Thursday, September 6, 2018 – Ephesians 6:23

The Blessing of a Faithful Life as Noted in Ephesians, Pt. 4, Conclusion 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSabMwcvSYQ

Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.  

Eph 6:23, “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

A. The Greek Noun for “faith,” PISITIS, is used in the book of Ephesians 8 times. Eph 1:15; 2:8; 3:12, 17; 4:5, 13; 6:16, 23. We continue the survey of the utilization of the Noun PISTIS in this book.

  1. Eph 1:15, Seeing “faith” in others encourages and motivates you to execute the Christian way of life.

  2. Eph 2:8, Faith is a non-meritorious action because salvation is a gift from God to those who believe.

  3. Eph 3:12, An important aspect of our working faith is our prayer life.

  4. Eph 3:17, “Through faith” Christ’s dwelling in your heart becomes a reality.

  5. Eph 4:5, In the unity of the Holy Spirit, vs. 2-3, there is “one faith;” only one way of salvation.

  6. Eph 4:13, We are to attain the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

  7. Eph 6:16, We are to take up the Shield of Faith!

  8. Eph 6:23, “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In this final usage of PISTIS in the book of Ephesians, we understand that “faith” is the means by which the entire Christian way of life is executed. We saw that without faith there is no true peace in our lives with God, with man, or within ourselves. Likewise, without faith there is no true motivational virtue AGAPE Love in our lives for God, other people, or ourselves. Yet, with faith in God and His Word, we have peace and love, and many other aspects of the Christian way of life, in our lives towards God, others, and ourselves. Therefore, “faith” produces inner contentment and active love. These flow “from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul and God desire all members of the Church to enjoy the peace and love of God that only comes when there is faith in the life of the believer. It is that inner tranquility that is not disturbed by external circumstances and the expression of God’s motivational virtue back to Him and others in your life. Faith provides those things. For faith, which is the direct reliance on the faithful Promiser, will at the same time guard and protect your inner being from the sinful temptations of the world, while safeguarding your sense of love, guiding it along His sure line, in all its emotion and exercise, keeping it pure and warm, fed with ceaseless blessings.

As Paul concludes the book, he reminds us of the unity of faith, which is the bond of peace and love that is the only real bond that binds people together; the personal bond of confidence manifesting itself in peace and love. And, as we have seen, it is no mere doctrine that is presented for a man’s faith, but it is the person about whom the doctrine speaks. We can only know the person on whom we must trust by the revelation of the truths concerning Him. As such, faith is your personal continuous outgoing of confidence, which is the action of both your will and intellect, to the person revealed in the great doctrines of the Gospel and Word of God.

Therefore, in order to take the next step in your advance in the spiritual life, you need to turn credence into faith, that is, belief in a doctrine into trust. It is the step from the doctrine to the person. When you grasp Christ, the living Christ, and not merely the doctrine, then you have faith.

Paul and God’s desire for the Church is that their faith should be continuous and increasing all throughout our lives. Just as the breath you took yesterday can do nothing for your circulatory system today, and when you turn off the light switch, the light goes out, no matter how long you have been living a life of faith, that past life will not in the smallest way help you in the present moment unless your faith is continuous and increasing. A broken faith is a broken peace; a broken faith is a broken love. As long, and only as long, as you are trusting in the Person of Jesus Christ by the conscious exercise of a faith realized at the present moment, are you in the reception of blessing from the Father at the moment.

In addition, our faith is to be progressing. If there is no growth, there is not much spiritual life to live. If my faith has no growth, how do I know that it has got any life? Yet, if there is progression of faith in your life, there is much advance and experience in the spiritual life; there is great peace and great love.

Therefore, this continuous and progressive faith, (the personal outgoing of your intellect and will to the personal Savior revealed in the Scriptures as the sacrifice for your sins and the life of your spirit), ought to be the foundation of all strength, blessedness, and goodness in your Christ-like character. If you have it, you have the seed of all possible excellence and growth. Having faith, we have the opening of our heart to the reception of the Divine influences of grace and righteousness that God pours down on us.

In this verse, we see that peace, love, and faith are all from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the originators and providers of faith in our lives. And without them, there is no faith.

In summary, faith is simply the exercise of confidence in another, and in this case the “other” is God. It is trust in Him and His Word. It is essentially a personal trust resting upon Jesus Christ, which is the foundation of everything. And remember that this faith ought to be continuous and progressive in your life.

