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The Key to God's Redemptive Mission “That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21 God often speaks of human relationships as a part of His mission to redeem a lost world (John 13:20; Matt. 25:40). One reason He gives for a husband and wife to live in unity is so they can produce a “godly seed,” that is, children who love and obey God, who can be used in God's mission to bring redemption to a lost world (Mal. 2:14–15). Similarly, the church is the body of Christ. A church cannot be on mission with the Father in our world if its members are waging war with one another (1 Cor. 12:12). There is a crucial connection between our relationships with others and the salvation of those around us. We might assume that during Jesus’ prayer before His crucifixion, He would have prayed that His disciples would have courage, or would remain faithful, or would remember what they had been taught. Yet He asked that His followers would remain united in their love for one another. Jesus understood that it is spiritually impossible to love God but not love others. A test of your love for God is to examine your love for others. Our tendency is to say, “Heavenly Father, the problem is not between You and me. I love You with all my heart. I just don’t love my brother.” And God says, “That is an impossibility. You cannot love Me without loving the ones for whom My Son died” (John 13:34–35). Your life will not convince those around you of the reality of Jesus if you cannot live in unity with your fellow Christians. Blackaby, H. T., & Blackaby, R. (1998). Experiencing God Day by Day. B&H Books.Prayer Series: The Productive Prayer Life of Paul-1 Thessalonians 1:2-4, 3:11-13 and 5:23-24
Doctrinal Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday January 14, 2026
Prayer Series: The Productive Prayer Life of Paul-1 Thessalonians 1:2-4, 3:11-13 and 5:23-24
Lesson # 33
1 Thessalonians 1:2-4 asserts that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy thanked the Father in prayer for each member of the Thessalonian Christian community.
1 Thessalonians 1:2 We make it our habit of always giving thanks to the one and only God (the Father) on behalf of each and every one of you because we constantly make it our practice of bringing each and every one of you into remembrance during our prayers. 3 Specifically, because we make it our habit of remembering in the presence of God, our Father, your work, which was produced by your faith, as well as your labor, which was motivated by your divine-love and also your perseverance which was produced by your confident expectation of blessing from our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 Furthermore, because each one of us possesses the conviction He elected each and every one of you to privilege brothers and sisters, divinely loved by the one and only God (who is the Father). (Pastor’s translation)
1 Thessalonians 1:3 identifies specifically what these Paul, Silvanus and Timothy remembered about the Thessalonians which caused or prompted them to always give thanks to the Father for them during their prayer meetings.
This verse asserts that they did so because they made it their habit of remembering in the presence of the Father their work, which was produced by their faith, as well as their labor, which was motivated by their divine-love and in addition their perseverance which was produced by their confident expectation of receiving blessing from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, 1 Thessalonians 1:4 presents the second reason why Paul, Silvanus and Timothy gave thanks to the Father for the Thessalonians by asserting that these three men possessed the conviction God the Father elected each and every one of the Thessalonians to privilege.
This means that before the foundation of the world God the Father elected each member of the Thessalonian Christian community to the privilege of possessing and experiencing an eternal relationship and fellowship with Himself and with the Son and the Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 3:11 Now, may He Himself, namely, God, specifically, our Father as well as our Lord Jesus guide our journey into the presence of each and every one of you. (Pastor’s translation)
1 Thessalonians 3:11 does not record the act of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy praying to the Father and the Son but rather it simply records the content of what these three men asked the Father to do for them.
This is indicated by the fact that the Lord Jesus Himself and the other writers of the New Testament all taught that all prayer is to be addressed to the Father and not the Lord Jesus (John 14:13-14; 16:23-27; Rom. 8:15; Eph. 3:14; 5:20; Col. 1:3, 12; 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 1:6).
Furthermore, notice that this request is for both the Father and the Lord Jesus to guide Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s journey into the presence of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community and not the act of these three men praying to both the Father and the Son.
There is a big difference between the act of praying and the content what is requested in prayer. They are not one in the same.
