Our Highest Standard

“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2 NLT)

The Greek world in which the Christian Faith was born was a world devoid of moral purity. There was no standard available with which Paul could compare how we should live as a lover of God.

What filled Paul’s mind and heart was the only answer – “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do…” Rest assured, that command fell on similar ears as it falls on today. Dr. William Barclay sheds light on this subject when he writes: “In the ancient world there was a line of thought called Gnosticism. Gnosticism began from the contention that spirit alone is good and that matter is always evil. If that be so, it follows that only spirit is to be valued and that matter must be utterly despised. Now a man is composed of two parts; he is body and spirit. According to this point of view only his spirit matters; his body is of no importance whatsoever. Therefore, some at least of the Gnostics went on to argue, it does not matter what a man does with his body. It will make no difference if he gluts its desires. Bodily and sexual sins were of no importance because they were of the body and not of the spirit.”

It seems we have more “Gnostics” filling the church today than we care to admit. We’re so prone to yield to our bodily urges it’s almost a laughing matter to pretend it’s against the will of God. But Paul says in essence, we shouldn’t even joke about such things when he writes: “Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes – these are not for you.” (vs. 3)

In the Greek world sexual immorality was taken so lightly it was not considered sin at all. The great temples in places like Corinth were staffed by hundreds of “sacred” prostitutes (sexual slaves) whose earnings went to the upkeep of the Temple.^[1] The world in which we now live is more like the Greek culture than we care to admit. Sexual promiscuity even among professing believers is hardly considered a sin, at least a sin to be stopped.

That’s why the reasoning Paul discusses in Romans 6: “Do you say that God’s grace is the greatest thing in all the world?” “Yes.” “Do you say that God’s grace is wide enough to cover every sin?” “Yes.” “Then let us go on sinning, for God’s grace can wipe out every sin. In fact the more we sin the more chances God’s grace will get to operate” was met with such a forceful response: “Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?” (vss. 15b-16a)

Dr. Billy Graham speaks, at least in my mind, to one of the biggest issues with which we wrestle in keeping God’s exacting standard when he writes: “Satan doesn’t need for us to fall into gross sin in order to defeat us. A large dose of laziness will do the trick just as well.”  Have we gotten so lazy in our standards as a Jesus follower that they no longer matter?

Food for thought

Blessings, Ed

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^[1] Barclay, W., ed. (1976). The letters to the Galatians and Ephesians (p. 161). The Westminster John Knox Press.