As we now come to a new section, Paul begins to talk about relationships, which we can think of as a third major section of this letter. He began with doctrine, because that is the foundation. Then, second, he went on to say that doctrine will affect how one lives. Now we come to the third point, which is that how we live as Christians will inevitably affect our relationships with other people. Godliness, you see, is also to be expressed in human relationships, as well as in our relationship with God. If we claim to have a close relationship with God and yet have bad relationships with other people, Paul would ask, “Well, what kind of godliness is that?” You have to put true godliness to work, as it expresses itself in the interchanges of life.

In the area of physical exercise, Paul says it is of some value. It’s better to be in good shape than in poor shape. But even if you are in the best physical condition and health, no matter how hard you work to keep it that way, Paul knows that there is a limit to which that will be beneficial. For one thing, your body will get weaker and weaker as it ages, no matter what you do. And for another thing, it is the wrong priority to be more concerned with the condition of your physical body than with your spiritual person and the means by which we are to grow in holiness. No matter how much time and money is put into taking care of your body, it will eventually die and there’s nothing you can do to stop the process. But the spirit and the soul are going to live forever.

One part of this teaching is false theology, which Paul has been concerned about from the very beginning. In verse 7 he speaks of “godless myths” that take the place of true religion. The other is what today we would call “asceticism.” These two things really indicate two different tools the devil uses to get people either not to take religion seriously and, therefore, never come to faith in Christ in the first place, or, if the person is a Christian, to try to get them off the track by dealing with things that are of no profit. One is the error of dabbling with spiritual things, and that has to do with a mythology. The other is the area of fanaticism, where we become so fanatic about certain particulars of the faith that we really miss the heart of it. 

Yesterday’s study concluded by referring to Ephesians 3:7-11, where Paul writes that through the church the wisdom of God is being made known to those in the heavenly realms. We might ask in what sense is that? Don’t the angels know about these things better than we do? The answer is, yes, they do. Consequently, Paul does not mean that the angels are looking down upon the church to have the Scriptures explained to them intellectually. They have better minds than we do, and they know perfectly well what it says in Scripture. It’s not in that sense that they’re looking to the church. Rather, I believe it’s in this sense of our proving the truthfulness of these things by showing that the wisdom of God in salvation really works in people that are just like you and me. If this is the idea, Paul is asserting that the church on earth is the center of the universe so far as the attention of the heavenly beings is concerned. 

Into this denial of truth comes the church of Jesus Christ, not with anything of its own but with the revelation of God—this precious deposit that is ours in Scripture. It proclaims to the world that here, in the Bible, is the truth. If you would build a life that is solid and will stand the buffetings of the temptations and the troubles of this world, come and build upon this foundation because this is the place where you’re going to find it. You’re not going to find it anywhere else. When we begin to talk about the church being the foundation of the truth, certainly this is what we have in mind—that the church has the truth because God has given it to her in Scripture.