Therefore, 1 Thessalonians 3:11 is merely communicating to the Thessalonians what these men prayed to the Father for in Jesus name and is expressing to the Thessalonians their great desire to them again.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 On the other hand, may the one and only Lord cause each and every one of you to increase, and not only this but to excel with regards to the practice of that which is divine-love for the benefit of one another as well as for the benefit of every person just as each of us also does for the benefit of each and every one of you. (Pastor’s translation)
Now, here in 1 Thessalonians 3:12, Paul writes that he, Silvanus and Timothy not only prayed for themselves but also the Thessalonians.
Specifically, they prayed to the Father that the Lord Jesus would cause each member of the Thessalonian Christian community to increase, indeed, to excel with regards to that which is divine-love for the benefit of each other as well as the non-Christian just as each of them does for the benefit of the Thessalonians.
The noun agapē, “that which is divine-love” contains the figure of metonymy which means that the love of God is put for the exercise or the practice of this love and is used of the love of God manifested in the lives of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community.
1 Thessalonians 3:13 The purpose of which is to strengthen the hearts of each one of you to be uncensurable with respect to holiness in the presence of the one and only God, namely, our Father at our Lord Jesus’ arrival with each and every one of His saints. (Pastor’s translation)
Now, 1 Thessalonians 3:13 indicates that the purpose for which Paul, Silvanus and Timothy wanted the Lord Jesus to cause the Thessalonians to increase and excel with regards to that which is divine-love for the benefit of one another and the non-Christian was so that their hearts would be strengthened.
The Thessalonians’ faith would be strengthened by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy communicating the gospel to them after their justification with regards to the person and work of Jesus Christ as well as their union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father (cf. Rom. 10:17).
This would cause the Thessalonians to become stronger in their faith and stabilized in their relationship with God and consequently, this would produce greater obedience and consequently, greater spiritual growth.
The purpose for which the Thessalonians’ hearts were to be strengthened was so that they would be uncensurable in the sense that they would be “free from official reprimand, free from censure” in the presence of the Father or in other words, Paul wants to present them to the Father as being free from official reprimand, free from censure.
By remaining faithful to Paul’s apostolic teaching, they will not be officially reprimanded at the Bema Seat.
“Holiness” is the quality of being personally dedicated to God either by being set apart, by being morally pure or by being devoted to God and here it is used in relation to the sanctification of the Thessalonians and specifically, it speaks of the Thessalonians experiencing their sanctification through the practice of divine-love.
This is indicated by the fact that Paul would not pray for positional sanctification because this took place the moment the Thessalonians were declared justified by the Father when they trusted in His one and only Son Jesus Christ as their Savior or in other words, their positional sanctification took place at their conversion.
He would not pray for their sanctification in a perfective sense since this will take place at the rapture or resurrection of the church when they receive their resurrection bodies.
He does however want them to experience their sanctification through the practice of God’s love when interacting with one another and the non-Christian.
When Paul speaks of the Thessalonians experiencing their sanctification, it is through the practice of God’s love because in 1 Thessalonians 4:6-7 Paul associates holiness with not violating the rights of one’s brother or taking advantage of them, which speaks of the practice of love when interacting with one’s fellow-believer.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now, may the one and only God Himself, who produces a peace which is divine in quality and character, cause each and every one of you to be sanctified completely. Correspondingly, may your entire spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at our Lord Jesus Christ’s arrival. (Pastor’s translation)
1 Thessalonians 5:23 contains two requests which Paul, Silvanus and Timothy presented to the Father on behalf of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community while interceding in prayer for them.
The first request asked the one and only God Himself, who produces a peace which is divine in quality and character, to cause each and every member of the Thessalonian Christian community to be sanctified completely.
The second corresponds to the first and asked the Father that the entire spirit, soul and body of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community be kept blameless at the Lord Jesus Christ’s arrival at the rapture.
The reference to peace in this first request refers to the peace of God which the Father produces within the soul of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community through the personal agency of the Holy Spirit.
It also speaks of the peace of God which the Father produces through the personal agency of the Holy Spirit when each member of the Thessalonian Christian community interacts with each other.
The Spirit accomplishes this when the Thessalonians obey the Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions which Paul, Silvanus and Timothy communicated to the Thessalonians in this epistle.
The first is related to the final stage of sanctification when the church age believer receives their resurrection body which completes the third and final stage of their sanctification and the second is related to the second stage of sanctification, which is experiential sanctification.
The second request asks the Father that the entire spirit, soul and body of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community would be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 The one who does effectually call each and every one of you does possess the characteristic of being faithful, who will in fact certainly cause these things to be accomplished. (Pastor’s translation)
Paul is emphasizing with the Thessalonians here in 1 Thessalonians 5:24 that that God the Father who does effectually call them is faithful and which faithfulness is manifested by the Father completing their salvation and keeping them blameless at the rapture.
It emphasizes with the Thessalonians that their experiential sanctification which is mentioned in the second assertion in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is totally dependent upon the Father’s faithfulness to His promises and not them.
It also emphasizes with the Thessalonians that their perfective sanctification which is mentioned in the first assertion in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is totally dependent upon the Father’s faithfulness to His promises and not them.
Jonah Series: Jonah 1:16-The Crew Worships The Lord
Doctrinal Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday January 18, 2026
Jonah Series: Jonah 1:16-The Crew Worships The Lord
Lesson # 18
Jonah 1:14-16 records the crew worshipping the Lord after He silences the storm and after praying for him to deliver them from death.
Jonah 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. 4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.” 7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” 9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” 10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.) 11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” 12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the Lord, “O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. (NIV84)
“The men greatly feared the Lord” expresses the fact that the crew had reverence and respect for the Lord, or in other words, they worshipped Him because He commanded the storm to cease immediately.
This worship of the Lord by the Phoenician crew was the appropriate response by these men to the manifestation of the Lord’s omnipotence and sovereign rulership over creation.
There are four English words, “reverence,” “respect,” “awe,” and “wonder,” which express the concept of worshipping God.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “reverence”: “A feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.”
Therefore, paraphrasing this definition we would say that the crew’s response to the Lord silencing the raging sea was to possess an attitude of deep respect and awe for Him.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “respect”: “esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or trait, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or trait.”
The crew’s response to the Lord silencing the raging sea was to esteem the excellence of the Person of God as manifested through His personal qualities or attributes such as love, faithfulness, mercy, compassion, justice, righteousness, truth, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, immutability, and sovereignty.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “awe”: “an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc. produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful or the like.”
The crew’s response to the Lord silencing the raging sea was to possess an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration for the Lord.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “wonder”: “to be filled with admiration, amazement or awe; marvel.”
The crew’s response to the Lord silencing the raging storm was one of being filled with admiration, amazement and awe.
Warren Wiersbe writes, “True wonder reaches right into your heart and mind and shakes you up. It not only has depth, it has value; it enriches your life. Wonder is not cheap amusement that brings a smile to your face. It is an encounter with reality, with God, which brings awe to your heart. You’re overwhelmed with an emotion that is a mixture of gratitude, adoration, reverence, fear-and love. You’re not looking for explanations; you’re lost in the wonder of God” (Real Worship, page 43, Baker Books).
Therefore, paraphrasing this comment by Wiersbe on wonder we would say that the crew’s response to the Lord silencing the raging storm reached right into their hearts and shook them up and enriched their lives.
The Lord silencing the raging sea overwhelmed them with an emotion that was a mixture of gratitude, adoration, reverence, fear and love for the Lord.
The crew wasn’t looking for explanations since they were lost in the wonder of God.
Therefore, the crew offered sacrifices to the Lord in order to approach Him to worship Him in the sense that they were manifesting an attitude of deep reverence, respect and awe of the Lord for saving their lives with such a magnificent display of His power and sovereign rulership over creation.
