Ephesians 4:1-32
Growing Your Faith
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Let us learn the Truth and speak the Truth...Therefore each of us must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to everyone of our neighbors, for we are all members of one body and live together in Jesus...We need to read about Jesus and and read about Him often...Jesus teaches us that God's Word is Truth...We need God's Word and Truth as we grow up with different experiences and come away believing in different things...We must know if they are True...We need to believe in God's Word because it is our Absolute Truth...In fact, why would or do we believe in anything that is not True...That includes what we hear from others, what we read, and what we see on computers, phones, TV and the movies...If we are darkened in our understanding and separated from the life of God because of the our ignorance of God's Word then we will have a hardening of our hearts...So do not let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, but only what is helpful and truthful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen...And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption...Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice...Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ and as God forgave you...
Not knowing what is True affects our faith...There are different types of faith...There is a child like faith and there is a childish immature faith...Our faith needs to grow and be a mature faith...St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ...So let us build up our intellectual knowledge, our knowledge of Jesus, grow our faith, and know the Word of God...Our Saints learned how to grow their faith...Let us like our Great Saints, keep and continue to grow our faith...Let us seek understanding...The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom...Though it cost all you have, get understanding...But complete understanding will not come to us...Only God has Complete Understanding...So as decisions come up in life that we cannot understand, remember lean not unto thine own understanding, but trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding of all of life's questions....
William Lane Craig writes that we should be concerned by the maturity of the type of faith we have, "Sometimes people try to justify their lack of intellectual engagement by asserting that they prefer having a "simple faith."...But here I think we must distinguish between a childlike faith and a childish faith...A childlike faith is a whole-souled trust in God as one's loving Heavenly Father, and Jesus commends such a faith to us...But a childish faith is an immature, unreflective faith, and such a faith is not commended to us...On the contrary, Paul says, "Do not be children in your thinking; be babes in evil, but in thinking be mature" (1 Cor. 14.20 RSV)...If a "simple" faith means an unreflective, ignorant faith, then we should want none of it...In my own life, I can testify that, after many years of study, my worship of God is deeper precisely because of, and not in spite of, my philosophical and theological studies...In every area I have intensely researched—creation, the resurrection, divine omniscience, divine eternity, divine aseity—my appreciation of God's truth and my awe of His personhood have become more profound...I am excited about future study because of the deeper appreciation I am sure it will bring me of God's personhood and work...Christian faith is not an apathetic faith, a brain-dead faith, but a living, inquiring faith...As Anselm put it, ours is a faith that seeks understanding."...