I N D E X
A
6:14. Girdle of truth.
Warfare.
The whole world is ranged under two heads, the Truth and the Lie.  Christ
stands at the Head of one, Satan at the other.  Truth makes the weakest
invincible.  Truth will prevent the ship from being carried by the wind and
waves.  Truth will deliver from the sleight of men and reveal the systematic
deceit of the wicked one.
We shall see presently the close connection between the `old man' and the
`lie', and the `new man' and `the truth'; let us here, while the passage is
before us, remember the close association that must ever be between `the perfect
man' and `the truth' also.
Alienation, the mind and new man
(Eph. 4:17-20)
In previous pages we have seen that the opening of the practical section
of this epistle (chapter 4) sums up all true practice in its exhortation, `walk
worthy of your calling'.  Practice is the fruit of doctrine and cannot be
disassociated from it.  It would be useless, for example, to exhort wives and
husbands to comply with the practical exhortations of chapter 5 if they did not
heartily accept the doctrinal basis upon which those exhortations rest.
Consequently while it is true that we are now studying the practical section of
this epistle, there is no arbitrary exclusion of doctrine, and we shall find
much doctrine interwoven with the practical teaching of this section.
The disposition of subject matter must be observed.  The positive
exhortation of Ephesians 4:1 is followed by a negative testimony as to how to
walk.  Between these two phases of truth there is a glorious parenthesis dealing
with the one Body (verses 3-16), and following the negative testimony (and
placed in correspondence) is the teaching concerning the new man.
Ephesians 4:1-32
A 4:1,2.
The walk.
Positive.
Humility of mind.
B 4:3-16.
The one Body.
A 4:17-19.  The walk.
Negative.
Vanity of mind.
B 4:20-32.  The new Man.
Aliens, from Israel, and from the life of God
The epistle to the Ephesians reveals a twofold Gentile alienation:
`Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel' (Eph. 2:12).
`Alienated from the life of God' (Eph. 4:18).
The Gentiles were aliens by birth, quite irrespective of anything they did
or thought.  To illustrate this: when I stood on the quay at Southampton in
April 1955 I was British, but when I stepped on to the quay at New York in the
same month, without having done anything, I was an alien.  In like manner, a
citizen of New York who boarded the liner with me, automatically became an alien
as he stepped ashore at Southampton.  An attempt has been made to prove that the
alienated Gentiles of Ephesians 2:12 are the far-off dispersion of Israel.  But
what happens then to the references to Gentiles that follow?
The alienation of chapter 2 is expressed in the terms of distance; the
alienation of chapter 4 is expressed in the terms of death.  The blood of Christ
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