Sermon Tone Analysis

*/Ephesians 4:7, 11, 15-16/*

* *

Verse 15 gives the contrast for the individual and v. 16 for the corporate church.

*/Greek Text 4:15 /**/aletheuontes de en agape auxesomen eis auton ta panta, hos estin he kephale, Christos,/*

*Translation 4:15 but rather being truthful with love, we might grow up to him with reference to all things, who is the head, the Christ,*

 

            *aletheuontes de en agape, *“*but rather being truthful with love,”*.

The *but *marks a strong contrast here.

Rather than being tricked by the dice-playing agenda of men into a false methodology we are to /“speak the truth in love”/.

Dr. Robert Lightner has told me on numerous occasions that this is the most difficult NT command to follow.

Interestingly, the participle *speaking the truth *(/aletheuontes/)/ /conveys not only *speaking the truth in love *but *also living the truth in love*.

In short, Paul is saying *be truthful *in both your life and your speech.

Your life and speech ought to be a demonstration of truth.

This is in contrast to the *deceitful trickery *of v. 14.

Men of deceit and trickery hide their true intent, their agenda.

In contrast, we are to reveal our true intent, our agenda.

We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ.

We should therefore be straightforward and honest.

*truth *is that which corresponds to reality, the true state of affairs.

Our speech and our conduct ought to be a demonstration of the true state of affairs as opposed to hiding or suppressing the truth like unbelievers (Rom.

1:18).

The spirit-filled Christian is marked by a life and speech that are in accordance with truth.

The carnal Christian is not.

The relationship between truth and love is that truth has a higher priority than love but that truth must always be spoken and lived in the sphere of love (Overhead).

On the one hand, a Christian can speak the truth and yet not speak it in a loving manner.

e.g.

I can give you true Bible doctrine but in an unloving way.

If I do this my /message/ is inconsistent with my /method/.

The way I deliver a message must not be inconsistent with the message itself.

Like the teacher who tells his students that the lecture method is the worst method of teaching.

All the while he is lecturing to them.

If it truly is the worst method then why are you lecturing to us? That’s inconsistent.

In the same way, if I correct my brother with truth but in a way that runs him down and crushes him then I have given truth but not in love.

I’ve been inconsistent.

Paul is exhorting us to not be like the deceitful tricksters but consistently be truth in life and speech in love.

When we do this it results in harmony and growth in the Church rather than disharmony and stunted lives.

The believers’ growth is Paul’s next concern.

*auxesomen eis auton ta panta, *“*we might grow up to him with reference to all things,”*.

Instead of remaining child/ish /in our thinking we ought to *grow up to him with respect to all things*.

It is the gifts given to believers today as well as the foundational gifts that help accomplish this growth.

The subjunctive here indicates that we *might grow*, not necessarily that we *will grow*.

Only if the gifts are used in proportion to the measure given will growth actually occur.

Where are we to grow?

*up to him*, that is, to Christ.

Christ is our model for how to live and speak truth in love.

He is our goal.

In what areas are we to grow?

*with reference to all things*.

The way Paul thinks is that since Christ is the creator of everything in the universe then Christ is the Lord over everything in the universe.

Since we are connected to the Creator and Lord of the universe then we ought to grow up in every area of life.

We may not but we should.

We want to have the DVP for every area of life.

We are not called to just grow up in one or two areas but in every area; spiritual things as well as earthly things for He is the author and sustainer of both (John 3:12).

How do we do this?

Remember the /epignosis/, the knowledge that was directed toward Christ in v. 13.

To do this we have to make Christ and His word our starting point *with reference to all things*.

When we talk about earthly things this means taking God’s word as the starting point for every area of human study or endeavor (biology, art, music, etc…) when God gives facts about these areas of life they need to be the starting principles from which we work out our thinking about them (Ps 111:2).

In terms of spiritual things this means taking God’s word as the starting point for spiritual living and thinking, particularly in the realm of morals and cognizance of the angelic realm and spiritual battles (humility, contentedness, goodness, love, unity, etc…).

To *grow up* obviously refers to the sanctification process.

You’ve got to *grow up* so that you are constantly dissecting whatever is coming in.

You’re not passively accepting information from TV, radio, etc…into your brain but your mind is dissecting and categorizing information in terms of biblical categories of thinking.

Taking every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor.

10:5).

To do this you first have to realize there are only two ways to think about things.

One starts with Christ the other starts with Satan.

There is no neutrality.

And at every moment you are caught on one side of the fence or the other and you should be constantly working toward evaluation of every bit of information in terms of Christ and His word.

He is the starting point or reference of all truth and we want to think like Christ did in reference to earthly and spiritual things.

*hos estin he kephale, Christos, *“*who is the head, the Christ,”*.

This defines *to him *as *the head, the Messiah*.

By referring to Christ as *the head* Paul is referring to Him as *the head* of the Church which is His body (Eph.

1:22-23).

By referring to Him as *the Christ*, Paul is emphasizing that *the head* of the Church is *the Messiah*, the same one promised to Israel in the OT, not a different one.

*/Greek Text 4:16 /**/ex ou pan to soma sunarmologoumenon kai sumbibazomenon dia pases aphes tes epikoregias kat energeian en metro enos ekastou merous ten auxesin tou somatos poieitai eis oikodomen eautou en agape./*

*Translation 4:16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together through every supporting connection according to the working in measure from each individual part, causes the growth of the body to building itself up in love.*

“*from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together”*.

*from whom *refers to *the Christ.*

Christ is the one who ultimately *causes the growth of the body*.

Paul is moving to the church as a whole and away from the individual.

Individual growth was the subject of v. 15 but corporate growth is the subject of v. 16. *the whole body*, which is the Church, is *being fitted and held together*.

He’s drawing an architectural analogy here as he did in Eph 2:21.

The *body *is a building that is being built up.

This building began on the Day of Pentecost and will be complete on the Day of the Rapture.

The Church is not just those believers living today but every believer since the Day of Pentecost.

The Church is a living building that is continually being built up.

Each of us, as we grow are like stones in the building that are being carved, chiseled, and smoothed to fit together perfectly (e.g. the ancient pyramids).

Believers are not thrown together haphazardly, but skillfully (e.g.

Tom and Cynthia Holubik’s home).

We are being intimately *held or joined together*.

This shows how the body is growing.

As individuals in v. 15 grow up into Christ so the entire body is growing into a solid structure that will be complete at the Rapture.

*Being fitted and held together *are both in the /passive voice/ meaning it is an outside force that is causing this growth.

Namely, it is the grace of God acting on us to fit us together and hold us together intimately.

How is this building held together and built?

“*through every supporting connection”.*

The picture is that of individual believers exercising their spiritual gift(s) so the body can grow.

Spiritual gifts are Christ’s determined means through which He is building up His body.

*every *believer is therefore required to *supply *the connections, not just the leaders in the assembly.

Every believer’s gift is necessary to make all the right connections toward unity.

In the ancient world the word translated *joint *was used by Hippocrates to describe the function of the /ligament/.

The /ligaments /are what connect bone to bone in the human body.

So, here Paul may be using an illustration from Anatomy and Physiology.

Paul loves to describe the Church in terms of Architecture and Anatomy and Physiology.

Architecture demonstrates that the body is still being built.

Anatomy and Physiology shows that the body is alive and interdependent.