In this summer study, we read through Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians. Paul’s great theme is God’s eternal purpose in establishing and completing the universal Church of Jesus Christ to be both the agent of and the result of God’s reconciliation of all things to both himself and to each other. As a background for this study, I used Luke Timothy Johnson’s The Writings of The New Testament, Ben Witherington’s The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians – A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captive Epistles, N.T. Wright’s Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, and N.T. Wright’s Justification. This study covers twelve weeks.
(Summer 2024) (The notes from the 2013 lesson are HERE.)
Ephesians – Overview
Ephesians is the reminder to its audience of (i) how Christ has reconciled all creation to himself and to God, (ii) how through Christ, all of humanity is reconciled to each other by and through the church, and (iii) how we in the church are to live a reconciled life.
Ephesians 1:1-15, Major Themes
Paul’s opening is a panegyric (or a pep rally) for Jesus Christ so that his audience becomes enraptured with wonder, love, and praise for Christ and his works. Paul wants his audience and us to be excited about Jesus and his role in our salvation.
Ephesians 1:3-10, God’s Plan
The question is “How does God rescue his creation from sin and death?” Or rather “How is the victory of those forces arrayed against God obtained?” God’s plan (v.10) from the beginning of creation (v.4) is the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:11-14, We, You, and Ours
The promise to Abraham that all nations will be blessed through him is “our inheritance.” As Paul writes in Galatians, all who are in Christ are heirs to that promise.
Ephesians 1:15-19, The Prayer of Thanksgiving
All of these things – faith, love, wisdom, understanding, enlightenment, and hope – begin with the blessing of God the Father through Jesus Christ (v.3) according to his purpose and his will (v.11) to bring about God’s “glorious inheritance” (v.18) which is the church. This is our story.
Ephesians 1:20-23, Christ’s Authority
Paul writes that the church is filled by this same Christ who is over all things. Christ gives the church community the same power and life that he has been given by God so that the church may experience this power as Paul will later describe in Chapter 2.
Ephesians 2:1-3, The Prince of the Air
“The enemy of our race, the devil, having fallen from heaven, wanders around these lower airs . . . and works illusions in those who are deceived and attempts to prevent them rising upwards . . . yet Christ came that he might overthrow the devil, purify the air, and open up for us the way to heaven.” Athanasius, “On the Incarnation,” Ch. IV.25
Ephesians 2:4-10, Grace and Salvation
We are rescued from the power of the prince of the air and from the death that follows. This salvation is solely due to God’s grace working through Christ. Nothing we do affects our salvation.
Ephesians 2:11-16, Abolition and Reconciliation
The fulfillment of this gospel of reconciliation and at-one-ness is achieved when the “dividing wall of hostility” – i.e. the law of commandments and ordinances – is abolished in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:17-22, Realized Ecclesiology
The church as a place of peace and reconciliation between different peoples is not simply an ideal that will only be achieved eschatologically, but is (and should be) the actual current situation. We, as the church, are the place of peace where those things that divide human society are abolished and all are one in Christ.
Ephesians 3:1-6, Excitement for the Gospel
The source of Paul’s excitement is God’s revelation to him of the mystery that has been hidden for the ages – that all people are one in Christ Jesus and that the Church is the physical manifestation of the fulfillment of this mystery.
Ephesians 3:7-13, Christ’s Benefits
God’s grace through Christ, as demonstrated in Paul, reveals not an angry capricious god or even a just karmic god, but that loving father who invites even his greatest persecutor to be his apostle. The eternal purpose for which Christ Jesus came was the reconciliation of all of us with our creator so that we have that blessed assurance that we have been redeemed, forgiven, and lavished with God’s grace.
Ephesians 3:14-17, Sanctification
Sanctification is “the process of becoming holy through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit . . . by means of which we grow into the fullness of the redeemed life.”
Ephesians 3:17-21, The Doxology
Of all of Paul’s doxologies, this is the only one that mentions the role of the church. The glory (doxa) of God is found not only in Christ Jesus but also found in the Church, the gathered Christian community.
Ephesians 4:1-7, A Life Worthy of Our Calling
Paul exhorts the church to lead a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called – a unity in the Spirit which is that visible symbol of Christ’s victory over the powers and principalities of this world.
Ephesians 4:7-16, Christ’s Spiritual Gifts
Christ’s gifts are given to individuals, not for their own spiritual benefit, but to benefit the church itself. Our gifts can only be properly utilized in service to the body. Otherwise, we are like the servant in the parable who received the one talent and buried it in the sand.
Ephesians 4:17-24, Putting off the Old
Paul calls upon his audience to cast off their old life, which arose from their ignorance, just as they would cast off an old garment. Their old nature is simply not who they are anymore with the full knowledge of Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 4:25-32, Putting on the New
Paul is not merely writing that we should be gracious to or forgive others, but we must be continuously gracing and forgiving each other. This endless gracing of one another is what a Christian community look like.
Ephesians 5:1-5, Imitators of God
The summation of Paul’s ethical rules is contained in 4:32-5:2 – Give grace to one another, just as God in Christ gave grace to you and be imitators of God, to walk in love with one another just as Christ sacrificially loved you.
Ephesians 5:6-20, Children of Light
In acting in accordance with the Good, the Church exposes the unfruitful works of the darkness of the world. The Church does this, not by scolding those still in the world, but by showing them the Light which is Christ, and thereby being attractive to them.
Ephesians 5:21-33, Household Codes pt.1
The very basis of Paul’s household codes is his introductory statement that we must “be subject to one another.” v.21. In his examples, Paul transforms the existing roles into something new. The social structure or shell of these institutions is left in place, however, Paul’s teaching radically reimagines and redefines the inner reality of these existing institutions.
Ephesians 6:1-9, Household Codes pt.2
In the three examples of household relationships, Paul always addresses both parties to that relationship. In addressing the traditionally subservient party, Paul gives them a share in the responsibility to maintain the good order of the household. In addressing the traditionally dominate party, Paul gives him reciprocal obligations.
Ephesians 6:10-20, Armor of God
The church’s military engagement with the powers and principalities of the heavenly realm is not about advancing or attacking but of standing firm and holding one’s ground. Christ is the one who wins the battle and the church militant is to hold those gains.
Ephesians 6:21-24 – The Benediction
Paul ends his letter by reminding the Ephesians of our eternal, spiritual, incorruptible, immortal, death-defeating, teleological end. As the letter begins with God’s plan which was set forth from the beginning that all things would be united in Christ, so Paul ends this letter with this same teaching that death is defeated and God will be all in all.