Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawn
Hi All,
One thing, I was not able to attend the "Ephesians moment" fellowship on Saturday, could any who attended fill in the blanks for me?
Shawn
|
Nigel was kind enough to pass along some of his notes to me:
"In the Epistle to the Ephesians we have a vivid account of the place in the early Church of two sharply contrasting Christian lifestyles--[Jewish believers & Gentile Christians]... Both ways of life were converted lifestyles; but neither was complete in itself. Each needed the other, for both were building blocks in the New Temple, both were functioning organs in the Body of which Christ was head. Only as they came together could the Temple be built, the Body function, the full stature of Christ be realized."
"When Ephesians was written, there were only two significant cultures, and thus two converted lifestyles, to take note of. Not so long after the letter was written, one of those, the original Jewish, dropped out of sight. But now the Ephesian moment has returned.
But there are no longer two, but many cultures into which Christ has come by faith. The different converted lifestyles belong together; they are necessary building blocks in the New Temple designed for God’s worship. They are all functioning organs in the Body of which Christ is the head....[This] is...how our Lord’s prayer [in John 17] that all his disciples may be one can be realized in a Body composed of African and Indian and Chinese and Korean and Hispanic and Caribbean and European and North American Christians."
[Andrew F. Walls, THE GREAT COMMISSION 1910-2010]