Walk With Me
Christian discussion of biblical topics, and a dose of daily application. Yes the Bible is still relevant, and we find out more and more each day how relevant it has always been.
Walk With Me
Misinterpreting Scripture: The Case of Ephesians 2:9
Have you ever wondered if taking a single verse from the Bible could lead to misunderstanding your faith? In today's episode of Walk With Me, we tackle this intriguing question by examining the context of Ephesians 2:9 and its surrounding verses. We explore how scripture, when taken out of context, can shape misleading doctrines and why it's crucial to grasp the broader biblical message. Join us as we celebrate the joy and fulfillment of walking with the Lord, and emphasize the necessity of comprehensive Bible study for a more effective Christian walk.
As we wrap up, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our dedicated listeners for your unwavering support and participation. We encourage you to spread love and reconnect with someone you haven't spoken to in a while, sharing the message of God's love. Remember, the person who just came to your mind is someone God wants you to connect with. Tune in for an episode filled with love, encouragement, and insightful discussions on living a faithful Christian life. We look forward to walking with you again soon!
Hello everybody and welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I'm your host, jj. It's so good to have each and every one of you with us today. It's so good to be alive today and serving the Lord. It's just great. It's a great life. It's a great lifestyle. It's one of the better lifestyles you could ever have, styles you could ever have. It's so good to see each and every one of you people who are liking and sharing. I thank you so much for joining. I thank you all for the questions. If you have any questions or comments, go ahead and send that to walkwithmebiblestudy at gmailcom. Walkwithmebiblestudy at gmailcom. It's great to you. Guys don't know how much I enjoy reading the questions and the comments and some of the testimonies that we've received. It's always good to have. Thank you all so much. Thank you for liking and sharing on your individual platforms.
Speaker 1:As you all know, we did go to YouTube, a YouTube format which just has the background and the actual audio of the program. I did not go full live video yet. I just think it's just not the will of God yet, only because there's just some things that are kind of coming up and when God wants me to go live, I now go live, but thank you all so much for walking with us. You know we are closing in on 150 episodes. That's just amazing. That's a lovely thing, some of you who have been here from the beginning, some of you who are new and some of you who have joined in between. The good thing about walking with the Lord is that it doesn't matter when you join the march or when you join the walk, just that you don't join too late. Thank you all so much, thank you, thank you, thank you. Big shout out to my sponsors. Oh, and I'm excited I'm going to get a sponsor very soon, a new sponsor very soon, so stay tuned for that. Right now we have two bars lyricist who provides the intro and outro music. He's probably going to be sending me a a couple new tracks here very shortly and I have exquisite creations and that, um, that sponsor is going to be setting up. I can't wait to get the new generation of tumblers. I can't wait, and then when I go live I can show you all and kind of parade it and let you see the quality of the cups. I absolutely love her tumblers. I think I have about 10. So it's her website. I'm very sure she's on tiktok under so exquisite, and the exquisite is spelled x, q, I, z, I, t. I hope I got that right, um, but it's so in front of that, and she has all of her information on there. Thank you all, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:Now we are going to deal with something that unfortunately is. It kind of goes back to another one of our big lies that we kind of deal with on a daily basis when it comes to Christianity or what I like to call churchology, and either churchology or Christianology or things of that nature, because everyone has so many different doctrines and things of that nature. And what we end up doing is we sort of start coming up with our own doctrines, and these individual doctrines get very popular because they're easy. And we've all got that churchology friend, that joyful Jesus friend, that churchology friend, that joyful Jesus friend, and basically, when you start talking to them about living for God or you start talking about you know what to do and what we shouldn't do, they hit you with this scripture, and it's a very hard scripture to kind of deal with, and that scripture is Ephesians 2 and 9. Now, why is that a hard scripture to deal with? Because it's actually in the Bible. It's not a commiseration of false doctrines, it's actually there. And this is why we have a sort of rule on this podcast where you read the first or two above or the first or two below, but preferably the whole chapter, because context is key.
Speaker 1:Context is key not only when you're living for God and you're studying the Bible, but when you're talking to somebody, or if you're walking by and you're hearing someone having a conversation. First of all they're not talking to you, but you should keep going. But a lot of times we will walk by someone and we will hear them say something take it out of context and that's not even what the person is saying. On what the person is saying, and this really is embodied in what we call our church theology. Folks, and what does Ephesians 2 and 9 say? Not of worthless. Any man should vote. And sometimes, if they're really, really advanced church theology, they'll ask you to tie it into the verse above it. By grace, you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And then come right back with not of works, lest any man should boast. Now, this is where you take a write back with not of work, lest any man should vote.
