Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 10 - Ephesians)

Ephesians also destroys the unbiblical notion that one can be a Christian whilst living a life characterized by unrepentant sin.

As mentioned in the very first part of this series, Paul addresses his Christian readers as "saints".  Though the Catholics are certainly wrong in their depiction of such people as being a sinless subclass of super Christians, some Protestants have overreacted in the other direction, completely emptying the Greek word (which is derived from its Hebrew ancestor) of its original meaning.

The word translated by many English versions as "saint" is hagios.  Derived from the Hebrew quadosh, the word is often used of Yahweh Himself, and carries the connotation of being "set apart".  When used for God's people, the idea becomes "set apart for special [i.e. "Yahweh's] use."  Thus, we see that often in the OT, God's people were to be "different" from the nations, because the God whom they worshiped was likewise set apart from the false gods of the nations.  In the OT world, the "god" whom one worshiped determined one's lifestyle.  This is why I am so often perplexed when I see so many 'professing' followers of Christ resembling not Him, but the world (which likely betrays the fact that despite their profession, they really worship themselves & the world, not Christ).

When Yahweh calls Israel to be "holy even as [He] is holy" (Lev. 11:44-45), the word translated "holy" both times is quadosh.  And so the full force of the word is seen when God calls His quadosh (saints) to be quadosh (holy).  Those who are called by God are to resemble Him in the world and to the world, which is ultimately for the world (see Exo. 19:5-6).

This is the background that Paul is drawing from.  Saints are simply those who have been set apart by God and for God.  The idea of someone calling themselves a Christian, yet living a life that looks no different from the world is an unfortunate & God-belittling anomaly.

Likewise in 1:2, the believers (pistoi) in Ephesus are also called "faithful" (pistoi).  Again, the notion that a believer (pistos) can live a life of unfaithfulness (apistos) to Christ is something that entirely foreign and alien to the Word of God.

A couple of verses later, Paul says that such believers were "chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him in love" (1:4).  Thus, those who are not growing in holiness ought to question their calling & election (cf. 2 Pet. 1:10).

Moreover, God's people have literally received "the redemption" in Christ (1:7).  Not only have they been emancipated from the penalty of sin; in addition to this glorious truth, the cross has also dealt a severing death blow to the power of sin, the flesh, the world, and the devil.  "In Christ", believers are no longer slaves to sin, and are thus to live lives in conformity to this truth.  Therefore, believers must "no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds" (4:17).  Those who have truly "learned Christ" are to daily put off the old man, as well as put on the new man, "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (4:21-24).

In addition to this, those who have received the monergistic gift of regeneration, evidenced by believing the gospel of our salvation (1:13), are to work out their salvation by walking in the good works which God has prepared for His people.  Not only does God predestine that we be saved; He also predestines that those who are saved will indeed live progressively holy lives (cf. 2:5-10).  Who are those who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ?  Who are "God's workmanship created in Christ"?  The answer is simple: those who "walk in good works," that is, those whose lives are characterized by grace-enabled good works (which Paul elaborates upon in chapters 4-6).

The temple that believers are incorporated into (i.e. the church) is called "holy" in 2:21. As God's elect people in the earth, they are thus called to be different from the nations (see 4:17ff.).  As God's holy temple, believers are called to be "imitators of God" (5:1), which involves positively walking in love (5:2), as well as negatively putting off things like sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, filthy talk, crude joking, and ungodly relationships (5:3-7).  Rather than being like the world, believers, as light, are to expose the world's darkness, rather than participate in it (5:8-13).

Believers are watch carefully how they "walk" in this world (5:15; cf. 2:10), redeeming the time (5:16).  This requires not being filled with wine or living debauched lives, but rather being filled with the Holy Spirit who enables us to live lives of obedient worship (5:17ff.).

Jesus has not only saved His bride (i.e. the church) to be saved from the penalty of sin; He has also saved her for the purpose of presenting her to Himself "in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (5:27).  He cleanses His people by the "washing of the water of the Word" (5:26).

Thus those whose lives do not evidence such cleansing have "no part" in Jesus (cf. John 13:8, 10); such people should question if they have ever been "set apart", or "sanctified" (Eph. 5:26, verbal form of hagios) by Jesus (recall the similar argument made in the beginning of this post regarding 1:2).

Of course, as I have mentioned in almost every post ad nauseum, I am not advocating or teaching perfectionism here.  1 John 1:5-10 negates that.  God's people still battle with sin because they still are bearing the weight of a fallen body, living in a fallen world (kosmos), and battling a ruthless enemy (Eph. 6:10ff.).  However, God's people will nonetheless, by the power of the gift of the Holy Spirit (1:13), live differently in this world.  That's what it means to be holy.  As God's people gaze upon Christ in the gospel, they will inevitably be transformed, or cleansed by it (2 Cor. 3:18).

Those who walk not in love to Jesus are anathema (cf. Eph. 6:24).  Those who do not walk in loving obedience to Jesus (cf. John 14:15, 21, 23-24) simply do not belong to Him.

In Christ and for His glory to the ends of the earth, through His "set apart" bride,
Pastor Ryan

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