Welcome back! I hope your summer was good and that you had the opportunity to have something of a vacation ... even if it was in your own backyard! I find changing my routine to be invigorating. However, I am ready to get back into a regular Bible study with you and hope that you are too.
About format: This study will contain 10 weeks of lessons. Each lesson will have 3 days of study. We will conclude the week before Thanksgiving. I would suggest that you get a notebook (school has started, you know, and everyone needs a new notebook!) - a journal will be adequate - just someplace to make notes to yourself as you read and study.
This New Testament letter has remarkable descriptions by commentators. Some of them include: "the Queen of the Epistles", "the Switzerland of the New Testament"'; "the crown and climax of Pauline theology" and "one of the divinest compositions of man". WOW! That's quite a set up isn't it? When John Knox was near the end of his life, what he wanted read to him was John Calvin's "Sermons on the Letter to the Ephesians". That's it - not Psalms, not promises from Revelation - but things from Ephesians. My prayer for all of us is that by the end of these 10 weeks ... we are going to understand why!
This little letter tells us so much about our identity, who we REALLY are in Christ. (If you don't know for sure that you are "in Christ" ... email me and let's set up a time when we can talk. ) We are so susceptible to the world and culture around us telling us who we are ... and who we should be. It's wearying, no? Ephesians is going to be very clear about that. And I need that clarity!
This little letter is relational. It speaks to the relationship between God and man, God and you. But it also has much to say about our relationships with those around us, the you and me.
This little letter is transformational. It provides us with the opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into the reflection and image of Christ - to the glory of God.
I am excited about our journey. So ... let's begin!
Your task today is to read the entire letter. Just read for content and flow. Don't stop at chapter headings - they are man-made anyway. Read it as if you just received it from a friend. In your notebook, write down who you find to be the author and to whom it seems to be written. Also, with this first run through, why do you think it was written?
Close your day's work by writing in your notebook the words of Ephesians 1:3. Or, write it on a card and put it where you will see it often throughout the day. How beautiful ...
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
in Christ.
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