[Notes and Resources for A Sunday School class I Teach]

I pray… that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints.

Paul, apostle of Messiah Jesus

Unit One: The Gospel and Salvation

Introduction and Ephesians 1

This study guide was developed for youth Sunday School at my home church. The assignment was “Biblical Distinctives: The gospel and salvation, separation from the world, and the head covering.”

I use Ephesians as the primary text since it integrates the themes of gospel, salvation, separation, and headship.

1. Running course assignment: Read or listen to the entire letter at one time or at least in one day. Do this at least twice over the course of the study in at least two translations.
2. Read Ephesians 1 and identify as many descriptors of separation, salvation, gospel, and headship as you can.
3. Paul prays that they may have wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ so that they can grasp what three things? (Ephesians 1: 17-19)

Before God, After God Ephesians 2

Ephesians chapter two divides nicely into parallel situations which powerfully describe life before the gospel, what God did (the gospel), and life after the gospel. In class we will fill out this table. Creating or filling out your own is a powerful way to observe key themes in Galatians.

	Ephesians 2:1-10	Ephesians 2:11-22
Before…
But God…
After…

The Spirit and the Inheritance

Assignments

• Read Ephesians with an eye to the twin themes of Spirit and inheritance and how the are related.
• How does the Spirit bring Jesus’s kingship to bear?

Central to the gospel of our salvation is our king, the Christ. He brings marvelous gifts, the Spirit and (now partially) the inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14).

The Spirit serves as God’s identifying seal, which marks believers. The Spirit also brings Jesus’ kingship to bear among his people. It is the first installment of the kingdom which is to be our inheritance.

Already/Not Yet

Is God’s kingdom already here or is it still in the future? Are we saved now, or will we be saved at the second coming of Christ? The Christian life is pervaded by what scholars call the “Already/Not Yet” or “Inaugurated eschatology.” The final hope, that which is to come in the eschaton, is already partly realized or actual. Another way to say this is that the future has invaded the present.

Already	Not Yet
First Installment	Inheritance
Spirit	Inherit the Kingdom
Inaugurated	Eschatology

• Ephesians 1:13-14
• Ephesians 4:30
• Ephesians 5:18-19

How does the choosing and predestination in Ephesians 1:4-5 and Ephesians 1:11 relate to the Spirit’s role as seal and down payment of the inheritance?

One theological angle would run roughly as follows: God picked out certain specific persons before creation, and independently of anything he might know about their future choices and chose these people to be his saints. He predestined these specific people to be his adopted children manifesting his glory. The sealing with the Holy Spirit functions as a guarantee that this position of sainthood and sonship cannot ever be undone. (This would correspond to the traditional Calvinist points of unconditional election, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints.) The NLT, in questionable paraphrase, embeds this understanding in their rendering of Ephesians 4:30 “Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved.”

Contrary to this Calvinist interpretation of Ephesians, many believers insist that humans (at least those who have heard the gospel) have a genuine option as to whether or not they will be among God’s chosen ones, that all humans have the ability to resist and reject the grace of God, and that (tragically) some saints fail to persevere to the end. These views are supported by common sense readings of the stories, invitations, and warnings of scripture. For example, Ephesians 5:37 tells us bluntly that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the kingdom of God. It does so in the context of warning us not to participate in sin and not to grieve the Spirit. It seems most natural to see this as a warning, that those who have received the first installment of the kingdom can nonetheless fail to receive the inheritance at the last judgement.

Much wrestling could be done with these questions, but first we should focus our attention on the emphases of this letter. Ephesians 1:13-14 is a good place to start. I quote first the ESV.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

emphasis mine

The bolded words above are not necessarily inaccurate, but they lend themselves to misunderstanding. It is easy to think that “sealed” means “finalized” and “guarantee” means that there is absolutely no possibility of failing to obtain the inheritance. These are interpretations that could be argued for, but they don’t capture the basic imagery of the passage.

The ancient seal was created by stamping wax with a distinctive mark to produce an imprint reflecting whose seal it was. The NIV captures this imagery nicely “you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.”

As regards the “guarantee,” the ESV footnote gives more helpful terminology, “down payment.” A down payment is an initial part of the total to be paid. Many interpreters see a special significance here. What we have with the Spirit now is a small piece that is of the same kind and part of the full inheritance to come.

