Ephesian's 4:1-6
Paul just finishes praying the the church in Ephesus would know God's love and be changed by that knowledge, and then he launches into how we should respond. He has spent a great amount of time discussing how the Church is the fullness of His wisdom primarily in its unity and so now their are specific actions to back that up.
I want to take a moment to step back and consider the structure of the book, which is similar to many other epistles, in that it begins with a theological lesson and from that gives us actions to follow. We start by learning who God is and what he has done and then we move into how we should respond to that. I think of two good reasons why this is a good idea. First, you could not read the initial lesson without your outlook being changed. I am ready to respond after spending time chewing on what lessons Paul has give us. Secondly it is a great reminder that Truth is over and above my personal experience. I am not to take what I see in this world as my guide on how to respond to it, but I respond to eternal Truth's laid out in the Word even when my experience appears to not match up to these based on my limited perception of reality. This causes me to realize I need to take my study seriously and then base my actions on that rather than do, base my actions on how that goes and then study as an addition. In our church culture we at times are tempted to just understand the basics of Christianity and then the more important part of it is to "do". This clearly doesn't match up to Paul's idea of discipleship. I love reading biographies and I see in past church figures this love of learning truth, to the point where it seems to be innocuous details yet these lives produce rich and profound ministry while we sometimes expect that those that engage the study at that level will end up with no ministry and just bickering over insignificant points.
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1 comment:
I agree with you! I think it is a balance: Paul almost always bases the "this is how to live" on "this is what is true." The danger is that we overcompensate to one side or the other. Our experience with Truth (and truth) should always move us to a response. My theology prof always said that the purpose of studying theology was worship - it wasn't just gaining knowledge but responding to it appropriately.
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