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Ephesians 5:1-21, My Observations [19.5]

If you are new to this blog, I encourage you to start with Intro [1] and then continue in order.

These are my answers to the questions I asked in my previous post [19]:

DAY 1
General Statements:
- be imitators of God, as beloved children.
- And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us

DAY 2
Verse 6
Cause:
I think the cause goes back to verse 5 and refers to sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness. It is because of "those things" that...
Effect:
the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience

But:
Verse 4
no filthiness, foolish talk, crude joking, BUT thanksgiving
Verse 8
(at one time) you were darkness, BUT now you are light (in the Lord)
Verse 11
take no part (in the unfruitful works of darkness) BUT expose them

DAY 3

Do: Don't:
+be imitatiors of God v1
+walk in love v1

-name sexual immorality
-or all impurity
-or covetousness
+give thanks v4 -talk filthy
   -or foolish
-or joke crudely v4
-let anyone deceive you with
empty words v6
-become partakers with the
sons of disobedience v7
+walk as children of light v8
+try to discern what is pleasing
to the Lord v10
+expose the works of darkness v11 -take part in unfruitful
works of darkness v11
+look carefully how you walk v15
+walk wisely v15 -walk unwisely v15
+understand what the will of the -be foolish v17
      Lord is
+be filled with the Spirit v18 -get drunk with wine v18
+addressing one another in
+Psalms v19
+and hymns v19
+and spiritual songs
+singing v19
+making melody to the Lord
with your heart v19
+giving thanks always and for
everything to God v20
+submitting to one another v21

EXTRA QUESTIONS

1. I'm not sure how different they really are. If we are being imitators of God, as beloved children, we will walk in love. But God is more than just perfectly loving, so to imitate God would sometimes mean being creative, or standing up for truth, or disciplining a child. But none of those things contradict walking in love either. And there's an 'and', "be imitators of God...and walk in love". He could have said, "be imitators of God...by walking in love".

2. We are supposed to walk in love "as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us...". Christ loved us sacrificailly, not only by his death on the cross, but his whole life. He sometimes didn't eat, or get enough sleep, or have a place to stay. His focus was on doing the will of his Father, and looking our for the needs of others: feeding them, healing them, driving out demons, teaching them. I know that every day I need to fight to do what God wants me to do because my natural inclination is to do what I want when I want to. And if someone gets in my way, sometimes it gets ugly! Jesus' life of laying down his needs for others is a tremendously challenging example for me to follow!

3. Well, the short answer is that it must be important because it is repeated. It is interesting enough to have this list of three things: sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness, but to have this list repeated (in a slightly different form: sexually immoral, impure, who is covetous) truly emphasizes it. So then the question is, why?

4. It seems like our speech is really important! To put them all together as dos and don'ts of speech and adding verses 19 and 20 to the mix:

Don'ts:
talk filthiness 4:4
talk foolishly 4:4
joke crudely 4:4
speak falsely (or lie) 4:25
speak corruptly (sounds like filthy or crudely)  4:29

Dos:
thanksgiving 4:4
speak truth with your neighbor 4:25
only good talk 4:29
only what will build up 4:29
speak what will fit the occasion 4:29
talk in a way to give grace to those who hear 4:29
address one another in psalms 5:19
-in hymns 5:19
-in spiritual songs 5:19
sing 5:19
make melody to the Lord with your heart 5:19
give thanks always 5:20
give thanks for everything to God the Father 5:20
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ






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