10th July 2023

The lens of eternity

This study is the eleventh in a series of studies on the books of the New Testament
(Ephesians – read in 12 minutes)

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6 (NIV)

Paul was not free, yet from a Roman prison he wrote passionately about the freedom there is in Christ.

The promise of salvation, and the eternity it embodies, provides the framework through which Paul sees everything – including his own imprisonment, describing himself as the ‘prisoner of Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 3:1). He embeds the Christian life, with its relationships and its apparent limitations – including putting away ‘bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander…’ (Ephesians 4:31) – within how it pictures what God is doing on earth. There is the husband-and-wife relationship; children and their parents; slaves and their masters and the newly developed relationship between Gentile and Jew. This was something not entertained before the conversion of Cornelius and his household (Acts 10). It is here, with this relationship, that Paul understandably begins because it was something many Jewish converts had to come to terms with. Paul is encouraging unity in every aspect of the lives of his readers – probably more than just the Christians in Ephesus. 

Throughout this letter – as in his other writings – Paul is always looking at the overall picture and seeing it in everyday life through the lens of eternity. He sees God’s work all the way back to ‘before the creation of the world’ (Ephesians 1:4), and forward to ‘the redemption of those who are God’s possession’ (v.14). It is the whole purpose of life – and always has been. In building all these relationships within a Christian setting – within a church – Paul is pointing out that they are a reflection of the relationship between Jesus and his Father. We need to share this perspective if we are to understand what drove Paul in all that he did, and said, and wrote. 

The focus Paul places on relationships and unity suggests that he sees the Christian life as being lived out in a community of like-minded believers and not in isolation. They are to be reconciled to Christ, but also to each other. This leads logically on to the need for them to be resisting the temptations of the world around them – rejecting those practices listed in some detail from Ephesians 4:17 through to 5:18. 

There is a greater enemy to resist than the differences they may have with other Christians: a spiritual enemy that is named in Ephesians 6 where Paul uses the metaphor of putting on armour to defend against ‘the devil’s schemes’ (v.11), and ‘spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ (v.12). He lists truth, righteousness, preaching the gospel, faith, the knowledge of salvation, God’s word, and prayer (vv.10-19) as the defence against an enemy that we cannot resist ourselves – it is God who fights for us as we are ‘strong in the Lord and …his mighty power’ (v.10).

Prayer
Heavenly father, let there be peace among us and unity through our shared conviction of Jesus Christ and his saving work. In his holy name, Amen.

Study by Maggie Mitchell

About the writer:
Maggie Mitchell attends the Northampton congregation of Grace Communion International and is Chair of the Pastoral Council

Local congregation:
GCI Northampton
Ecton Village Hall
78A High Street
Ecton
Northampton
NN6 0QB

Local congregational contact:
Maggie Mitchell
Email:  maggie.mitchell@btinternet.com

Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church