Speaker 1:Now, this is where you take a scripture out of context, you package it up and you put it together and now you've got an entire sort of way of living that really on the surface it looks good, until you start kind of pressing it and then you're trying to figure out why your Christian walk is not effective, why you end up doing things that you always regret and why you just don't feel that joy, that power, that you see some of your other friends who don't really subscribe to that one scripture, like you know, the apostolic would to act 238. And, and if we all have that one scripture, some people have john 3, 16. Oh, whosoever believe on him. So if we all have that um, so if we all have that One scripture Like we have that John 3, 16, and all we have to do is really just believe in him and we can have a better life. And apostolic we have, we have the same, we have the same issue. So let's not Remember I'm never going to have a thing where I'm. We have this same issue. So let's not remember I'm never going to have the thing where I'm spiritually superior. We have the thing called that one scripture called Acts 2.38. You gotta repent, be baptized, every one of you for remission of sins and receive the Holy Ghost. And then there's others who don't have that when they use Ephesians 2 and 9. The only problem is, out of these three options and there are many options, I'm just using this for the sake of time Out of these three options, there's only one option that actually does not get contradicted and that would be Acts 2.38.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 2 and 9 says well, you know, you can just do whatever you want, because you really can't work your way into heaven. You really can't earn your way into heaven. And here's the insidious part of that doctrine, because prima facie, or, as the lawyers speak, on its face, this is absolutely true. You cannot earn your way to heaven. You cannot save enough kittens to make it to heaven. You can't hand out enough dollar bills to the pen handlers on the corner to make it to heaven. You can't serve enough church dinners at the repast to make it to heaven. Church dinners at the repast. To make it to heaven you cannot be the biggest church guy. And suddenly you know it's like a reality show and whoever has enough points to make it to heaven, believe it or not, it's a funny story.
Speaker 1:I used to actually believe that. I used to believe because of people who really believed in Ephesians 2 and 9,. I used to believe that I used to believe because of people who really believed in Ephesians 2 and 9, I used to believe that as long as your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you can make it to heaven. And somebody is going to have a tiebreaker and all you have to do is say I believe in Jesus and that's going to be the tiebreaker and they're going to get into heaven, despite any of their trying to get in. Yes, I used to believe that.
Speaker 1:But the problem is, when you have scriptures like this, we have to take the entire context into consideration. First of all, this scripture is not found in Acts. It's not found in the historical records of the beginning. It is not found in the Gospels. It's not found in the Old Testament. It's actually found in Ephesians, which is one of the letters to the church. Why is that important? We've talked about this before and it doesn't matter. I can talk about it 242 times a day. I absolutely love it. That I don't feel. Please don't. Don't think that I get exasperated by saying these things, but but I do this channel for love. It's not about admonition all the time, but please understand.
Speaker 1:The book of Ephesians is a letter to a church at Ephesus. The Colossians is the letter to the church at Colossus. Romans was a letter to the church at Rome, and no, we're not talking about Catholics. They were not established yet, they wouldn't be established for another couple of years, and so forth and so on. And then you have other letters that are written by the apostles to just other churches in general, like 1 and 2 Peter, and 1, 1, 2, and 3, john and Jude. So these are all just general letters written to churches, and the most important part of the distinction of these going to churches is that they had all been created in the book of Acts. So when things are created, you actually set out established rules, and this rule, of course, it goes right back to Acts 2.38. Repentant baptism in Jesus' name and getting the Holy Spirit. That's just how it is. And so when we consider that these scriptures are, you know, dedicated to churches who had already gone through that salvation experience, it begins to take on an entirely new life.
Speaker 1:So we've all had anyone who's dealt with any churches and if you're like me, you may have had some church hurt before. You always got that one super, super, duper, ultra spiritual Pharisee in a organization or in a congregation that always looks down on everybody. This is where the Ephesians 2 and 9 sort of applies. You would never out spiritual that person to get to heaven. You would never out-spiritual that person to get to heaven. And so while that person is telling you that they're ultra-spiritual, they're not really setting themselves up to be successful getting to heaven. Now, that's just me having a rant. So this not-by-works is not a salvationist strategy.
