Feb 24, 2019
The Ephesians lived in a wealthy area with a lofty view of themselves and physical luxuries. Yet Paul described their culture as spiritually dead and unable to please God. He encouraged their culture to ‘wake up’ out of moral darkness and let Christ shine into their lives (Eph. 5:14). Because Jesus had transformed...
Feb 17, 2019
The fundamental message of the Bible is how mortal man can be reconciled to Almighty God. There is also a subtext of real-world compassion. When believers recognize a need which should be met, rather than thinking, “‘They’need to do something about it”, Christians should think, “Ineed to do something about...
Feb 10, 2019
The Ephesians came from a selfish, materialistic, greedy, sensualistic culture. So, Paul tells them what a new life from God looks like. Instead of absorbing Greco-Roman cultural values and acting out those lifestyles, Christians are to imitate (Gr.mimētēs, ‘to mimic’) God. While not able to imitate God in His...
Feb 3, 2019
The Ephesians came from a ‘me first’ and ‘success at any cost’ type of culture where morality changed with the situation. The church was made from social classes of sailors, military, politicians, merchants, slaves, very wealthy and very poor. Paul now relates how the new life of Jesus should look in a...