Twentieth Century New Testament - 36 - Ephesians

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Letter to the Ephesians from the twentieth century New Testament.
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dot authentic light dot org. The twentieth Century New Testament
by a company of about twenty scholars. The Letter to
the Ephesians Introduction and Chapters one through six. Introduction Saint
Paul's Letter to the Christians at Ephesus, written probably during

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his imprisonment at Rome about sixty one AD. Ephesus was
a busy seaport and the chief city of Roman Asia.
In it stood the famous Temple of Diana. Saint Paul's
visit to Ephesus is recorded in the Acts, Chapter nineteen,
and lasted for more than two years. Is stay there
was eventful, and when it came to an end, the
apostle went to Greece and then returned by way of

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Militus to Jerusalem. Shortly afterwards, he was arrested on the
complaint of the Jews and taken to Csarea Acts twenty three,
Verse twenty three, and from there to Rome. Acts twenty eight,
verse sixteen. From one of these places, probably the latter,
he may have written the present letter. The genuineness of
this letter has been frequently assailed, but it may with

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some confidence be attributed to the Apostle himself. It appears
to have been a circular letter addressed not merely to
the Christians at Ephesus, but also to other Christians in
Roman Asia. Indeed, it was also known as the Letter
to Ladicea, and may be the letter referred to in
Collagians chapter four, verse sixteen. In it, the Apostle is
not so much replying to arguments hostile to Christianity as

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developing upon lines similar to those laid down in the
Letter to the Colasians, his conception of the unity of
all Christians in the Christ, the invisible head of their
one society. Chapter one, To Christ's people at Ephesus who
are faithful to Him from Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus,
by the will of God, May God, our Father and

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the Lord Jesus Christ, bless you and give you peace.
Blessed is the God and Father of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who has blessed us on high with every spiritual blessing
in Christ. For He chose us in our union with
Christ before the creation of the universe, that we might
be holy and blameless in His sight, living in the
spirit of love. From the first, he destined us in

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his good will towards us to be adopted as sons
through Jesus Christ, and so to enhance that glorious manifestation
of His loving kindness which He gave us in the
Beloved For in Him and through the shedding of His blood,
we have found redemption in the pardon of our offenses.
All this accords with the loving kindness which God lavished
upon us, accompanied by countless gifts of wisdom and discernment,

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when He made known to us his hidden purpose. It
also accords with the good will which God purpose to
exhibit in Christ in view of that divine order which
was to mark the completion of the ages, when He
should make everything both in heaven and on earth center
in Him. In Him, I say, for by our union
with Him, we became God's heritage, having from the first

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been destined for this and the intention of Him, who
in all that happens, is carrying out his own fixed purpose,
that we should enhance his glory, we who have been
the first to rest our hopes on the Christ, and
you too, by your union with Him. After you had
heard the message of the truth, the good news of
your salvation, you believed in Him and were sealed as

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His by receiving the Holy Spirit which he had promised.
And the Spirit is a pledge of our future heritage,
foreshadowing the full redemption of God's own people to enhance
His glory. And therefore I, ever since I heard of
the faith in the Lord Jesus which prevails among you,
and of your confidence in all Christ's people, have never

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omitted to thank God on your behalf whenever I make
mention of you in my prayers. My prayer is that
the God of Jesus Christ, our Lord, the all glorious Father,
may inspire you with wisdom and true insight through a
fuller knowledge of Himself, that your minds may be so
enlightened that you may realize the hope given by God's call,

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the wealth of the glory of His heritage among Christ's people,
and the transcendent greatness of the power which He is
able to exercise in dealing with us who believe in him.
The same mighty power was exerted upon the Christ when
he raised the Christ from the dead and caused him
to sit at his right hand on high, exalting him
above all angels and archangels of every rank, and above

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every name that can be named, whether in the present
age or in the age to come. And God placed
all things under Christ's feet and gave him to the
Church as its supreme head. For the Church is Christ's
body and is filled by Him who fills all things
everywhere with his presence. Chapter two. You yourselves were once

