Reading: Ephesians 3-4, Psalm 9

For this reason… At the beginning of chapter 3, Paul builds on his prior argument that Jesus has killed the hostility that divides all humans. As he did with the Corinthians, he sets up the message as coming from a higher authority than himself. He describes himself as the least of all the saints. The message is the point, not the messenger. Paul is now in chains, but this should not make the Ephesians despair of it, because Paul himself is only the means by which they received the gospel, not the gospel himself.

Paul uses this to lead into one of the great prayers contained in the Scriptures. Ephesians 3:14-21 is one of those prayers that can be pulled out at just about any moment if you don’t know what to pray. Paul prays for the Ephesians to know God through the Spirit such that they can comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Paul is basically recasting his argument in the form of a prayer. This plan of God to kill the hostility between humans who have a problem is by definition beyond the human capacity to understand. We simply do not have the capacity to wrap our brains around unity at this level. We are too caught up in defining good and bad for ourselves. We have to set boundaries and rules that by their nature cause division. The gospel proclaims that repentance leads to new life in the name of Jesus, such that there is no division among humans. We cannot even conceive such a thing. Which is why our best efforts at peace and unity are toleration of that which is different, rather than surrender to what makes us all united. God can not only imagine it, he can accomplish it, and even communicate it to us in our problem filled state through the Holy Spirit. This is Paul’s prayer and the reason he bows before Almighty God. The mystery of humanity without a problem is so far beyond comprehension we can only beg God to present it to us.

Assuming the Ephesians have assumed such a position of submission to God as the one who makes all things new, Paul gets back to this main point: get over yourselves and get along. Ephesians 4 is in many ways a commentary on the Great Commandment. You love God for what he has done for you? Then love one another! Stop lying to each other, because it is causing harm. Stop being jealous of one another’s gifting. Those gifts are from God for your benefit. Learn from one another instead of jockeying for position. Don’t practice the things that the people around you do. They pursue sensuality and pleasure for their own enjoyment but to the detriment of those around them. Do not participate in that which degrades the image of God in yourself or other humans. Accept that there are limits to your actions put in place by God for good reason, even if the desires of your heart are pulling you towards them. Those hard hearts are the problem in the first place. Stop being controlled by your problem, and surrender to being controlled by the Spirit of God. You are going to serve something, either your problem or your God. Don’t serve what you have escaped by God’s grace. Love your neighbor as yourself.