How To Study The Bible
Vern Peterman · Feb 24, 2002
How to Study Bible (2001-02), No. 21
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826224051356

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Just to kind of get some perspective here. We've got today and then we're into March next week. So anyway, in March there's five weeks we're going to be continuing to go through using this Word Study New Testament over the next five weeks. Then we have a change in quarters. which is typically where we go into the next elective. This one, what we're going to be doing in April, we're going to be starting in using Greek study tools that actually have Greek letters in there.

So just to kind of get you thinking ahead of time here, you will need to just get a familiarity with the Greek alphabet, which means kind of doing some drumming it into your head. If you don't feel like you're up to that, just a warning, I think it's going to be real valuable. But the flip side is if you don't think you're up to that, you're probably not going to find it very valuable because it will be all Greek to you. So just keep that in mind as we go ahead.

This, we're getting insight into the Greek using basically all English tools. But what we'll be stepping into next is some tools that they won't require you to be able to read Greek in the sense of just looking at it and reading it. But it will require you to learn to recognize the letters of the Greek alphabet and know what those are. If you can do that, you'll be fine.

But just kind of giving you some advance notice, that's what we're looking at starting in April. The next thing, just to take a look at here, we've been proceeding through like one verse at a time. And what I'm going to do, since we've got a whole lot more than that to cover, we're going to cover a verse this time and then next time, and then we're going to kind of jump ahead into a passage I think is real valuable for us to take a look at and to get some of the insights and understandings that come out of the tools we have here to better understand the Greek text. So anyway, we'll be looking at verse 3 here, but then taking a jump ahead as we step into March. Questions so far? Or is it all questions? Still all Greek to you. Well, it's going to get a little bit more Greek.

Let's take a look at it. We've been looking at, and as you have in your handout, well, that's not going to help at all. Everybody needs to come and lay on the floor and look up at the ceiling, please. OK. Anyway, even that's a little bit much. Yeah. There. There we go. In the corner. It's flat in the corner. Something like that. And I'm going to even go a little bit beyond that.

It's verse 3 that we're looking at. Now, let's kind of step through what have we seen in verses 1 and 2. What's verse 1 been talking about? Imitators as beloved children. We went into some more detail as to what does that mean. We went into the second verse and we noticed that where this word beloved or dear is agapitos and basically that's a derivation of the word agape.

Agape shows up in verse 2 and then it shows up again as a as a verb. So he essentially keeps coming back to that same theme. Now he's shifting gears. He's going in a different direction because everything has been verses 1 and 2 has been sort of a positive statement. Here's what life is to be like. Here's your example. Here is what you're to do and to be. Who you are. We've had that.

Now all of a sudden he gets into verse 3, he turns a corner, doesn't he? He's kind of a different character. And all of a sudden, he's warning against something. He hasn't done that in verses 1 and 2. And I guess one question I have... Let's see if I can get that focus a little better. Verses 1 and 2 were nice, positive. Now I've got this thing and it's going to start talking about things supposed to be there, okay? Why is he all of a sudden shifting gears here? That's a good question. I think it's for emphasis. Okay, emphasis. He's trying to get emphasis. What's he emphasizing?

Well, the contrast between worldliness and godliness. Excellent point. Because remember one of the things we talked about was this word But BUT keeps showing up and the Greek has two different levels. But each of them is kind of a minor and then a major contrast.

I know that goes back to the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament. Can you quickly tell us what that sweet-smelling savor is in that context of that animal sacrifice? I remember back there in whichever Old Testament book that is. What were the sacrifices for that purpose?

Right, in the Levitical sacrifices they had not just the sacrifice of the animals but they also had two things that this could and likely is referring to. One is they just plain had incense. The other is they had had sacrifices that were to be completely burned.

And basically what this is saying is This is pleasing to God because it's in complete satisfaction of His character. And the Levitical sacrifices are basically pictures of what God is accomplishing in Christ, or has accomplished in Christ. In the same way that we saw in the book of Revelation, incense was compared to the prayers of the saints. It's that which is pleasing to God because it is fully satisfying to God's character.

That's the intent. He's kind of getting them to look back on that in order to have a picture in their mind to understand what he's telling them. Yeah? So then this is just a contrast to that which is pleasing. Yeah, so what I don't want to do is just start jumping into a bunch of numbers and codes here. I want us to understand what he's trying to communicate. You get the point?

He has spent the first half of Ephesians telling them what God has done and who they are. One of the things we'll be looking at a little bit more as we get into looking at the Greek is that the Greek has what's called a perfect tense, and it means a past completed action. with ongoing results. And one of the things you find as you look through a lot of these passages that talk about how God saved us and what God accomplished, is you'll find a lot of these perfect tenses in there. It means it's a path-completed action with ongoing results.

