Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, (26) that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, (27) that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (28) So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.  (29) For no one ever hated his own flesh,  but nourishes it and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.  (30) For we are members of His body, of His flesh and if His bones.  (31) “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  (32) This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.  

The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul.  In our verses today Paul is addressing the various conditions of life based on the basic principle of relationships which is that the faithful are to serve each other but some are more closely bound to each other – such as husbands and wives, parents and children – and in these relationships exist peculiar duties of mutual obligation.

This radical departure from the culture of Paul’s day ran counter to the world’s wisdom, especially concerning the husband’s role in marriage.  In Ephesus the role of the wife was mostly to produce legitimate children and to care for the home.  Now, Christian husbands are commanded to love their wives as Christ loved the church, setting aside selfish and worldly desires and instead practicing love, sacrifice, honor and lifelong devotion. . Paul is not talking about just emotional love here but love as an act of will – love here is deliberate, purposeful and a continuous effort.  But while Paul is writing of the obligation for regard of the sanctity of marriage he makes clear that the most important relationship is the believer’s relationship to the Lord. Christ is our standard and our model in living.

The great mystery in our verses refers to the spiritual union between Christ and the church as whatever is supernatural is beyond our comprehension.  The mystery is Christ’s loving and breathing His own life into the church to which all faithful belong.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, (16) redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  (17) Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  (18) And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit  (19) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, (20) giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul.  The subject of our verses today is Paul’s warning that Christians live as children of the light in an evil day and need to navigate with care – to live with purpose and intent and make the best use of our days.

We are saved in Christ and sealed in the Spirit; living conscious of the Spirit enables us to grow in spiritual maturity which is an ongoing process ending only in death.  Living in the Spirit means a constant and steady flow of grace/power to live a daily godly life – there are also moments of sudden special filling for special needs.  The filling of the Spirit is a habitual condition that we must seek as we cannot be removed from daily temptation battles.  There are situations in this world that require steadfast perseverance and we need to develope the habit of holiness.

Life in this world is based on circumstances that are constantly changing and without the Spirit we cope by by adopting a “move on, nothing to see here” attitude.  In faith and the Spirit we are learning to live what we are already in fact; adopted and accepted children of God.  We are learning to be free from a need for worldly approval and comfort and material success.  The Spirit teaches us, reminds us, enables us and speaks for us.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by him you were sealed of redemption. (31) Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.  (32) And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.  5:1. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.  (3) And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. 

The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul. He has already shown his readers how to put off the old way of life and in the instant of faith in Jesus we are reborn and put on our new way of life. First there is justification in faith and now the process of sanctification which ends only in our death.

In our verses today Paul is laying down the foundational principal of Christian life. The new man/woman in Jesus will walk in love as imitators of God. To become imitators of God we must become children of God in Jesus – and not all people are children of God.   Just because men were created doesn’t make it so. It all comes from God to man, not the other way around.

Paul tells the faithful to be renewed in mind; to commit ourselves to God in Christ. He then gets specific concerning transformation of the faithful; we are admonished to put off bitterness and anger. Our perspective, our purpose; the passion and focus of life has spiritually and radically changed. Much like the miracle of the recovering alcoholic with the consuming need to drink having been lifted, the spiritually new man wants a close relationship with God, led by the Spirit. We are advised to tame our temper – that bitterness that refuses reconciliation – to speak in truth. Walk in love. Remove slander, malice and clamor from our lives, and forgive others.

We have been forgiven at great cost by grace, not by merit.  I love to close by quoting c.s.Lewis on forgiveness; “We believe that God forgives us our sins, but also that He will not do so unless we forgive other people their sins against us. There is no doubt about the second part of this statement.  It is in the Lord’s Prayer; was emphatically stated by our Lord.  If you don’t forgive you will not be forgiven. No part of his teaching is clearer and there are no exceptions to it. “

(17) This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, (18) having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; (19) who, being past feeling, having given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.  (20) But you have not so learned Christ, (21) if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:  (22) that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, (23) and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (24) and that you  put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. 

The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today Paul moves to address the transformation in behavior the gospel ought to yield in the lives of Christians. They should no longer walk as the unbelieving Gentiles walk – those who think and live without any regard for God and eternity.  They live in this fleeting world and culture “in the futility of their mind”.

With sin came darkness of the mind and alienation from God.  Unbelievers walk in darkness and are spiritually dead in sin. Their ignorance which Paul calls vanity, is in man’s very nature after the sin of Adam and Eve.  In man’s rebellion to God, he is past feeling, unmoved, with no shame and no guilt – and forsaken by God.  A changed life begins by learning Christ and the significance of what He did on the cross as substitute for sinners  – by learning the history of God and man; not just facts but that the moment of faith in Christ is the moment of salvation.  The truth of salvation is only in Jesus Christ.  We are not saved by a philosophy of redemption but by the historic person, Jesus.   The gospel is rooted in history and the person of Jesus.  if He did not die and rise bodily from the dead we are still in our sin with no hope at all.

in faith we are born again and are able  – and want to – deny self and put off the nature we were born with – the old man.  We are to put on the new man; to be renewed and guided by the indwelling Spirit.  Our changed life begins by learning Christ  – we are in faith “positionally” in Christ and are saved but still we daily exist living in this present world and what that entails – the daily tug from our old life.  A changed life requires putting on the new man.  We did at the moment of faith but must continue doing so every day – it’s called sanctification

God is the creator and pattern  of this new man.  And the righteousness and the holiness of this new man ought to be sincere – God  cannot  be deceived.

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