Is a Gradate of Northwestern University in 1911
AS A prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received" (Ephesians 4:1). In the remaining part of this letter, Paul discusses Christian conduct, all of which is part of living worthily of the calling, and therefore a part of the appeal. This appeal to those who have been saved by grace through faith to live a life worthy of their calling, is introduced by the word "then." thus it becomes necessary to turn back and consider the reasons for the appeal. No appeal to live worthily of a person's status means anything without a knowledge of the importance of that position.
In the first three chapters, the apostle has presented the believer's standing before God. It is these truths that are the basis for the appeal to walk worthily.
Believers have been chosen in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and without blame in God's sight. They have been predestined to be adopted as his loved sons. All of this has been done in accordance with his pleasure and will, and so that his glorious grace will be praised (Ephesians 1:4-6). The choice was according to his foreknowledge, so he made no mistake as to whom he chose. As predestination is "the effective exercise of the will of God by which things before determined are brought to pass", it is certain that nothing can interfere with the accomplishment of adopting every believer as a loved son, blameless in God's sight. This is the same position that Christ had with the Father before the creation of the world (John 17:24). It is the most exalted position into which any of God's creatures can ever be placed. It is above all of the angels of heaven. As it is all of grace, and that which is of grace is certain, there can be no question as to its accomplishment.
God has sealed with the Holy Spirit everyone that he has chosen. Repeated emphasis is placed on the fact that all that is done by God is "according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will" (see verse 5, 9, 11). All of this is to "the praise of his glorious grace" (verse 6) and "to the praise of his glory" (verse 12, 14). There is no possibility of making any part of this conditional in the slightest on human works or merit.
It is further revealed that God is exercising on behalf of the believer the same power that he exercised in that greatest manifestation of his power, when he raised Christ from the dead and set him above all rule, authority, power and dominion. If anything is certain, it must be that which is being accomplished by that power.
Salvation by grace through faith as a gift of God apart from any work or merit of man, has already been discussed (chapter 6), and was shown to be unalterable. This is a part of the high calling of God.
It is all of this and more too to which the word "then" in Paul's appeal refers, and which is made the basis for the appeal to live worthily of God's calling.
Another appeal to walk worthy of God is found in First Thessalonians 2:11, 12. This is based on God's calling the believer into his Kingdom and glory. As the calling of God is irrevocable (Romans 11:29) and is therefore unalterable, here again that which assures the eternal security of the believer is made the basis for the appeal.
This emphasis upon the certainty of the grounds for these appeals must impress the careful Bible student. To say that one who has been saved can be lost is to inject an element of uncertainty into that which God makes certain. It confuses that which must be understood clearly to give force to the appeal, and thereby weakens the appeal. On the other hand, the teaching of eternal security honors and illuminates every statement God makes concerning those who are saved, so that the basis for the appeal can be accepted, and the appeal understood.
BE NOT CONFORMED TO THE WORLD
In order to walk worthy of God, it is necessary that one be not conformed to the world, but separated from it. The apostle Paul also makes this appeal and, as in the case of the appeal for full surrender of body and will and also the appeal to walk worthy of God, this appeal is also based on conditions which guarantee the eternal security of the believer.
In Romans 12:1, 2, previously considered, there is an appeal to those who have received the mercies of God that they "no longer conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed" (mentally). Differentiation from the world is thus made directly dependent on the doctrines of the grace of God, which, as was shown in the last preceding chapter, demand the eternal security of the believer.
There are other passages in the doctrinal (teaching) letters that are equally clear in dealing with this question of distinction from the world. Paul pleaded with the Corinthian Christians to flee from sexual immorality and his appeal was based on the fact that their bodies were members of Christ. This appeal was followed by an appeal to glorify God in the body and in the spirit because the body was the temple of the Holy Spirit that was in them, and because they were bought with a price (First Corinthians 6:15, 20).
Here, then, two unalterable conditions are made the basis for the appeal. The Holy Spirit who was in them was there to stay forever (John 14:16) and the purchase by the blood of Christ had been both sealed and witnessed by the Holy Spirituntil the redemption of the body. Thus again it is the certainty and unchangeable work that God has done for the believer that is the basis for the appeal.
In Second Corinthians 6:14-16 is an appeal to believers not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, because believers are the temple of the living God.
An appeal to set your mind on things above and not on things on the earth is based on one of the strongest statements in the Bible concerning the eternal security of the believer in these words: "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:2, 3). Can anyone be more secure than the one who has been hidden in God so that nothing can touch him?
This same appeal to nonconformity with the world because of what the believer is and because of God's purpose, is found in First Thessalonians 5:5, 6, 9, 10. "You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled." "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him."
Every one of the conditions upon which these various appeals are based on are materially weakened, if not entirely destroyed, by the teaching that one who has been saved can be lost, for that denies that unalterable nature of these conditions.
It would seem, then, that worldliness in the church of today is chargeable to failure to teach the doctrines of the grace of God, which are inseparable from the truth of eternal security. As denial of the truth of eternal security makes it impossible to teach these doctrines in their fullness, it follows that those who teach against that truth are contributing to the present state of worldliness in the churches.
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