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Rightly Dividing
the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15)
Established November 2008 Published
Weekly on Friday AM
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, who desires all men (and women) to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2:3-4)
Ephesians (4:7-10)
(Lesson 13)
Welcome, I want to
thank y’all for choosing HBS as your study partner.
In verse 4:1 our
Apostle Paul pleaded for the Ephesian Church to “Walk in a manner worthy of your calling to which you have been called.” He then listed the five characteristics of
those who walk in this manner: with
all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another
in love (4:2). Five is the number of
grace in scripture (nearly every
measurement of the Tabernacle was divisible by five, for instance). Because God showed His grace toward us, we are called to be gracious in our dealings with each other, in love (Romans 5:8-9; Ephesians 4:32; 1 Peter 3:8).
Paul then gives the
reason for “walking” in this
manner. It is to “preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”
(4:2-3). Paul’s talking about an
organic, spiritual unity founded on seven (which signifies divine perfection,
as in the creation event, totality, or completion) essential unifying factors
related to the Triune Godhead (4:4-6).
The same unity God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit experience is the exact same unity God’s one Church already has and must labor to preserve.
Beginning in verse
7, Paul changes the subject segueing from corporate unity to looking at
Believers individually. “…to each one of us” (4:7) means he’s now
speaking directly to each Believer who make up the Body of Christ. What’s Paul’s message? Paul wants all these folks, both Jew and
Gentile, to come together as one.
As a unit they are then to illuminate the world, drawing lost souls out of the darkness and into the
Light. To accomplish this effectively each
one of them has to rely on the Holy
Spirit’s power.
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that all of you agree together, so that there may
be no divisions among you and that you may
be united in mind and conviction (1 Timothy 1:10).
********
Please
open your Bible at Ephesians 4:7-10 and let’s read this passage together.
Ephesians 4
But to each one
of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH,
HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” (Now this expression,
“He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended in the lower
parts of the earth? He who
descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He
might fill all things.)
Some
people believe verse 7 is saying Christ
has given specific spiritual gifts
to each Believer. However, Paul hasn’t
been talking about spiritual gifts and he’s not “changing horses’ midstream
here.” Paul normally used the Koine
Greek word Charisma when speaking of
the spiritual gifts given to Believers for God’s service. But here Paul used the Koine Greek word Doma in reference to these gifts.
We don’t have to wonder what Paul was talking about because he tells us
what these gifts are in verse 4:11: “He
gave some, as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some
as pastors and teachers.” These five church offices were given to the
Church, which is Christ’s body for its edification, in love. Paul got more
specific in verse 4:13 saying, (so) we’d all attain to the unity of the faith
and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the
stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
These
two passages together explain these five church offices all have to do with communicating
the Word of Truth to all. This means
Believers and unbelievers alike. Not
everyone sitting in church on Sunday is a true Believer. When the Bible was completed, God withdrew some
of these gifts from the Church such as apostles
and prophets. However, God’s one Church should not assume all these gifts have disappeared. Those who have been called to serve the body in Truth are certainly gifted
men; above the ordinary, so to speak, and they would have to be. They are obligated to communicate God’s authoritative
Word starting from “In the beginning God
created…” (Genesis 1:1); to “Yes, I
am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:20) and every spoken word in between. Per
Paul the Church is known as “the pillar
and support of the truth” (1Timothy 3:15).
Meaning, God’s entire truth must be preached to every generation without
adding to it or taking away from it.
Therefore, it
says,
“WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED
CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES (triumphed over His enemies), AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN” (4:8).
There
are mixed opinions regarding what this verse says. Paul is quoting from Psalm 68:18, in
part. I say “in part” because he does
not quote it exactly. With the Spirit’s
leading he’s modified it somewhat to get his point across to the Believers in
Ephesus.
