Paul will teach us in Ephesians how to work, communicate, speak honestly, and labor well. He talks about relationships, bitterness, and forgiveness. What makes Christianity different from other religions is our motivation. Christian life flows out of a new understanding of who we are in Christ. We can’t live the Christian lifestyle externally unless we have put on the new self. This “new self” is given to us as a new identity once we are adopted into the family of God through salvation. The Holy Spirit changes us by changing our heart so that it begins to want what God wants.
The book of Ephesians has a beautiful trajectory to it that starts with a rich theology found in the first three chapters: salvation from God’s point of view in chapter one, salvation from a human point of view in chapter two, and how those both come together in chapter three. Chapter four of Ephesians starts with the word “therefore” and reminds us that chapters 4-6, while practical, are based on the theology of chapters 1-3. We cannot live practically unless we know what we believe; in other words, doctrine shapes what we do.
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