sesses every spiritual blessing by vir tue of the fact that he is now in Christ (Eph. 1:3-14). Our affections must be set first and foremost on heavenly things. Only as we depend upon the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit are we able to walk worthy of our calling in Christ. Dr. Merrill Tenney points out, “While the book of Romans is a sample of Paul’s teaching he would give to churches upon his first visit to them, Ephesians is a specimen of his Bible conference technique.” The total complex of Ephesians is inte grated into a new picture of the Church as a single, functioning body created out of both saved Jews and Gentiles. Its goal is the unity of the faith, “the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Living Letters puts it like this, “You must be a new and dif ferent person, holy and good, clothe yourself with this new nature that you now have in Jesus Christ.” C hapter S ixteen G od leaves no question as to the high standards He expects for holy living on the part of every be liever. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes to impress upon the Christian conscience the command of God to His own chil dren to walk circumspectly in every relationship of life. Chapter five shows us the fact of the moral be havior of the believer. Dr. Harry Ironside tells of Queen Victoria’s official visit to one of Eng land’s large paper mills. When shown the rag room, she was appalled at the filthy, soiled clothes. Lowly rag pickers had brought loads in from all over the city of London. She rightly asked, “How can these be come usable?” She was assured that by a chemical process the color and the dirt would be removed. She was pointed to a pile of thick red rem nants of an old rug and told, “Even
those will be made white by this process. In fact, from that will come our finest paper." It was some days later when the queen received a sup ply of the most exquisite stationery she had ever seen. The royal mono gram was engraved on each sheet. A note was enclosed from the mill owner which explained, “Will Her Majesty be pleased to accept this paper, with the assurance that each sheet came from those dirty rags formerly piled up in the mill?” Examining the beautiful stationery, she could hardly believe her eyes. What an illustration of the way in which we have been redeemed and made whole! The closing verses of Ephesians 4 paint the drab back ground. Suddenly we see the strokes of white. Ephesians 4:30-5:6 tells us to walk in Christian love. The trans formation from saint to sinner is a very drastic one. The conduct of the individual should be like that of his Heavenly Father. This is that love which was exemplified by the Godhead at Calvary. We are to be imitators of God’s love not because we will receive great rewards but simply because we are His children, and this is to be the standard of the Christian life. In verse 6 we real ize the contrast between the unclean ness and moral iniquity of the un believer compared to one’s life in Christ. Ephesians 5:7-20 gives us the pat tern to walk in holiness. Paul warns us against becoming participants with the children of disobedience. We’re not to go back to our old ways of living. We’re children of light. Up to this point Paul has been dealing with the believers’ general relationships. In Ephesians 5 :21 and following we find the principle for maintaining a proper harmonious relationship in the world. This pas sage suggests that wives are to sub mit to their husbands. This is a mili tary term suggesting the subordi nation of soldiers to those in author- 31
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker