The
Birth of Jesus Christ and the Gospel
People began to worship God, and some
of them openly professed true religion and protested against the wickedness.
There came a distinction between those who genuinely profess and those who are
profane just like what we see around us today.
The birth of Christ.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them; Luke 2:8-20, KJV.
The fullness of time was now come, when God would send forth his Son,
made of a woman, and made under the law. The circumstances of his birth were
very mean. Christ was born at an inn; he came into the world to sojourn here
for awhile, as at an inn, and to teach us to do likewise. We are become by sin
like an outcast infant, helpless and forlorn; and such a one was Christ. He
well knew how unwilling we are to be meanly lodged, clothed, or fed; how we
desire to have our children decorated and indulged; how apt the poor are to
envy the rich, and how prone the rich to disdain the poor. But when we by faith
view the Son of God being made man and lying in a manger, our vanity, ambition,
and envy are checked. We cannot, with this object rightly before us, seek great
things for ourselves or our children1. Matthew Henry's
Concise Commentary on the Bible
We are talking about the fall of our
parents Adam and Eve and how it affects each one of us, and humanity at large.
After getting deceived by the devil, and loosing all the glory they had with
God, they made for themselves aprons of fig-leaves, covering too narrow for
them to wrap themselves in; 20 For the bed is shorter than
that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he
can wrap himself in it; KJV.
This shows such are
all the rags of our own righteousness. But God does really care for them and He
made them coats of skin, large, durable and which is a right fitting. This
points to the righteousness of Christ; and we are to adorn ourselves with the
righteousness of Christ by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and this
is good news which is the Gospel.
Ephesians:4,5,6- talks about unity in the body of Christ, new life in Christ, walking in love, husbands and wife, children and parents, bond servants and masters, putting on the whole armour of God.
Ephesians chapter 4 can be divided into the following sub headings:
- Exhortations to
mutual forbearance and union; walking in unity; (1-6)
- To a due use of
spiritual gifts and graces; (7-16)
- To purity and
holiness; the new man; (17-24)
- to take heed of
the sins practiced among the heathen; do not grieve the Holy Spirit; (25-32)
Walking
in lowliness and meekness which is an excellent disposition of our soul brings
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. When one walks humbly in meekness
in the Lord, this makes men unwilling to provoke and are not easily provoked or
offended. In all believers God the Father dwells, as in his holy temple, by his
Spirit and special grace.
Spiritual gifts are given to a
believer by Christ so we use it for the edification of the church which is the
body of believers. There is fullness in Christ and this fullness and perfection
comes when we come to heaven but till then God’s children are growing. As
Ephesians 4:15, says when we speak the truth in love, this gives a tremendous
opportunity for believers to grow up in all things into Him who is the head and
is Christ. In Christ the whole body is
knitted and every part does its share.
Satan always looks for opportunity in
the life of every person just as what happened in the Garden of Eden. The
tempter promises many things and sinful desires are deceitful lusts; they
promise men happiness, but render them more miserable; and bring them to
destruction, if not subdued and mortified. These therefore must be put off, as
an old garment, a filthy garment; they must be subdued and mortified. One has to become a new man in
Christ and the verses in Ephesians 4:17-24 calls us to put off our former
conduct which is corrupt. The Word of God calls us to put on the new man in
Christ which was created with the power of Christ in true righteousness and
holiness.
One of the greatest discernment we need today is to distinguish the
truth from the counterfeit truth. By lying and by being angry towards a brother
without case we are giving a foothold for the tempter. We are called to honest
in all of our dealings and watch the words which proceed from our mouth. In
other words Christians are not called to become rich by deceitful practices,
fraud or by oppression but in true honesty and by hard working.
For example filthy words can corrupt the mind of the person who speaks
and also the one who hears. There is a sure connection between the heart and
mind and this has the capacity to destroy our souls slowly but surely. Our
behavior towards our fellow brethren can affect and grieve the Holy Spirit. We
are called to be kind to one another and corrupt passions of bitterness, wrath,
anger, clamor, evil-speaking, and malice, grieve the Holy Spirit. One may ask a question: this
is hard and how is this possible when we face trials and conflicts. Yes, I
understand this is not possible with our human effort but it is possible when
God becomes a part of us in our journey towards holiness. God enables us to accomplish what He wants us to do in
Jesus Christ.
Ephesians chapter 5 contains the
following sub headings:
- Exhortation to
brotherly love; walking in love; (1,2)
- Cautions against
several sins; walking in light; (3-14)
- Directions to a
contrary behavior, and to relative duties; walking in wisdom;(15-21)
- The duties of wives and husbands are enforced by the spiritual relation between Christ and the church; Marriage; (22-33)
As Christians we are called to walk in love,
walk in light and not in darkness and also to walk in wisdom. The point of
focus here is marriage which points to Christ and Church as the model. When we
have a desiring heart to follow the ordinances of God through Christ in Jesus,
He is able to keep the believers from sinning against Him. He is able to help
us walk in submission to each other (v: 21) and by doing so, His glory is
promoted and in that process we are able to fulfill our duties to each other.
If we observe the Word of God
in Ephesians 21-33; we see that marriage is a mystery. There is definite
correlation between wife honoring the husband and the husband loving the wife.
It is expected of a wife to honor her husband from a principle of love to their
husbands. The duty of husbands is love their wives and this is very much
related to the love of Christ to the Church. If we look a little bit closer, we
see that Christ died for the Church, so that He might sanctify the world, so
that He might bestow on all His members the principle of holiness, and deliver
them from the bondage of guilt, pollution, and the dominion of sin. Ephesians
v: 29; takes an extra mile to show how one will never hate his body, but
nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does to the Church. Ephesians v:
30; says that we are members of His body and of His bones. 31 “For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh.”[a] 31 This is indeed a mystery and God wants it
to be a mystery regarding husband wife relationship and He is pointing this
relationship to that of Christ and the Church.
We are constantly reminded that we are in a
Fallen world, so the perfection of love like Christ and Church is beyond our
comprehension and it is harder to attain. There will be failures and defects on
both sides for husbands and wives in the present state of human nature but that
does not alter the relation, the first Divine Institution and the intention in
which God made marriage. If we are able to follow God’s ordinances for marriage
we will be able to avoid so many heart aches, illnesses, and very many painful
effects. Even from the angle of sociological issues God’s order for marriage is
beautiful, relatively painless and we learn to love in good times and bad
times, and bring glory to God.
End Notes:
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>> (Read all of Ephesians 5) Related Commentaries.
"Let no man deceive you with vain
words, &c., Ephesians 5:6. ...
"Complete Commentary
on Ephesians 5:1". "Matthew Henry Complete
Commentary.
www.biblegateway.com › Resources › Matthew Henry's
Commentary
Resources » Matthew Henry's
Commentary » Ephesians. ... Chapter 5;
Verses 1–2; Verses 3 ...
Verses 10–18; Verses 19–24; Some think that this epistle to
the ...
Complete commentary
on the Bible by Matthew Henry. ... Introduction 1 2 3 4 5
6 ...
which makes Paul's love to these
Christian Ephesians the..
www.christnotes.org › … › Matthew Henry’s
Commentary › Ephesians
Bible commentary about Ephesians
6 (Matthew Henry’s Commentary).
Effective Spiritual Warfare
Ephesians 6:10-18.
Teaching ... 6:10-20
tells us to “stand”—to trust God ... believe—that our acceptance by God is based
on our .
Text: Ephesians 6:10-18.
1. Tapping the source of strength. Read Ephesians 6:10-11.
...
Read Ephesians 6:12-13. A. In warfare
gathering intelligence is key.
livingontheedge.org/...war-satan-demons-and-spritual-warfare.pdf ·
PDF file
Ephesians 6:11-18 Spiritual Warfare
– Ray C. Stedman ... Ephesians 6:18-20
... Ephesians 6:10-12 (NAS)
Book References:
1. Millard
J. Erickson. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids
2. R.T.
Kendall. Understanding Theology,
Developing a Healthy Church in the 21st Century, 1996, p. 357-364.
3. Jay E.
Adams. A Theology of Christian
Counseling, More than Redemption. Grand
Rapids
4. Louis
Berkhof. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids
5. Robert P Lightner. Handbook
of Evangelical Theology, Historical, Biblical, and Contemporary Survey and
Review. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1986, p.527-544.
6. Charles
Ryrie. Basic Theology. Chicago
7. A. H. Strong. Systematic
Theology. New Jersey
8. Wayne Grudem. Systematic
Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids
9. Steven
W. Waterhouse. Not By Bread Alone, An
Outlined Guide To Bible Doctrine. Amarillo: Westcliffe Press, 2007,
p.188-191.
10. John
Theodore Muller, Th.D. Christian
Dogmatics, A handbook of Doctrinal Theology for Pastors, Teachers, and
Laymen. St. Louis, Mo: Concordia Publishing House, 1934,
p.384-386.
11.
Prayers To Move Your Mountains. Nashville
12.
John White. Parables, the Greatest Stories ever Told. Illinois
13.
ESV Study Bible. English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, Wheaton , Illinois
14.
The Matthew Henry Study Bible. King James Version. Iowa falls: World Bible
Publishers, Inc. 1990.
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