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dead because of your offenses and sins. For at one
time you lived in sin, following the ways of the
world in subjection to the ruler of the powers of
the air, the Spirit, who is still at work among
the disobedient. And it was among them that we all
once lived our lives, indulging the cravings of our earthly
nature and carrying out the desires prompted by that earthly

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nature and by our own thoughts. Our very nature exposed
us to the divine wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Yet God, in his abundant compassion, and because of the
great love with which he loved us, even though we
were dead, because of our offenses gave life to us.
In giving life to the Christ, by God's loving kindness,
you have been saved. And through our union with Christ Jesus,

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God raised us with him and caused us to sit
with him on high, in order that by his goodness
to us in Christ Jesus, he made display in the
ages to come, the boundless wealth of His loving kindness.
For it is by God's loving kindness that you have
been saved through your faith. It is not due to yourselves.
The gift is God's. It is not due to obedience

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to law, lest anyone should boast, For we are God's handiwork,
created by our union with Christ Jesus for the good
actions in doing which God had pre arranged that we
should spend our lives. Remember therefore, that you were once gentiles. Yourselves,
as your body showed, you were called the uncircumcised by
those who were called the circumcised, circumcised only by the

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hand of man. Remember that you were at that time
far from Christ. You were shut out from the citizenship
of Israel. You were strangers to the covenants founded on
God's promise. You were in the world without hope and
without God. But now through your union with Christ Jesus,
You who once were far off, have by the shedding

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of the blood of the Christ, been brought near. He
it is who is He made the two divisions of mankind.
One broke down the barrier that separated them, and in
his human nature put an end to the cause of
enmity between them, the law with its injunctions and ordinances,
in order to create through union with himself, from Jew

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and Gentile, one new man, and thus make peace. And
when upon the Cross he had destroyed their mutual enmity,
he sought by means of his cross to reconcile them
both to God, united in one body. He came with
the good news of peace for you who were far off,
and of peace for those who were near. For it
is through Him that we, the Jews and the Gentiles,

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united in one spirit, are now able to approach the Father.
It follows then that you are no longer strangers and aliens,
but our fellow citizens, with Christ's people and members of
God's household. You have been built up upon the foundation
laid by the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being
the corner stone, united in him, every part of the

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building closely joined together, will grow into a temple consecrated
by its union with the Lord. And through union with Him,
you also are being built up together to be a
dwelling place for God through the Spirit. Chapter three. For
this reason, I Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for
the sake of you gentiles. For you have heard I

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suppose of the responsible charge with which God entrusted me
for your benefit, and also that it was by direct
revelation that the hidden purpose of God was made known
to me, as I have already briefly told you, and
by reading what I have written, you will be able
to judge how far I understand this hidden purpose of
God in Christ. In former generations, it was not made

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known to mankind as fully as it has now been
revealed by the Spirit to the apostles and prophets among
Christ's people, that by union with Christ Jesus and through
the good News, the gentiles are co heirs with us
and members of one body, and that they share with
us in God's of this good news. I became a
minister in virtue of the charge with which God entrusted

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me in the exercise of His power. Yes to me,
who am less than the least of all Christ's people.
Was this charge entrusted to tell the gentiles the good
news of the boundless wealth to be found in the Christ,
and to make clear what is God's way of working
out that hidden purpose which from the first has been
concealed in the mind of the creator of all things,

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so that now to the archangels and to all the
powers on high, should be made known through the Church,
the all embracing wisdom of God, in accordance with that
purpose which runs through all the ages, and which he
is now accomplished. In Jesus the Christ, our Master, and
in union with Him, and through our trust in Him,
we find courage to approach God with confidence. Therefore, I

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beg you not to be disheartened at the sufferings that
I am undergoing for your sakes, for they redound to
your honor. For this reason, then I kneel before the Father,
from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth derives
its name, and pray that in proportion to the wealth
of His glory, he will strengthen you with his power
by breathing His spirit into your inmost soul, so that

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the Christ, through your faith may make his home within
your hearts in love. And I pray that you, now
firmly rooted and established, may with all Christ's people, have
the power to comprehend in all its width and length,
and height and depth, and to understand, though it surpasses
all understanding, the love of the Christ. And so be

