Lee’s Reviews > The Vision of Ephesians: The Task of the Church and the Glory of God > Status Update

I love how Wright phrases things. Speaking about 4:22 he says “…hardened hearts and darkened minds cover up their condition precisely by advertising themselves as clever, ‘modern’, ‘ahead of the curve’, whatever. This is what ‘deceit’ is all about. Twisted desires do not present themselves by whispering, ‘If you come this way you will go mouldy and fall apart.’”

Paul would be shocked by the very idea of ‘denominations’, close to one another in the same street but not even trying to join in sharing missions and resources…given recent centuries in Christian history it’s better at least to have unity of fellowship, prayer and mutual support…reading Eph 4 we can’t imagine our present multiple disunities don’t really matter.

“…in Genesis, the story is about the creator’s purpose for his creation, and the human responsibility for sharing in that purpose. The failure of humans was as much a failure of vocational obedience as disobedience to one rather strange command.”

Sin, in general, and offenses in particular, are what happens when image bearing humans fail to worship their maker and so to reflect the true God into the world. And the death which results is not an arbitrary punishment. It is the necessary and inevitable result of that turning away from the source of life.

Paul, prays for wisdom. “Wisdom“, as in Proverbs, is what you need to be truly human, to take responsibility in God’s good world... Isaiah 11 reflects the same theme: the messiah is the truly wise human &now the “in–Messiah“ people should have that same spirit of wisdom&insight & knowledge of God. This comes through the eyes of the inmostself being opened to the true God dimension of all the world.

“When the church is worshiping together, cutting across the normal social, cultural and ethnic boundaries, then the filling of the church with the spirit is the true anticipation and advance sign post of the time when all creation will be filled with the presence and glory of God.”

Some very British ways of saying things are making me chuckle…” one of the other major tasks of the promise to the coming king was that he would rebuild or tidy up the temple in Jerusalem” and “ there, David , having built himself a splendid palace…”

“The church is already called to live at the dangerous and dramatic intersection of heaven and earth, already seated in heavenly places in and with the Messiah, while continuing to serve him, and display his glory in the present world, and indeed to do battle with him in those heavenly places where the dark forces still try to regain, lost territory.”

The vocation of the church - to live as the small working model of new creation. More than just ‘here are a few things to believe, and here are a few rules to help you behave.’ Careful reading of Ephesians teaches us to think in a more organic, theological way.
⬆️ only on p. 5 and already good things to ponder