Ephesians: a kingdom perspective Allen J Browne Ephesians: a kingdom perspective Ephesians 1 Copyright 2020 © Allen J Browne, Perth, Western Australia (unpublished) About the author: https://allenbrowne.blog/about/ All rights reserved. Permission is granted to distribute the contents of this book in part or in whole for personal or educational use, but not for profit. This permission is conditional on a) giving attribution to the author, and b) not altering the content or misrepresenting the author’s meaning. Scripture quotations: • NIV: The Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. • ESV: English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, • NLT: New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. • Translations and paraphrases by the author. Cover photo: Amphitheatre at Ephesus, Copyright © Allen J Browne, 2014. Version: 2020-05 (last saved 2020-05-21) Page 2 Ephesians: a kingdom perspective Ephesians 1 Contents Foreword 5 Part 1: The good news message (Ephesians 1 – 3) 6 Ephesians 1 6 The significance of kingdom in New Testament letters (Eph 1:1) ..................................... 6 The destiny God has planned for us (Eph 1:4-10) ............................................................. 8 Kingdom or Church? (Eph 1:18-23) ................................................................................. 10 Excursus: why “church”? .................................................................................................. 11 Ephesians 2 13 In Christ: humanity restored (Eph 2:1–10) ..................................................................... 13 What difference does the resurrection make? (Eph 2:5-6) ............................................. 14 God’s kingdom and salvation (Eph 2:8-9) ....................................................................... 16 Good news of peace (Eph 2:11-22) ................................................................................... 19 Excursus: Questions take you deeper (Eph 2) ................................................................ 20 Excursus: the gospel of peace .......................................................................................... 22 Ephesians 3 24 The apocalyptic framework of Ephesians 3 ..................................................................... 24 Making sense of suffering when Christ is king (Eph 3:1) ................................................ 26 Good mysteries have a reveal (Eph 3:2-6) ....................................................................... 27 Revealing the reign (Eph 3:10) ........................................................................................ 29 Who are the rulers of Ephesians 3:10? ............................................................................ 31 In honour and shame (Eph 3:13) ..................................................................................... 33 God and the human family (Eph 3:14-19) ....................................................................... 34 More than we imagine (Eph 3:20-21) .............................................................................. 35 Part 2: The good news community (Ephesians 4 – 6) 38 Ephesians 4 38 Ethics from a convict (Eph 4:1) ....................................................................................... 38 Being good news (Eph 4:1-6) .......................................................................................... 40 Spiritual formation (Eph 4:1–6) ...................................................................................... 41 Grace is a generous king (Eph 4:7–10) ............................................................................ 42 Becoming human: life in Christ (Eph 4:1-16) .................................................................. 45 Empowering the king’s servants (Eph 4:10-13) ............................................................... 47 The kingdom goal (Eph 4:14-16) ..................................................................................... 49 Kingdom culture (Eph 4:17–24) ...................................................................................... 49 Fitted for a crown (Eph 4:22–24) .................................................................................... 51 The truth about lying (Eph 4:25) ..................................................................................... 52 Processing offence (Eph 4:26) ......................................................................................... 53 No place for the devil (Eph 4:27) ..................................................................................... 55 Thieves vs philanthropists (Eph 4:28)............................................................................. 57 The scent of your words (Eph 4:29 – 5:2) ....................................................................... 58 Version: 2020-05 (last saved 2020-05-21) Page 3 Ephesians: a kingdom perspective Ephesians 1 Ephesians 5 60 Sex and power (Eph 5:1–5) ............................................................................................. 60 The kingdom of Christ and God (Eph 5:5-7) ................................................................... 61 Light and dark (Eph 5:8-14) ............................................................................................ 63 Who is the sleeper? (Eph 5:14) ........................................................................................ 66 The gospel call (Eph 5:14-20) ......................................................................................... 68 Excursus: God’s couriers.................................................................................................. 69 Happiness without harm (Eph 5:15-20) .......................................................................... 71 Fear of Christ? (Eph 5:21) ................................................................................................ 73 Kingdom lifestyle: submitting to each other (Eph 5:21) .................................................. 75 At home with the gospel (Eph 5:21-33) ........................................................................... 76 The divine romance (Eph 5:31-32) .................................................................................. 78 Ephesians 6 80 Raising children (Eph 6:1-4) ........................................................................................... 80 Why doesn’t the Bible condemn slavery? (Eph 6:5-9) .................................................... 81 The armour of God (Eph 6:10-17) .................................................................................... 83 When did God wear armour? (Eph 6:11) ......................................................................... 85 Using God’s armour (Eph 6:13-17) .................................................................................. 87 Sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17) ........................................................................................ 89 Why doesn’t the Bible condemn bad rulers? (Eph 6:12) ................................................ 90 Excursus: Christ and the rulers of this world .................................................................. 91 Staying in touch with our king (Eph 6:18-20) ................................................................. 93 A courier for God’s house (Eph 6:21-22) ......................................................................... 94 Peace and grace: the greeting that can deliver (Eph 6:23-24)......................................... 95 Appendices 97 What is the kingdom? ...................................................................................................... 97 Who is the king? .............................................................................................................. 98 What is the gospel of the kingdom? ................................................................................. 99 How does the kingdom come? ....................................................................................... 100 What is our role in his kingdom? ................................................................................... 102 Alternative views: our role in his kingdom .................................................................... 103 Bibliography 106 Version: 2020-05 (last saved 2020-05-21) Page 4 Ephesians: a kingdom perspective Ephesians 1 Foreword Realizing that Jesus made the kingdom of God the centre of everything—his identity, his understanding of salvation history, his teaching, his ministry, his mission—I wondered what would change if I looked at things from his perspective. Back in 2011, I had no idea how this question would revolutionize my life. So, I began by reading all the Jewish literature from the time leading up to Jesus for insight on what kingdom of God meant to him and his hearers. It was the story they were living, the story of the nation called to be the representative kingdom of God among the nations. But this nation no longer existed as an independent kingdom. They yearned for the restoration of what had fallen apart, the completion of God’s project to bring the world back under his reign through the Abrahamic family. That’s when I realized I needed to re-read the Old Testament as the unfinished story of the kingdom of God. From this perspective, they were no longer a series of disconnected stories. The story of the heavenly king rescuing his earthly realm back into his governance became the