The Spirit then both marks the saints as God’s people and offers them the first fruits of God’s reign.

• God in his power and purpose will manifest his glorious inheritance in his holy ones. Jesus will fill all things in every way.
• God has co-enlivened us, co-raised us, and co-seated us with Christ. He has given the Spirit which is his seal set upon us and the initial payment of the kingdom we are to inherit.
• We are summoned by his grace to walk by faith and so experience and participate in Jesus’ present rule.

1. Will I devote attention to God’s purpose to bring all things and all people together in Christ, feasting my soul on the magnificence of his reign?
2. Will I resist discouragement over gospel suffering and pray for God’s glory in the daily life and global scope of the church?
3. Will I make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit by humbly, gently, patiently bearing with all saints with whom I interact?
4. Will I allow the Spirits work in me as a “supporting ligament” to build up the body in love and truth toward the unity that comes with maturity?
5. Will I honor and receive what the Spirit supplies through each “supporting ligament?”
6. Will I take off the “old human” and put on the “new human?”
7. Will I grieve God’s Holy Spirit or be an imitator of God?
8. Will I stand against evil spiritual forces with truth, righteousness, the gospel of Jesus’ peace, faith, deliverance, and what God says?
9. Will I in God’s Spirit commit all things to God, and persevere on behalf of all saints, especially those who proclaim the gospel?

Filling All Things: The King and His Body

God gave Jesus as head over all things to the assembly, which is Jesus’ body and the fullness of him who fills all things in every way.

Paul, Apostle of Messiah Jesus

We are used to thinking in terms of a good heaven, unspoiled by evil, and an earth in which the struggle takes place. But the book of Revelation gives us an entirely different view. Satan’s abode was in heaven, until he was cast down, not directly by his sin, but by the Lamb’s victory. Therefore heaven no less than earth has been corrupted by evil. …The chief forces of evil are heavenly creatures.

González and González, Vision at Patmos, 108–9

The New Testament depicts Satan basically as an adversary or slanderer. This means more than personal temptation. Simply put, he is called the “evil one”¹. Granted, he is a personal being, a deceiver and tempter who appeals to our conscience. But more importantly, he opposes God’s kingdom in heaven and on earth (Rev 12:4; cf. Dan. 8:10), exercises his rule on earth through earthly rulers (Rev. 13:2-4, Thess. 2:3-4, 9-10), and erects heavenly structures of his own which parody those established by the Father in the opening chapters of Genesis and carried forward to Revelation.  
The point is that in the biblical worldview, in addition to being personal, Satan’s domain has a spiritual or heavenly structure. Biblical writers take up shorthand words like rulers, principalities, powers, authorities, thrones, lordships, and dominions to name and describe these beings and the heavenly relations among them. But by heavenly, I do not mean unearthly. Heavenly structures are discernable as they find corresponding form on earth. World rulers, local authorities, bad managers, and the occasional minister, participating in the structures erected by Satan, themselves become demonic. But they are not the source of the demonic. 

Kyle Stoltzfus on Anabaptist Perspectives Essay Interview

Compare this piece from John Piper (text and audio)

1. Read the following sections of Ephesians: 1:15-23, 2:18-20, 3:8-11, 4:6-16, 6:10-12, 6:18-20.
2. What is the Kingdom of God? “Heaven” where we go when we die? A millennium between the church age and the final judgement? Whenever people do what God wants them to do?
3. How do we participate in filling all things?

The Gospel of Peace: Jesus creates one new humanity

Does the universal church consist of a set of culturally homogeneous groups that exist separately side by side until they finally get to rub shoulders in front of God’s throne at the end of time, or are those cultural boundaries supposed to be transcended on earth at the most local level? 

Anika Fast in Reclaiming Mission

The unity of the Christian fellowship is not a mere matter of theory. It is a reality which must be realized within the brotherhood on the local as well as on the inter-community level. The welcoming hand of the church must reach across all social barriers with the call of the Gospel to include all who repent into the fellowship of the church.

Guy Hershberger, “The Way of the Cross in Human Relations” ch. 22. Quoted in Rebekah Mui “Racism and the Way of the Cross” https://kingdomoutpost.org/racism-and-the-way-of-the-cross/

What was the deep problem with not being part of Israel? Were all non-Israelites damned?

How does God create a new People?

