Ephesians chapter 4

vs 11

Wow, now there's quite a difference between the T and the NIV. The NIV says what we are all used to, that Christ gave some 'to be' these different roles. But the TNIV says that Christ gave these things. Which makes it sound a lot more past tense - as if there are not prophets, pr apostles, or teachers or evangelists, but they were only given at a certain time. Which is obviously not true. And that is not what it is saying, I don't think - it just sounds like that.

vs 12

But what it does do is change the emphasis of 'equip' here from 'the gifts' to 'those gifted'. So instead of Christ preparing people with gifts (NIV), Christ now uses those with gifts to equip the church. Perhaps it's not so big a deal as I'm making out - either Christ gave the gifts or those gifted for the sake of the church and it being built up. I do think, though, that the TNIV translation does lend credence to the idea that some gifts have disappeared, because it is person-centred rather than gift-centred.

vs 13

And again, Paul talks of the aim of unity. This time, I think, he is talking about a future thing, possibly an eschatalogical thing. Because the unity he talks about can't really happen on earth. I don't think the church is going to reach the whole measure of the fullness of Christ while on earth. However, it does show that the church is meant to be building up and getting better over time, not weaker and more fractured.

vs 14

This ocean metaphor shows the opinion of ancient people to the sea - it was a chaotic and nasty place. And here it is used as a metaphor for deceptive and false teaching. If I am right, and Paul's last verse is eschatalogical, then we have to assume that the church is always going to be blown around a bit by false teaching until the end times. That's kind of a shame, but it also should be good for us to remember - that we'll never get it 100% right while we're on earth.

vs 15

Ok, to keep my eschatalogical reading here, we need to read this verse as saying that we must continue to speak the truth in love now, so that we grow up into Christ. I think that's fair - we will all become one in Christ Jesus. And yes, we are already there in a sense, but I don't think we can say that we have reached that final destination. Speaking the truth in love, then is our way of combatting the deception of false teaching.

vs 16

So the church now is joined together, it is meant to work together, and it is meant to grow. And it does all these things in Christ. Eventually, it will grow up into fullness so that it is entirely Christ-like. That's the goal.

vs 17

Wow, that's a bold and challenging statement. What does it mean exactly? I think Paul is going to elucidate, but remember that he has stated this broad claim on the life of the Christian church.

vs 18

Nasty verse. It is interesting that all the things that Paul lists - the darkened understanding (dim might be a better word), separate from life in God, ignorant - all of that stems from a hardness of heart. Remember that. Non-Christians aren't non-Christians because of a lack of knowledge. It's not a matter of 'just teach them the gospel, and they will believe'. Baloney. They are hard of heart. And no amount of gospelising will change that. Hard heart = ignorance, not the other way around.

vs 19

Another interesting verse. It is the lack of spiritual sensitivity (the heart being the organ of the spirit) which leads people to indulge in godless passtimes and activities. So when Christians continue in these actions (remember, that is what Paul is actually writing about here), it shows a hardness of heart towards God. A lack of love for God. Ouch - that hurts for all of us who have been or are involved in activities that we know we shouldn't be.

vs 20

That life, the pagan life, is not reflective of the Christian life, which the Ephesians have learned (we assume from Paul). I just want to interject on this short verse and make the point that Paul was teaching not just theology, but a Christian life. I wonder if we, as a church, should be teaching more 'life'?

vs 21

To Paul, teaching about Christ included teaching about life and how to live it. Now this sort of thing is a bit sketchy - I know that some people might thing you've joined a cult if your church told you how to dress and behave. But I think we should be able to maintain a lifestyle plurality without losing the ability to speak into people's lives and actions.

Regardless of plurality or not, though, speaking into the way people live their lives is painful. Making a statement about some truth is one thing - telling people that they should change the way they do something is different. Perhaps that was the problem my old church had with my 'reading the Bible' sermon - because I was telling people to change how they did something?