Let No One Decieve You
Posted by Pastor Pat on December 8, 2009
Read Ephesians 5:1-6
There is an element of perplexity offered to us in the text. Is it possible for those who have the inheritance to become disinherited? Is it possible for those who are citizens of His kingdom to be expelled from its realm? There is a weight to what faces us in this text that must not and cannot be negated. Paul speaks to the Ephesians and reminds them that if in Adam behavior characterizes their lives then they are in real danger of losing their inheritance and becoming outcasts of His kingdom.
Let us attempt to put his charge in its literary context. Paul speaks of those whom God as a Trinity secured to become sons and daughters by fully engaging all that He is in His essence and all He has at His disposal. All the resources of God were deployed for the purpose of redeeming the sinner’s debt and adopting the orphaned. Everything in chapters 1 through 3 speaks to the new man created when God acted. It is from this tree that unity, purity and charity now flow. In the absence of individual purity and charity, the unity secured by the cross is in jeopardy of failing. This failure refers to its manifestation in the community of faith. Nothing can ever undo what God did. Yet it is possible to speak and live so poorly as to significant obscure the manifestation of the cross in one’s community of faith.
The characteristics of what all once were in Adam no longer identify those who are in Christ. We are to parrot God, follow God, because we are His loved children. He loves us and the consequence of this love is unmerited adoption. What this looks like in His children is love. He explains what this love looks like through two venues. First, love is explained by the cross. Second, love is explained by contrast.
Everything about the Christian life is a consequence of the cross. The cross causes the relationship one has with God. The consequences of that relationship is both verbal (i.e. what you say and how you speak) and visual (i.e. how you behave). Because you are now in Christ and have become His body, everything about you has changed forever. If this is true, how are we to take the charge and warning of Ephesians 5:1-6?
My understanding of this is progressing, but first there is the idea expressed in Galatians where one is “severed from Christ” (Gal. 5:4). I believe this speaks of apostasy whereby initial faith is abandoned through a persistent verbal denial. This person once professed Christ, but through open and continued verbal denial they have abandoned Christ and have thus fallen from grace and are severed from Christ.
The second idea is of one who through their actions openly and consistently shows their in Adam identity. There are several passages that speak to this idea. I will note only a handful.
First, some clarity can come from the parable of the wise man building his house on the rock (Please read Matt. 7:24-29). What is of interest is to see the parallel between hearing and doing and building on the rock. The unwise hear but fail to do and thus build their entire lives on nothing more stable than sand. The issue is not on how well either one built, but on what they built. It is only because of the rock that the one stood and the other failed.
Second, some clarity can come from the parable of the four soils (Please read Mark 4:1-20). The first three soil types did not produce an enduring crop. As a consequence they all failed. It is only the fourth soil that produced an enduring crop. In the absence of this notable and enduring fruit, there can be no certainty.
Third, some clarity can come from the illustration of the dog returning to its vomit (Please read 2 Pet. 2:20-22). This question of endurance presented in Ephesians 5:1-6 is persistent. Matthew, Mark and Peter speak to it. Peter’s employs two ancient proverbs, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT”, and, “a sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.” In both cases the issue is one of nature.
It is neither fair nor right for us to be dismissive with the exhortation and warning found in Ephesians 5:1-6. It would be tragic for anyone to discharge debase behavior by assuming the lavish nature of God’s grace. When the grace of God is promoted as an opportunity for the flesh and rank lasciviousness, then Paul warns them of God’s wrath and disinheritance. When grace is used as an excuse, then the danger of disbarring is real. Yet the grace of God receives the prodigal (Luke 15), releases the defiled (John 8), and restores the rejected (Mark 1:40ff). May we flee from the wrath to come, and may we find comfort and rest in the enormity of God’s immeasurable grace.
By Pastor Patrick J. Griffiths. For more information see the Waukesha Bible Church series on Ephesians.
