesus” omitted and some other city inserted.

There Are Practical and Doctrinal Emphases in Both Sections

 There is an interesting blend of the practical and the doctrinal throughout the book. Paul sets a good example for teachers and preachers of the Word. We should when communicating God’s Word include the practical application of doctrine. This helps us avoid sermons that are mostly explanation or mostly application or mostly illustration.

1. “Walk” is used in both sections (2:1-2; 4:1)

2. “Love” is found in both sections (1:4; 4:2)

3. “Holy Spirit” is found in both sections (1:13; 4:30)

4. “Body of Christ” is found in both sections (1:22-23; 4:12, 16)

5. “Mystery” is found in both sections (3:9; 5:32)

6. “Satan” is found in both sections (2:2; 6:10-20)

There are Some Major Doctrines in Ephesians. We will highlight these doctrines as we make our way through the book and study them in their specific context.

1. End times (1:10; 21; 2:7; 4:30; 5:27). For example, Paul refers to the millennium in 1:10 because this future event will be the nearest thing to Unity on earth this side of eternity which fits Paul’s theme for Ephesians.

2. Salvation (1:3-14; 2:1-10)

3. Church (1:22-23; 2:11-22; 3:1-12)

4. Trinity (1:3-14; 1:17; 2:18; 2:22; 3:4-5; 3:14-17; 4:4-6; 5:18-20)

5. Reconciliation (“one” is mentioned 14 times 2:14-18; 4:4-6)

3. What is the Theme of Ephesians? The combination of two subthemes (Unity and Love) helps see the overarching theme of the book

1. Unity

a. “Unity” (Gk. enotas) only used in Ephesians (4:3, 13).

b. The term “one” which speaks of unity is used 14times in Ephesians.

c. There are two major doctrinal examples of unity. The Trinity is mentioned 8 times (1:3-14; 1:17; 2:18; 2:22; 3:4-5; 3:14-17; 4:406; 5:18-20). The Trinity is the perfect example of unity. The three Persons of the Trinity have always been in agreement. The other major doctrine is the Church or the Body of Christ in whom believers are “one” positionally. Paul will exhort us to be as practically united as we are positionally. We are one in Christ, so let’s act like it in our relationships with other believers in our families and local churches. Paul has already stressed this new truth in Galatians 3:28.

2. Love (Biblical Unity is accomplished when believers love one another)

a. “Love” is used 20 times in the short epistle to the Ephesians. “More than 1/6 of his references to ‘love’ appear in this small epistle” (Bible Knowledge Commentary, Harold W. Hoehner, page 614).

b. God’s love or Christ’s love is used 8 times (For example, 2:4). One time the believer’s love for Christ is mentioned (6:24). The only reason we love God is because He first loved us.

c. Believers’ love for each other is used 11 times (1:15; 4:2). The stress with these references is on our love for one another which is the result of our love for Christ. John put forth this truth strongly: “We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:19-20).

“Possibly Paul, realizing they (the Ephesians) were starting to forsake their first love, wrote this epistle to encourage them to love both God and their fellow saints” (Bible Knowledge Commentary, page 614). They did eventually lose their first love inspite of all Paul’s concern as the following sequence shows. May God helps to stay close to Him so that we do not follow this digression.

1. Paul admonished the elders from Ephesus in Acts 20:28-30 in A.D. 58 to beware of false teachers and professing believers who would draw believers away.

2. Paul wrote Ephesians in A.D. 62 and stresses “love.”

3. Paul wrote 1 Timothy in A.D. 63-66 to Timothy in Ephesus and emphasized love in 1:5.

4. Finally in Revelation 2:1-7, a letter is written in A.D. 95 to the Ephesians believers who had left their first love for God.

The height of spirituality is to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. May the study of this epistle aid us in loving Him and others for whom His Son died.

Theme: Only Love for God and One Another can Produce Unity in the Church

Now go to Election under Catergories. In this post, I will discuss God The Father’s Election in Ephesians 1:3-6.

For the next  post go to Unlimited Atonement under Catergories. In this post I will discuss the extent the of Christ’s atonement touched on in Ephesians 1:7-12. In this post are some important links. The first link is to a sermon by Mark Driscoll and second is a link to a PDF of Paul Hartog’s new book on Calvin’s view on unlimited atonement.

For the last post this week go to Sealing of the Holy Spirit under Catergories. In this post, I will discuss God the Holy Spirit’s Sealing in Ephesians 1:13-14.

