ReNEWed COVENANT Ministry
SABBATH BIBLE STUDY
6-8
(2019)
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Compiled by JS LOWTHER
renewedcovenantministry.com
servant@renewedcovenantministry.com
Ephesianism
(Walking as beloved children)
Ephesians Ch. 5:1-17
Get out your Bible turn to Ephesians and study to show your self approved …
Ephesianism
Expository study of Ephesians Ch. 5:1-17
Eph_5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear (beloved) children;
Eph 5:2 And walk in love,
How do we follow? By walking …as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.
The theme of walking up until this point:
Eph_2:1-2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
Eph_2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Eph_4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
Eph_4:17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
And now
Eph 5:2 walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
This is one of those places that with out a bible law back ground this verse makes little to no sense. It can be easily seen from Gen_8:21 how that the offering of the sacrifice of Noah after he had received YHWH’s Grace, believed and worked with the fear of God and then was saved by God’s grace which he trusted enough to build the ark to escape the flood waters, and thus was saved from the eminent death of the flood by Faith, after that and Noah is saved he offers an offering unto the Lord of the provisions left on the ark,
Gen_8:20-21 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
and so this concept of a sweet savor as found in the offering given by a righteous man which God himself has respect to, not on account ones perfection in and of them self but to the contrary, it is the recognition that God says in His heart that ” the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth”, this is God’s Grace, no differently than what we find in Ephesians (& NT), God accepts the best we can give Him despite all of the evil of our mind (imagination) and heart, that is that we acknowledge in all that we do, even in the works we are called to walk in that it is only by God’s Grace and salvation that our offering is sweet. This was for Noah a voluntary offering of his substance God has given him, it was not an offering or sacrifice for sin, And so no differently would we carry this concept to the code of holiness first found in Lev_1:9.
but perhaps best seen in regards to Christ’s offering of a sweet smelling savor we find here in Eph_5:1-2 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.
we see Christ as both priest and the offering, giving himself for us, that is on our behalf as one of the common people .
And so when we see the revelation of the sweet smelling savor of the offering of a repentant person in the time of the altar and tabernacle, under the National codification of the Nation of Israel, the commonwealth of Israel, we see:
Lev_4:27-31 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty; (That is: unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD’s commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt,)
Lev 4:28 Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.
Lev 4:29 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, *and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering. (Special note)
Lev 4:30 And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar.
Lev_4:31 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.
Now think back to the language of Ephesians:
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, *having slain the enmity thereby:
Eph 2:17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Do you see how Christ slays the sin he slays the enmity by the blood of the cross!
as Lev_4:27-31 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance in doing any one of the things that by the LORD’s commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt,)
Lev 4:28 Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge:
This is a picture perfect image of what the context of the offering of Christ has accomplished when we had read: in Eph_4:17-19 …henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of your mind, Having you understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through ignorance, because of the blindness of heart: that is being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness…
Rather we who have come to mind of our sin and transgression rather we who are not walking in this ignorant way, this ignorant path and course of this world no longer walk in that which they have parted with by the sweet smelling sacrifice of Christ, who has parted his common peoples sin from them by the quickening and effective atonement, which was prior imputed to the beloved in Christ from the foundation of the world, but was made known to you the moment we realized our evil imaginations and evil heart was sin which needs be slain, enmity which must be killed, that it is sin what has separated us from our God, the partition made by our ignorance and blindness as we walked on the guilty road, but now we know and we see, we are not ignorant to our unity to the one body of Jesus Christ as he hung upon the cross for our sin as a free gift of Grace to us ward, a unity eternally made effective by the Spirit of God we receive by Faith in our heart and mind and confidence in the forgiveness which the Father has given to those who are beloved to Him.
For the one whom God has called to, to make his sin known to, to awake him from ignorance and death by sin, to him grace has come, and by Faith it is brought to him and now for him to whom this is a reality for it is time to walk…. to be a followers of God, as a beloved child;
And to walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.
continued
Eph_5:3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Eph_5:4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
Eph 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
This is important stuff we are to learn and progress in and learn from
And so in this walk of love, in Christ, there are thing we are to recognize as sin (that which was parted, will continue to be parted)
These categories are of sin, being made apparent they stand in opposition to the walk of love a beloved one is called to walk in, that is what these categories represent ARE NOT LOVE IN CHRIST, they are yet sin, and sin we should be made awakened to by the before ordained works written in God’s word to direct our walk, and while we we walk it is to be ever our goal in this body of flesh which Christ has redeemed unto his inheritance to “Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Eph_4:30
Notice the repeat of the 3 categories of nouns made adjective, when one personalizes the sin in its committing:
Eph_5:3 fornication (Porneia), and all uncleanness (Akatharsia), or covetousness Pleonezia),
Eph_5:5 whoremonger (Pornos), nor unclean person (Akathartos), nor covetous man (Pleonektes) (KJV)
And so let’s discus these
Pornia or fornication
is abroad catagory, not only cover sexual immorality as defined by the law and commandments of God as we live in the flesh such as what the Patriarch Judah did when he hired Tamar in the LXX of Gen_38:24 ,but also Pornia covers fornication of the spirit as found in the Greek LXX of Num_14:33 And your sons shall be fed in the wilderness forty years, and they shall bear your fornication, until your carcasses be consumed in the wilderness.
