Tag: one another

Ephesians 5:21 – The Spirit of Submission

Posted on by Will

submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Truth to Learn

The Spirit-filled Christian is humble and subservient.

Behind the Words

The word translated “submitting” is translated from the Greek verb hupotassō. This word is made up of hupo, meaning “under” or “beneath” and tassō, which means “to arrange in an orderly manner.” It is a military term that means to voluntarily place oneself in a position beneath the authority of someone else, that is, “to under-rank oneself.”

“One another” is the plural reciprocal pronoun allelōn, meaning “each other” or “one another.” It is never used as the subject of a sentence and only appears in the plural. As used in this verse, it means “for one another” or “to one another.”

Phobos is the word translated “fear.” This word is used to express many nuances of fear including: terror, general fear, reverence, respect, or honor.

Meaning Explained

In the previous two verses, Paul has given us two evidences of being Spirit-filled: singing God’s praises and being thankful always for everything. In today’s verse he is identifying a third evidence of being filled with the Spirit of God, that of voluntarily submitting ourselves to others within the church.

Of the three evidences of Spirit-filled living that Paul gives us, this one is by far the most difficult. Both our sin nature and the world system that surrounds us would have us exalt ourselves. Therefore, our natural inclination and our conditioning cause us to want preeminence, not subservience. Fortunately we have a perfect example of what God expects.

On the day that our Lord Jesus was betrayed, before He introduced his disciples to the memorial we call communion, his followers had an argument among themselves regarding who would be greatest in the kingdom. They were focused on preeminence and power. They were focused on themselves. In response to this argument, Jesus removed his outer garment and, kneeling down before each one of His disciples, He washed their feet. This was not the responsibility of the master, but the submissive act of a servant. Jesus, God in the flesh, gave this example of submission to them, and to us, to show the importance of submitting to one another.

In his letter to the Christians in the church at Rome, Paul said:

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; (Romans 12:10)

And, in his letter to the Philippians, Paul said:

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. (Philippians 2:3)

Only a short time after washing His disciples’ feet, knowing the torture that was to come, Jesus also submitted to the Father saying, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

Application

When we are filled with the Spirit of God, our actions will be controlled by Him. We will give praise and thanks to God, and we will willingly place the good of others above our own.

In God's service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved.

Ephesians 4:32 – Kindness, Compassion, and Forgiveness

Posted on by Will

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Truth to Learn

Kindness, compassion, and forgiveness are of vital importance within the church.

Behind the Words

The verb “be” is translated from ginomai, meaning “to cause to be” or “to become.” It is expressed here in the imperative mood indicating a command for us to “become kind and tenderhearted!”

“Kind” is the translation of chrēstos, which is derived from the verb chraomai, meaning “to furnish what is needed” or “to treat well.” Chrēstos, when used of people, means “useful toward others, that is, good-natured, gentle, or kind.”

The word “tenderhearted” is translated from eusplagchnos. This word is made up of eu, meaning “good” or “well” and splagchnon, meaning “intestine” or “bowel.” The Greeks believed that the intestines were the source of emotions. Thus, “good intestined,” as eusplagchnos literally means, refers to the characteristic of having good feelings, especially compassion for others.

“Forgiving” is from charidzomai, which is derived from charis, meaning “grace” or “a favor freely given.” Charidzomai means “to be gracious or to forgive someone.”

The first occurrence of “one another” is from allēlōn, meaning “one another” or “each other.” The second occurrence of “one another” is translated from heautou, meaning “yourselves.”

Meaning Explained

Back in verse twenty-two the Apostle Paul told us to “put off … the old man,” that is “quit living under the influence of your sin nature.” Then in verse twenty-four he told us to “put on the new man,” the new nature that God created for us. Since then, Paul has told us what it means to live under the influence of this new nature. Yesterday, he instructed us to do away with bitterness, anger, wrath, clamor, blasphemy, and all badness.

Earlier we learned that we all should be using our spiritual gifts in the building up of the body of Christ. In today’s verse, Paul is not talking about specific gifts, but general attitudes that should replace those things he told us to stop doing yesterday. The first thing he tells us is that we should be kind, gentle, or useful to each other. The second thing is to be tenderhearted to each other; that is, we should demonstrate compassionate care for each other. If every church member were to regularly demonstrate kindness and compassion to everyone else in the church, no one would ever want to leave.

The third thing Paul tells us in today’s verse is that we should be forgiving. After all, he says, each one of us has been forgiven so much by God through the blood of Christ that we should willingly forgive others for what they have done to us. But notice that Paul used the pronoun heautou (yourselves) in reference to forgiveness. We need to be freely forgiving of others in the church, but we also need to be freely forgiving of ourselves. God has forgiven us, so we should too.

Application

Of the three attitudes that Paul admonishes us to exhibit in today’s verse, forgiveness may be the most important. Let’s all commit to be completely forgiving of others this week, and let’s be forgiving of ourselves as well.

In God's service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved.