Sunday, October 1, 2017

Paul's Letter to the Church in Ephesus

Paul letter to the church in Ephesus was most likely a letter sent to a number of churches in the region around Ephesus.  (Indeed, some ancient manuscripts do not include Ephesus in the greeting.) Some have argued that issues discussed here fit better with the church in Laodicea and it is possible that this letter circulated in western Asia Minor (now western Turkey, near the Aegean Sea) to cities such as Ephesus and Laodicea.  In addition, unlike other letters of Paul, there are no personal greetings or instructions, as if he does not have a particular congregation in mind.  He mentions, at the end of the letter, that he is sending Tychicus with the letter, but that is the only personal note in the letter.

Tradition has it that the letter to Ephesus, like the letter to the church in Colossae, was written while Paul was in prison in Rome, awaiting trial.  (In chapter 3, Paul calls himself a "prisoner for Christ"; towards the end of the letter, he mentions that he is "in chains".)

Wikipedia has a good entry here.  One theme of the letter is instructions on how Gentile believers should live as members of the kingdom of God.

OverviewBible.com has a good summary of the letter here.

There is, of course, a nice summary, including a summary video at the Bible Project. That 9-minute video is easy to watch and carries lots of information.

The letter of Ephesians naturally breaks into two parts. Much like the letter to the Romans, the first half (chapters 1-3) is theory and the second half (chapters 4-6) is application of the theory to daily living.

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