Dr. Ben Merkle

Ephesians: The Mystery of One Body

Douglas Wilson on February 8, 2015

Paul’s Suffering is the Gentiles Glory

Paul introduces and closes this section with a reference to his being in prison specifically because of the Gentiles (v. 1 and 13). But he says that this imprisonment is good for them, it’s their “glory” (v. 13). How so?

The Mystery

The first three chapters of the book of Ephesians are packed tightly with a number of different images that Paul uses to describe our reconciliation with God. Paul describes this reconciliation as a mystery that was being unfolded (1:9-10). This means that throughout the OT this was being hinted at, but not directly said. And part of this mystery was the inclusion of the Gentiles (Eph. 3:4-6 and 9). It was clearly prophesied. And yet it was so incredible, so unthinkable that the Jews who poured over these prophecies still could not see this coming. In fact, we are told that even the angels didn’t see this coming (Eph. 3:10).

One Body

And the thing that they are brought into is one body (v. 6). Jews and Gentiles, heaven and earth, are brought together into one body. If you think about it for a moment then you start to realize that the “one body” might be more than just an image. It is actually, literally one body. It’s Jesus. Jesus is God become man, heaven reaching out to earth, life having the victory over death, sinners reconciled to God.

A Book of Mysteries

This ridiculously complex mystery was all wrapped up in this book. And you can read and read and study and study and you cannot exhaust the depth and profundity of this mystery.

A Future Mystery

The mystery that unfolded was still a mystery until it unfolded. And that means that though it was promised, it was utterly incomprehensible until that moment that it unfolded. The mystery of how God would achieve salvation through the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection of his Son was once a mystery and is now a clear fact. But we live in the face of another mystery. Where do we go after we die? God has told us. He has made promises about it. And yet it is still a mystery. God record in the past should give us peace in trusting in this promise.

Surveying the Text: Proverbs

Douglas Wilson on February 2, 2015

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Introduction

The book of Proverbs contains more teaching about women than any other book of Scripture. The structure of the book means that it is all about women, and many of the individual proverbs which seem unrelated are actually not at all unrelated. Woman is the glory of man, the capstone of man. She is the best. Woman ruined is hell-bait. She is the worst.

The Text

“Wisdom hath builded her house, She hath hewn out her seven pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; She hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: She crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: As for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him” (Prov. 9:1–4).

“A foolish woman is clamorous: She is simple, and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house, On a seat in the high places of the city, To call passengers Who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: And as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (Prov. 9:13–17).

Summary of the Text

In the book of proverbs, two different kinds of women are giving invitations to come and taste, come and eat. One is Lady Wisdom, a noble lady presiding over a great table in a great banqueting hall. The other is Dame Folly, blouse unbuttoned, enticing the simpletons. The drastic difference in the nature of these invitations sets up the conflict that is pervasive throughout the entire book of Proverbs—the conflict between wisdom and folly as they relate to every imaginable detail of life. These two women are everywhere.

This is why another theme of Proverbs is the theme of contrasting paths or ways—two paths with radically different destinations. The terms of value or praise in Proverbs are frequently related to jewelry, garlands, crowns, silver and gold, the woman’s touch. Men are commended in their industry—and sluggards condemned for their slack hand— because men were called to bring home the old covenant equivalent of the bacon. All the vocational activity and industry in Proverbs, far from being a snapshot of a “man’s world,” is activity designed to bring raw material home to the woman so that she might glorify it.

The book of Proverbs is a collection of various books of proverbs. The form of the book as we have it breaks out into the following sections. First is a set of didactic poems (Prov. 1:1-9:18). The second section is a collection of the proverbs of Solomon (Prov. 10:1-22:16). This section contains almost 400 proverbs. The third section is “words of the wise” (Prov. 22:17-24:22). The fourth is a very brief collection of more words from the wise, almost a postscript (Prov. 24:23-34). The fifth section is another small book by Solomon, a collection preserved by Hezekiah’s men (Prov. 25:1-29:27). The sixth comes from an unknown man named Agur (Prov. 30-:1-33), followed by another short section by an unknown King Lemuel (Prov. 31:1-9). It is possible that both Agur and Lemuel were of Massa—the word for “oracle” might actually be a proper name—meaning they were descended from Ishmael. The last section of Proverbs is a poem of praise for a very particular woman (Prov. 31-10-31). Although not named, her aspect is very concrete, as distinct from the metaphorical Lady Wisdom at the beginning of the book.

