Ephesians - Lesson 12

Now let's talk about wrath again here. That word wrath there is an important term for Paul. What does it mean to be a child of wrath? It means that Paul, before he gave his life to Christ, he was headed toward God's destruction, eternal destruction.

What's wrath? I said it earlier, but I'll repeat it again. The wrath of God in Paul is complex, and interpreters debate what he means, but I understand Paul's wrath in his theology at least in these two ways. Number one, he describes God's wrath as already here.

I said this when I referred to Romans 1, 18 to 32, when he says the wrath of God is revealed, 118, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of human beings who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. Then in verses 19 through 32, Paul will explain how exactly the wrath of God is being revealed right now. He says it's revealed right now by God giving humanity over, he mentions it three times, God gave, God gave, God gave, giving humanity over to commit the sins of their hearts because they are rebelling against him.

So when you see someone living a life that rebels against God's design, that's not freedom. That's a manifestation of God's wrath. And the only hope for those folks who are living in that way is to be rescued out by the announcement of good news in Jesus Christ and calling sinners to repent and turn to trust in him.

But he also talks about the wrath of God in a second way in his letters, and I think that's the way he describes it here. It's a future judgment that's yet to come. Paul will also use language like the day of the Lord, especially in the Thessalonian letters.

He uses language like that as well in Romans, a day of wrath, he'll describe it. Drawing from the prophets, I think particularly here of Joel, who talks about the day of the Lord, and he talks about the day of the Lord in a two-fold way. The day of the Lord is poured out by means of these locust plagues as God is judging vegetation.

You see the day of the Lord poured out on Pharaoh as he's judging Egypt, but there's a greater day of the Lord. There's an eschatological day of the Lord, a future day of the Lord, a future day of wrath. When Jesus Christ returns from heaven to earth as a rider on a white horse, the robe dipped in blood, sword coming out of his mouth, to destroy all the anti-God powers once and for all, and to subject them to eternal torment, conscious torment, not annihilation.

One of the most horrific things about hell must be that those who are there are aware, just as Jesus was aware on the cross when he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? As he took upon himself the wrath of God for us, those who are suffering this wrath are those who have no hope of liberation, and they are aware of that, and here's the thing that blows my brain. This is forever, eternal judgment. Now, another piece of this is, it's not only eternal judgment, but it is God actively distributing to these people who experience his wrath exactly what they deserve.

There's a conversation in biblical scholarship as to whether God's wrath is retributive or non-retributive. So, by retributive, we mean that God is actively choosing to judge people forever, whereas non-retributive would mean he withdraws himself from people and allows them to experience the vices that they are committing, and he's not actively handing them over to any form of judgment. It seems to me that Paul describes God's wrath as retributive, that God is going to give, I mean, I hope you feel the weight of this, I feel the weight of this, he's going to give to every single human being who doesn't know Jesus and who did not love Yahweh in the Old Testament era.

He's going to give those human beings everything they deserve, but those of us whom he chose, who are predestined, who hear the gospel and receive it, he gives us what we don't deserve. That's why he's going to play up grace, gift, grace, gift, grace, gift, multiple times in chapter two. And he says of himself here, he was a child of wrath.

So, this is an important point as it relates to election, because notice Paul, who believes in election more than perhaps many of the people with which he interacted, because he was a Pharisee, and Pharisees had a pretty strong view of what he calls predestination, contrary to the Sadducees, who did not have such a view. He doesn't say here, well, you know, God had predestined me to be saved and I was okay before I gave my life to Christ. You notice he doesn't say that? He says, oh no, I was a child of wrath, headed toward destruction, headed toward eternal conscious torment, because you're justified by faith in Christ, you're not justified by election.

So, his plight was the Gentiles' plight, as also the rest of the sons of disobedience. Don't overlook that word there. He calls himself a son of disobedience.

He groups himself into their plight. I mean, again, this Torah observant Jew who kept the law of Moses, who did the things that a Pharisee should do, good things, God honoring things, but now that Christ has come, he recognizes that was a temporary period of how to honor God. Now, the way he honors God as a Jew is turning toward Christ.

So, let me give you a practical application as we finish this particular part of the section. I want to keep pointing us to the fact that our eternal life is based upon our union with Christ by faith. Paul's already mentioned union multiple times.

To be united to Christ means we are found in Him. We share in what He experiences, resurrection life, sonship, reigning over the principalities and powers of the air. And by faith in Christ, this can be true for those who are unbelievers.

