Ephesians 1 showed us who we are in Christ: chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 2 now shows us just how great that salvation really is by reminding us where we came from. Paul begins with a hard truth: apart from Christ, we were spiritually dead and unable to rescue…
Paul begins Ephesians in an unusual way. After a brief greeting, he does not start by telling believers what they need to do. He begins by reminding them who they are and what God has already done for them. Before Paul gets to Christian behavior, relationships, spiritual warfare, or walking worthy of our calling, he…
It is a common human instinct and desire to live a long, pleasing life. One of the commandments that were given to God’s people all the way back in Exodus was… 12 Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you. –…
As Paul continues to share and encourage the people of Ephesus on how to live out a healthy, wholesome life, we can also directly relate to our daily lives. Paul opens chapter 5 with well-known directive of living in the light. A fact we can each relate to is that we cannot add darkness to…
After several weeks of learning who we are from Paul in the first three chapters of Ephesians, we begin to engage with how to live out the plans for us and the church. In the Message translation by Eugene Peterson, he opens chapter 4 with… In light of all this, here’s what I want you…
As we begin this weeks session, it will be apparent that we are picking up right in the middle of Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians. We are reminded once again that the chapter and paragraph breaks that we experience in the Bible are not defined by content or context. This chapter starts off with “For…
“Tell it like it is” is a phrase that became common in the decade of the sixties, and carried on into the seventies. It had its origin in the personal growth movement, i.e., sensitivity training, when the emphasis was on personal confrontation, honesty, and no-holds-barred sharing of feelings and responses. It spilled over into other…
As we kick off the year 2019, we are grateful for all the time we have shared together, and the hope that our faith in Jesus provides. Today we begin in the scriptures of the book of Ephesians. We have done a lot of review and research of Paul, the city of Ephesus and the…
As we read through the section in the book of Acts about Paul’s third missionary trip, we learned that the region was far from a peaceful Christian oasis. It was a populous area that was essentially a melting pot. The area was a prime seaport and economic center, much like what Corinth was like in…
As we prepare to go through the book of Ephesians we attempt to put into context the cultural and economic status of Ephesus at the time Paul wrote the letter, but it was not always a Christian-centered region. If we recall, last week we noticed how the letter of Ephesians is unlike other letters in…