Genres and Interpreting the Bible, Part 4

Posted: July 16, 2009 in Book Reviews, Hermeneutics/Interpretation
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It is important to note the major differences between the book of Revelation and non-canonical apocalyptic literature for our next discussion of the interpretation of numbers in Revelation. Just because numbers were symbolized and not interpreted literally in non-canonical apocalyptic literature does not force us to treat numbers in Revelation the same because Revelation is different.

Robert L. Thomas states some of the differences.

1. “Other apocalypses are generally pseudonymous, but Revelation is not.

2. The epistolary framework of Revelation also sets it apart from works that are similar in other respects.

3. Other writings lack its repeated admonitions for moral compliance (Rev. 2:5, 16, 21, 22; 3:3, 19).

4. Revelation is not as pessimistic about the present as other works in this category.

5. In others the coming of the Messiah is exclusively future, but in Revelation, the Messiah has already come and laid the groundwork for future victory through His redemptive death.

6. Most distinctive is the fact that this book calls itself a prophecy (1:3; 22:7, 10, 18, 19). Its contents fully justify this self-claim” (Evangelical Hermeneutics, 325).

Andy Woods in his helpful article, Dispensational Hermeneuics: The Matter of Genres, elaborates on the these differences stated by Thomas, but adds some additional differences:

Furthermore, other apocalypses typically use numbers to convey concepts rather than count units. By contrast, Revelation appears to use many numbers to indicate specific count units. For example, many futurist scholars believe that various numbers found in Revelation, such as 1260 days (Rev 12:6) or 42 months (Rev 11:2; 13:5), are direct references to the unfulfilled aspects of Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy (Dan 9:24–27). Hoehner’s calculations indicate that the fulfilled aspects of this prophecy had the potential of being accurate to the exact day (Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1977, 115-39). Therefore, it stands to reason that the prophecy’s unfulfilled aspects will also be fulfilled to the minutest detail. Thus, the numbers 1260 days and 42 months should not be taken as merely communicating concepts but rather should be interpreted as specific count units. According to Thomas, Revelation contains no verifiably symbolic numbers. Rather, non-symbolic utilization of numbers is the norm (Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1 to 7: An Exegetical Commentary, Chicago: Moody Press, 1992, 38).

Roy Zuck agrees with both Thomas and Woods: “But are all the numbers he (John in Revelation) mentions to be taken as symbols? Do they not have meaning as ordinary, literal numbers? If 7, 42, 1,260 are not to be taken literally, then what about the reference to the 2 witnesses in 11:3? And if 1,000 means simply a large number, then what about the reference to 7,000 people in verse 13? On what basis do we say that 7,000 does not mean a literal 7,000? And if 1,000 is a large indefinite number, do the references to 4 angels (7:1) and 7 angels (8:6) mean simply small numbers? If these numbers in the Book of Revelation have no normal, literal numerical value, then what has happened to the principle of normal, grammatical interpretation? How can we say that 144,000 is a symbolic number, when 7:5-8 refers specifically to 12,000 from each of 12 tribes in Israel” (Basic Bible Interpretation, 244-245).

In my next post, I will show how Bernard Ramm and Miltion S. Terry violate their own literal hermeneuic when it comes to numbers in Revelation because of their amillinnial view. My next post is entitled: Review of Basic Bible Interpretation: Chapter 7 “Figures of Speech.”

Review of “Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods”

Posted: June 25, 2009 in Book Reviews, Pastoral Theology
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In the following weeks, I want to review Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods. Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears produced their next Re:Lit book. Their first Re:Lit was Vintage Jesus. Mark Driscoll is pastor/founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, president of Acts 29 Church Planting Network and the Resurgence Missional Theology Cooperative. Gerry Breshears is professor of theology at Western Seminary. Also part of the Re:Lit series is Death by Love coauthored Driscoll and Breshears.

In Vintage Church, the authors discuss ecclesiology in layman’s terms. From “What is the church?” to “Who is supposed to lead the church?” to “What is a multi-campus church?” to “How can a church utilize technology?” The doctrine and practice of the church in 21st century culture is examined. Sounds like a mixture of Ecclesiology and Pastoral Theology. I am preparing to preach through Ephesians which is Paul’s most refined and developed teaching on the church and I thought reading this contemporary development of the doctrine and mission of the church would be helpful. We will see!

The theme of Ephesians is unity produced by love for God and one another. One of my sources is Harold W. Hoehner’s Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary which defends this theme of Ephesians. Chapter six in Vintage Church is  ”How can a church be unified?” fits the theme of Ephesians. I will review chapter six first in my next post.