What is the difference between the Law, which had to be  set aside to bridge the cultural divide, and the prohibition of  porneia (sexual immorality) which Gentiles had to embrace as part of the new humanity? How do we distinguish attempts to impose mere culture on others from upholding the culture of the Kingdom that comes from being clothed with Christ?

Eleven o-clock Sunday morning has been famously said to be the most segregated hour in American life. (1950’s and 1960’s) Is that phenomenon of serious concern?

Living as the “Co-enlivened” and “Sealed”

Read and reflect on Ephesians 4:17-32

Reading Questions (look for answers directly in this passage)

1. Christians are taught in Jesus to do what three things? (Verses 21-24)
2. What causes the Gentiles to walk the way they do? (6 or so  reasons  in verses 17-19)
3. Which verse or verses in this section echo Ephesians 1:13-14?

Reflection Questions

1. How do God’s actions and human actions in this passage relate? How do we cooperate with God? What is cooperating with God like for you?
2. What specifically, or practically does it mean to “put on the new human?

“What Must I Do to be Saved?”

The Gospel is about what God has done and is doing, and the fact that Jesus is King. It calls for a response from us. We want to be his children, not his enemies. When it comes to the initial entrance to God’s kingdom four words stand out to me in the New Testament.

1. Faith, believing, trusting, entrusting etc. (pistis and related words). This is the summary of our response to God. This is putting our confidence in Jesus to make everything right, not least our sinful selves. This “putting our confidence in” works out in a variety of forms. It is not us accomplishing something. Nor is it some mere spectator confidence that says “yes Jesus will win”. Faith can be greater or lesser, stronger or weaker. But, Ultimately we will be either faithful or faithless.
2.  Confess. We often think of confessing our sins, a very necessary thing to do. But we must not forget the fundamental meaning of confession: to say something together, to affirm out loud and in the hearing of others the great truth that Jesus is Lord. Jesus is king. Publicly affirming confidence in Jesus is not to be neglected. Jesus says the one who confesses him before people he will confess  before the Father. The one who denies him before people, he will deny before the Father.
3. Baptism Saints have wrestled much with how best to think about and practice Christian baptism, but its importance cannot be disputed. Accepting baptism  is a non-negotiable human response to the gospel. It needs emphasized that baptism is received, not something we do ourselves. We can request it, We can accept an invitation to baptism, but we receive it, ultimately from God, mediately through another human. Baptism gives us identity with Christ, his death,  and his body.
4. Repentance. We think of repentance as turning away from sin. More fundamentally it is a change of mindset. And a change of mindset in biblical thinking is not a mere speculation or spectatorship or mental assent, rather it is a change in what beliefs we life out of. John responded to certain snakes who came requesting baptism that they should bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance.

We get our starts in the Christian life in different ways. These four words might look different for different people. Sometimes they are almost instantaneous, other times they happen over a period of years.

1. How do we encourage someone toward faith and repentance? How do we encourage them to make public confession and to accept baptism?
2. Do these four words ever stop being important for the Christian life?

Unit Two: Separation from the World

No Partnership with Darkness: Separation from the world in Ephesians

But sexual immorality and all impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints. Ephesians 5:3

This verse gives us New Testament separation from the world in a nutshell.

Read and reflect on Ephesians 5:1-13

Reading Questions (look for answers directly in this passage)

1. We should not engage in sexual immorality, greed, or impurity because we are what two things? (verse 3, 8, and maybe a third in verse 1)
2. What do we do instead of foolish talk, etc? (verse 4)
3. What is the fruit that results from walking in light? (verse 9)
4. Why should we not be partners with sexually immoral, impure, or greedy people? (verse 5, 6)
5. Instead of sharing in the unfruitful works of darkness we should do what? (Verse 11, 13)

Reflection Questions

1. What do we do when we find in ourselves the sins listed in this passage?
2. How do we expose (reprove, convict) sins without speaking of them? What is this exposing? What kind of speaking of them do we do or not do?
3. Does “do not be partners with them” mean that we do not have relationships with sexually immoral, impure, or greedy people?
4. Can someone enlivened and enthroned by God and sealed with the Spirit as a pledge of the inheritance still revert to being a sexually immoral, impure, or greedy person who will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Money Modesty and Body Modesty