Just this morning, as I was thinking and praying, you know, this doesn't always happen. I'm praying that it happens more, but it doesn't always happen. But this morning, I was just praying and thinking about people for whom I've been praying to be saved and people whom I love and just moved to tears, begging God, as I was thinking about this text and teaching these lectures, begging God to help me to be present in conversation so that in the midst of, yes, enjoying real relationships and fun and laughter and stories about common things, to help me also have on the forefront of my thinking the importance of pointing these people whom I love who don't know Christ to Jesus and inviting them to trust in Him by faith.

Because the only way children of wrath become children of God is through hearing and responding to the gospel. And may we pray for us to have evangelistic fervor, not be annoying or mean or rude, but to be broken for lostness in the world. And yes, we have to do that in a wise way.

We have to have boundaries. But what certain people in certain Christian traditions are prone to do is to isolate and avoid and live in a little bubble where there's never any interaction with those who are outside the Christian community. Now, I think it's true we can have all sorts of healthy and good and positive interactions with people who are not Christians, even when they're not gospel interactions.

I mean, I enjoy talking to people about all sorts of things. And when I meet someone, for example, when I'm away from Kentucky, I meet someone who is a Kentuckian in a faraway land, we just share mutual kinship right away. I was in a city thousands of miles away from Louisville once, and I had a Big Blue Nation basketball shirt on, which is a reference to UK basketball.

And this lady saw the shirt, and she said, hey, was that shirt given to you by somebody? Or is it yours? I started laughing. I said, it's mine. And then she said this.

She said, well, you sound like me. Where are you from? And I said, I'm from Kentucky. She said, I'm from Kentucky too.

And it turned out we're from a close part of the state. It's just such a joy to be far away from Kentucky to hear someone who recognized a Kentucky accent, and I recognized her Kentucky accent. We had some conversations about Kentucky basketball right there in the grocery store where I was shopping.

It's sweet, beautiful conversation just to remind myself there's a home away from home. You meet people from your home all over the world. But here's the point I am making is that while those things are true about enjoying and laughter and kinship with people that share some earthly things that you share, may we have on the forefront of our thinking that we want to be a means by which God rescues people from His wrath so that we might be more inclined in our thinking to be thinking about ways how we, through that healthy friendship, can introduce folks to the most important story that they've ever heard, which is how they can come to a saving knowledge by faith in Jesus Christ alone.

And that might be something as simple as just letting people know who are your friends or your neighbors or your co-workers or people you might randomly meet, just letting them know you're a Christian in a way that can invite some conversations about why. Questions? You mentioned the importance of continuing to learn. What would your vision be for people as far as the process of doing that both individually and in community? That's good.

My gut reaction is always to say, well, enroll in Southern Seminary. Take classes from us. We'll provide you a quality theological and biblical education at a reasonable price, especially if you're a Southern Baptist.

You get a discount. But even if you're not a Southern Baptist, we have scholarships and generous donors and people who help make it possible to take theological education to the ends of the earth. But also recognize that not everybody will have an opportunity to go to seminary.

So I actually think, and I think my colleagues, I know my colleagues would agree with this, the most important place where theological education takes place is in the context of the local church. So I want to encourage people to make sure they are members of, involved in, a gospel-believing, Bible-teaching and preaching local congregation, and that they're in community regularly on the Lord's Day and make that a priority. And go to church not as passive recipients, but as active participants in the whole experience.

And then look for opportunities and create opportunities in those spaces to go a bit deeper. Because as we all know, it's difficult to say everything that one might want to say in a sermon. And everyone in the congregation is in a different place academically and intellectually so that those who preach and teach need to make sure we're doing that in a way where as many people as possible can receive what we're saying.

But that should motivate us and spur us on to, okay, where's a space where I can go a bit deeper in personal Bible study? So getting into Bible studies, of course, in the context of the church and then outside the context of the church. There's no sin in having a Bible study in your home. That's a good thing.

Like having a Bible study in your home is a great thing. And I would also say that in addition to church connection, sitting under preaching, and participating in Bible studies, also the important discipline of regular Bible reading devotionally. I think in this day and age, people are so accustomed to having access to podcasts or a lot of sermons.

That's all good. But sometimes they sacrifice their own personal Bible reading on the altar of listening to their favorite preacher or their favorite podcast. And I would want to say, don't sacrifice your own personal Bible reading on the altar of listening to somebody else constantly on a podcast.

But instead, make sure we're having regular devotions, reading the Bible, praying the Bible, and then thinking more carefully about it. I think also, I mean, another helpful resource is BibleTraining.org, where people can get online and utilize resources and be taught by professors different things about the Bible, theology, and all sorts of things, foundations for the Christian life that can help them also in their thinking. So I think there are a variety of things that one could do.

