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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. Welcome to day two of our journey through Ephesians. A short journey, because it's a short book. And I always love to tell you guys, hey, if you haven't done the reading for the day, if you haven't read Ephesians chapters 4, 5 and 6, go ahead, pause this right now. Pause the video, pause the audio. I'll be right here. But for those of us who have done the reading, let's dive in. This is rich, rich, rich, rich, rich. Like three sections of Scripture. We got the armor of God, which is the inspiration behind Arma. You may not know that, but Arma is, is Latin for the armor of God. And so we're going to get into the armor of God. We got submission, we got a household code, we got wives submitting to husbands, we got husband love, loving wives, parenting slaves. We got that, that we gotta deal with. And we got the fivefold ministry gifts in this section of Ephesians. So let's dive in. Okay, first of all, let's get a context clue. I want to draw your attention to chapter four, verse 17. It says this and I'm going to give you context for it. Now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. Okay, so he's talking about Gentiles as some foreign group, right? They, them, theirs. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greed, to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Paul. So we start in verse 17. Now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They. It's they, them, their, themselves. These Gentiles are some crazy people that you don't even know about. Like they're them. But let's just back up a couple chapters and give some context. Okay, let's go to chapter 2, verse 11. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Wait a sec. Wait a second. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. Wait a second. In chapter two, verse 11, this man said, you Gentiles. Now, two chapters later, in chapter four, verse 17, these Gentiles are now they. The Gentiles, they. And this right here is the crux of how Paul sees a new creation person. That you used to be a Gentile, but that's not who you are anymore. You can see this complete identity shift just from chapter two to chapter four. Paul is no longer referring to these individuals who ethnically are Gentiles, but according to Paul, they've been grafted in. You're. You're. You're now the true Israel. You're now a part of the olive tree that is Israel. You. You're those Gentiles over there. I can't imagine, like, being, you know, someone who's not ethnically Jewish, like, at the church, going, didn't he just call me a gentile two chapters ago? And Paul says, no, you're a new creation. You. You no longer get to identify as who you were BC before Christ. So context, clue. That's not even a context from culture. That's just context from right here within the book. Let me give you a nerdy nugget. We're gonna go to Ephesians, chapter five, and we are gonna start with verse 22. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church's body and he himself its Savior. Now, as the Church submits to Christ, so all wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Okay? No. No one would have had a problem with this in its original context. Let me tell you what everyone would have had a problem with in its original context. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Huh? Roman men were not in any way, shape or form obligated to love their wives right here. This idea that a husband, that the head of a household, that the head of a Roman household would love a woman is absolutely revolutionary. That right there is, like, common for our society. And I think a lot of times we take this stuff out of context and when we put it back into context, we actually realize, oh wow, like in a Greco Roman world, your body, like even the idea of my body belongs to my wife. That is countercultural. In the first century, every husband knew that the wife's body belonged to him. But mutual like that we belong to one another. Foreign crazy talk. This is insanely countercultural. Here's what's crazy. In our culture, everyone loses their mind over verse 22, which is wives, submit to your own husband. But when Paul originally wrote this, he knew he was about to set it off at these churches with these husbands. Like husbands were about to be up in arms. It says this, he who loves his wife, loves himself. This is countercultural, okay? In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife, loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound and I'm saying that it refers to Christ in the church. However, let each of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. So Paul tells each, the male and the female, to do the thing that's hard for them and the thing that the other person needs. You know, I've gotten the joy of being a pastor and officiating weddings and walking through premarital counseling and marriage counseling. And I can say unequivocally, the number one need from for most men is not love, it's respect. And so of course women who their number one need is love, they love giving love cuz they need love in men. Men generally know how to give respect because that's our native language. And Paul says, nope, you're not allowed to give what you naturally give easily. No, you are going to give what your spouse needs. One of the things that I've had to teach a lot of couples is you don't get to judge what the opposite person needs. As a man, it's weird to me that my wife's dominant need is love and not respect. That's weird. But I don't get to judge whether or not that's weird. And for her it's weird that I would need respect more than I would need love, like emotionally. But she doesn't get to judge whether or not that's weird. My only role is to give what my spouse actually needs. And it just so happens that when we serve the other, my needs get met. If the worst kind of marriage is a selfish marriage where everybody's thinking about what they need, but if I can think, yeah, my wife needs love, My wife needs love. My wife needs love. How does she spell love? What is her love language? How do I give her the love that she needs? And if she's thinking, how do I respect this man? How do I live with an understanding of the language that this man speaks, which is the language of R E, S, P E, C, T. R E, S, P E C T. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's how you spell it. Hashtag arethafranklin. What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by Armageddon. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. ARMA is an online subscription based platform that we design to help people, everyday people, learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community, a community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire armor team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd. Next, let's let's talk about being filled with the Spirit. We're going to go to chapter five, verses 18 to 21. Because Paul is a Pentecostal. Okay? Paul cares about being filled with the Spirit. Chapters five. We're gonna start reading in verse 18 and it says, hey, don't get drunk, don't get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. Now Paul's gonna give four ways in which you are gonna practice being filled with the Spirit. And I love this here straight out of Ephesians, verse 19, addressing one another in psalms and hymns, in spiritual songs. So sing, sing, sing Christian music to each other. Oh, that's how we're gonna be filled with The Spirit. We are going to praise the Lord together. That. That is a massive dynamic. And this is why I love the fact that different ethnic groups all bring something to the Christian potluck, which is the global church. Cause in a black tradition, the worship music is not just vertical, meet a God, but it's also horizontal. It's us singing to one another. And I think that sometimes we so emphasize worship, which is vertical, that we've done away with this stuff called praise. Praise isn't just the fast songs. No, praise is a type of worship where we do it together. This is why the choir is so important at a black church. But then Paul's gonna say, hey, but don't forget this vertical stuff, okay? So addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, that's gospel music, baby. But then singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. So also sing to the Lord, okay? And I feel like there's trends in church and we. The pendulum moves from horizontal worship styles to vertical worship styles. Paul loves both, and he says it's a great way to get filled with the Holy Spirit. Okay, number two. Number three. Sorry. Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father. So being thankful that being grumpy and grouchy and complaining is the opposite of being filled with the Spirit. If you're full of the Spirit, you should have a thankful heart. Thanksgiving every day, not just in November. And then last. How. What's the last way we get filled with the Holy Ghost? Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. If you're really full of the Holy Ghost. Notice, speaking in tongues ain't on that list. Prophesying ain't on that list. Not that those things aren't real, but that's just not what Paul immediately is talking about here. He's talking about being full of the Holy Ghost. He's saying, if you're gonna be full of the Holy Spirit, then you should be singing worship songs with one another. You should be singing worship songs to the Lord. You should be thankful. And last, you should be able to submit so you're not full of the Spirit. If there's a spirit of pride that's operating in you, those things are incompatible with one another. All right, I. I'll give you one more context clue, because Paul's going to talk about the armor of God. Okay? In our final chapter, finally, be strong in the Lord in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God so you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Context. Where is Paul, when he's writing this, he's in house arrest, okay? He's in prison. He's looking at a Roman soldier every day and every night. And so he's using what is visually in front of him as inspiration for writing this. Go for writing this letter. And then, last thing I want to leave us with, I want to leave us with a timeless truth. Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 11 is a verse that I hold near and dear. Okay? Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 11. And I'm jumping around a lot, but it's cool. And he. That's Jesus. Jesus gave the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ. Okay? So fivefold ministry gifts. I'm a big proponent of fivefold ministry gifts and that these are five different things. What is an apostle? An apostle is a visionary. An apostle is a church planner, typically has an entrepreneurial bent as a pioneer. It's a pioneering gift. What is a prophet? I'll actually give it to you with my hands, actually. What's a prophet? The prophet is the one who can point the way. Okay? Prophecy in the Bible is not about telling the future. It's about telling the truth. Okay? The evangelist stands the tallest of all the fingers. The shepherd is married to the church. This a pastor. This the guy who's doing funerals and weddings. And this is the guy who's caring for people, hospital visits and then teachers. It's the only finger small enough to fit in the ear. Somebody with a teaching gift is good on stage. What's happened in the modern church is we've confused these two, okay? So when people say they want to be a pastor, I always ask them, are, are you sure you want to be a pastor? Because pastors don't get on stage, okay? And if you have a teaching or preaching gift, that means you do get on stage. Okay? So these are stage gifts. This is not a stage gift. And we have a lot of people who get into the ministry thinking that they are going to have stage gifts, but that's not what they do. That's not what they're called to do. And then sometimes, like, I just so happen to have a stage gift. And sometimes people will come up to me and say, I'd love for you to disciple me. And I go, I'm not a good pastor. That's a gift that I can operate in, but it's not my dominant gift. And sometimes I think people see charismatic people on stage and they think that person will be a great person to disciple me. And a lot of times they're not. Okay, so a shepherd is a distinct gift than a preaching and teaching gift. These are three distinct gifts. Preaching, teaching, and pastoring are distinct gifts. Three different things. Are there sometimes overlap? Yes, But a pastor is never going to be able to preach as good as a preacher or teach as good as a teacher. And a preacher is never gonna be able to disciple people like a pastor would. And I think in the body of Christ, we try to get 2 for 1 specials all the time. We hire people to teach, preach, and pastor and it's like, woo. I think we burn people out because we don't allow them to actually operate in their natural gifts. Okay, so the prophet points, the evangelist stands the tallest. That's always the loudest person. Okay, it's the evangelist, it's the preacher. And then we got the shepherd married to the church. Okay, that's the ring finger. And then we've got the teacher. Okay, who can get in your ear. And then the apostle is the one who can touch them all. So I call the apostle the chameleon of, of the group. Typically, you know that someone has an apostolic gift when they can function prophetically. They're evangelistic, they are pastoral, and they have a teaching gift that typically is an apostle. And typically people who are apostles typically have a senior pastor gift. And then all the other gifts sit underneath that apostolic anointing. And that's a timeless truth, baby. Those five gifts have been in existence for the last 2,000 plus years, and I don't think they're going anywhere. And hopefully all this helps you to understand Ephesians. I'm so, so, so, so, so proud of you for making your way through the entire Bible. I love you guys. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram at the Bible Department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.