https://anabaptistperspectives.org/essays/money-modesty-body-modesty/

Money Modesty and the Struggle to Keep up the Joneses

Sexual Sin, Purity, and Bearing One Another’s Burdens

The Four S’s of Separation

• Special to God
  • Set Apart, Holy, Chosen, Saints, household of God, no idols.
• Symbols and Signs
  • Old Testament: Sabbath, Circumcision, Blue Fringes, Purification, Dietary Laws, Cleanness, Priestly Consecration
  • New Testament: ??, baptism?, communion?
• Social
  • Old Testament: Send home pagan wives. Keep foreigners out of the sanctuary for generations.
  • New Testament: Marry in the Lord, Don’t choose fools as your best buddies. Avoid schismatic teachers. Don’t associate with those who claim Christianity but walk in sexual immorality, greed, or slander
• Sin Avoidance
  • No partnership with sexual immorality, greed, slander, or any other sin

The Concept of Holiness

What is the difference between holiness and righteousness? What kinds of things can be holy but can not be righteous? Pots, pans, and clothing are a few examples. It makes sense to speak of holy garments, but not of righteous garments. The Sabbath day was holy, and to be treated as holy; but the sabbath was not righteous. Righteousness can describe the character, actions, and relationships of persons, divine or human. Holiness can describe persons, but also physical items, offerings, and holidays (holy days).

The core idea of holiness is that something is set apart for a special purpose. It is not “common” but holy and so must be treated with utmost respect. Think of the fence around Mt. Sinai before God spoke, or think of the requirement to wash clothes and abstain from sexual relations in the leadup to the giving of the ten commandments. Think of the “Holy of Holies” in the tabernacle which could only be entered by the high priest once a year. Think of the death penalty for picking up sticks on the Sabbath.

The prophets thunder, however, that such external holiness as this, without righteousness is a vile mockery.  God says, in the words of Isaiah, “I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.” “Bring no more vain offerings.” (Chapter 1) Treating the things of the temple carefully and following the protocols for the Lord’s offering is of no avail when righteousness is lacking, when we rob, steal, extort, oppress etc.

“Saint” and “holy” are the same word (Greek hagios). Most English Bibles render it as holy when used as an adjective (You must be holy), but as saints when it is used to as a plural substantive to name a group of people (the inheritance of the saints).

As with holiness more generally the idea is of being set apart or consecrated for God. The designation saints is not just a statement about the morality or righteousness of believers (though it is that), but a statement of God’s choosing and valuing them as a special group.

Righteousness is moral correctness but it has strong relational dimensions, rightly related to others, and in some cases, especially in the Psalms, comes close to the meaning of loyalty. Justification is often described primarily as right standing with God and that is definitely part of the meaning of justification.

Texts: Exodus 19 and 20 Isaiah 1:1-23

In the Old Testament there is a lot of emphasis on Holiness as cultural distinction, and proper ritual and symbolism However, the Old Testament is also clear such “outward” holiness apart from justice in relationships with others is not acceptable holiness before God.

The New Testament shifts the emphasis even further toward holiness as practicing justice with others before God and greatly reduces the ceremonial aspects of holiness. However, even in the New Testament holiness cannot be reduced to simply practicing justice or morality.

The Blue Fringe Principle or the Doctrine of Affected Dissimilarity

I am not anabaptist but I attend a Mennonite church for the past 6 weeks. The draw I have is the outward look the brethren have is a witness to their faith. The women are obvious. The men can hide it if they want to but the gentlemen in this church don’t. It has been a draw for me and helped me with my concept of a world view versus a biblical view.

Karl Stine commenting on YouTube

What in the World Are We Separate From?

There are two terms in the Greek NT sometimes rendered “world” in our English bibles. One is kosmos “world”, and the other is aionos “age.” In Ephesians 2:3 both terms are piled together “the age of this world”

2 Timothy 4:10 Demas, having loved this present age, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Ephesians 2:3 You walked according to the age of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

John 7:7 The world hates me because I bear witness that its works are evil.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.

1 Corinthians 2:6 Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but wisdom not of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing,

Teaching about separation from the world often assumes that the audience shares the speaker’s assumptions about what fits into the category of “worldly.” In various contexts this might be alcoholic beverages, blue jeans, cowboy boots, instrumental music, working on Sunday, sporty vehicles, movies, dancing, tv, living in town, driving cars, bowling alleys, theatres, ice rinks, off-roading, atv’s, drinking coffee, celebrating Christmas or any number of other things. This background understanding is convenient for the preacher. He need not make a case against blue jeans or bowling alleys, he can simply talk about separating ourselves from worldly things and trust his audience to fill in the blanks. Of course, this doesn’t work so well when the audience has a quite different impression of what counts as worldly. The approach of this study is not to rely on background assumptions about what counts as worldly, but to work out the idea of separation from Biblical texts.