Therefore, when the crew offered sacrifices to the Lord, they were worshipping Him and expressing their thanks to Him for saving their lives by silencing the raging ocean that threatened their lives a few moments before.
Worship is adoring contemplation of God as He has been revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Person of Christ and in the Scriptures and is also the loving ascription of praise to God for what He is, both in Himself and in His ways and is the bowing of the soul and spirit in deep humility and reverence before Him.
Warren Wiersbe defines worship, “Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are –mind, emotions, will and body-to what God is and says and does. This response has its mystical side in subjective experience and its practical side in objective obedience to God’s revealed will. Worship is a loving response that’s balanced by the fear of the Lord, and it is a deepening response as the believer comes to know God better” (Real Worship, 26).
If we paraphrase Wiersbe’s definition, we could say the following: The crew is worshipping the Lord in that they are responding in their minds, emotions, and bodies to what the Lord is and did silencing the storm (cf. Ps. 2:11; 95:6-7).
Worship is adoring contemplation of the Lord and is the act of paying honor and reverence to Him and affection for Him and flows from love and where there is little love, there is little worship.
It is the loving ascription of praise to the Lord in gratitude and appreciation for who and what He is, both in Himself and in His ways and in His work on the Cross for us.
It is the bowing of the soul and spirit in deep humility and reverence before the Lord (Ps. 29:2).
Worshipping the Lord is adoring contemplation of Him as He has been revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures and is also the loving ascription of praise to Him for what He is, both in Himself, His Work on the Cross and in His ways and is the bowing of the soul and spirit in deep humility and reverence before Him.
The believer is to worship the Father spiritually by means of truth, i.e. the Word of God (cf. John 4:23-24).
The church’s destiny is to worship the Lord, as revealed in Revelation 4-5.
“They offered a sacrifice to the Lord” was a collective act of worship of the Lord and undoubtedly took place once the crew reached land and did not take place on board the ship.
“Made vows” refers to making a binding promise to the Lord and was an act of voluntarily and verbally dedicating and devoting oneself to the service of the Lord.
Vows were not contracts or limited agreements but rather they were verbal and voluntary acts of submission to the Lord and the reorientation of one’s life to meet the Lord’s standards.
Therefore, we see that this Phoenician crew will reorient their lives as a result of this encounter with the true and living God.
The crew left home as heathens worshipping vain idols and now after this encounter with the Lord their lives have taken on a whole new different meaning since the Lord has revealed Himself to them in a mighty way.
Since the Lord has revealed Himself to this crew by exercising His omnipotence and sovereign rulership over creation and the storm the crew has committed themselves to living according to the standards of the living God.
Therefore, we see that the crew collectively has had a life changing experience.
Jonah Series: Jonah 1:15-The Storm Stops Immediately When the Crew Throws Jonah Into the Sea
Doctrinal Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday January 18, 2026
Jonah Series: Jonah 1:15-The Storm Stops Immediately When the Crew Throws Jonah Into the Sea
Lesson # 17
Jonah 1:15 records the crew responding to Jonah’s advice recorded in verse 12 by hurling Jonah into the sea and immediately the storm stops raging demonstrating to the crew that the God of Israel is sovereign over creation.
The calming of the sea was an answer to the crew’s first prayer request recorded in verse 14 that the Lord would spare their lives.
Jonah 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. 4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.” 7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” 9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” 10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.) 11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” 12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the Lord, “O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. (NIV84)
Jonah 1:15 records the crew throwing Jonah into the sea in response to Jonah’s instructions to do so recorded in verse 12 but only after praying to the Lord to spare their lives and not hold them accountable for murder.
This action resulted in the Mediterranean Sea ceasing from its raging, which is personified expressing to the reader the Lord’s righteous indignation against Jonah indicating that the prophet is being disciplined by the storm.
