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THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS [Amplified Bible/Classic Edition]: CHAPTER 5

THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS

CHAPTER 5

¹ Therefore be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father].

²And walk in love, [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a [a] slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.

³But immorality (sexual vice) and all impurity [[b] of lustful, rich, wasteful living] or greediness must not even be named among you, as is fitting and proper among saints (God’s consecrated people).

⁴Let there be no filthiness (obscenity, indecency) nor foolish and sinful (silly and corrupt) talk, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting or becoming; but instead voice your thankfulness [to God].

⁵For be sure of this: that no person practicing sexual vice or impurity in thought or in life, or one who is covetous [who has lustful desire for the property of others and is greedy for gain]—for he [in effect] is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

⁶Let no one delude and deceive you with empty excuses and groundless arguments [for these sins], for through these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of rebellion and disobedience.

⁷So do not associate or be sharers with them.

⁸For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light [lead the lives of those native-born to the Light].

⁹For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light or [c] the Spirit [consists] in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life.

¹⁰And try to learn [in your experience] what is pleasing to the Lord [let your lives be constant proofs of what is most acceptable to Him].

¹¹Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be so in contrast as to] [d] expose and reprove and convict them.

¹²For it is a shame even to speak of or mention the things that [such people] practice in secret.

¹³But when anything is exposed and reproved by the light, it is made visible and clear; and where everything is visible and clear there is light.

¹⁴Therefore He says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine (make day dawn) upon you and give you light.

¹⁵Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people),

¹⁶Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.

¹⁷Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.

¹⁸And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but ever be filled and stimulated with the [Holy] Spirit.

¹⁹Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offering praise with voices [[e] and instruments] and making melody with all your heart to the Lord,

²⁰At all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

²¹Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

²²Wives, be subject (be submissive and adapt yourselves) to your own husbands as [a service] to the Lord.

²³For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, Himself the Savior of [His] body.

²⁴As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

²⁶So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word,

²⁷That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things [that she might be holy and faultless].

²⁸Even so husbands should love their wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.

²⁹For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and carefully protects and cherishes it, as Christ does the church,

³⁰Because we are members (parts) of His body.

³¹For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

³²This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning [the relation of] Christ and the church.

³³However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [[f] that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and [[g] that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly]. [1]

Footnotes:

[a] Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.

[b] Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.

[c] Some ancient manuscripts so read.

[d] Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.

[e] George R. Berry, Greek-English New Testament Lexicon.

[f] Webster’s New International Dictionary offers this as a list of English words with the same (or nearly the same) essential meaning as “respect” and “reverence.” The latter (“reverence”) includes the concept of “adore” in the sense not applied to deity.

[g] Webster’s New International Dictionary offers this as a list of English words with the same (or nearly the same) essential meaning as “respect” and “reverence.” The latter (“reverence”) includes the concept of “adore” in the sense not applied to deity.

Posted in Real Christianity

Is God Three People? JESUS IS GOD (7)

Dec 26

Posted by RJ Dawson

Dear Readers: Thank you for all your support this year. I believe the content in this current series is indispensible regarding the coming Great Awakening in America. We must all grow closer to the Lord Jesus. He must be exalted in this nation. His real identity must be known. Christian persecution will continue rising in America in 2016 and we must all be prepared. Please help make this current series reach as many believers as possible. Be blessed!

“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” [John 8:28 NAB]

“GOD” IS A GENERIC TERM USED BY ALL RELIGIONS

Many centuries ago, Unreal Christianity brought much confusion to New Covenant truth regarding the true identity of God.

It began equating the one God of real Christianity with the false gods of all the false religions and belief systems of this fallen world. As a result, the one God of real Christianity became the same as the god of other religions, especially the single god of monotheistic faiths, such as Judaism and Islam.

