Paul’s Description of the Unbeliever
Excerpt from Sermon:
Paul in verse 17 is going to use his Apostolic Authority to give the Gentiles, which are now Christians he is still addressing in his letter to the church at Ephesus, of what not to do and describes the characteristics of the “Old Person” that they once were. These verses echo back to Paul’s description of who they were and what Christ saved them from in Ephesians 2:1-3. A few of Paul’s descriptions of who they were before Christ saved them, he said they “were dead in trespasses,” they “walked…the course of the world,” “lived in the passions of [their] flesh,” and carried “out the desires of the body and the mind.” Paul knows what he is about to say to them is so important that he adds God’s authority to his own authority, and he exhorts or strongly encourages them to heed his guidance and exhortation. He is encouraging them to live up to their new identity in Christ.
In verse 17, Paul is implying that they had walked as the Gentiles did at one time. In our present translation the ESV and in the New American Standard, Paul states, “you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do” and in your King James Version it states, “ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk,” which “henceforth” is just another word meaning ‘no longer, no more’ like in our text here. In Paul’s letter to the Colossae Church, he is doing the same thing with them! He is telling them to put on ‘The New Self’ and leave behind the “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (3:5) and in Colossians 3:7 he said, “In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.” What does this tell us? It tells us that sin is universal and no matter where you went in the Roman Empire, the story was the same. Colossae was to the East, which you had to travel several days to get there from Ephesus and to get to Corinth from Ephesus, you had to cross the Aegean Sea. All the letters Paul wrote to the churches, the church at Philippi being the exception in his tone to them, he had to remind them and instruct them to walk in a worthy manner. In the beginning of our present chapter, Chapter 4 in verse 1, Paul encourages them by saying, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” The walk Paul is referencing to is the Believer’s lifestyle. A Christian’s walk is a lifelong lifestyle in sanctification, and we walk in worthy manner when we put off the “Old Self” and put on the “New Self” and live to the glory of God in all we do, no matter how small the task.
The Believers at Ephesus used to walk in an unworthy manner before their salvation. As we have said before, Ephesus was home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World because of the enormous temple for the pagan goddess Diana. It was home to paganism, the occult, sexual immorality, it was a typical Roman city in the Empire. There is a consensus of historians that homosexuality was one of the reasons for the downfall of the Roman Empire. It is proposed that all Caesars, except for two, were homosexuals, even Julius Caesar. All you must do is do a little study on the Caesars Caligula, Nero, and Elagabalus. The historian Tacitus said that Nero “engaged in every filthy, depraved act, licit or illicit.”
The Romans adopted the Greek act of ‘pederasty’, which is a term used to describe the ancient historical customs, which were largely in Roman and Greek cultures, of the relationships between adult men and pubescent and adolescent males. Today we call it pedophile of boys from 12-18 years of age. Elagabalus ascended to the throne in 218 AD, and he was known for standing naked, now this IS Caesar now, in his door naked, acting like a prostitute and offered any doctor a large sum of money to change him into a woman. He would wear a wig, make up, and would have his hair plucked so that he looked feminine, and he acted like the woman in the relationship. Why am I going this in-depth? Why am I giving a brief world history lesson in a Biblical worldview? Because there is nothing, NOTHING, new under the sun, as Solomon said.
When it comes to sin, there is nothing new under the sun that hasn’t already been done. What does this all sound like?? Any guesses! The United States! The World! What is next…. PEDOPHILLA OR PEDERASTY whatever you want to call it! And the same thing will happen to us if there is not a revival in this country, but I agree with John MacArthur when he states that the US is under God’s judgement, and I think God has given this nation over to its wicked, sinful, depraved desires. When a nation celebrates a destructive, sinful, depraved behavior and DEDICATE… DEDICATE a whole month to it like it is something wholesome and righteous, Brothers and Sisters judgment is COMING! The same thing that happened to Rome is going to happen to us unless God intervenes and He has every prerogative to do so, but in my opinion, I think God’s longsuffering is over and I do not blame Him one bit.
I keep asking God, “How long oh Lord? How long?” And I just keep going back to 2 Peter 3:9 when Peter is writing to the Believers in Asia Minor and he is talking Christ’s Second Coming and says, and I like how the KJV really brings out the depth of this verse when he says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Some will use this verse to support universalism, that all will be saved, but it is also use by the Armenians to support their doctrine that some called the Elect are really Chosen by God, but that Man is the determining factor in salvation and to refute the Calvinist doctrine of God’s Sovereign Election.
As you have heard me say in the past and I will to the day I die, CONTEXT is king. Peter was writing this letter to Believers. That is the main interpretative key for this entire book. What Peter is saying is that the ONLY reason that God longsuffers is for the sake of the Elect. Every soul, every person that He has chosen before the foundations of the world, as Paul tells us in the first three chapters of Ephesians, will be saved. It is accordingly to the prior determined plan God made in eternity past with the Son. What does it say about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ? According to the prior determined plan God made in eternity past with the Son. The only reason this world is still here is because all the Elect has not been redeemed yet.
How does Paul describe their walk? They walk “in the futility of their minds.” Meaning that their minds are so corrupted, so distorted, so depraved, and so perverted that the thoughts they do have are without meaning and empty. They have no purpose in life! In verse 18 Paul explains why they walk “in the futility of their minds.” Because of The Fall their understanding is darkened by sin and their thinking becames devoid of truth. Ian Hamilton is his commentary describes Adam and Eve after The Fall and states, “Sin mangled their minds and caused them to think that the good and gracious God was someone to hide from. Their thinking became futile.” Sin darkens our understanding whether you recognize it or not. Till the day God calls you home, there will be a battle for your mind.
Paul in Romans 12:2 tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” How do we do that? First you must be saved by Jesus Christ through repentance and faith. Afterwards we renew our minds by becoming students of God’s word and studying it so we will be able to recognize the wiles and charms of the devil as Paul will later tell us Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” Then in 2 Corinthians 2:11,”so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”
The full armor of God is truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the Word of God, and prayer, these are the tools God has given us, through which we can be spiritually victorious, overcoming Satan’s attacks and temptations. Paul in Ephesians 5:26, talking about how Jesus will sanctify the church “so that He might present the church to Himself” and Christ does this “by the washing of water with the word.” God’s Word, scripture is the agent of sanctification, so that we can be presented blameless and holy. Congregation, if you do not have a habit of studying and reading the Bible, you are opening yourself up to sin and attacks from the Devil.