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filled to the full with God himself. To him who,
through his power, which is at work within us, is
able to do far more than anything that we can
ask or conceive. To Him be all glory through the
Church and through Christ Jesus, for all generations, age after age. Amen.
Chapter four. I urge you, then, I, who am a

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prisoner of the Master's cause, to live lives word of
the call that you have received, always humble and gentle, patient,
bearing lovingly with one another, and striving to maintain in
the bond of peace the unity given by the Spirit.
There is but one body and one spirit, just as
there was but one hope set before you when you

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received your call. There is but one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. There is but one God and Father of all,
the God who is over all, pervades all, and is
in all. Every one of us, however, has been entrusted
with some charge, each in accordance with the extent of
the gift of the Christ. That is why it is said,

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when he went up on high, he led his captives
into captivity and gave gifts to mankind. Now, surely this
going up must imply that he had already gone down
into the world beneath. He who went down is the
same as he who went up up beyond the highest heaven,
that he might fill all things with his presence. And
he it is who gave to the church apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors,

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and teachers to fit his people for the work of
the ministry, for the building up of the body of
the Christ. And this shall continue until we all attain
to that unity which is given by faith and by
a fuller knowledge of the Son of God, until we
reach the ideal man, the full standard of the perfection
of the Christ. Then we shall no longer be like infants,

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tossed backward and forward, blown about by every breath of
human teaching, through the trickery and craftiness of men, towards
the snares of error. But holding the truth in a
spirit of love, we shall grow into complete union with
Him who is our head, Christ, himself, For from him
the whole body, closely joined and knit together by the

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contact of every part with the source of its life,
derives its power to grow in proportion to the vigor
of each individual part, and so is being built up
in the spirit of love. This, then, as one in
union with the Lord, I say to you and urge
upon you. Do not continue to live such purposeless lives
as the gentiles live, with their powers of discernment darkened,

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cut off from the life of God, owing to the
ignorance that prevails among them, and to the hardness of
their hearts. Lost to all sense of shame, they have
abandoned themselves to licentiousness in order to practice every kind
of impurity without restraint. But far different is the lesson
you learned from the Christ, if that is, you really
listen to Him, and through union with him were taught

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the truth as it is to be found in Jesus.
For you learnt with regard to your former way of living,
that you must cast off your old nature, which, yielding
to deluding passions, grows corrupt, that the very spirit of
your minds must be constantly renewed, and that you must
clothe yourselves in that new nature, which was created to
resemble God, with the righteousness and holiness springing from the truth.

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Since therefore you have cast off what is false, you
must every one of you speak the truth to your neighbors,
for we are united to one another like the parts
of a body. Be angry, yet do not sin. Do
not let the sun go down upon your anger, and
give no opportunity to the devil. Let the man who
steals steal no longer, but rather let him toil with

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his hands at honest work, so that he may have
something to share with any one in want. Never let
any foul word pass your lips, but only such good
words as the occasion demands, that they may be a
help to those who hear them. And do not grieve
God's Holy Spirit, for it was through that spirit that
God sealed you as His against the day of redemption.

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Let all bitterness, passion, anger, brawling, and abusive language be
banished from among you, as well as all malice. Be
kind to one another, tender hearted, ready to forgive one another,
just as God in Christ forgave you. Chapter five. Therefore,
imitate God as his dear children, and live a life
of love, following the example of the Christ who loved

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you and gave himself tell for you as an offering
and a sacrifice to God that should be fragrant and acceptable.
As for unchastity and every kind of impurity or greed,
do not let them even be mentioned among you as
befits Christ's people, nor shameful conduct, nor foolish talk or jesting,
for they are wholly out of place among you. But rather,

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thanksgiving for of this, you may be sure that no
one who is unchaste, or impure, or greedy of gain,
For to be greedy of gain is idolatry, has any
place awaiting him in the Kingdom of Christ and God.
Do not let anyone deceive you with specious arguments. Those
are the sins that bring down the wrath of God
upon the disobedient. Therefore, have nothing to do with such people.

