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The Ephesian Connection
Also we were made a heritage, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.
(Ephesians 1:11-13 NASB and ASV)
Before their Messiah was revealed, God gave the Jewish people the Law of Moses as a tutor to point them toward Christ. But once He died and rose again, He became the way of righteousness for all men. As a result, God’s promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham could now be fulfilled as these first century Jews who were the first to hope in Christ began to walk in a faith relationship with God like Abraham had – only now with the increased revelation of who their Messiah was and what He had done for them at Calvary.
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the Law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Through faith in Christ, God’s covenant community is now comprised of:
men and women
from all races
from all social, economic, and cultural spheres.
When Paul says that there was neither Jew nor Greek, he was not ignoring racial differences; he was rejecting all ethnic discrimination. At the same time, there were obviously men and women in the Church as well as slaves and free men. But there was to be no favoritism around these distinctions in the Church for God shows no partiality (Ephesians 6:9).
Nonetheless, neither does the Bible teach that God’s people are to be uniformly alike. The great diversity in the Body of Christ (in spiritual gifts, in personality, in economic status, in ethnic differences, etc.) contributes an effectiveness in reaching the many different strata of society. God’s people, whether rich or poor, whether Jew or Gentile must present the Gospel of the Kingdom wherever He has placed them, to whoever He sends them.
In Christ there is neither male nor female. Yet men need to be men and women need to be women. It may appear that equality of the sexes can only be attained by diminishing the distinctions. However, equality is not synonymous with being alike. It is realized by mutual respect regardless of the distinctions. Furthermore, there are not only different physical and emotional attributes in men and women but also differences in how they function in the Church. This does not negate their equality or their worth; it expresses their diversity. The strength of the Body of Christ lies in each individual finding his or her unique place of spiritual service. Equality is not realized among us by giving everyone the same function, but by recognizing that we were all purchased for the same price – the blood of Jesus. My right hand and my mouth do not have the same function, but both are equally important to me. Recognizing the distinction between male and female is not only good and proper, but necessary. At the same time, partiality is wrong. Society must not see in the Church a spirit of control over others whether it be expressed in either an oppressive male chauvinism or a spirit of extreme feminism.
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
When one emphasizes his identity in externals such as race or traditional religious rites (such as circumcision), he will receive praise in these areas from those who also value such identification factors. Those of common race and/or religion will be greatly pleased with him and speak of how he is now one of them. But Paul stated that one who embraces God’s true covenant has been circumcised in his heart by the Holy Spirit. And the Lord, seeing his heart, now honors him as a participant in His covenant. Thus, God now welcomes a Spirit filled Gentile into His presence as much as He does any godly Jew. At the same time, a Jew who rejects his Messiah is standing outside the community of the redeemed even if he is physically circumcised.
When the New Testament Scriptures do make a distinction between Jews and Gentiles, it is not to show partiality, but to reveal truth. Notice Peter’s words when preaching to Jewish people on the Day of Pentecost.
Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you.
It is you who are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, “And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” For you first, God raised up His servant, and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.
The gospel, by its very nature, is to the Jew first and then to the Gentile – but always without partiality. Jesus was the Christ appointed for them; He had been promised to them. In these promises, God made it clear that He intended to reach beyond them to the nations. In Abraham, all the families of the earth would be blessed. We Gentile believers have been brought into the fulfillment of promises made to Jews thousands of years ago. We who were far off from the covenants of promise have been brought near by the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 2:12 - 13). Now we are partakers together with all who believe on His Name, both Jew and Gentile.
Let all who are under the yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine may not be spoken against. And let those who have believers as their masters not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but let them serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved.
Believing slaves and masters met together in the same local churches in Paul’s day. Here was an unmistakable example of inequality. Yet while economically and socially unequal, masters and slaves stood before the Lord as equals and they were to treat each other as brethren. God had the right to choose anyone from either group when addressing His Church. If slave and master respected the distinctions between them (the slave not using his equality before the Lord to justify laziness on the job and the master not abusing his position as owner to oppress the slave), then mutual respect would bring true equality in the Church without obliterating the distinctions. Obviously, society would not treat them as equals. But the issue in Paul’s letter was not the evils of slavery in the society of his day but how believers were to conduct themselves in fellowship as a testimony to society of God’s character.
As far as how Paul honored the laws of society and yet at the same time sought to change the practice of slavery by those he knew, read his letter to Philemon. There he appealed to the conscience of Philemon to release Onesimus who had become a believer in the Lord, a spiritual son to Paul.
May we not be afraid of economic, sexual, and racial distinctions in the Body of Christ. Let us honor each other and find great strength in the diversity that is the hallmark of the Lord’s Church.
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