How Proverbs Work

Now proverbs are aphorisms, general truths. They are not axioms in geometry. All triangles have three sides, and you will never find a triangle that doesn’t have them. But a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and sometimes your blinkered uncle dies and leaves you with 3 million dollars. Proverbs are true, but they are not tautological truths. They are truths for living in a rough and tumble world, where there is a constant need for adjustments, interpretations, generalizations, and troubleshooting as you go. So a lazy bum sometimes does have that stupid uncle—but don’t bet on it.
This is why proverbs will often lean against each other. Deal with it, and grow in wisdom. “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.” (Proverbs 26:4– 5). If you pay back a fool in his coin, you have stepped in to help support his little economy. But if you don’t pay back a fool that way, then he won’t get paid what he deserves—which would be bad. Sometimes wisdom does one thing and sometimes wisdom does the opposite.

Reality Requires Navigation

Proverbs have all the concrete particularity of legalistic rules, but none of the rigidity. They have all the flexibility of license, but with none of the stupidity and sin. If you take the book of Proverbs as a guidebook for practical Christianity, the way it was given, you will have wisdom that can deal withobvious problems without resorting to a clunky rule. For example, take your entertainment standards. Leonard Ravenhill once said that entertainment is the devil’s substitute for joy. Deal with what you watch with the eye of proverbial wisdom, and not the wall of rigid restrictions.

Christ As Our Wisdom

In the eighth chapter of Proverbs, Wisdom is described in terms that go well beyond the attributes of a creature. “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was . . .” (Prov. 8:22–23). For various reasons, it seems wise to see this as a glorious metaphor—albeit a feminine one—for the Son of God. And how does this wisdom speak?

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, And the froward mouth, do I hate” (Prov. 8:13).

“But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: All they that hate me love death” (Prov. 8:36).

Christ is expressly identified as the wisdom of God.

“But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24).

And this is our savior, Jesus of Nazareth, crucified, buried and risen. And this is why, taking it all together, we see that it is either Christ or death, Christ or nothing, Christ or evil, Christ or chaos.

Ephesians: Made Near

Douglas Wilson on February 1, 2015

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A Wall Broken-Down (v. 14-18)

Soreg – Paul has a very handy image that he can use to describe the inclusion of the Gentiles. He says that the middle wall of separation has been broken down. In the Jerusalem Temple, as you walked through the courtyard outside the Temple, you had pass through gate in a low wall the soreg. This wall was a picture of the barrier that separated sinful men (Gentiles) from God’s holiness (Jews).

Trophimus – In Acts 20, Paul leaves Ephesus right after the famous riot. And we are told that he takes seven companions with him on this trip. One of these companions was Trophimus (Acts 20:4, also mentioned in 2 Tim. 4:20). But in Acts 21:28-29, when Paul was arrested in the Temple, it was because they thought that he had brought Trophimus the Ephesian past the soreg.

Peace – Where there once was hostility, now there was to be peace (14, 17). Peace is literally completion, that sense of being brought together so that there is nothing lacking.

The Veil – However, on the night that Jesus died, what separation was removed? It wasn’t the soreg, it was the veil inside the Temple (Mat. 27:51). The soreg pointed to a more fundamental separation.

A Holy Temple (v. 19-22)

The Gentiles, who once were excluded from the Temple, are now, in Christ, being built into the Temple. Those who were once dead, aliens, strangers, hopeless, and far off have now been brought into that from which there were previously excluded.

There were two fundamental movements that are described here – being brought near and being brought up. Being brought near is just a picture of being brought up.

But look back at v. 11. “You who are called uncircumcision,” present tense. They are still currently treated as excluded by Jews. Jesus came as a stone, a stone that would be either a cornerstone on which we are built into a temple, or a stumbling stone on which we become offended.

What was the offense? The inclusion of the Gentiles was offensive because it necessarily implied the guilt of the Jews. The horizontal reconciliation that God requires of us is a way of underlining our need for vertical reconciliation. Rejecting the first will end with us rejecting the second.

