with Elder Elico Manenji
✝️In this chapter, the Apostle exhorts believers to unite and walk worthy of the vocation of their calling. They should be kind to one another and meek as Christ loved them. Since there is one God, one Saviour, so there is one baptism and one true religion. He assures believers that
He assures them that their Redeemer Jesus Christ has ascended to heaven with gifts or first fruits of those who will be saved. Before he ascended, he descended into the most depth of the earth to obtain salvation and conquer death for every man thus confirming the faith of the saints. When He ascended, He gave gifts of ministry to the Church to keep up the faith and unity. He gave to some to be "apostles; some prophets; some evangelists; some pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ".
Because Christ has already on high to the highest heavens, the Apostle exhorts believers to good Christian duties them to perform particular Christian duties and avoid evils which do not characterize the spirit of unity and faith and avoid such evil behaviours as lying, anger, theft, corruption and corrupting, malice, bitterness and evil speaking. Now that salvation has been availed to them by the death of Christ on the cross, believers should not grieve the Holy, Spirit who has been given to them on the day of redemption.
*1️⃣Ephesians 4:1-16: Unity of believers is in Christ.*
⏹️As believers in the church come from various racial, cultural and social backgrounds, they must not allow these differences to spoil the unity that God has created in the church by the death of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle says, *"Only let your conversation be as it becomes the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel"(Philippians 1:27).*
⏭️Believers are thus called by one name, for they belong to one God, are baptized into one baptism and have one faith and have one Lord who is in all and through all. The Apostle Peter says, *"As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God"(1Peter 4:10).*
⏹️For their Saviour , Jesus Christ conquered sin and death and at his ascension into glory He took with Him samples of those who will be raised to life as first fruits of the bigger harvest when He comes to take His own home. The gospel of Matthew records this event sayings, *"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the went saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared to many"(Matthew 27:51-53).*
⏭️As a Conquerors, Christ defeated Satan and other angelic powers and gave gifts to mankind to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers of the Word of God. The Apostle says, *"So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another"(Romans 12:5).*
*2️⃣Ephesians 4:17-32: Acceptable moral standards of believers.*
⏹️As believers have accepted Christ, they enter into a new covenant life with Him. They no longer live like a people without God who ignore the warnings of their conscience and easily lose those feelings of guilt that conscience produces. The Apostle says, *"That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world"(Ephesians 2:12).*
⏹️ As new born children they put away old practices such as lying, deception, bad temper, revenge, stealing, adultery, fornication, uncontrolled speech and tongue and every evil malice. They are led by the Holy Spirit who had redeemed them from evil practices, so they can not continue to grieve the Holy Spirit who was given them as the gift on the day of their redemption. The Apostle says, *"And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness"(Ephesians 4:24).*
*"And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him"(Colossians 3:10).*
⏭️As born again Christians, believers should be characterized by love, kindness, compassion, understanding and forgiveness of one another, they can not
yield to the suggestions and temptations of Satan, who would take every opportunity to persuade them to cherish unkind and angry feelings over each other, but will live to please God. The Apostle Paul says, , *"And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God"(Romans 12:2).*
*🅰️Appeal*
In Christ, believers are called to a life of holiness which God requires and approve and by which we live to Him. Such new life resembles God himself in His purity, righteousness, truth, and goodness. In Christ, believers are rescued from their wilful ignorance which is an estrangement from the life of God ad begin to walk in the light and knowledge of God. The Apostle John says, *"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleans us from all sin"(1John 1:7).*
Elico Manenji
(+263712952704)
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