Whew! Feels like we are reading these books at warp speed compared to how we started out, in my humble opinion.
Ephesians is another prison letter that Paul wrote while awaiting trail by Caesar's authority. Persecution was still happening to the Christian believers and they needed some encouragement. Paul had been with the Ephesians for three years during his third missionary trip and he loved them. Ephesus was in modern day Turkey. Artemis (Diana) was the goddess being worshiped by the pagans. Paul sent this letter with Tychicus and scholars think that this was a letter that was written to circulate in the churches, not just for Ephesus.
Paul discusses redemption again; it was the price paid to gain freedom for a slave, and Jesus paid this price to release us from slavery to sin. NOW we are forgiven on the basis of the shedding of Jesus' blood. God's purpose for sending Christ was to unite Jews and Gentiles in one body with Christ as the head. Jews could not rely on their heritage and traditions. Gentile, Jew, slave and master, male and female were all equal in the eyes of God, but there is an order to things. Christ is head of the church, Man is head of the marriage if in fact it is an ideal Christian marriage where the husband cherishes the wife like Christ cherishes the church, and woman respects the man.
We are chosen...this is big.....we may think we chose Christ....NOPE, he chose us, and we have the choice to accept the relationship. When we believe in Christ, the Holy Spirit is in us just like a deposit guaranteeing our eternal life...
Paul repeatedly tells us that it is by grace that we are saved.....we were designed to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. That's why we have spiritual gifts. They aren't for us, they are to be used to build up the body of Christ. We need to be united as the church.
We are to be imitators of God.....we are DEARLY LOVED CHILDREN!!!! As a result, we should submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. This is not being a doormat...submit doesn't have a good connotation in today's culture. Christ submits to God, for goodness sake...let's rethink this holy concept.
We are also encouraged to put on the whole armor of God, because our battle really is not with each other, it is against the devil's forces. These really exist, even if we can't see them sometime, or these forces would not be something against which Paul warns us about.
In fourteen days, you will have finished reading the Bible. Do you know how happy this makes God? He loves it when His children persevere.
Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
After you read, feel free to make a comment or ask a question in the comment box. You can sign up as a follower on the right, or you can sign up by e-mail at the bottom if you would like to follow the whole year. You may also chose to simply read along and make no comments. Whatever you choose. If you fall behind, as most people will do, don't worry...the whole year is here and you can catch up at your own speed. I highly encourage you to stick with it, If you read the Bible, you are going to mine some real jewels and insights.
Yea.....I read the part about how a man should love his wife.....
ReplyDeleteMy Bible points out that Tychicus was a crucial part of the ministry....that he delivered Paul's messages to several churches.....so he was a major part in distributing the Word of God.