It's a done deal. God did it. And what you'll find too, you go through the whole first chapter of Ephesians, and everything's what God did. Everything. You ought to do this and you ought to do that. Everything starts off with what God did. So a part of what's happening, we've got to remember as we're looking at this one little verse, we can get kind of blinders if we're not careful. But as we look at this one little verse, we need to remember that this is all in the bigger context of He's spent three chapters, even before getting into this, telling them who they are in Christ, telling them what God has done, what God has already completely accomplished. And so that's the backdrop for this verse as we go into it, okay? We need to kind of keep that in our mental picture.

So now he's going into these things that, just reading the English without studying it, you get the impression real quickly, these are some things that aren't supposed to be happening. How is this different from what Moses did when he came down from the mountain and said, here's the law folks, do it. How is it different?

They have the Holy Spirit. Okay. They have the Holy Spirit. Good. Well, it's based on who they are from the first chapter. Ah, okay. Good. Based on who they are. Let's make some comparisons. Old Testament. Who's the law given to? Given to the Jews. Yes. Okay. The law is given to the Jews. And who gives it to them? It's through Moses. Yes. Through Moses. Now, Moses goes where in order to get this?

The mountain. Okay. And the people are so endeared by this, they go up and they just hug the mountain, right? No. What's the warning? Don't step near it. And what's this mountain doing? Smoking and rumbling and flashes of peeling and thunder and lightning. Now, does this talk, does this sound like Dearly Beloved Children? Do you see the difference there? Dearly Beloved Children is a run-up and there's, you know, there's the dad.

I can remember years ago, I was, Nancy and I were just married, I was working for the Division of Dictaphone Corporation, and Nancy and I were doing electronics assembly work. We had just gotten married. And this guy walks into the room where we're working. And I see him and I said, hi dad. And one of the supervisors runs over to me and says, don't say that, that's the general manager of this division of Dictaphone. I said, no, he's my dad. And so you get the situation there? She was looking more at the Sinai kind of view. I was looking at, this is my dad. This is my Abba Father.

You see the distinction? So right off the bat, Paul has started this thing off in a real different direction. He says, you have a relationship as beloved children with the Father. That's not like this Sinai thing where if an animal comes next to the mountain, stone it. You see the difference is sharp. So that's the backdrop. He's saying your dearly beloved children, that's who you are. You have a character that is based on what God has done. You are imitating the Father not as somebody who's doing a superficial mime act, but as those who now have a relationship as dearly beloved children.

You see the difference there? With that as a backdrop, he's saying, okay, now, now that you understand that, now we're going to say these are some things that ought not to be named among you. Not because you're going to get zapped and there's a lightning bolt going to come out and just wipe you off the face of the earth. But because your very nature is different, your character is different, who you belong to is different, who you're going to spend eternity with is different.

You see the contrast there? So, as we go under that, let's keep that in mind, okay? Let's march through it here. First thing he says there. He says, but fornication is the way it's spelled out. And here's that word. It's pornea. Sound like a little bit familiar? Okay? We have the word, our word like pornography comes from that same thing.

And the word basically, sometimes people think, you know, if they use the word fornication, they'll say, okay, that means this. But what this basically, anything that is outside of what God has designed in marriage, okay? That falls outside the bounds, outside the limit of what God has in mind. Basically, any sexual sin, Any sexual sin. And it even references, notice that, it even references this passage.

So you got it nailed. You see that? You got the meaning nailed. The next word that comes up. This is, let's take a look at this one. Uncleanness. Does that mean you need to wash your hands a lot if you're a Christian? What's the idea there? Yes, moral uncleanness. This is not a wash the hands kind of an issue. This isn't a throw it into the laundry kind of an issue. This is a moral uncleanness.

Let's take a look at what that word is here. It's akatharsias. Does that word sound a little familiar? What word does it sort of sound like? Pardon? Yes. We use the word cathartic or catharsis. And what does that communicate? Just to clean out, to wash out. And that's used in a medical sense, isn't it? What happens when we put the letter A in front of something? What does that communicate?

Negates, okay? We use, for example, the word atheist, right? So you have a theist, one who believes in God. Atheist, one who doesn't believe in God, okay? And the same thing here. If catharsis is a cleaning, acatharsis is not clean, okay? So that's really all it is. The very thing that... Your name, by the way? Jackie? Okay. My name is Vern.

