SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/16/2019
9:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Walk of the Old Self”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
4:17-19
Message of the verses: “17 This I say
therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as
the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in
their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance
that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having
become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of
every kind of impurity with greediness.”
The
version of the Bible that I used this morning for these verses is the NASB, and
not the NASB95, which is actually the latest version that I know of from the Lockman
people who actually own the rights to the NASB versions of the Bible. The difference between these two versions in
this section is that the word “therefore” is not in the NASB95 version, and
John MacArthur states that the word “therefore” found in verse 17 refers back
to what Paul has been saying about our calling in Jesus Christ. He goes on to
say that “Because we are
called to salvation, unified in the Body of Christ, gifted by the Holy Spirit,
and built up by the gifted men (vv. 1-16), we should ‘therefore…walk no longer
just as the Gentiles also walk.’ We
cannot accomplish the glorious work of Christ by continuing to live the way the
world lives.” I have to say that
this is a very important quote for us to understand.
MacArthur
points out that the word “Ethnos” (‘Gentiles’)
is not in the early manuscripts but in other letters written by Paul it is used
in a similar way, so it seems that the use of it here no matter when it was
added is fine as it is used here. He
writes “The term basically refers to a multitude of people in general, and then
to a group of people of a particular kind.
It is this secondary meaning that we see in our derived English word ethnic.
Jews used the term in two common ways, first to distinguish all other
people from Jews and second to distinguish all religions from Judaism. ‘Gentiles’ therefore referred racially and
ethnically to all non-Jews and religiously to all pagans.” I am not found of the word race or racially
as I have stated before that there is only one race of people on planet earth
and that is the human race. This word
gets people in a lot of trouble and that is why I don’t like using it.
Paul
uses this term “Gentile” here in a similar way that he used it in 1
Thessalonians 4:5 “not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know
God;” in other words Paul is talking about a group of people who do not know
God, which is the sense that he uses it here in Ephesians 4:17.
In
the NT times the not Jewish people were mostly pagans, as even in the city of
Ephesians the Ephesians mostly worshiped gods, or idols that represented pagan
gods. The entire Roman empire was
basically the same way so this is why Paul would use the term “Gentiles” here
and in some of his other letters.
In
MacArthur’s commentary he writes much about the different gods that were
worshipped in Ephesus and how the worship of these gods caused a great deal of
problems for the people who worshiped them as in essence they were worshipping
Satan. He then goes on to write “The
church at Ephesus was a small island of despised people in a giant cesspool of
wickedness. Most of the believers had
themselves once been a part of that paganism.
They frequently passed by places where they once caroused and ran into
friends with whom they once indulged in debauchery. They faced continual temptations to revert to
the old ways, and the apostle therefore admonished them to resist. ‘This I say therefore, and affirm together
with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles walk.’ Peter gave a similar word when he wrote, ‘For
the time already pasts in sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of
the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousals,
drinking parties and abominable idolatries.
And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into
the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you’ (1 Peter. 4:3-4).”
Because
of all that we are when we become believers, new creations as Paul wrote we
realize that we are distinct from the rest of the world, the rest of the world
who does not know nor follow the Lord Jesus Christ. MacArthur writes “Spiritually we have already
left the world and are now citizens of heaven.
We are therefore not to ‘love the world, nor the things in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its
lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever’ (1 John
2:15-17). The world’s standards are
wrong, its motives are wrong, its aims are wrong. Its ways are sinful, deceitful, corrupt,
empty, and destructive.”
Paul
did not make up these words on his own for he writes “This I say…and affirm
together with the Lord.” This matter of
forsaking sin and to follow after righteousness is not just the whim of
isolated, narrow-minded preachers and teachers, for it is God’s own standard
and His only standard for all of those who belong to Him. MacArthur writes “It is the very essence of
the gospel and is set in bold contrast to the standards of the unredeemed.
“Paul
proceeds to give four specific characteristics of the ungodly, pagan life-style
that believers are to forsake. The
worldly life is intellectually futile, ignorant of God’s truth, spiritually and
morally calloused, and depraved in mind.”
In
essence this SD is actually an introduction to these four different worldly
life styles that are mentioned in the quote above this sentence, and we will
begin in our next SD, Lord willing, to look at “Intellectually futile” in our
next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is a good reminder for me that who I am in
Christ and all that He has done for me in order for me to live a live where I
can serve Him.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Remember that there is nothing good in me,
that is in my flesh, and so the things that I do for the cause of Christ I can
humbly say that it is because of what Christ has done through me and for me.
4/16/2019 10:45 AM
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