Ephesians 3:1-7

Fundamentally, I’m happy not to be a Bible scholar. The confusions are many, the options are numerous, and the clues are muddled. Today, another confusion… Three days ago I wrote this paragraph relating to Ephesians 1:15:

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints… (v. 15) This is a strange sentence coming from Paul, the “I have heard…” portion. He had spent two to three years in Ephesus, so he knew well of their faith – a faith that he had brought to them and encouraged in them. So why the present perfect tense? It is extremely unlikely that Paul could have written this letter before he had ever visited Ephesus. Bible scholars also wonder about this construction, with explanations like news coming to Paul in prison about a major growth in the Ephesian Christian community or in the surrounding cities if this letter were to be one of his circular letters. Strange.

Now in today’s reading, another oddity: …assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you… (v. 2). Again, …assuming that you have heard… How could the Ephesians not have heard, since he spent 2-3 years there? So what are the possible explanations? First, Paul could be anticipating that major growth in the Ephesian area, which I mentioned above. Second, Paul could have meant this as a circular letter to be read in many cities that he had never visited. And third, Paul could have written this letter before he ever visited Ephesus, which he had done briefly on his second missionary journey and where he had stayed longer on this third missionary journey. But this third possibility is very unlikely in that we have no record of Paul having spent time in prison before Caesarea (except for one overnight stay in Philippi). There are a number of other reasons to reject this third possibility. In the end the circular letter makes the most sense, except that Paul never mentions that this letter should be read in other churches, like he does in Colossians 4:16. So again, strange…

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (v. 6) Paul has mentioned this “mystery” on other occasions (Romans 11:25, 16:25); Colossians 1:25-27), but this verse is his most clear statement of what he means, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs (with the Jews) in the gospel. For a full discussion of Paul and his “mysteries”, please click on the following URL: http://helpmewithbiblestudy.org/11Church/TeachPaulMysteriesOfGod.aspx#sthash.VMfOApO0.dpbs. Here is a foretaste of what you will find in that link: “In 20 instances, Paul speaks of a mystery or secret (Greek: mystērion) of God in the context of something formerly hidden in meaning but now revealed by God for all to know and understand (Rom 16:25-26; 1 Cor 2:7-10).” The writer goes on to discuss four types of mysteries that Paul covers in his letters. The Gentiles as “fellow heirs” is his number three. Enjoy!

Slava Bohu!

Ephesians 2:11-22

Clarification… In today’s reading, in verses 11 to 13 Paul is speaking in the second person (you) directly to the Ephesians, as Gentiles. Then in the rest of the reading he switches (mostly) to the first person and is writing about both the Gentiles and the Jews. In particular, in using the phrases “us both” (vv. 14, 16) and “we both” (v. 18), the “both” refers to Gentiles and Jews. His “we both” usage is particularly powerful (to me), in that Paul identifies himself dramatically with the Circumcision Jews.

I’ve always enjoyed verse 12: …remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, especially his ending, …having no hope and without God in the world. Paul paints a very bleak picture of the Gentiles’ situation in their prior life! It’s also a picture of our own prior lives and, unfortunately, the current lives of so many of our family and friends. No hope. Without God. Sad…

…built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone… (v. 20) Another verse personal to me… In my early born-again years I was a concrete contractor, building poured-wall basements in Champaign, Illinois. My partner and I had named our firm “Cornerstone Construction”, citing Psalm 118:22 specifically, with other citations as appropriate.

Slava Bohu!

Ephesians 2:1-10

Mostly I follow The Chronological Study Bible in putting the readings together. However, my other Study Bible had chapter 2 split between verses 10 and 11, which to me is a better fit. So that’s what I’m doing today, only through verse 10, picking up 11-22 tomorrow.

But God … made us alive together with Christ … and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… (vv. 4-6) Often there’s a sequential pattern in Paul’s triads. Today’s reading has that in verses 4-6, as noted in bold above. “Made us alive”, “raised us up”, and “seated us”. A nice sequence, especially with Jesus highlighted in each activity, and a glorious finish!