Speaker 1:So what exactly is the problem with this as the doctrine? In the very next verse, the very next verse, ephesians 2 and 10, it starts to dismantle the problem that we set up with Ephesians 2 and 9 when we take that as a doctrine. So what is 2 and 10 says we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. So we are created in the image of Christ. Now, jesus said that you have to be born of the water and of the spirit to see the kingdom of heaven, to see the kingdom of God, to get into the kingdom of God, you've got to be born again. So here we are, we are being created in Christ Jesus, unto what Good works. Now, wait a minute. You just said not by work, lest any man should boast.
Speaker 1:And this is where taking a scripture out of context begins to cause an entirely different problem. And, believe it or not, this is one of the I'll never forget, keith. I wonder how he's doing. I hope he's doing good. I had that guy, keith, I've told you in one of the beginning episodes, where the guy wrote down 40,000 quote-unquote contradictions. This was one of them and it helped me actually learn how to study the Word of God. So, and we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works Now. And then Paul, because he was being guided by God, then explains what that good works means, which God hath. Explains what that good works means, which God has foreseen that we should walk in them. Wait, what so? In other words, god is telling us that he has set aside a group of rules that we should follow.
Speaker 1:It is very difficult, walkers and anyone who's just joining this channel or just happened to be scrolling by. It is very difficult for you to say, logically speaking, that you believe in someone or you believe in something that someone that something says. I'm sorry, something that someone says. It's very difficult for you to establish that and then not do anything. The person says hey, I believe in this person, but I'm not going to do what they say.
Speaker 1:When you go to a doctor, you have a faith in the doctor. I'm not saying don't go to doctors y'all. That's not what I'm saying. The doctor I'm not saying don't go to the doctor y'all. That's not what I'm saying. Go to a doctor and he says listen, take this pill every four hours and you'll feel better and I'll see you again in a couple weeks. You have a faith, not only in God, if you live for God, but you also have faith that God has sent you to a doctor who knows, you know, knows what he's doing. So you have a little bit of faith in that doctor and the doctor tells you to do the thing and you do it. This is what the ordinances are about.
Speaker 1:God say you should not do this, you should not do that, you should do this, you should do that. And then you say you don't that. You believe in God, but then you don't do anything. You say why? Because it's Jesus 2 and 9. It's not by word, but it's any man's choice, and so what you're basically telling God is I believe you when it comes to this one scripture, but the rest of it can go in the trash. I know, I know that's harsh, but that's exactly what you tell to God. I believe in God when it comes to this scripture right here Ephesians 2 and 9. But 2 and 10 can go in the trash Because you said, not by word, but in the very next verse says unto good works that God hath ordained that we should walk therein. And then, just to sort of really draw the nail in the coffin, that when you say ordained, what does that really mean? Or ordinance, or ordained Ordinance are laws.
Speaker 1:When you go down to City Hall because you've got a ticket, because you've broken an ordinance, what are they talking about? They're talking about a law, a rule, a standard of behavior that you and I are expected to live by. We're expected to turn our music down at a certain time. We're expected to keep our yard looking a certain way. We're expected to live in a way-O-A. Jj could never live in a H-O-A yard, thank you. Thank you, I'm so glad I could never, ever, live in a H-O-A. Thank you, I can't Okay Moving right along, but these are ordinances that you're expected to follow and not following them has consequences.
Speaker 1:And it's the same thing when you come to live for God. You have ordinances. We all have ordinances that God has set out for us Don't lie, don't steal, don't lust after other people's stuff. You know, remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. And even though we fulfilled the law of the Sabbath, we're still keeping the Sabbath holy because Jesus is the Sabbath. You know, and I could go on and on, honor that father and that mother. You know it. Don't kill. You know we have all these fortresses that we walk in, that we're expected to walk in because Jesus rebuilt us.
Speaker 1:Now, please understand, we're going to cover more about the laws at a later time, and so there are more than ten commandments and we should always understand that there's more than 10 commandments and what these commandments are. But the Bible begins to talk about, especially in the New Testament. It starts to talk about the result of what they are. You see, people who love themselves more than they love God. That's an ordinance, that's a law. We're not supposed to love ourselves more than we love God. We're not supposed to be heady. We're not supposed to be high minded. We're not supposed to be feminine as a man. We're not supposed to gossip. We're not supposed to. These are ordinances that God has set for us.
Speaker 1:Now, please understand my church elders. These laws, these rules, are not to not to what's the word I'm looking for Not to be punitive. These laws, these rules, these ordinances, are to be liberating. Do you know how much? For example, let's look at one particular ordinance and I'm just going to pull this out of the air because I just dropped it in there so the law about if you are praying and you have something against someone, go and make it right. Leave the altar. In other words, leave your prayer right there. Whatever you were praying about, leave it right there. Go make it right with that brother and then come back to God. Do you guys know and this will probably be our next episode, because God has been dealing with me on it, we don't have a lot of time right now Do you know how liberating that is?