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For although you were once in darkness, now by your
union with the Lord, you are in the light. Live
as children of light. For the outcome of life and
the Light may be seen in every form of goodness, righteousness,
and sincerity, always trying to find out what is pleasing
to the Lord. Take no p heart in deeds of
darkness from which no good can come. On the contrary,

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expose them. It is degrading even to speak of the
things continually done by them in secret. All such actions,
when exposed, have their true character made manifest by the light.
For everything that has its true character made manifest is
clear as light. And that is why it is said, sleeper, awake,
arise from the dead, and the Christ shall give thee light.

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Take great care, then, how you live, not unwisely, but wisely,
making the most of every opportunity. For these are evil days. Therefore,
do not grow thoughtless, but try to understand what the
Lord's will is. Do not drink wine to excess or
that leads to profligacy, but seek to be filled with
the spirit of God. And speak to one another in

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psalms and hymns and sacred songs. Sing and make music
in your hearts to the Lord. Always give thanks for
everything to our God and Father in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And submit to one another from
reverence for him. Wives should submit to their husbands as
submitting to the Lord. For a man is the head
of his wife, as Christ is the head of the Church,

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being indeed himself the savior of his body. But as
the Church submits to the Christ, so also should wives
submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives,
just as the Christ loved the Church and gave himself
for her to make her holy, after purifying her by
the washing of the water, according to his promise, so

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that he might himself bring the Church, in all her beauty,
into his own presence, with no spot or wrinkle or
blemish of any kind, but that she might be holy
and faultless. That is how husbands ought to love their
wives as if they were their own bodies. A man
who loves his wife is really loving himself. For no
one ever yet hated his own body. But every one

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feeds his body and cares for it, just as the
Christ for the Church, for we are members of his body.
For this cause, a man shall leave his father and
mother and be united to his wife, and the man
and his wife shall become one. In this there is
a profound truth. I am speaking of Christ and his Church. However,

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for you, individually, let each love his wife as if
she were himself, and the wife be careful to respect
her husband. Chapter six. Children, obey your parents as children
of the Lord, for that is but right. Honor your
father and mother, this is the first commandment with a promise,
so that thou mayest prosper and have a long life

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on earth. And fathers, do not irritate your children, but
bring them up with Christian discipline and instruction. Slaves, obey
your earthly masters with anxious care, giving them ungrudging service,
as if obeying the Christ, not only when their eyes
are on you, as if you had merely to please men,

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but as slaves of who are trying to carry out
the will of God. Give your service heartily and cheerfully,
as working for the Master and not for men. For
you know that every one will be rewarded by the
Master for any honest work that he has done, whether
he is a slave or a freeman. And masters, treat
your slaves in the same spirit. Give up threatening them,

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for you know that he who is both their master
and yours, is in heaven, and that before him there
is no distinction of rank. For the future. Find strength
in your union with the Lord and in the power
that comes from His might. Put on the full armor
of God, so that you may be able to stand
your ground against the stratagems of the devil, For ours

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is no struggle against enemies of flesh and blood, but
against all the various powers of evil that hold sway
in the darkness around us, against the spirits of wickedness
on high. Therefore, take up the full armor of God,
that when the evil day comes, you may be able
to withstand the attack, and, having fought to the end,
still to stand your ground. Stand your ground, then, with

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truth for your belt, and with righteousness for your breast plate,
and with the readiness to serve the good News of peace,
as shoes for your feet at every onslaught, take up
faith for your shield, for with it you will be
able to extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one,
and receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the message of God. Always with

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prayer and supplication. Pray in spirit at all times, be
intent upon this with unwearying perseverance and supplication for all
Christ's people. And on my behalf also, that when I
begin to speak, words may be given me so that
I may fearlessly make known the inmost truth of the
good News. On behalf of which I am an ambassador

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in chains, pray that in telling it I may speak
fearlessly as I ought to enable you as well as others,
to know all that concerns me and what I am doing. Tychicus,
our dear brother and faith helper in the Master's cause,
will tell you everything. I am sending him to you
on purpose that you may learn all about us, and
that he may cheer your hearts. May God, the Father

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and the Lord Jesus Christ give our brothers peace and
love linked with faith. May God's blessing be with all
who love our Lord Jesus with an undying love. End
of the letter to the Ephesians.