Useful Bible Studies > Ephesians Commentary > chapter 4
God is working in the lives of Christians to make them into the kind of people that he wants them to be. He does not want them to be weak people who depend constantly upon their feelings. He does not want them to remain without knowledge, but to know him fully. He has a standard for their lives, and that standard is the perfect character of his Son, Christ (Romans 8:29). In other words, God wants us to be like Christ in our character, thoughts, words and actions (1 John 3:2).
That needs a great change in the life of every Christian. For that reason, God has provided many different kinds of church leaders, to help and to teach his people (4:11). Also, God teaches his people through the Bible; and he works in their lives in many different ways (Romans 8:28).
Paul reminds us that he spoke about one true faith in Ephesians 4:5. Faith means belief and trust in God. The effect of a Christian’s faith should be to join him with other Christians. As Christians encourage each other to believe God, their faith becomes stronger. Then they will pray together, and God will act powerfully on their behalf (Matthew 18:19).
However, often Christians confuse their opinions with their belief in God. All Christians must believe and trust God; but we all have different opinions about many things. We must not allow our different opinions to become more important to us than our trust in God. Our bitter arguments about our opinions will only separate us from other Christians. Such arguments are evidence that we are not yet mature in our relationship with Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1-4).
Next part: God's plan: to make weak Christians strong (Ephesians 4:14)
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© 2019, Keith Simons.