“Grew calm” is the third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb ʿā∙mǎḏ (עָמַד), which is used with the preposition min (מִן) and the masculine singular construct form of the noun zā∙ʿǎp̄ (זָעַף), “raging” and the third person masculine singular pronomial suffix –hû (־הוּ), “its.”
Since the noun zā∙ʿǎp̄ (זָעַף) is always used in the Old Testament of a person’s anger or the Lord’s, the word here in Jonah 1:15 is personifying the Mediterranean Sea as “raging.”
Specifically, since the storm was caused by the Lord Himself, the word is actually personifying the Mediterranean Sea as exercising “righteous indignation” against the prophet Jonah.
“Personification” is the ascribing of human characteristics or actions to inanimate objects or ideas or to animals.
Jonah is ascribing the human action of raging in anger or exercising righteous indignation to the Mediterranean Sea.
This is to convey to the reader that the Lord is not happy with Jonah and is in fact disciplining him with this storm.
There are two categories of divine discipline that are an expression of God’s love: (1) Negative: God expresses His love for His children by disciplining them in the sense that He “punishes” them when they are disobedient to His will. (2) Positive: God expresses His love for His children by disciplining them in the sense of “training” them when they are obedient to His will and in fellowship.
Both categories of divine discipline are designed to keep the believer on track in executing the Father’s will by becoming like Christ.
The Word of God is employed in both positive and negative categories of discipline (Hebrews 4:12).
2 Timothy 3:16 Each and every portion of Scripture does possess, as an eternal spiritual truth the characteristic of being God-breathed. Consequently, it does possess, as an eternal spiritual truth the characteristic of being useful for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for training which is related to righteousness. 17 The purpose of which is that the person belonging to God (the Father) would possess the characteristic of being competent, specifically, by equipping for every kind of action which is divine good in quality and character. (Pastor’s translation)
The Holy Spirit disciplines the disobedient child of God by rebuking them with the Word of God as it is communicated by the pastor-teacher in the local assembly and the purpose of such rebuke is to conform the believer to the will of his heavenly Father, which results in blessing and true happiness.
The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the pastor-teacher who is the delegated authority in the local assembly, to reprove and rebuke the children of God from the pulpit with the Word of God as an expression of His love (2 Timothy 4:1-4).
God disciplines His disobedient children by permitting adversity, trials, and irritations to come into their lives that are beyond their capacity to handle in order to get their attention and to focus upon their number one priority in life as children of God, which is conformity to the Father’s will.
God disciplines His disobedient children by permitting them to reap the fruits of their bad decisions so that they might learn that conformity to His will is the only way to true joy and happiness and blessing in life (Ezek. 16:43; Gal. 6:7-8).
God disciplines His “obedient” children through adversity and underserved suffering in order to build the believer’s confidence in his relationship with God and to get him to depend on God for his security and protection rather than money and human relationships.
God disciplines His “obedient” children through adversity and underserved suffering in order to demonstrate to the believer the sufficiency of God’s Word in handling any problem or difficulty in life.
The Lord Jesus Christ disciplines the believer in the sense that He rebukes, punishes and trains the believer because He personally and affectionately loves the believer (Revelation 3:14-19).
We are not to get angry or bitter when God disciplines us through the Word, or adversity and underserved suffering but rather we are to listen to what God is trying to say to us and to learn the lesson that He is teaching us so that we might acquire the character of our heavenly Father.
In order to receive discipline without getting bitter and complaining, the believer must recognize and submit to the authority of the Word of God, the delegated authority of the pastor-teacher and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ who controls history and therefore our circumstances.
Proverbs 3:11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD or loathe His reproof, 12 for whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. (NASB95)
In Jonah 1:15, the calming of the sea upon throwing Jonah into it demonstrated to the crew that the Lord is sovereign over creation (Psalm 89:9; 93:1-4; 107).
The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated to His disciples that He was the Lord of the Old Testament by doing the very same thing He did in Jonah’s day in calming the stormy sea (See Luke 8:22-25).