The Church

Paul uses an assortment of images to help us understand the Church. It is a building, a temple, a man, a marriage, a family, a job, a kingdom, a mountain, a sea, a tree, a vine, etc. It is all of these things. And it is simply Jesus, who is our peace.

Ephesians: The Gift of Life

Douglas Wilson on January 11, 2015

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Death to Life

Last week we looked at how Paul understood that salvation is all wrapped up with the doctrine of resurrection. Because Jesus rose from the dead, and we are in him, we have risen from the dead. Salvation is a passing from death to life (2:1 and 2:5).

The Significance of Baptism

God taught the Israelites that if they wanted to be in fellowship with him, they had to be separated from the world of death. So God gave them a whole host of
rules and regulations that distinguished between Jews and Gentiles and made them live separately. And there was special care taken in any matter that dealt

directly with death or the dead. You washed everything that came in contact with the dead (Num. 19).

Baptism for the Dead

The Jews concluded that if you needed to be baptized when you have been touching something that is dead, then anyone who converted to being a Jew would need to be baptized, because Gentiles were all dead people.

This is why, in 1 Cor. 15, when Paul is confronting the people at Corinth who are denying the resurrection, he says to them, why do you then baptize for the dead (1 Cor. 15:29)? Paul isn’t talking about a separate special kind of baptism (as the Mormons teach). He is talking about the baptism that we all have received. All baptism is baptism for the dead. And Paul is saying, why would we go through this ceremony about separating ourselves from death if death if there is no resurrection?

Brought Near (2:11-13)

You who were once far off, who were once dead and excluded from this life, have now been brought near. Remember where God has taken you from. Maybe you don’t remember a moment of conversion. But surely you see what unbelief looks like. God has redeemed you from that. This is what you should talk to yourself about.

By Grace (2:8-10)

So conversion is about going from death to life. But if that is the case, then that says something about the very nature of conversion, doesn’t it? This means that it is totally, fully, solely, completely, accomplished by God alone and not with our contribution. “By grace you have been saved” (2:5). You see that connection? Because you were dead when God came for you, you contributed nothing.

Gratitude

This is why this is something that Paul is thanking God for. That’s what you do when something has been given to you. It is either gratitude or boasting (Luke
18:9-14).

Ephesians: Death to Life

Douglas Wilson on January 4, 2015

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Because of the Resurrection

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was written when Paul was in prison. This was an imprisonment that began when he was arrested at the Temple, recounted in Acts 21 and 22. When Paul is questioned he asserts two things – first, that he has a clean conscience (Acts 23:1), and second, that he believes he is actually being arrested because of his belief in the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6).

Pharisees Versus Sadducees

This appeal to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead revealed a division between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, a division which Paul seems to be
exploiting. The Sadducees only received the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, and rejected the oral tradition which was received by the Pharisees. Because of this, the Sadducees did not believe in angels, miracles, or the resurrection of the dead. The question is, when Paul appealed to the doctrine of the resurrection, was he bringing up the subject merely to exploit the difference between the two parties? Or was Paul really convinced that the doctrine of the resurrection was the reason for his persecution?

A Good Conscience and the Resurrection

Paul links a good conscience and the resurrection again in the next chapter, when he testifies before Felix, the Roman governor, where again maintains that it is because of the resurrection that he has been arrested (Acts 24:15-16, 21). In fact, throughout his letters, Paul regularly connects his message to the idea of the resurrection. But he does this most pointedly in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 15:12-19). Here Paul explains the close connection between the concept of a resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus, and the hope that we all can have of a good conscience.

Made Alive

This brings us to Paul’s letter to our text from Ephesians. In the previous chapter, Paul has just explained how the power that is at work in us is the same power that raised Christ from the dead (1:19-20). We have what Christ has because he is the head and we are the body (1:22-23).

2:1-3 Now, we who were once walking in death, have been made alive in Christ. This is true of both Gentile and Jew.
2:4-6 This resurrected life is made possible by the mercy of God, which flows from his eternal character.

2:7 And, lastly, this mercy is poured out on us with the purpose of preparing us for more grace.