This passage is very important for understanding the gospel. Here is a type of summary of what has been revealed to mankind. This ‘resume’ comes through the writing of the apostle Paul who sent this letter to help correct a problem among believers in Rome, from Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds, about 2000 years ago.

When Adam disobeyed God sin entered the world and as a result of this so did death. To provide a remedy for this Jesus Christ, in whom was no sin, voluntarily came and died on the cross, as a substitute. All those who trust in Him experience a reversal of the effects of Adam’s disobedience and are made right in God’s sight.

 

In this part of his letter, the apostle Paul explains that justification by faith brings peace with God. Through the death of Jesus Christ, God’s righteous anger is turned away from those who were once His enemies. The believer is said to be reconciled to God ….. the debt has been paid by someone else.

 

As well as peace, the person who has been made right with God has something to look forward to. Even though life is not always easy, this relationship with God will one day be far more wonderful than what it is now …… lasting forever.

Living as God’s people involves improving the quality of relationships. In this passage we find Paul’s guidance, as a ‘prisoner’ of Jesus, about these relationships. The starting point is Jesus himself and remembering that everything is from Him and in Him. Therefore no-one is better than any other. God’s people are likened to a ‘body’ with each member having a part in its proper functioning.

What are the traits that contribute to building up this body? Paul mentions them as humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and all done in love. Also gifts have been given to people by Jesus for the building up of the body. These gifts are to be used for equipping people to serve one another, promote unity and bring each one to maturity.

All of God’s people, however, have a part to play in displaying Jesus’ love … just like the human body has different parts. They are to strengthen the unity of the body with Jesus Christ as the head by speaking the truth to one another in love.

 

The well-known story of David and Goliath, which we read about here, is a reminder of the ancient battle between good and evil. Whether we know it or not we are all part of this battle. David connects Israel’s honour with God’s. Sitting back and doing nothing was not an option for David. To him it was not a question of who would win the battle but how God would be honoured.

Just as it is a question of God’s honour, so too, in the battle between good and evil, it is important to keep in mind that this is His battle. If we try to make it our own, eventually we will no longer be able to fight. The way to fight the battle against sin is to remember that, in Jesus, we have already been rescued.

The battle between David and Goliath was seemingly so unequal that no-one could say it wasn’t God’s victory. When challenged by Goliath, David said ‘and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.’ It is the same with His people today …… united to Jesus in His victory over sin and death … accomplished at the cross … received by faith alone.

There was a further matter of concern for those with a Jewish background. What about their religious heritage? The Jews placed confidence in the fact that they were Abraham’s descendants. The implication being that they were automatically right with God. The apostle Paul’s teaching in this letter did not sit well with their misunderstood privileges and practices.

Here in Chapter 4 Paul takes time to show them that although Abraham had plenty of good works, this was not the basis of his standing before God. Rather, he “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”. Jesus said that Abraham “rejoiced to see My day.” Like Abraham, many people, before Jesus came, looked ahead by faith to Him as the promised One whose life would be an offering for sin. Paul’s teaching was not new.

The rule of God in achieving His purposes is something wonderful and also very profound. Here in this passage, about the choosing of David to be king, we still see that God is the one who ‘wrote the script’. We are short-sighted because our sin corrupts how we see everything. When it comes to choosing a king, David was an unlikely choice but we are told that God does not look at the outward appearance but the heart …. he is a man after God’s own heart.

God worked powerfully in David and this enabled him to do great things such as the victory over Goliath. David knew that God was with Him …. he didn’t rely on his own strength.  David was a pointer to THE great King who was to come after him and fulfill God’s ‘master plan’. Jesus is called ‘Emmanuel’ which means “God with us’. He has demonstrated His perfect kingship by laying down His life so that we can live in and through Him.

In this letter we find that what gets the apostle Paul  excited is the unity of God’s people … one in which those from very diverse backgrounds have become united in Jesus Christ. He continues in prayer for the ones in Ephesus here as he started at the beginning of the letter. He prays mainly for two things. Firstly, that Christ  would dwell richly in their hearts by faith …. in other words, that they would grow strong on the inside.

The second thing that Paul prays for is that they would get to know more of God’s love together, expressed in practical ways. He wants the identity of these people to whom he is writing to be tied up with love. This is because God’s love is much greater than people think. Paul wants them to know more and more of the depths of this love which comes from what Jesus has done on the cross.

Guilt can have a paralyzing effect and the natural reaction is to try to do something ‘good’ to make up for the wrong …. to ‘earn’ forgiveness. The gospel way is entirely different. God justifies people (He declares them not guilty) through faith in Christ, without them having to earn it. How can God do this and remain just?  We find the answer in the last part of the passage.

Paul tells us that through the cross Jesus has made possible the offer of peace with God to all mankind. If God did not punish wrong he would not be just. Amazingly, his way of providing forgiveness for wrong, through the sacrifice of Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, demonstrates both his justice and his love..

The reign of King Saul stands in contrast to the reign of King Jesus. In this passage the disobedience of Saul is seen to result in trouble for himself and also for the people of Israel. He led them into sin by not following fully what He had been told to do. This grieved God and Saul was eventually removed from being King over Israel.

Jesus was very different. He obeyed His Father completely even at great personal cost ….. His death on the cross. This, however, paid the ransom for people’s sins. Their disobedience cost Him His life ….. His obedience gives them new life.  All those who trust in what He has done have their sins forgiven and become part of God’s family. Just as He obeyed God and followed what He said, so too do His people follow Him. They enter into the service of  King Jesus who leads them in the way of life. He has ascended to sit at the Father’s right hand in Heaven where He reigns forever more.

In this passage the apostle Paul says that God uses the spread of the gospel, the ‘good news’ about Jesus, to achieve His grand plan for the world. Paul is here revealing something which was hidden in Old Testament times even though the prophets did partially see into the mystery. The mystery is that both Jews and non-Jews would be made one through faith in Jesus Christ ….. heirs together, members together and sharers together …… all are placed on an equal footing because of the gospel.

It is a great privilege to be part of God’s grand plan. This involves proclaiming and sharing the message of good news about the beauty, glory and riches of Christ, accomplished at the cross. It is about how people can approach God with confidence, not in their own righteousness but in His. Paul was willing to suffer greatly in order to spread this message …… he even said ‘for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.’