In Jonah 1:15, the calming of the sea was an answer to the crew’s first prayer request recorded in verse 14 that the Lord would spare their lives.
The fact that their prayer was answered by the Lord indicates that the crew prayed in faith, which appropriates the power of God (Matt. 8:10; Luke 7:9; Matt. 9:22; Mark 5:34; Luke 8:48; Matt. 9:29; 17:20; Luke 17:5; Mark 9:29; Matt. 21:22; Mark 11:24; 1 John 3:21-22; James 1:5-8; 5:15).
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:2c-Jesus Christ Gave Himself Up As A Substitute For Every Believer
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday January 17, 2026
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:2c-Jesus Christ Gave Himself Up As A Substitute For Every Believer
Lesson # 309
Ephesians 5:1 Therefore, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives by imitating the one and only God because each and every one without exception are beloved children. 2 Specifically, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of living your lives by means of the practice of divine-love because the one and only Christ in fact divinely-loved each and every one of you of us as a corporate unit. Namely, He gave Himself up as a substitute for each and every one of us as a corporate unit to be a voluntary offering, which is a sacrifice for the benefit of the one and only God for a fragrant aroma. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 5:2 is composed of the following:
(1) epexegetical command: kai peripateite en agapē ( καὶ περιπατεῖτε ἐν ἀγάπῃ), “Specifically, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of living your lives by means of the practice of divine-love.” (Lecturer’s translation)
(2) causal clause: kathōs kai ho Christos ēgapēsen hēmas (καθὼς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς), “because the one and only Christ in fact divinely-loved each and every one of you of us as a corporate unit.” (Lecturer’s translation)
(3) epexegetical clause: kai paredōken heauton hyper hēmōn prosphoran kai thysian tō theō eis osmēn euōdias (καὶ παρέδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ⸂ἡμῶν προσφορὰν⸃ καὶ θυσίαν τῷ θεῷ εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας), “Namely, He gave Himself up as a substitute for each and every one of us as a corporate unit to be a voluntary offering, which is a sacrifice for the benefit of the one and only God for a fragrant aroma.” (Lecturer’s translation)
Therefore, we can see that the apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:2 issues a command of the recipients of this epistle who were members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia.
It explains in greater detail the meaning of the command in Ephesians 5:1 and required that they must continue to make it their habit of living their lives by means of the practice of divine-love.
He then emphatically presents the reason for this command, which asserts that the one and only Christ divinely-love them.
Paul then goes on to explain this statement by asserting that Christ gave Himself up as a substitute for them.
He describes Christ’s act of love for them as a voluntary offering and specifically a sacrifice for the benefit of His Father for a fragrant aroma.
In the epexegetical clause, Paul employs the verb paradidōmi (παραδίδωμι), which pertains to giving oneself up as a sacrifice for others by enduring the loss of one’s life for others.
Therefore, this expresses the idea of Jesus Christ “giving” Himself “up” for every member of the Christian community when He suffered His Father’s wrath on the cross in order that they would never suffer it forever in the lake of fire.
The reflexive pronoun heautou (ἑαυτοῦ) emphasizes the action of Jesus Christ giving Himself up in the sense of voluntarily dedicating Himself for the specific purpose of solving the human race’s problem of being under the wrath of God, enslaved to the sin nature and Satan and world system, personal sins, condemnation from the Law and spiritual and physical death.
The word denotes that the Lord voluntarily dedicated Himself to the Father’s will in order to provide the offer of salvation for the entire human race.
It also indicates that the Lord voluntarily dedicated Himself to deliver the human race from the sin nature, personal sins, spiritual and physical death, condemnation from the Law, Satan and his cosmic system and eternal condemnation.
The word emphasizes the voluntary nature of Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross, which constituted Him suffering the wrath of God in the place of all of sinful humanity.