For a helpful discussion of the abuse of the term “worldly” listen to this episode from Think-Truth.org https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-we-get-worldliness-wrong/id1542710155?i=1000566703156 In part two, they follow up with their take on what exactly wordliness is. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2lEmPES4pmixBH76gBOKwK?si=14bac3317a2e4c69&fbclid=IwAR3CFlfGbdWNAFL5ChU3Css2GBun7SSwXfen2HpWM8mN8r_ksFyIp9BdjL0&nd=1

Unit Three: Understanding Covered and Uncovered Heads

What is Headship?

Headship and Glory are key themes in Pauls argument concerning covered and uncovered heads in 1 Corinthians 11. So before talking about covered and uncovered heads, we will talk about the relationship between heads and their glory/body.

{discussion of New Testament heads}

Headship versus authority

1. Does being “head” over someone always entail having authority over them?

1. Many relations of authority do not involve headship in the robust sense it is used in Ephesians and 1 Corinithians. A mother has authority over her children but she is not their head. Elders in the church have authority over others but they are not the head of the church or of individuals in the church. Christ is the head not just of mankind in general but of every man. Describe what headship involves in addition to having some level of authority

The Main Line of Argument in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16

The sister’s veiling is a historic Christian practice which is elaborated in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 11:1-14. However, few American churches practice it, and the result is that churches that do practice it have generally had to put a lot of emphasis on demonstrating that the scripture indeed teaches it. Bible scholars who do not wish to insist on its practice have come up with various explanations that, they claim, show that Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 was only giving specific advice for a specific situation.

The primary goal of this unit is to push you to wrestle through the details of the passage to reach an understanding of the purpose and meaning of this Christian practice.

The central rationale for covering and uncovering rests on two principles.

1. Of every man the head is Christ and the head of a woman is the man (=her husband?)
2. (A) man is the image and glory of God while (a) woman is the glory of man being made from man and on account of man.  (with the clarification that neither is independent of the other in the Lord)

While there is much that is puzzling about this passage it is clear that the physical observance of covering and uncovering is based on those two fundamental realities.

Texts

1 Corinthians 11:2-16

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25; 5:1-3

1 Timothy 2:8-15

Puzzling Questions

• Headship head or anatomical head?
  • Verse three lays out three headship relations. We then learn that we should do(or avoid doing) certain things with our anatomical heads because of these headship relations. Label each occurrence of the word “head” after verse three either as “anatomical” or with the appropriate headship head. I.e. there are four possibilities for filling out verse 4 (some of them are obviously incorrect)
    • Every man who prays or prophesies with Christ uncovered dishonors Christ
    • Every man who prays or prophesies with his anatomical head uncovered dishonors Christ
    • Every man who prays or prophesies with Christ uncovered dishonors his anatomical head
    • Every man who prays or prophesies with his anatomical head uncovered dishonors his anatomical head
• General relationship between men and women versus specific relationship between a husband  and a wife. Which is in focus in this passage? Do single women have a human head?
• What does it mean to have “authority on ones head”.
  • Most translations take authority here as a reference to covering “a symbol of authority on her head”. What is the authority symbolized here?
    • Her authority (authorization, right) to pray and prophesy?
    • The authority her head has over her?
  • Who are the “angels” ?
    • Human messengers from other churches
    • Godly angels
    • Fallen angels
  • What do the angels have to do with covering?

Common but not particularly compelling objections.

This passage does not teach any covering other than full length hair. What Paul is arguing for is either simply that women continue a cultural practice so as not to offend the sensibilities of those around them or else it is simply a culturally specific way of expressing the more general principle he is really concerned with.

Practical Questions about Covering and Uncovering

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[1] Consider this quote from Finny Kuruvilla: “The age at which a woman would begin [to cover her head] would sensibly correspond to the age at which she properly begins to be able to make spiritual exercises such as prayer and prophecy. Parents may choose an earlier age for their daughters for the sake of modesty.” King Jesus Claims His Church. Anchor-Cross Publishing, 2013. p196.