3 Crucial Things that are Impossible Apart from the Body of Christ

     Some of you, it is conceivable, may be waiting for me to post something to this blog.  I've not been doing so lately because I've been buried in writing for a couple projects.  Anyway, I do want to share something with you to kind of tide you over until I can get back to regular writing.  The following reflects some of the thoughts that I shared last Sunday night in house church at TIBM and is actually an excerpt from a chapter that I'm writing for a book the will come out next year.  I hope you're an Ephesians fan! Enjoy:

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     In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which served as the primary Scriptural focus of Cape Town 2010, one gets the impression that if a follower of Christ wishes to have anything approaching a meaningful relationship with God, they must become deeply enmeshed with the life of the Church in its wholeness.  It is, in the language of the Apostle, the Church who has received “every spiritual blessing” (1:3) and that has become “the fullness of him who fills all in all” (1:23).  The Church is his “body” (1:23), his “workmanship” (2:10), a company of “fellow citizens” and members of “the household of God”(2:19), a “temple” in which the Holy Spirit dwells (2:21-22),  and Christ’s own bride, the object of his tender care and nourishment (5:32).

 

     What is more, it is clear from Ephesians that at least three things, and those of paramount importance, are possible only within the context of the whole Church.   First, making known the “manifold wisdom of God” to the invisible realm of evil spiritual “rulers and authorities” is something that God has purposed to do “through the Church” (3:10-11).  This is accomplished as peoples from many divergent and often mutually hostile nations and cultures become one body through the peace-making cross of Jesus Christ (2:12-3:10).  Consequently, the more wholeness is realized among the nations and peoples of the earth through the blood of Christ, and the more he himself is manifested as the peace of the Church that truly joins us together as one new humanity, the more awesome the resulting display will be of God’s wisdom to the demonic spiritual realm.  According to John Piper, in his exposition of this passage at the Congress, “There isn’t anything greater that can be said about the global Church of Jesus but that, through the death of the Messiah, God has created a people in whom he means for his infinite wisdom to be manifest to the cosmic powers of evil” (Piper, 2010).

     Secondly, it is only “together with all the saints” that Christ-followers can find the strength to comprehend the multidimensional love of Christ and, through that, to be “filled with all the fullness of God” (3:18-19).  Such love, we are told, “surpasses knowledge” (3:19) and thus lies outside the grasp of a divided and fragmented Church.  But when Christians from every family on earth, “rooted and grounded in love” and indwelt by the Spirit, join together in partnership and communion, the breadth and length and height and depth of divine love is brought into full relief, God is glorified, and we are filled (3:14-21).

     Finally, we see that outside the context of the whole Church, genuine spiritual maturity is likewise impossible.  Paul exhorts us to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” for a very practical reason (4:3).  There is a single, universal Church and only one Holy Spirit (4:4), but the grace-ministering gifts of Christ are varied and have been distributed to Christians (4:7) far and wide.  Doug Birdsall’s vision of Cape Town 2010 being an “international gift exchange” (Birdsall, 2010) is exactly what Paul argues is always and at all times required.  He says that all the saints are to be equipped.  All are to attain to the unity of the faith.  All are to become spiritually mature.  But this is possible for none unless the whole body is “joined and held together,” “each part working properly” and thus promoting the growth of the Church in the love of Christ (4:16).  I dare not presume that all the gifts and manifestations of God’s grace exist within the confines of my own local, denominational, or even national church.  I need the whole body.

Holistic Spiritual Conflict in the Context of Folk Hinduism | The Lausanne Global Conversation

Special announcement! My article on spiritual conflict and Hinduism is now available in its entirety on the Lausanne Global Conversation at the following link. The article is a few years old but I continue to find the lessons I learned in writing it immensely valuable as I continue my work among South Asians. You'll find here some principles that I believe you will also find valuable as you seek to reach out in love, incarnationally to friends and neighbors from around the world. Simply follow the link below to access the paper:

Holistic Spiritual Conflict in the Context of Folk Hinduism | The Lausanne Global Conversation

Power & Magic: Clinton Arnold's Groundbreaking Commentary of Ephesians

Arnold's commentary makes for excellent
pre-Lausanne Ephesians Study prep

Today I submit the following brief review of Clinton Arnold's Power and Magic: The Concept of Power in Ephesians.

Well it took some doing but I’ve just finished reading Arnold’s thematic commentary on Paul’s (yes, Paul’s) epistle to the Ephesians.  I breathed a great sigh of relief when my eyes finally reached the end of that last page.  It is a very difficult book.  For the unengaged, don’t bother.  If you don’t at least have some functional Greek, you’ll be in trouble for most of the book.  Not to mention that Arnold assumes his readers are acquainted with the kinds of debates that go on among New Testament scholars deep in the recesses of the ivory towers – he basically jumps right into the fray, and if you don’t work very hard you’ll get lost fast.

     

Now, having said that, I got through it.  What’s more, I think I kind of understand what Arnold was saying.  So it can be done.  The real question, of course, is whether or not Power and Magic is worth the trouble. 

     

My answer is an unqualified and enthusiastic, “YES!!!”  C. Peter Wagner (yeah, I know) in a blurb on the back of this book claims that Arnold’s commentary makes the classic commentaries on Ephesians “virtually obsolete.”  Well, after reading Power and Magic  myself I find that statement hard to argue with.  Arnold has undertaken to interpret Ephesians in light of its cultural and spiritual context.  I know that seems like a pretty common sense approach.  However, it also seems that no one else has every really thought of it.  Furthermore, Arnold does this with great skill.  His work on the background of western Asia Minor and Ephesus in particular are absolutely priceless.  In so many ways, Arnold has provided a long-lost key to unlocking the mysteries of Ephesians.  I am now darn near convinced that without this key (i.e. a deep understanding of the Ephesian context, especially in terms of magic and power), many of the riches of this epistle and therefore its relevance for us as followers of Jesus, students of Scripture and participants in God’s global mission will simply remain unearthed.

     

So, here’s my recommendation:  if you plan to do some serious study or teaching related to the book of Ephesians, do yourself a favor and read Arnold’s text.  Especially pay attention to chapter 2, “The religious climate of western Asia Minor in the first century A.D.” and the conclusion chapter (little Greek required, awesome insights).  What is needed now is a more lay-level commentary on Ephesians that effectively brings Arnold’s insights to the whole Church.  I would also like to see some work done that considers the implications of this reading of Ephesians on modern cross-cultural mission.  In particular, Arnold has painted a picture of the Ephesian church as being one not altogether different in composition and background from the present-day churches of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  A truly missiological commentary of Ephesians would be the wonderful resulting treasure for the Church.