Ephesians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by Frank Thielman

Ephesians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by Frank Thielman

Author:Frank Thielman [Thielman, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Commentaries-New Testament, REL006070, REL006100
ISBN: 9781441235657
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2010-10-31T16:00:00+00:00


VIII. The Growth of the Church toward Unity and Maturity (4:1–16)

IX. A Reminder of How to Live as New Human Beings (4:17–5:2)

X. Avoiding and Transforming the Deeds of Darkness (5:3–14)

XI. Wise Conduct within the Household (5:15–6:9)

IX. A Reminder of How to Live as New Human Beings (4:17–5:2)

In a rhetorical move that by now has become characteristic of Ephesians (cf. 2:5a; 3:14), in 4:17 Paul signals a return to the subject he has left behind in 4:1–3. In that passage, he started to describe in practical terms what it means for the church to grow into the unity that the death of Christ on the cross has achieved for it, according to 2:11–22. It means walking in humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with each other in love, and zealously maintaining the oneness that, according to 2:22, God’s Spirit has given them with each other. The notion of God’s Spirit as the source for the unity of God’s people has then led to a rhythmic set of affirmations of the unity of God (4:4–6) and from there into a description of the gifts that Christ has given the church to equip it to arrive at the unity and maturity that would be its destiny (4:7–16). With the phrase “this therefore I say and charge you in the Lord . . .” in 4:17, Paul begins a return to the practical matters he intended to discuss before the digressions of 4:4–6 and 4:7–16.

The movement into these practical matters is slow. In an opening section, Paul first lays a theological foundation by reminding his readers again of their conversion (4:17–24; cf. 2:1–10, 11–22). Here, however, the focus is not on what God has done for them, as in 2:1–10, or on their unity with each other across ethnic lines, as in 2:11–22, but on the practical, day-to-day ramifications of their movement from futility, darkness, estrangement from God, dullness, and despair to the experience of constant spiritual renewal and re-creation in the image of God (4:24; cf. 2:10, 15).

This opening section (4:17–24) can be divided into two parts. First, Paul exhorts his readers no longer to “walk” in the way that used to characterize their lives as unbelieving Gentiles, and then he provides a motivation for this exhortation by describing in bleak terms the existence of those who continue to live this way (4:17–19; cf. 2:1–3). Second, he reminds his readers of the traditional ethical instruction that he assumes they received after they believed the gospel (4:20–24). He describes the change in behavior that their conversion has entailed with a metaphor for conversion in use in ancient philosophical and religious circles, a metaphor of taking off one set of clothing and replacing it with a new set.[1] He couples this imagery with a second metaphor, which speaks of the change from existence as an old human being to existence as a new human being. At the end of the section, he identifies “the new human being” his readers have become as “created after the pattern of



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