This spiritual fornication and /or faithlessness covers the first definition as part of it’s substance as well. So fornication is a broad term, intended for a holy on or saint to identify by the Law of God and to not walk in, rather to part all forms of it from his or her life.
‘Uncleanness’ or A-Katharsia / ακαθαρσια -Lit. NOT CLEAN ( G167 )
Likewise, a word which is again very broad and pertains to the flesh as well as the spirit, this is the very same word used through out the LXX to identify what should be seperated and parted from holiness or sanctification, that is what is clean.
A simple and direct reading from Lev_20:1-27, will reveal a breakdown of what Paul means by use of the words Pornia or fornication and Akatharsia and Katharsia as is always used in the physical, spiritual and connected realms of the two in the biblical world view.
Lev 20:1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 20:2 Thou shalt also say to the children of Israel, If there shall be any of the children of Israel, or of those who have become proselytes in Israel, who shall give of his seed to Moloch, let him be surely put to death; the nation upon the land shall stone him with stones.
Lev 20:3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given of his seed to Moloch, to defile my sanctuary, and profane the name of them that are consecrated to me.
Lev 20:4 And if the natives of the land should in anywise overlook that man in giving of his seed to Moloch, so as not to put him to death;
Lev_20:5 then will I set my face against that man and his family, and I will destroy him, and all who have been of one mind with him, so that he should go a whoring to the princes, from their people.
Lev 20:6 And the soul that shall follow those who have in them divining spirits, or enchanters, so as to go a whoring after them; I will set my face against that soul, and will destroy it from among its people.
Lev 20:7 And ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
Lev 20:8 And ye shall observe my ordinances, and do them: I am the Lord that sanctifies you.
Lev 20:9 Every man who shall speak evil of his father or of his mother, let him die the death; has he spoken evil of his father or his mother? he shall be guilty.
Lev 20:10 Whatever man shall commit adultery with the wife of a man, or whoever shall commit adultery with the wife of his neighbour, let them die the death, the adulterer and the adulteress.
Lev 20:11 And if any one should lie with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness: let them both die the death, they are guilty.
Lev 20:12 And if any one should lie with his daughter-in-law, let them both be put to death; for they have wrought impiety, they are guilty.
Lev 20:13 And whoever shall lie with a male as with a woman, they have both wrought abomination; let them die the death, they are guilty.
Lev 20:14 Whosoever shall take a woman and her mother, it is iniquity: they shall burn him and them with fire; so there shall not be iniquity among you.
Lev 20:15 And whosoever shall lie with a beast, let him die the death; and ye shall kill the beast.
Lev 20:16 And whatever woman shall approach any beast, so as to have connexion with it, ye shall kill the woman and the beast: let them die the death, they are guilty.
Lev 20:17 Whosoever shall take his sister by his father or by his mother, and shall see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness, it is a reproach: they shall be destroyed before the children of their family; he has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, they shall bear their sin.
Lev 20:18 And whatever man shall lie with a woman that is set apart for a flux, and shall uncover her nakedness, he has uncovered her fountain, and she has uncovered the flux of her blood: they shall both be destroyed from among their generation.
Lev 20:19 And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister, or of the sister of thy mother; for that man has uncovered the nakedness of one near akin: they shall bear their iniquity.
Lev 20:20 Whosoever shall lie with his near kinswoman, has uncovered the nakedness of one near akin to him: they shall die childless.
Lev 20:21 Whoever shall take his brother’s wife, it is uncleanness; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall die childless.
Lev 20:22 And keep ye all my ordinances, and my judgments; and ye shall do them, and the land shall not be aggrieved with you, into which I bring you to dwell upon it.
Lev 20:23 And walk ye not in the customs of the nations which I drive out from before you; for they have done all these things, and I have abhorred them:
Lev 20:24 and I said to you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you for a possession, even a land flowing with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from all people.
Lev 20:25 And ye shall make a distinction between the clean and the unclean cattle, and between clean and unclean birds; and ye shall not defile your souls with cattle, or with birds, or with any creeping things of the earth, which I have separated for you by reason of uncleanness.
Lev 20:26 And ye shall be holy to me; because I the Lord your God am holy, who separated you from all nations, to be mine.
Lev 20:27 And as for a man or woman whosoever of them shall have in them a divining spirit, or be an enchanter, let them both die the death: ye shall stone them with stones, they are guilty.
This is serious stuff, and the lessons taught by this in the flesh is shared by the covetousness we may have to commit them in our spirit.
Listen, the whole of the last catagory Covetousness is able to be both seen in lieraly money or wealth idolatry, but it is just as plainly spiritual in Paul’s conclusion of all of these things in saying… ” ‘nor covetous man, who is an idolater’, he also has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. “, this is the very idea of what you store up for and where your walking truly is, by the love that is in you.
According to the course of this world? or according to the walk of Grace recieved by faith?
The simplicity of the question is where is your inheritance, what do we covent after?
Simply said by our Lord: Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore consider YHWH’s Words, and
Eph_5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Eph_2:2
Eph 5:7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
Eph 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
Eph 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
Eph 5:10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Eph 5:12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
Eph 5:13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Eph_5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Eph 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Eph 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
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