God does not care nearly so much that our lives should be joyful as that they should be righteous and full of faith. He allows us to go through many sorrows, losses, and disappointments in order that the life of the natural man may be broken and the spiritual life of faith may be strong. When we correctly understand the relative value of the outward and inward things, we will be thankful for the storms that drive us nearer to Him, for the darkness that turns to light, and for all the discipline, painful though it may be, with which God answers our prayer, “Lord, increase my faith!”

Summary of the Noun PISTOS in Ephesians:  
In our new creation and mode of operation inside the Christian way of life being that of faith, we have seen that applying faith means:

1.   Seeing faith in others brings encouragement, joy, and thanksgiving to the soul.

2.   We are saved by the grace gift of God through faith alone in Christ alone.

3.   Faith in Christ gives us boldness and confident access to the Father in our prayer life.

4.   Christ is at home in the heart of the one who is walking in faith (i.e., Bible Doctrine in the Soul).

5.   We have “one faith,” only one way of salvation; through Jesus Christ, (i.e., positional unity in the Body of Christ).

6.   We are to attain a unity of faith and knowledge with the brethren, (i.e., experiential unity in the body of Christ).

7.   We are protected by the Shield of Faith, (i.e., the guardianship that is faith).

8.   God’s desire is for us to have peace and love for God, others, and ourselves, through faith.

B. The Verb PISTEUO is used only twice in the book of Ephesians, Eph 1:13, 19, and is translated “believe or believed.” This is the actionable “faith” in our lives. A survey of the utilization of the Verb PISTEUO in the book of Ephesians tells us:

  1. Eph 1:13, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.” Here, we see the actionable item of “having faith,” that leads to your eternal security. When we “have faith” in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are saved for all of eternity, (we have eternal security, John 10:28-30), by the grace gift of God, Eph 2:8-9, signified by the sealing ministry of God the Holy Spirit. In this, we first heard the Word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then believed what it said, (i.e., thought it to be true.) That is faith!

This is the prescription for salvation, Rom 10:17; Gal 3:2. In these verses, “hearing or listening,” AKOUO, means learning through the ear gate. It means gaining knowledge after hearing it while being taught or spoken, with the result of determining it to be true and effective.

Rom 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

Galatians 3:2, “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” Cf. vs. 5.

  2. Eph 1:19, “And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might.” This passage tells us that the full power of God comes into our lives after we have faith for salvation. It tells us of all that God can do and does do for the unbeliever to overcome their sin at the moment they believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Our faith in God has and will unleash the “working of the strength of His might” in our lives.

To explain just how much power is available to believers, Paul used four different Greek words in this verse.

1.   Power, DUNAMIS means, “inherent ability, capability, potential.”

2.   Working comes from the Greek word from which we get energy, ENERGEIA, and denotes, “operative power.”

3.   Strength, KRATOS refers to “manifested strength.”

4.   Might, ISCHUS is “power as an endowment or the possession of power.”

When we have faith in God and His Word, the surpassing greatness of His power is toward us, working in our lives.

C. The Adjective PISTOS, πιστός is also only used twice in Ephesians Eph 1:1; 6:21, and is translated, “faithful, trustworthy, reliable, credible, trusting, or believing.” It is a descriptor or title of the one who shows continuous and progressive faith towards God in their life. A survey of the utilization of the Adjective PISTOS in the book of Ephesians tells us:

  1. Eph 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus” This is addressed to the group of positive believers in the churches of Asia Minor. They demonstrated their faith in God and His Word in many different ways. Therefore, Paul was able to classify them as “faithful,” believers.

  2. Eph 6:21, “But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you.” This is an address to an individual in the early church. We recently noted this verse and the application of the classification Paul gave to Tychicus as a “faithful minister in the Lord.” Tychicus demonstrated time and time again his faith in Jesus, as he served the early church and Paul in many capacities, as we have noted. He was a servant in administrating to Paul and the Churches, he was an ambassador for Paul and Jesus Christ, He was a Pastor-Teacher, etc.

In all these, both the churches and Tychicus showed themselves faithful, trustworthy, reliable, credible as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, individually and collectively we have a call to be continuously and progressively “faithful” to God in our work and service unto Him.

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