“Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” Eph 4:1 NLT 

Footsteps #406. The second half of the letter begins with Paul shifting gears. He starts challenging the reader to respond to the gospel story by how they live their own life story. The ‘Therefore’ is typical of Paul’s pattern. First the deeply gospel centred theology and then its practical application. He starts in 4:1-16 with just the everyday life of the church. The church is a big family with lots of different kinds of people. But he emphasises that they are one. One is a keyword in this chapter (e.g v4-6.) They are one body unified by one Spirit. They have one Lord with one faith. They have one baptism. They believe in one God. That’s a lot of unity! However, Paul says unity is not the same thing as uniformity. He goes on to explain how Jesus’ new family consists of lots of different kinds of people but they are all empowered by the one Holy Spirit, each using their unique talents (spiritual gifts) and passions to serve and to love each other, and to build up the church. Here he uses 2 metaphors. One is building up the church as a new temple. The second is that they are all becoming a new humanity with Jesus as the head. This new humanity is a metaphor (the body of Christ) he is going to run with for the next couple of chapters (4:17-6:9.) 

Paul challenges every Christian to take off their old humanity as a set of old clothes and to put on their new humanity in which the image of God is being restored (4:22-24). He then goes on into this long section where he compares this new humanity and old humanity. E.g. instead of lying, new humans speak the truth. Instead of harbouring anger, they peacefully resolve their conflicts. Instead of stealing, new humans are generous. Instead of gossiping, they encourage people with their words. Instead of getting revenge, new humans forgive. Instead of gratifying every sexual impulse, new humans cultivate self-control of their bodily desires. Instead of getting drunk, new humans come under the influence of God’s Spirit.  

Paul spells out what that influence looks like in four different ways (5:19-21). The first 2 have to do with singing. Singing together but also singing alone. This is really interesting that the first thing that Paul thinks of about how the Spirit works in the lives of Jesus’ people is singing and music. The third sign of the Spirit’s influence is being thankful for everything. The fourth is that the Spirit will compel Jesus’ followers to put themselves underneath others and to elevate others as more important than themselves. Paul actually expands on this fourth point by showing how a Christian marriage can re-enact the Gospel story(v21-32.) 456