Continuing the Trail of the Truth series from Revelation 2:5 and 6, this class moves from doctrine into conduct, tracing how Paul, as the messenger to the first church age, set the standard for holy living, godly marriage, the raising of children, and conduct at work, before introducing the subject of modesty by tracing dress back to Genesis.
Scripture Reference
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Key Points: The Standard for Holy Living
- Paul’s letters, though addressed to specific churches, were meant for the wider church age, setting a pattern that every subsequent messenger is expected to follow.
- Ephesians 5:1 to 21 sets a standard for holy living: put away fornication, uncleanness, and foolish talking, walk as children of light, and give thanks always for all things.
- The same standard is carried into marriage in Ephesians 5:21 to 33, instructing wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church.
- Paul continued the pattern into the raising of children in Ephesians 6:1 to 4 and into the conduct of servants and masters, framing all work as service rendered to the Lord rather than to men.
- 1 Timothy 2:9 and 10 addresses modest dress, and the principle is traced back to Genesis, where God clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skin after the fall rather than leaving them in the fig leaf coverings they made for themselves.
- The class closes by noting that this same pattern, holy living, marriage, family, and modesty, is what should also be expected of the messenger to the final church age, since God does not change.