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works… (v. 10a) So many of us are familiar with Ephesians 2:8-9 and many of us know it (mostly) by heart. It’s one of the key “faith, not works” verses that are so often quoted. But I have often thought that people who quoted those two verses discounted works altogether too much, and I wished that they would add verse 10 to their quote. We are created “for good works” and we should “walk in them”. Yes, it’s still faith first and foremost, but let’s not discount good works.

Slava Bohu!

Ephesians 1:15-23

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints… (v. 15) This is a strange sentence coming from Paul, the “I have heard…” portion. He had spent two to three years in Ephesus, so he knew well of their faith – a faith that he had brought to them and encouraged in them. So why the present perfect tense? It is extremely unlikely that Paul could have written this letter before he had ever visited Ephesus. Bible scholars also wonder about this construction, with explanations like news coming to Paul in prison about a major growth in the Ephesian Christian community or in the surrounding cities if this letter were to be one of his circular letters. Strange.

…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places… (vv. 17-20).

Three items related to these four verses. First, yes, Paul has another triad here (what, what, what), one of his more distinct triads and possibly one of the first that ever came to mind for me. Second, a comment about Paul and his pronouns… There are nine third-person pronouns (He, Him, His) in these four verses. Having read it over and over again my guess is that all the first seven of those pronouns refer to God the Father and only the last two refer to Jesus. But it’s not clear unless you look closely. Finally, the third “what” phrase in those verses has “toward us” as a prepositional phrase, meaning that His power is available to us. I believe that we can also add “toward us” or “for us” as additional phrases in the first two “what” phrases, so that they would read “His calling [for us]” and “His inheritance [for us]”. That is, God the Father has called us, has an inheritance for us, and has made His power available to us. That’s a lot of His working in our lives. GLORY!!!

Slava Bohu!

Ephesians 1:1-14

Ephesians! For our reading list, the last of Paul’s nine “city” letters…

Paul references the Trinity here, explicitly. He speaks of the Father in verses 3-6 and 9-10 (although Paul’s pronoun usage – Him, His, He – often makes it difficult for us to distinguish between the Father and the Son), the Son in verses 5-13, and the Holy Spirit in verses 13-14. I don’t recall Paul mentioning the Holy Spirit a lot in his letters. Most of Paul’s writing is focused on Jesus, especially His redemption. In today’s verses Paul covers His redemption, His forgiveness, and the inheritance we have in Jesus.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. (v. 13) Here Paul is speaking directly to his audience, primarily Gentiles, having mentioned himself and his fellow Jewish believers (…we who were the first to hope in Christ…) in the previous verse. Whenever Paul speaks in the second person (you, etc.), I always imagine that he is speaking to me/us also. That is, that we are included with the Ephesian believers and that what was true for them is also true for us – specifically in this case that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and that we have the same guarantee of our inheritance in Christ. It’s a strong message when we make it personal.

Slava Bohu!

Colossians 4:7-18

I have long known about the church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) and God’s warning to them not to be lukewarm in their faith. But it had slipped from my mind that they are mentioned four times in today’s reading (vv. 13, 15, 16). The interesting item here has to do with Paul’s telling the Colossians to …see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. (v. 16) My first thought on reading this verse was that we have another missing letter from Paul. But my Study Bible suggested that Paul may be referring to his letter to the Ephesians – with a suggestion that the letter to the Ephesians was to be read first in Ephesus, then in Laodicea, then in Colossae. Presumably the reverse route could follow for Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Strong evidence of this circular routing of the letters comes from Ephesians 6:21, wherein Paul notes that Tychicus is the bearer of the Ephesians letter. He and Onesimus are also the bearers of the letters to the Colossians and Philemon. And because there is a fair amount of common material in Colossians and Ephesians, it is very likely that Paul wrote both letters (and Philemon) at the same time from the same location. It is unlikely that Paul would have written a letter to the Ephesians from Ephesus and I had already ruled out his imprisonment in Caesarea, so my earlier conclusion of Rome to be the location for these prison letters is strengthened. Now, on to Ephesians!

