Tag: peripateo

Ephesians 4:1 – Serve One, Serve All

Posted on by Will

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,

Truth to Learn

We are all called to serve in God’s church.

Behind the Words

“Prisoner” is from desmios, which is derived from the verb desmeō, meaning “to bind.” Thus, desmios means “someone in bonds” or “a prisoner.”

The word “beseech” is translated from the Greek verb parakaleō, which is made up of para, meaning “to the side of” or “near” and kaleō, meaning “to call.” Therefore, we can see that literally this word means “to call near.” In usage, the basic meaning is “to comfort,” “to encourage,” or “to challenge.”

“Walk” is from peripateō. This is made up of peri, meaning “around,” “through,” or “with respect to” and pateō, meaning “to walk.” This Greek word means “to walk around.” It is used as a reference to how a person lives his or her life.

The word “calling” is klēsis, which is derived from kaleō, “to call.” It refers to “an invitation.”

“You were called” is translated from the verb kaleō, “to call.” It is expressed in the aorist tense indicating past completed action which occurred at a point in time (not a process).

Meaning Explained

The Apostle Paul starts off this verse reminding his readers that he is a prisoner of the Lord. This is very similar to the way he started off the previous chapter. There, he did so to introduce his ministry to the Gentiles and the mystery regarding the church. Here, he reminds them that he is a prisoner because he is about to challenge his readers to live a life that is characterized by service to others rather than serving self. As a prisoner, he is a supreme example of this.

Most of the first three chapters of this letter were focused on teaching doctrine. In the remainder of the letter, Paul focuses on duty. Another way to say this is, previously he taught us what to believe; now he will teach us how to behave.

As you can see from Behind the Words, in this verse Paul uses several forms of the word kaleō (to call). This is typical Pauline style. He likes to play on words like this as a device to drive home his message. He is in prison because God called him to preach the gospel to Gentiles, thus angering religious Jews who thought he was perverting Judaism. He was more concerned with serving God than he was with protecting himself. In fact, before his final trip to Jerusalem, where he was arrested, he was told by a prophet that he would end up in chains:

When he [the prophet Agabus] had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.' " (Acts 21:11)

Paul was totally dedicated to the ministry to which he had been called. Now he will be challenging us to be just as dedicated to the ministry to which each of us has been called.

Application

Every Christian has been called by God to serve within the body of Christ. Each of us has a function to perform for which God has specifically gifted us. There is no excuse for any of us not to be serving. Are you performing the ministry to which you have been called by God?

In God's service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.

Ephesians 2:10 – Salvation and Works

Posted on by Will

Ephesians 2:10  – Salvation and Works

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Truth to Learn

We were saved so that we can do good works.

Behind the Words

The word translated “workmanship” is poiēma, which is derived from the verb poieō, meaning “to make” or “to do.” It literally means “that which has been made” or “that which is done.”

“Created” is from ktidzō, meaning “to create” or “to produce from nothing.” In Homer’s writings it is the verb used to indicate the founding of a city.

The words “good works” are from ergois agathois. Ergois is a form of ergon, which we saw in the previous verse, meaning “any work, deed, act, or action.” Agathois is a form of agathos, meaning “good, benevolent, useful;” in other words, “that which is of good character.”

“Prepared beforehand” is translated from a single Greek word, proetoimadzō. This is a compound word made up of pro, meaning “before, in time or place” and hetoimadzō, meaning “to make ready” or “to prepare.”

“Walk” is translated from peripateō. This is also a compound word composed of peri, meaning “through or around” and pateō, meaning “to walk.” So, literally peripateō means “to walk around” or “to walk through.” It is used metaphorically meaning “to walk through the pathways of life.”

Meaning Explained

In the preceding verses we learned some very important doctrinal truths:

  • We are saved by the grace of God, which He wants to showcase for all of eternity.
  • We are saved (declared righteous) through faith.
  • Our faith and our salvation are a gift of God.
  • We did not do anything to earn or deserve salvation.

These are such important truths that verses eight and nine are often memorized. The problem with memorizing individual verses is that we often miss what comes immediately before or after them. For instance, most people know John 3:16. Do you know what it says in John 3:15 or John 3:17?

In the preceding verse Paul told us that salvation is not attained by works, lest anyone should boast. God wants to boast about our gracious salvation and He doesn’t want anyone else to be able to. If we did something to earn it, then we could boast, but we didn’t and we can’t. In today’s verse Paul tells us why: we are His workmanship. He did the work of salvation for us!

Then, where do good works come in? Paul says that we are created in Christ Jesus. When we were saved we became a new creation (see 2Corinthians 5:17) and the purpose of that new creation is that we should do good works. Our good works are the evidence that we have become a new creation. That was God’s plan from the beginning; we were saved so that we could walk in good works. That’s precisely what James teaches us in the second chapter of his letter.