The most basic being, I think, being involved in your local church and then beyond that, going deeper in other avenues of personal development, reading, Bible studies. We'd love to have as many people who would love to be seminary students enroll in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary today. Dr. Williams, concerning the previous question, I was advised by a pastor that continuing to learn and to use the mind is, in a way, rejecting and not leaving room for the Holy Spirit.

How would you respond to that? And how should you rightfully think of that with your comments earlier on feelings and emotion? But you also said to use the mind and the brain. Are you, in a sense, rejecting the power of the Holy Spirit or the work of the Holy Spirit in your life? That's a great question. I think the Holy Spirit uses means.

When you look at Paul's writings, I mean, just take Ephesians, this man knows the Bible well. He thinks very carefully. And the Spirit is using that knowledge to enable him to articulate things in ways that he would not be able to articulate if he did not give his mind to rigorous thinking.

Now, he has a pharisaical background, so he studied rigorously. He knew Torah well. He knew the prophets well.

And he was also from Tarsus, so he probably had somewhat of a non-Jewish education as well. I mean, he will reference pagan poets in some of his speeches and acts, but then in his writings as well, he'll refer to things that are not part of the Jewish tradition. So he is clearly a man who's well-educated in the Scriptures, first of all, but he also knows how the world works.

I mean, to me, honestly, it's amazing how God used what Paul had and then gave him resources that he didn't have as a means by which to make him a better missionary. I mean, he has the ability to go to work as a tentmaker and to work with his hands, probably a trade he picked up as a Pharisee. And then he has the ability to go to Mars Hill and debate philosophers.

Now, how do you do that unless you have some kind of philosophical savviness? Now, again, I'm not saying Christians need to become experts in everything to be effective witnesses, but what I am saying is, you look at his life, there is no contradiction between the spirit and thinking. You also look at his life, there doesn't seem to be a contradiction between his experiences or his emotions and his mind. I think there are some of us who are more inclined toward the cognitive parts of the Christian life and less inclined toward the emotive parts of the Christian life.

And there are others who are on the other side, they're more emotive and they're not as concerned about thinking. In fact, sometimes I've found that people try to make you feel bad because you think it's important to do something like learn the biblical languages. Why would we want to do that when you have the Holy Spirit? Well, it's because it's another tool to help me in my Bible study.

So I would say, I think Paul would say that there is no tension between thinking and experiencing the spirit, that the spirit uses means. And what I want to do, this is how I view theological education and learning in general, is I want to accumulate as many tools as I can to help me more effectively understand and communicate scripture in a changing world. And the spirit, of course, can use me if I no training, but he would use me in ways that my lack of training would allow me to be effective, if that makes sense.

So there are opportunities that would not be appropriate for me to enter into for mission purposes, if I didn't have such training. I would never be, for example, the person who starts a business for the purpose of doing business as mission. I'm not that guy, but I am the person who can do some things in terms of biblical and theological training because of how I've been equipped.

So I would want to just say that every Christian should want to develop and grow in ways that will help us be more effective, and that there ought not to be in our souls a temptation to think, well, if I think really hard about the spirit, I'm not trusting the spirit. Now it is true, of course, that we can read the Bible and not be moved by what we read, or we can grow, we can love theology. There are many Bible teachers and many theologians in the world and in history who've known a lot more about the Bible and theology than I know, and they didn't love God.

So there's always a danger that our learning can turn into a cold spirituality. But understanding the mind rightly and understanding how God redeems the mind, body, soul, and all that helps us understand that God cares about my thinking. He cares about my living, and these two things go together, and the spirit wants to be at work in all of these things so that he wants me to steward those things well.

Yeah, I'll give you a less academic answer. I think an analogy is with bodily exercise. I trust that the Lord has ordered the days of my life, that he's determined when I'm going to die.

But also, I eat healthy, I log how many hours a night I sleep, I count my calories, I exercise, I don't live a reckless life because I want to live as long as I can and be as healthy as I can for as long as God would be merciful to let me do so. God is sovereign over the days of my life, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure those days are long. I don't think there's any contradiction there.

So to apply that to what we're talking about, that God has given us the spirit, he equips us supernaturally, and I want to do everything I can, humanly speaking, to steward the mind, the body, so that I can be more effective in my Christian witness and impact the kingdom in as many ways as possible. And one final question concerning verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2. It seems to be a sort of unit where some individuals are under the power of the air. And then chapter 1, verses 20 to 23, where some individuals are under the power of the resurrection.

Does it seem to be all individuals are either in one of those two categories, or is there a neutral category where you're not either for God or with the devil? That is such a good question. I love how you asked that. I think there are two categories that Paul is outlining in this text.