The very thing she said, moral uncleanness, okay? And when you brought it up there, it's a moral uncleanness. I'm sorry, Joanne. Yes. A moral uncleanness, that's what it's pointing to, okay? Now, let me ask you a question. How is that different from the word that he used before? Porneia, meaning sexual sin. Are they entirely different or are they somewhat different? Let me put the verse back up. But fornication in all uncleanness What's the difference between those words?

Sexual sin, right? Yes, it could be other things. Is there some overlap possible? Yeah, could be some overlap in those two. Certainly, sexual sin is also moral uncleanness, but there are some other things that could be involved in moral uncleanness that isn't sexual. Then the next one that comes up, or covetousness. Sins of the flesh, and one of the things you notice is identify specifically this verse.

The root from which these sins grow. You see the distinction there? We're talking something deep, not just the outside stuff, not just what it looks like on the outside, but the place from which it grows. Where do these problems grow from? Pardon? The sin nature, yes. Also known as the flesh, okay? But notice the insight here. It may be said to be the root from which these sins grow, the longing of the creature which has forsaken God to fulfill itself with the lower objects of nature."

People are going to fulfill themselves one way or another, aren't they? They will pursue something. People will pursue something. So it's a question of what if people are not finding their satisfaction in the Lord? They're going to find their satisfaction, at least they think, somewhere else.

And that's really what this Word is about. It goes beyond just covetousness in the sense of you know, I want what you've got. You see that? It is a general characteristic of looking to the things of this world and the things of this body, this human body, to satisfy what God's intended to satisfy. You see that? So there's more depth to it than just simply saying covetousness and looking at it as, you know, I want what that person has.

Making sense? Is this connecting? Okay. Now, let's see what's next here. Now, what are the things that you notice here? It says let it not be once named. What's all those little asterisks in there about? What does that mean? Ah, OK. Between the asterisks and the fact that you've got this lumped together, It's telling you that we've got in English a bunch of words in order to convey what is in the Greek. It's either one word or a word pair, sometimes with a suffix or a prefix. But that happens. At times we've got multiple words in English to convey what the original language had in one or maybe two words.

So that's one thing. Let's take a look at that. Let's see. Turns out, turns out this not once named, this not once named thing is actually, there is no indication in the original language of that idea of once. How about that? It doesn't even show up. Here's what it really boils down to. Basically means not even. Not even. So the not once named thing is sort of a paraphrase. There's nothing in there that communicates one or twice or anything of that sort. So it says, not even named. Not even named.

Then the next it says, it says in there, among you. And this is a word that actually we've looked at before. It's a word that is typically translated in. It basically means like in your midst, within you. In your group is the idea. Who's the you that he's talking about? Here's the Ephesian church. It's the group of believers, isn't it? So here's this group of believers and he's saying, He isn't saying not once, but he's saying not even in the middle of your group, in your group. Among is probably as good a translation as any in terms of conveying it. It's basically in is kind of the root idea, not in your group. It's outside. It's outside the group, not in. This is one last point there. This is, as becometh, faint. And one of the things that's interesting to see, we talk about, you know, this doesn't become you. Or, you know, hey, that becomes you.

What does that mean? That's an interesting word. It means suitable, doesn't it? Now, let me ask this, would we use that in a negative sense? For instance, if I were to look at somebody, let's say this person is just a dyed-in-the-wool criminal, and they go and get outfitted to do their crime, would you say, gee, that becomes you? No, but it's suitable for what you're doing. It's suitable, right? Yeah. It fits what they're doing, but the word becoming kind of has a positive connotation, doesn't it?

And, you know, the Greek word is the same way. The actual meaning of the word... Lost you here. The actual meaning of the word is to be eminent, distinguished, and to excel. You see the slant on there? Our English word implies something positive. The original Greek word is definitely positive. And the idea that it's fitting or becoming is kind of a derived use. But it definitely means positive. It definitely has to do with, how do I say, a positive up kind of a view of things.

And now, the last word there, has become a saint. How does that word saint get used in our culture? I have a habit, and sometimes it shocks people, I have a habit of calling people saints, you know, if they're Christians, if I know they're Christians. And I've had some people that almost get shocked, you know, why on earth do you do that? Why would that shock people?

Okay, yeah. Yeah, okay. All right. That's a good point. And what else might give us a background to say, well, this saint thing is a little hard to swallow? Officially, they have to already be dead. Right, no, this is a practice of the Roman Catholic Church. It takes centuries, even, I guess. I don't know. So, yeah, the problem is these people are alive, huh? OK. OK. What's that? Would that be the saints that ate? The saints that ate? Yeah.