Application

We are saved by faith and faith alone? If you’re saved, do your actions give clear evidence of your salvation?

In God’s service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.

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Ephesians 2:2 – Who’s Your Master?

Posted on by Will

Ephesians 2:2  – Who’s Your Master?

in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

Truth to Learn

Christians are no longer under Satan’s authority. We are now in God’s family and under God’s authority.

Behind the Words

“Walked” is translated from the Greek verb peripateō. This is composed of peri, meaning “around” and pateō (based on patos, meaning “a path”), which means “to walk.” Thus, peripateō literally means “to walk around.” Metaphorically it refers to “how one lives one’s life.”

The word “world” is from the Greek noun kosmos, which is indirectly based on the word kolumbos, meaning “to tend or to take care of.” Kosmos refers to “an orderly arrangement” or “a system of order.” As it is used here, kosmos refers to “the system of this world.”

“Prince” is translated from archon, which refers to someone who is “first in authority or power.”

The word “air” is aēr, which refers to “the lower atmosphere” or “the air surrounding the earth.”

The word “disobedience” is translated from the Greek word apeitheia, which is made up of a, meaning “not” and peithō, meaning “to convince or persuade.” Thus, apeitheia refers to those who are not convinced. In other words, it refers to “those who do not believe.”

Meaning Explained

The first two words of this verse, “in which,” are a reference to “trespasses and sins,” mentioned in the previous verse. So, Paul is saying that we Christians used to live our lives in a manner characterized by trespasses and sins. He goes on further to say that we used to live our lives in accordance with the ruler of the power (authority) of the atmosphere. This is a reference to Satan, whom Jesus referred to as “the ruler of this world” (see John 16:11).

But, Paul doesn’t stop there with his description of Satan. He tells us that he is a spirit being who is currently at work in the unsaved people of this world (the sons of disbelief or the sons of disobedience). As a spirit being, Satan is not only the ruler of the world system in which we live, he also has access to the throne room of God in heaven. We know this from the book of Job, where Satan is characterized as appearing before God:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” (Job 1:6-7)

Satan will continue to have access to Heaven until he is cast out during the seven year tribulation, as described in Revelation chapter twelve.

Application

You were once controlled by your sins and by Satan, but that is no longer true. When you were saved, you were placed into (baptized into) the body of Christ, where Jesus is now your Lord and Master; therefore, you are no longer under Satan’s power and authority. Praise be to God!

In God’s service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.

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Romans 8:4 – Fulfilled Through Him

Posted on by Will

Romans 8:4

that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Truth to Learn

The righteousness that God demands of us is fulfilled for us through the righteousness of Christ.

Behind the Words

The words “righteous requirement” are a translation of the Greek word dikiōma, which is from the verb dikaioō, meaning “to render as just, righteous, or innocent.” Dikaiōma refers to “an equitable deed” and by implication to “a decision or statute.”

“Fulfilled” is from the Greek word plēroō, which means “to fill-up completely” or “to make complete.” As it is used in this verse it means “to completely satisfy.”

The word “walk” is translated from peripateō, which is made up of peri, meaning “around” and pateō, meaning “to walk.” Hence, it literally means “to walk around.” Metaphorically, it refers to the manner in which we live our life.

Meaning Explained

In order to get the full impact of this verse we have to go back and join it with the second half of the previous:

God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The reason that God sent His son was to fulfill the Law and to make a judgment against sin so that the righteousness of the Law might be completely satisfied in us.

But, how does Christ’s fulfilling the Law translate into the righteousness of the law being fulfilled in us? Back in Romans 3:21-28 Paul talked about the righteousness that is imputed by grace upon all those who believe, and he concluded:

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

The only way that God can satisfy his own justice, which requires that sin be penalized (and we know that the wages of sin is death), is for someone who has perfectly fulfilled the righteousness of the Law to then offer His life as a substitution for ours. This is precisely what Christ did when he came in the “likeness of sinful flesh.” And, it is by faith that we receive the grace of God through which He credits Christ’s righteousness to our account. By faith we believe that Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins, and by grace God then imputes Christ’s righteousness to us. Hence, the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us.

The final phrase of this verse is again a statement of fact, not a condition. It is a description of Christians, we who have received that grace and, therefore, walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Application

Let us demonstrate the righteousness that has been imputed unto us by living our lives characterized by things of the Sprit of God rather than the things of our flesh. After all, we have been bought with a price, the precious blood of the sinless Lamb of God!

In God’s service, for His glory,

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Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.

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