Doctrine and Duty

As we have mentioned before, how important doctrine is! As the late pastor and expositor Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes: “The most foolish of all Christians are those who dislike and decry the importance of Theology and teaching. Does not that explain why they fail in practice?”

Why are many Christians weak and shallow? Why do many fall to any new trend that comes along? Why do many fail to discern false teaching? Why do many fail to be consistent and faithful? Why do many fall to temptation? Why do many collapse when someone challenges their faith? Because they do not know doctrine—they are not being taught doctrine by their pastors; they are not being taught that God’s Word alone is Truth. People are being taught that truth is relative and can be found in many other places. And that is why they fail.

That is why the first half of Ephesians (as most of Paul’s Epistles) deals with doctrine and the second half deals with practice, because without right doctrine we will not have right practice. No matter what the issue, the question, or the problem, there is a doctrinal principle in God’s Word to answer it. This fact is at the very heart of the doctrine of the Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture. To deny it is to deny it is to deny Scripture Itself.

So, with the great doctrines of Chapters 1-3 as our foundation, we turn now to the practical portion of the Epistle. As we noted in the “Introduction” way back when this series started, this can be expressed in several ways: (1) Chapters 1‑3 present our Riches in Christ; 4‑6 show us our Responsibilities in Christ; (2) Chapters 1‑3 present our Wealth in Christ; 4‑6 show us Walk in Christ; (3) Chapters 1‑3 contain the truth Stated; 4‑6 contain the truth Applied; (4) Chapters 1‑3 present our Heritage in Christ; 4‑6 present our Life in Christ; and (5) Chapters 1‑3 present the Exposition of what we have in Christ; 4‑6 give us the Exhortation of what we are to do in Christ.

To express this in still another way, based on the Doctrine of Chapters 1-3, we come now to the Duty that it demands. This does not imply that the first half of Ephesians in not at all practical. We have, of course, seen many practical principles. Rather, what we see in Chapter 4-6 are specific applications of the doctrines in Chapter 1-3.

The key word in Chapters 4-6 is walk, and we find it five times (4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15). The Greek in all five occurrences is peripateō (peri, “about” or “around,” and pateō, “to walk”), and so literally means “to walk about, to walk around, to walk concerning.” In Classical Greek this word was used only in the literal sense and meant strolling and stopping, as someone would walk about in the market place. It was never used in a figurative sense as it is in the New Testament. Used in the figurative sense, it speaks of “conduct of life,” that is, how we “how we walk about,” how we conduct ourselves as we walk through life. How, then, are we to conduct ourselves? Chapters 4-6 reveal seven ways in which we are to walk, each of which in-turn is based on related doctrine in Chapters 1-3, as the following table illustrates.

Doctrine and Duty in Ephesians

THE DUTY	THE DOCTRINE
Walk in unity (4:1‑16)	1:22-23; 2:16,21-22; 3:6
Walk in purity (4:17‑32)	1:4
Walk in love (5:1‑7)	3:17-19
Walk in light (5:8‑14)	1:18
Walk in wisdom (5:15‑17)	1:8,17; 3:10
Walk in submission (5:18‑6:9)	3:8
Walk in victory (6:10‑20)	1:19-21

So Paul does not simply write about unrelated thoughts, a little “potpourri of principles” as it were, rather he writes about objective truth on which he then bases proper conduct of life.