The Bible Study Podcast, episode 49. This is the eighth episode in a series about what the church is and what it's called to be.

This particular episode will focus on humility.

Welcome to the Bible study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen. As I said in the introduction,

this is the eighth episode in a series that I believe will now contain 10 different episodes.

And so let's jump right in and look at humility. In Ephesians 4, when Paul wants to call the church in

Ephesus to unity, he uses these verses.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

So Paul has a series of things that he wants people to do that will enable them to live a life worthy of the calling that they have received.

And he starts with be humble and gentle.

What does humility mean?

We sometimes get the impression, and I think the false impression, that the humble person is the person who says, oh, I can't do anything. Oh, I'm no good. And I don't think that is what the Bible is looking for us to be. In fact, after this series, I'm thinking about doing a series on the giftedness of the church.

So what does humility mean in a biblical context?

As I broke out some of the commentaries, I found this particular definition in the

new international Greek commentary series.

In Greek ethical discussions, however, the word for humility

is the one who manifests a well-regarded mastery of his anger, the description of Moses as very

humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth, identifies him as one who is

...