Our Lord’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross were “voluntary” in that He “chose” to suffer the wrath of the Father in order to solve the human race’s problem of being under the wrath of God, enslaved to the sin nature and Satan and world system, personal sins, condemnation from the Law and spiritual and physical death.
He also chose to suffer in order to accomplish the Father’s will and provide salvation for the entire human race.
These deaths were also self-sacrificial in nature in that the Lord was willing to deny self in order to serve the Father and the human race and come to the aid of the human race to deal with their sin problem.
Once again, Paul employs first person plural form of the personal pronoun egō (ἐγώ), however, this time he puts the word as the object of the preposition huper (ὑπέρ), which means “on behalf of, for the benefit of, as a substitute for” since it functions syntactically not only as a marker of participants who are benefited by an event but also as a marker of substitution.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase hyper hēmōn (ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν) not only marks each and every member of the church-past, present and future, as “benefitting from” Jesus Christ’s sacrificing Himself on the cross but also that He was their “substitute” as well in that He suffered the wrath of God “in the place of” each one of them so that they would never experience it in the lake of first forever.
The substitutionary aspect of Jesus Christ’s suffering the wrath of God on the cross as a substitute for sinful humanity in order that the latter would never suffer the wrath of God in the lake of fire forever is first mentioned by Jesus Christ Himself in Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28.
It is also mentioned by Paul in Romans 5:6-8, 8:32, Galatians 2:20 and 1 Timothy 2:6.
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (ESV)
Matthew 20:28 “even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (ESV)
Romans 5:1 Therefore, because we have been justified by means of faith as a source, we, as an eternal spiritual truth, always have peace in the presence of God through our Lord who is Jesus, who is the Christ. 2 Through whom also, we have as a permanent possession access to this gracious benefit in which we forever stand and in addition we make it a habit to rejoice upon the confident expectation of sharing God’s glory. 3 In fact, not only this but we also make it a habit to rejoice on account of our adversities because we know for certain that adversity, as an eternal spiritual truth, produces perseverance. 4 And in addition, perseverance, as an eternal spiritual truth produces tested character and in addition tested character, as an eternal spiritual truth, produces confidence. 5 In fact, this confidence, as an eternal spiritual truth, never disappoints because God’s love is always being poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us for our benefit. 6 For a while, we were, as an eternal spiritual truth, still helpless, still, at that particular appointed moment in history, Christ died as a substitute for the benefit of the ungodly. 7 For, it is unlikely, anyone will die as a substitute for the benefit of a righteous person. 8 In fact, possibly, someone might also have the courage to voluntarily die as a substitute for the benefit of the good person. But, God (the Father), as an eternal spiritual truth and fact of history, proves His own divine-love for the benefit of all of us by the fact that while we were, as an eternal spiritual truth, still sinners, Christ died as a substitute for the benefit of all of us. (Lecturer’s translation)
Romans 8:32 Indeed, He by no means spared His own Son but rather He delivered Him over to death for each and every one of us, how will He unequivocally not also, as a certainty, with Him graciously give all things for the benefit of all of us. (Lecturer’s translation)
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (NET)
1 Timothy 2:1 Therefore, based upon my previous statements, I first of all urgently request specific detailed requests, reverential prayers, intercessory prayers, thanksgivings be regularly offered up on behalf of each and every member of the human race, 2 on behalf of kings as well as each and every one of those individuals who are in authority in order that we may continue to live a peaceful and tranquil life with absolute godliness as well as dignity. 3 This is, as an eternal spiritual truth noble as well as pleasingly acceptable in the judgment of God the Father, our Savior 4 who, as an eternal spiritual truth desires each and every member of the human race to be saved as well as to enter into knowing experientially the truth. 5 For you see there does exist, as an eternal spiritual truth only one God. Also, there does exist, as an eternal spiritual truth only one intermediary between God the Father and the human race, a human being, namely Christ, who is Jesus 6 who gave Himself as a ransom on behalf of each and every one as a substitute, the testimony at His appointed time. (Lecturer’s translation)