We have culturally a concept of saint that we kind of need to take a look at. And this is, I think, one of the values in looking up these words is to get a sense of what was originally meant. Because our cultural concept of what that is is sometimes radically different from what the biblical concept is. So let's take a look here.

Holy, set-apart, sanctified, consecrated, saint. In its fundamental idea, separation, consecration, devoted to the service of deity, sharing in God's purity, and abstaining from earth's defilement. You know what? Those kinds of things have to take place here on planet earth. What good does it do to be set-apart after you're dead? This setting apart process here is something that is to take place in the context of life. In the context of life. Now, we've got to ask an important question.

He goes back here and he's saying, you know, okay, let these not be named among you, We have this terminology that we use around here, position and condition. Position is that which God has done and is eternally established and is based on our identity with Christ. Condition is where we are now and can be either consistent with our position or not. Now, which part of this has to do with our position?

Which part of verse 3 has to do with our position? That's right. In other words, this is saints. How about verses 1 and 2? How much of that has to do with our position? 1 and 2, the whole thing basically, right? So what he's done here is he's talking in verse 1 and verse 2 about our position, what we have eternally in Christ, accomplished by God, untouchable. Then he steps in verse 3 into something different, and only at the very end he says, Saints, that's our position. Now, we are saints not because we worked real hard to get there, but we're saints because of what God's done.

It's a position that we have, not a condition which can be the way. But what he's addressing is when he talks from here up to here, that's our condition, isn't it? He is appealing, he's saying, let your position reign such that your condition is consistent with your position. That's his appeal here, isn't it? He's not coming to them and saying, look folks, like the law of Moses, you're going to do this, or we're going to throw stones at you. He's saying, this is who God has made you. This is who you are. Therefore, I'm appealing to you, let your condition match your eternally fixed position. So that's the character of what he's laid out here.

We can get lost in all the Greek codes and everything and lose track of that if we're not careful. So we need to kind of keep that fixed in our mind. And as you go through, as we look over the next several weeks, look through these passages, I think it's valuable to keep in mind, looking at which ones he's talking about. Because what he's going to do, he's going to talk about their condition, but he's going to keep going back appealing to their position that they hold eternally that God has accomplished and is untouchable. He's going to continue to appeal to that.

Now, let's take a look. How would we translate this? And again, the translation is not with the idea that you're going to go out and publish something. But the translation is with the idea that you take the word studies that you've done here, and you put it together so that you have a deeper understanding of what the text says. So let's go through what that would look like.

Instead of saying fornication in order to make it clearer, I would say, but sexual sin, and just call it because that's what it means. But sexual sin and every kind of moral uncleanness, because I put that word moral in there to clarify, Every kind of moral uncleanness. And again, there might be some overlap.

Or expressions of a godless nature. This is what is translated covetousness. And our sense of that word covetousness is actually kind of a little too narrow for what the original language is trying to convey. So expressions of a godless nature, really fleshly characteristics. are not to be among you." Because the once-named is actually not directly expressed in the original language. This is, "...are not to be among you, as is fitting to the nature of..."

Now, this is really getting a lot more words, but the idea is to communicate what it says. "...as is fitting to the nature of ones who have been set apart for a holy purpose." Ones who have been set apart for a holy purpose is my way of explaining saints. But I think that it helps to state it that way, especially because our culture has this definition of saints that frequently is a little bit askew from what Paul is intending to convey to us here. You see that here? Does this make sense? This right here, that's our position. The rest of it is he's talking about our condition.

You see that? The distinction here in the context is really important because if you're not careful, and I think a lot of Christians fall into this, it's real easy for us to fall back into Just a variation on the Mosaic Law. And that's, I think, why Paul starts off here talking about we're being beloved children. Because that's in sharp contrast to the way the Mosaic Law was conveyed. See that?

And as he moves on, you know, here looking at these verses, he's going to talk about other things. Do this, not this. This, not this. He is going to use these contrasts in there. But we have to always understand what the character of that contrast is about. He is not setting up a new version of the Christian laws. He's not saying, well, this is just kind of warmed over Old Testament law.

Because this instead has to do with our nature, not just what we're commanded to do. The law is a ministry of death. 2 Corinthians 3.7. This is a ministry of life. Based on the life that is in you, this is what we're called to.

Okay? Let's pray. Lord, we give you thanks for the marvelous position that we have in you, that we are in fact your beloved children. And as we look to these callings to moral purity, Lord, it's not simply a matter of our having to generate it and do it. but is instead based on your life lived through us and your life instead of ours. And Lord, we look to you just to continue to teach us and to bring these truths to heart. In Jesus' name, Amen.