An Overview of Ephesians

Good morning and welcome to class this morning. Today we are going to have a special lesson before we begin our 11-week study into the Search for Significance. I asked for suggestions and one of our members came up with this idea of studying the book of Ephesians. I trimmed it back a little to an overview. So let us get started by opening up our Bibles to Ephesians 1:1, what does it say?

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: NASU

What does this tell us?

· It was written by Paul, the Apostle.
· It was written to believers.
· It was written to the church at Ephesus.

Believe it or not there used to be a controversy over whether this letter was actually written to the believers at Ephesus. This was because there were three very old manuscripts that did not include the words “in Ephesus”, but now the consensus is that it was indeed written as stated.

As we take a look at this letter that Paul wrote I want us to try to put ourselves in Paul’s place. By doing this we will be able to get an understanding of the significance of this letter.

First, Paul was under house arrest in Rome, as described in Acts chapter 28, and he had gotten there due to his making an appeal to Caesar about the trial results from his arrest in the temple at Jerusalem. Just like Jesus, he faced the council, they plotted to kill him, he then faced the Roman administrator, then the king. The roman administrator could not have him released or executed like Jesus because Paul had appealed to the Caesar so he was finally sent to Rome.

Second, Paul faced a problematical question. How long did he have before he was placed in front of Caesar, with its highly likely outcome of execution? There is no way he could know this so he had to decide what to do with his time, he had to prioritize his work. So he decided to write some important letters. During his time under house arrest he wrote Colossians, Philemon, Philippians and Ephesians, this happened in approximately 60-61 AD.

Third, whom should he write to, and why? For us this morning, the question is why Ephesus? To answer that we need to look at what the city was at the time.

Ephesus was the biggest Greek city in what was called the known world at the time; only Rome and Alexandria were bigger. It is estimated that a population of up to 500,000 lived in this port city, located at the mouth of the River Cayster. It was the gateway to the Roman province of Asia, which is basically modern day Turkey, and was the capital of the region.

Ephesus was the site of the great Temple of Artemis, the Greek goddess of fertility, who the Romans called Diana. The Temple of Artemis was four times bigger than the Parthenon in Athens, and was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. While it has not been conclusively proved that child sacrifice was conducted at this temple, it was a practice of the peoples in that part of the world as a fertility offering.

Acts chapter 19 records that when Paul was in Ephesus, many miracles were performed by God. Verse 20 says this:

So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. NASU

This is important for us to understand because Ephesus was a center of dark spiritual activity. I would say that it was most likely the most spiritually dangerous place that Paul ever encountered.

The sum of this information is this, and it answers the question we asked about why write to the church at Ephesus? The city was the center of both human and ungodly spiritual activity for the entire province of Asia. What happened in Ephesus eventually found its way to the rest of the province, and was exported around the so-called civilized world through its trading partners. As the powers of darkness and secularism were defeated there, the whole world would see it. Of all the cities that Paul visited, this was the most important.

It was so important that Paul installed his “son in the Lord”, Timothy, the person he trusted the most, to oversee the church there. It was so important that he chose to write this letter we are looking at, as his way of strengthening the church there. He knew that he may never get back to see Timothy or his friends there, and he wanted to give them two major messages:

· To remind them of what God has done.
· To encourage them to fulfill their calling.

So we find that Paul provides a good overview of the Christian life to the Ephesians that has become a timeless message for all believers. Let us go through the book and highlight some of the more important mini messages.

Eph 1:1-2 is the greeting, which we have already looked at.

Eph 1:3-14 is sometimes called the Ephesians’ Doxology, which simply means song of praise. It contains some important things for us:

· 3-6 declares God divine purpose for saving us, the church, began with the Father’s identification of His believers in eternity, and this is “to the praise of His glory”. (v6)
· 7-12 looks at the fact that in the fullness of time He saved His church by the redeeming work of Christ, “to the praise of His glory”. (v12)
· 13-14 identifies that we were saved and sealed by the giving of the Holy Spirit, “to the praise of His glory”. (v14)

Eph 1:15-23 is a prayer of thanksgiving and petition for knowledge, understanding and wisdom for believers.

· 15-16 is a moment of thanks for the faith and love of the believers.
· 17-23 is the prayer request for spiritual wisdom, and knowledge to understand all that God has done, and spells out some of it.

Eph 2:1-3:21 goes through the steps that God has taken to carry out His eternal plan of salvation.

· 2:1-10, Paul clearly tells us that both Jew and Gentile are saved by grace alone.

Let’s actually read verses 8-9:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. NASU

I want to spend a moment on this verse. What is unique about this peculiarly Christian doctrine? (Discuss) It is the issue of “works” or the errant thinking that a person can earn their way into God’s presence. Christianity is the only religion that states it, Judaism implies it or points its followers toward it, but until Christ came it wasn’t made clear to them. (Any other thoughts?)

· 2:11-22 discusses how God united what is called the “circumcision and uncircumcision” into one church through Christ. Jesus is pictured here as our “peace”, Jehovah Shalom in the Old Testament, and also as our cornerstone with whom we fit as one body.
· 3:1-6, God has revealed the mystery of His plan, first to His Apostles and then to us.
· 3:7-13, God instructed Paul to speak of this mystery of the plan of salvation to the gentiles, and thereby revealing it also to the angels, which are called “rulers and authorities in heavenly places” in v10. (Read verses 8-11)
· 3:14-21, a prayer to strengthen, with power, the believers through the Holy Spirit. Paul finishes this section with “to Him be the glory forever and ever”.

Eph 4:1-6:18 is a long treatise on how to walk with God.

· 4:1-6 is a call to unity bonded together by peace, let’s read it!
· 4:7-16 exhorts us to use the gifts we have all been given to serve the church. (Ask the class to identify, if they comfortable doing it, one gift they are using to serve Parkway with.)
· 4:17-24 instructs us to separate ourselves from pagan lifestyles and to become spiritually renewed to be like God in righteousness and holiness. (Read v22-24)
· 4:25-5:2 tells us not to “grieve the Holy Spirit” by lying, indulging in sinful anger, stealing, bad language, resentments, slander or any other wickedness in our Hearts. Be kind and tenderhearted, just like God.
· 5:3-14 is a call to call to moral purity, walk as children of light, guarding against impure thoughts, words and actions.
· 5:15-21 says to be wise, be filled with the Spirit and to worship God in fellowship, and be accountable to each other.
· 5:22-23 is our love and respect passages. Love and respect each other in our marriages.
· 6:1-4 love and respect in other family relationships.
· 6:5-9 honor God in your employee/employer situations remembering that every person has great value in the sight of God.
· 6:10-18, the final instruction. Be aware that you are engaged in a war, a spiritual war. Stand firm and use the defenses God has given you in battling the true enemy, the rulers, the powers and the forces of darkness that occupy the world.

The last few verses are Paul talking about his personal situation, which he knows might be of concern to the believers in Ephesus.

I am going to close now, but before I do, has anybody got any last questions about the book of Ephesians?

Next week we begin our study about every person’s “Search for Significance”.