You're either reigning with God in Christ, and you're in the kingdom of God, or you're in the kingdom of the anti-God powers. And the gospel will rescue those in the anti-God powers from it, from them. Yeah, so there are two kingdoms here.

That's a great question. But I want to just emphasize two kingdoms, but God's kingdom is already triumphed and conquered. So it's not a stalemate.

It's not two equally matched kingdoms, two equally matched powers. But there's a real kingdom that's ruling and trying to compete with the kingdom of God. That's why we're urged in chapter 6 to fight, to fight and resist that kingdom.

Not really a question, but just thank you so much about the idea of thinking, you know, and, you know, knowing the word of God, living out the word of God, and sharing the word of God. And I know for me that, and I learned this, again, being under someone and helping me in my early, I trusted Christ when I was 27. But the idea of the five ways to get a good handle on God's word, of hearing the word of God, you know, again, as you said, being under the church and, again, pastor and good teaching, personally reading the word of God, you know, having a daily intake of that, studying the word of God, whether it's individually or being, again, here, biblicaltraining.org. I found that out when I was going to Liberty and then was with Dr. Mounts and others.

And then, you know, the investment of other people who have grown in Christ and can help you and teach you and, you know, those things, memorizing the word of God, you know, hiding God's word in your heart. You know, I was in Psalm 119 today, you know, long chapter, but, you know, that was my daily reading today. And then meditating or thinking, I think that's the idea of thinking, meditate, you know, Psalm 1, the godly man, you know, but, you know, and, you know, what he thinks about what he ponders.

And so I just appreciate, you know, that aspect of, you know, thinking about thinking those kinds of things, because it is thinking about God, because we love God's word, because we love the God of the word. You know, and so I just really just kind of a personal thing, how others have helped me in my walk and growth and, you know, in God's word, and that just idea of thinking and because some things I'm wrong in, you know, and God has helped me through others to say, okay, I see clearly this or maybe not where I should be or grounding me more firmly in something that I have learned. So I just appreciate that.

It meant a lot to me. Well, thank you. I appreciate you saying that.

I'd love to share a bit as well about that. I was very fortunate. I'll share more about this in my personal testimony later.

But when I became a Christian, and when I was 17 years old, end of my high school years, and I didn't grow up in church, I had Christian people around me my whole life and Bible Belt area and all that. I would go to VBS to get the back then the Kool-Aid and the graham crackers is what they serve kids. And we play basketball.

I still remember some of the adults in the community would come and pick us kids up. And they say, hey, let's go to church and play basketball. Well, I just heard basketball.

I didn't hear church. So I would go to church, play basketball. And while I was there, I would hear the gospel and these things.

But it wasn't until later as I until I converted. And when I converted, I became a part of a Southern Baptist church where a dear, dear pastor, recently retired to pastoring there for 36 years, poured into me. And he gave me my first, before I even knew what it was, my first Greek Bible, my first Hebrew Bible.

And he taught me how to pray, how to read the Bible. When I answered, when I was thinking about ministry, he and the church helped me to think about what that meant and gave me avenues to manifest any gifts that would validate if I was called in ministry. And one thing he modeled for me very early was the importance of personal growth as a Christian.

I mean, he was a pastor, a small town, but he's very educated, went to seminary. And he read a lot. I couldn't believe how much he read.

I mean, he's the pastor of a small, well, large church for that town, but a small town and a small Baptist church and in a small town in Eastern Kentucky, at least when you're the lead pastor, you are the pastor of everybody, even if they don't go to your church. If something happens in the community, they would call him. So he had all these pastoral responsibilities, met with people, um, did all the things that pastors of small churches do.

But he was serious about personal development, studying, listening to other preachers, growing in his preaching, reading theology, learning, um, uh, sharpening exegetical skills. And he would constantly feed me books to read and the kind of books I should be thinking about reading. And that just become a part, became a part of my spiritual DNA the first year after I became a Christian.

Prior to that, I hated reading, hated thinking. Uh, when I became a Christian, I thought, okay, God redeemed all of me. And he helped me think about what that means then as a believer, start with the Bible.

Cause I had no Bible before I became a Christian. And, and then as I began to grow, keep growing in the Bible and helping myself learn the Bible by reading books about the Bible. And then of course, thinking about how to apply the Bible into contemporary context, that, that changed my life.

Um, and there was a clear in his ministry. There was a clear emphasis, not only on, on the preaching ministry, but on the teaching ministry. But he realized that if he was going to teach his people and preach to them faithfully, he had to constantly develop spiritually himself and intellectually as well.

And that was a good model for me. And I think it's helpful for us as Christians to remember that we should never stop learning. Uh, we should always strive toward growing by means of the renewing of our minds.

Yeah.