The teachings of the Lord Jesus, of course, absolutely refute this. The God of real Christianity is not Allah. And unless one honors the Son one does not have the Father. The Father and Son are an indivisible package deal. Unless one honors the Lord Jesus as the real God, one rejects Him, as does official Judaism.

Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. [1John 2:22-23]

Inspired by their own dead Christian-offshoot theology, the Christian Pharisees transformed “God” in the minds of their followers into an unknowable, mythical, amorphous, nebulous, unnamed master deity completely separate from the Lord Jesus. As a result, when most Christians think of God, they think of Him in such terms.

Thus, based on fabricated philosophical teachings, “God” is for them personally incomprehensible, mysterious, enigmatic, and beyond understanding. He is someone completely separate from the Lord Jesus.

And because He has thus become beyond understanding, most Christians do not try to identity Him but become satisfied that He can never be known, and certainly can never be known on a personal basis.

THE GREATEST FALSE DOCTRINE OF ALL

Nothing could be further from the truth. God can certainly be known personally. He is a personal God. He seeks a close relationship with everyone.

But here’s the problem: ONLY VERY FEW ARE WILLING TO SEEK HIM.

When you add this to the fact that traditional Unreal Christianity has always taught that “God” is beyond us and indifferent to our lives, and that most “Christians” have always believed such a lie and embraced it, it is no wonder that few seek to know His true identity.

Adding to these facts the facts that most people are spiritually lazy, are mere followers of so-called leaders (blind leaders of the blind), or insist on searching for alternative paths that deny the only path, it remains impossible for God to be known by them largely because they have invented or embraced counterfeits which cuts them off from spiritual reality.

It is therefore up to those who teach the real Gospel, the only Gospel, to reveal the shysters for who they are and expose their false egg-headed faux mental constructs for the God-denying ideologies they are.

THE LORD JESUS CAME TO REVEAL GOD

Christians have been taught that Jesus is not God but that He merely reveals God.

Simple question: Because it is absolutely true that God is a Spirit, just how is God supposed to relate to human beings who have been cut off from Him through their sin? Because human beings begin sinning at very young ages and become transformed by sin into beings God never intended, what is He supposed to do to reestablish the personal connection that previously existed?

HE BECAME ONE OF US

The one God of all creation took it upon Himself to enter our world with the intention of restoring our personal relationship with Him that had been devastated by our sin. He did His part. He gave His all. But to complete the covenant, we must each do our part. We must each give our all to Him.

LITTLE CHILDREN ARE CLOSE TO GOD

Consider the following:

Young children are closer to God. They are closer because they have yet to sin to the extent that their increasing sin compromises their connection to Him. The Lord Jesus expressed this phenomenon this way:

And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them,

“Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” [Mark 10:13-15] [1]

The following true account illustrates the Lord’s teaching on the subject perfectly. Please take a moment to prepare your heart:

Paula Hinson is a part-time fairy angel. Whether you believe in these things doesn’t matter. When Paula puts on her wings and her costume and goes into hospitals and sits with terminally-ill children, they believe. And it is through their belief that the angel does her work.

“I was sitting with a little four-year-old girl named Dawn. She was very sick, and I was taking her through some meditations and some imagery to help her with the pain, and all of a sudden, she said to me, ‘I need to see my dad right away.’ I said, ‘What is it, Dawn?’ She said, ‘I’m getting ready to leave…my angel part is getting ready to leave; I need to tell him that, and I can’t let anyone else tell him because he will be too sad.’ I said, ‘Who told you this?’ She said, ‘Are you crazy? My clear part — you know, the clear part inside you.’ I said, ‘You mean like your soul or your spirit?’ She said, ‘Yes, now please take me to him.’ We took her and left her with her dad, and she died a short while later. Her clear part told her. The part that was not sick. The part that knew everything about her.

“I think the older we get, the more we become attached to this costume we’re wearing, and it’s very hard to let go of it. But these children, they are so wise. So close to God. So tuned in to the part that makes us who we are. The spirit part. The clear part.” [2]