In
Ephesians 4:8-10 Paul is tying the gift
of Christ to two events that actually took place, His first ascension and His previous descent into the center of the earth. He
borrowed from Psalm 68:18 to illustrate the enemies of Christ, that is, Satan, sin, and death which were defeated at the
Cross. Jesus Christ gives the gift of the Spirit to all those
who identify with His death, burial,
and resurrection, in faith.
for he who has died
is freed from sin. Now if we have died
with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ,
having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is
master over Him. For the death that He
died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Even so consider yourselves to be dead
to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:7-1;
1
Corinthians 15:1-4).
When you were dead
in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive
together with Him, having forgiven us (how many) all our transgressions, having cancelled out the certificate of
decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the
way, having nailed it to the cross. When He disarmed the rulers and
authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed
over them through Him (Colossians 2:13-15; Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:1-6; Psalm
2).
Paul’s
saying all true Believers are to
reckon (consider) themselves dead to sin
and alive to God. This event occurs instantaneously
the moment you believe the gospel of
peace (Romans 2:16, 16:25).
WHEN HE ASCENDED ON
HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES – Paul regularly draws images from
everyday life to teach a point. Here he
uses the analogy of a Roman general that conquered the enemies of Rome. After the fight the general took captives and returned to Rome with
them. There he led his army and these
captives through the streets in a triumphal procession. In Judges 5:30 we find the conqueror distributing
gifts (spoils) among his soldiers and
the people.
So,
in this passage we have the imagery of the Christ, triumphant in His battle on
earth, returning to heaven. When He ascended on high, He led captive the
captives (trophies of His triumph over
Satan, sin, and death) and He gives the gift
of the Holy Spirit to every true
Believer. The phrase, “led captivity captive” is referring to
Jesus Christ liberating the souls of the O.T. saints (Believers who had put
their faith in God and His Word) from Sheol.
No O.T. Believer died and entered heaven straight away as they do
today. That’s because the way to God the Father was shut! It could not be opened until Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, shed His blood for the sins of all (2 Corinthians 5:15). He
descended into the center of the earth, to Sheol, and took the captives there captive. He then led them to
heaven, into the very presence of God, emptying that section of Sheol which the
Lord identified as Paradise (Luke 16:19-31).
As
I hinted earlier in this lesson, this was the first of the Lord Jesus Christ’s two
ascensions. How do we know this? Please turn with me in your Bible to John
20:16-17. On the morning of Jesus
Christ’s resurrection He met Mary Magdalene
briefly. She didn’t recognize Him
initially, thinking He was the gardener (John
20:15). As you read about this encounter please pay
attention to Jesus’ words: Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew,
“Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus
said to her, “Stop clinging
to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren
and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and
your God.’ ”
The
O.T. scriptures provide a “shadow” of this event; it’s called the Day of
Atonement the most solemn holy day of Israel’s feasts and festivals. Every year on the Day of Atonement, the Jewish
High Priest would sacrifice a goat (with no imperfections) to atone for the
sins of the Israelites (Leviticus 23; Hebrews 9:22). He alone was permitted to pass through the
holy place and then enter “the Holy of Holies” which was within the Tabernacle. There, in the presence of God Almighty, he
sprinkled the goat’s blood on the Brazen Altar.
The High Priest then, per his instructions, returned to the people. The sprinkling of the goat’s blood symbolized
the cleansing of the Brazen Altar for the coming year (Leviticus 16:15-19).
There’s
more to the Day of Atonement than what I’ve explained but now you have a
general idea of what took place on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. The day Jesus, God’s perfect Lamb, died He descended into the lower parts of the earth
to the Paradise side of Sheol. There He
remained for 3 days fulfilling His prophecy:
“For just as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40 – Berean Study
Bible).
Are
Hades, Sheol, and Paradise Real?
The
thief who confessed his faith in the Lord while awaiting his death, asked Jesus
to remember him. Scripture records Jesus’
response: “And
He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise"
(Luke 23:43).
When
I was a child I was taught by the priest of our parish Paradise was
heaven. When Jesus died, He went to heaven. That’s where He would encounter this
thief. Well, that was wrong! Much later, I discovered through personal
Bible study Paradise was in Sheol, the center of the earth. On the opposite side of Paradise was
Hades. Hades was the place where the souls
of unbelievers went after they died.