Slava Bohu!

Colossians 3:18-4:6

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. (v. 20) I’m sure we’ve shared a few times with you all that Carol and I had a broken engagement for almost two years. The fifth (fourth) commandment specifically tells us to “Honor your father and mother…” (Exodus 20:12) Paul makes an even stronger statement, telling us to obey them (not just honor them), which is what we did. After we had been engaged for about seven months Carol’s parents asked us not to get married. They didn’t feel that we were a good match and they had their reasons. Even though we disagreed with them and their reasons, we broke our engagement based on obedience. After almost two years and many events in that time they gave us their blessing and, frankly, came to love me dearly. We’ve never regretted the growing time we each had in those two years.

Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters… (vv. 3-22-4:1) My Study Bible again gave me insight into today’s reading. I had noticed in my reading that Paul spoke many more words to bondservants (slaves) than he did to wives, husbands, or children. My Study Bible pointed out that this letter to the Colossians and the letter to Philemon were being delivered by Onesimus, about whom we read in Philemon. Onesimus was Philemon’s slave, so with the slave delivering the letter Paul spent more time with instructions for slaves than he did for other household members. He also added an additional verse to masters, presumably hoping to get Philemon’s attention!

Slava Bohu!

Colossians 3:12-17

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (v. 14) It sounds simple enough and it is certainly good instruction for those of us who call ourselves Christians. But almost every time that I find a “love one another” verse, I am drawn back to 2003 and the Episcopal convention that affirmed the gay bishop from New Hampshire. I was a member of the Diocesan leadership team and first alternate to the convention, so I was party to all those discussions that formed our Diocesan response to this “gay bishop” issue. And so often, when the issue of the “right or wrong” of homosexuality, with our personal and corporate response to the issue of homosexuality in our midst, the one item that I kept hearing was that “Jesus said, ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ ” (John 15:12) And it’s true, I affirm that. But Jesus also affirmed marriage – one man, one woman – and gave no hint that other marital relationships were acceptable.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts … [and] … Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… (vv. 15, 16) These two imperatives have direct bearing on the paragraph above. Everyone’s marital relationship needs to stand on these two admonitions. Your relationship must accord with Scripture – all of Scripture, not just a few select passages. And you need to be at peace in your marital relationship – before and during your marriage.

Slava Bohu!

Colossians 3:1-11

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (v. 3) Our lives are “hidden”. Hidden from whom? I have a picture of myself standing behind Jesus. When God the Father looks toward me, he sees Jesus. Moreover, when Satan looks toward me, he also sees Jesus! Unfortunately, in these two instances we are talking about that dead man, that new Fred. Satan knows that it’s useless to look toward that new Fred because Jesus’ shining light blinds him. So he looks toward that old man, this earthly Fred, and he sees all those old weaknesses, that shameful, disappointing past. And that becomes his focus. Sad.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (v. 5) I like that Paul makes this connection between all these sins and idolatry. Let’s go “light” and take on covetousness. Paul says that whatever we are coveting is an idol to us – money, power, THINGS!! That new car, a new house, new furniture, travel, whatever…!! I was thinking about what I covet most in life. Beyond my faith in God and His redemption in Jesus; beyond my wife, kids and their families; beyond our church and our current “life”… Surprisingly to me, I daresay that what I covet most is my free time. I truly have been busy all my life. As an academic my work never stopped – it came home with me every evening, every weekend. Even in travel or on vacation, that course, that research project was always on my mind. Now in my retirement I am more flexible with my time, but I am still busy with my family, our property, the church, whatever. I look around at things that need to be done around me. And truly, I get mildly angry. It’s going to take TIME to get those things done. My FREE TIME!! Yeah, it’s an idol for me… Sad.

Slava Bohu!