Speaker 1:Do you know how liberating it is to kill somebody and we're going to talk about that? Do you know how liberating it is to walk out as someone who did a lot of stealing before and the accompanying distrust that people will have around you, around their thing? Do you understand how liberating it is for people not to look at you side-eye anymore Because you don't do that anymore? Do you know how liberating it is not to be destroying your temple with drugs and not have to spend your Saturday nights in the hospital getting Narcan shoved in you? You understand how liberating that is. Remember, we were talking about this entire podcast thing about how to apply it to your everyday life, and this is what these ordinances are for. But you and I cannot holy our way into. I'll holy the next person into heaven.
Speaker 1:Holiness is about your relationship with God, not your relationship with someone else, and this is why people use this term. Use this verse not by works, as any man should boast, because you will literally end up with saying, hey, I pray three times a day, I'm more spiritual than you. I fast four times a week. I'm more spiritual than you, and that's not what it's about at all. I'm more spiritual than you, and that's not what it's about at all. You pray two or three times a day, or six times a day, or one time a week. That's about your relationship with God, and your relationship with God should always, always, just like mine, like anybody else. Let me put it to you a different way.
Speaker 1:If you really love your person, love a person if you really love, if you're a guy and you really love a girl out there, if you're a girl and you really love a guy out there, either one of you have a pet you really love. If you have that friend, that one friend that's always there for you, no matter what, do you stay away from that person? No, your main goal in life becomes being around that person more and more, especially if you want that marriage to last, if you want that friendship to last, you reach out to that person. As a matter of fact, I got to reach out to my brother later today. You really have to work at maintaining a relationship. This is something that JJ has a hard time doing.
Speaker 1:If you're not really my wife, man, I'm not going to lie to you guys it's something that I have to work on. I have to work on maintaining relationships. By that I mean like friendships or coworkers and things like that. Jj has a problem with that because I'm always, my focus is always on my wife, and so my focus is on my wife, my focus is on God, but I'm not saying that to say I'm holier or I'm any more equipped to make it to heaven than any one of you out there that's listening to this podcast. That's for God to decide.
Speaker 1:This is where we get into, that's. Any man should boast. Because we get into that a lot. We get into that a lot. We get into, hey, he's more spiritual than me, or I'm more spiritual, and you know one of the things that I used to do and I used to compare myself to people who were so not on their way to heaven and I think they were so spiritually great. And, lo and behold, they did something and you was like, oh wow, they're making it heaven that way.
Speaker 1:The Bible doesn't say that. So, and I kind of went off on a little rant here and I was going to go through all of the other laws and things that they've written, but we're almost out of time. But listen, walker, be very careful when somebody comes to you with that Ephesians 2 and 9 or 2.8. Because verse 10 destroys it and it destroys it because using two and nine as a salvation strategy is not going to work. It's more along the lines of a maintenance strategy.
Speaker 1:You're not holding your way to heaven, and by that I mean you can. You're supposed to live. We must live a sanctified life. That is a must, that is an absolute must. We must live holy, we must live a sanctified life. We must be born again, we must have the Holy Ghost, that is. All of these are just basic. That doesn't make you special, doesn't make me special. These are basic things.
Speaker 1:But the one problem, one thing we do not want as people who are living for God, is start comparing ourselves to say you know that person, that God may have that person, that's the most that God may have that person to, that's the most limit of holiness that they could ever have. We don't know that. It's not our place to know. But you, we, I don't have that right to be boasted. You and I don't have that right to um think that we're so ultra-spiritual that we can just be better than the next person that sits next to us. It's not our place and I'm not sure why we got here. But this is what Ephesians 2 and 9 is about. It is not a salvation doctrine. These people have already been through the Acts of 38 experience, and now we're just in maintenance.
Speaker 1:Right, we have covered another episode. I thank you all so much. I know sometimes it gets a little long, but thank you all so much for joining. Thank you all so much for listening, so much for watching. If you're on YouTube, you could be listening to any other podcast. You chose this one and I am eternally grateful for you. Tell somebody out there that you love them. Call somebody you haven't heard from in a while. Tell them that Jesus loves them and tell them that God is reaching out for them, because right now you just thought about that person that God wants you to reach out to. All right, love you all. See you on the next one. God bless you.