Their bodies went into the earth, but their eternal souls went to Hades,
a place of torment (2 Peter 2:9-10b).
Paradise is the opposite of this.
The souls of the Believers in the Old Testament that died went down to
Paradise. Why? The way to God
the Father was unopened. Jesus was the “Firstfruits.” His substitionary death, consequent
burial, and His prophesied resurrection made the way
to the Father open to Believers (1 Corinthians
15:20-49).
There’s
an account in scripture told by Jesus Himself in Luke 16:19-31 which gives us a
record of a remarkable conversation that took place in Hades/Sheol between “the rich man and Lazarus.” Some people conclude this is not a real event
because these places aren’t real; this was only a story used to teach righteous
living. I disagree whole heartedly. These words came from the Lord and with them He
explains in a few words that Sheol/ Hades and Paradise did exist. They are not the same thing and they are not
in the same place. They are separate
locations.
The
lifeless bodies of the saints who died from Adam onward were buried in the
ground but their eternal souls had to have someplace to go, since the way to
heaven was inaccessible, with a couple of exceptions (see Enoch and Elijah)
before the Cross. Although millions of
animals and birds were sacrificed to God in His Temple, all that blood combined
could not take away one individual’s sin (Hebrews 10:4). Jesus Christ became the
way (John 14:6). His atoning
blood at the Cross built a bridge, in
love, to heaven and to God the Father (Genesis 3:9-19; John 14:6; Hebrews
9:12-14, 10:19-24).
(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it
mean except that He also had descended in the lower parts
of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who
ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things)
This
verse has caused much confusion in the churches, so people teach this passage
differently. However, this verse is to
be understood literally. Paul is stating
a fact; therefore, verse 9 says what it means and means what it says. The one, He
descended, had to occur before Jesus Christ’s first ascension, in glory, to the third heaven. The souls of all the O.T. Believers had to be
liberated from Sheol and the only Person who could manage this was the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter states Jesus
preached to the spirits of those now in prison (torment).
For Christ also
died for sins once for all, the
just for the unjust, so
that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made
alive in the spirit; in which also He
went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison (Sheol), who once were disobedient, when the patience
of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in
which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water (1 Peter 3:18-20, 4:6).
Please
note Peter’s not saying the gospel was preached to them. Jesus made a proclamation. We don’t have
the Lord’s message to the prisoners in torment recorded for us, but the
Redeemer probably mentioned the hopelessness of their situation. They had the advantage of God’s Word spoken
through the prophets and the O.T. scriptures but due to their unbelief they
have been sentenced to a life of torment for eternity.
From
Adam onward faith in God and what He has said (the gospel of that particular
dispensation) has always been the vehicle for one’s salvation. All the O.T. saints were saved by faith, but
they were denied access to God (heaven) because Christ’s work of the Cross was
a future event.
So, Jesus Christ removes the captives from the Paradise side of
Sheol, out of the lower parts of the
earth, up to heaven and the Father, that He might (ful)fill all things (4:10, Ephesians 1:23). This is what the work of the Cross
accomplished. The Carpenter’s work is
completed! It is
truly finished.
This
declaration from our Apostle Paul that Christ ascended to the third heaven in order to “fulfill all things,” to
complete them all and to render them perfect is specifically speaking about God’s
one Church. We know this because Paul goes on to explain
how the risen Lord will bring this about when empowered by the Holy Spirit:
Giving
apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (4:11).
For
equipping the saints for ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ
(4:12).
Until
we all obtain unity of the faith in the knowledge of the Son (4:13).
Achieving
maturity, the full stature of Christ Jesus (4:13).
So
that we will no longer be children, tossed about by false teaching (4:14).
That
we would grow up in every way into Christ, who is the head (4:15).
It
goes without saying this includes the filling of the Holy Spirit, which is
the way Christ Jesus indwells His Church.
Through the Spirit, Jesus
Christ will mature His body and this
will be evidenced by unity, if His people
“turn the power on, that is.” (Ephesians
1:10, 2:14, 3:6).
(To
be continued)
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved
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