Critique Of Ephesians 2

Ephesians 3:14-21 “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with the power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in

The book of Ephesians is one of Paul’s many New Testament letters, or epistles, to the Christian church still in its infancy. At the time of its writing, Paul is in Rome, imprisoned for championing the purposes of Christ and growing the church. We see numerous occurrences where Paul, being a man of little concern for the status quo, is either imprisoned or fleeing capture by Jewish or Roman officials for usurping the latter (Acts 19: 23-41). The date of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is dated 60-61A.D., depending on differing research. While this is certainly one of his epistles known as the “prison letters”, Ephesians was penned prior to Paul’s first roman

A literary analysis is the practice of looking closely at small parts to see how they affect the whole. Literary analysis focuses on how word techniques are used by the author to create meaning. One of the reasons that Paul penned his letters in Ephesians was to bolster areas that were weak in the church. In addition to that, Paul wanted to clarify central beliefs that may not have been well-defined. Probing Paul’s letter with such a supposition, reveals several frailties among the Ephesian that Paul needed to encourage and reinforce. One of these weaknesses are amalgamated with the word riches, which is present throughout the letter in Ephesians. In this portion of the essay I will break a portion of the text down into parts, in order to examine the different elements of this piece of literature, by analyzing a portion of the text.

Ephesians 4 marks a shift in focus from the actions of God seen in chapters 1-3 to the actions of humans. More specifically, chapter 4 focuses on the ways in which we (Paul directs this letter to the people of the church of Ephesus, but it is applicable to all Christians) should live and behave. Ephesians 4:17-24 consists of general instructions or commands given by Paul to the church of Ephesus, in which he tells the people there that they should not live as the Gentiles do but that they should instead walk in God’s light and renew their spirits through Christ. Paul spends Ephesians 5-6 delving into specific commands that expand upon the general instructions he gives in 4:17-24. Ephesians 4:17-24 serves as a simple quick guide for the people of the church of Ephesus to use, and the rest of Paul’s letter serves as the in-depth instruction manual.

Slavery was introduced by the Roman Empire during the era of the New Testament. In this period of time, almost half of the children born into the dynasty were quickly transformed and molded into the slaves of the current state. But unlike the ones of later times, salves of the current time period of 60 A.D. had more of a roller coaster ride with their masters, meaning that certain owners developed different relationships with them and had different views upon what was expected. The book of Ephesians, written by Paul the Apostle, was created and put forth solely or the purpose of relaying information to the church of Ephesus regarding God’s plan was to bring all authority and power to Christ himself. As he addresses different people such as children and parents, and large crowds, he reaches out to the slaves, for whom he has a soft spot.

Introduction and Alignment The passage I chose from our required reading in Philippians is verses 2:5-8. This passage is significant and I chose it because it focuses on God’s humility by not taking advantage of His Heavenly privileges but instead taking the role of a servant (Schenck, 2009, p. 543). Humility is not placing yourself on a scale position by putting yourself below or above others but instead, thinking of others before yourself more often.

The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10-20 takes the opportunity to convey to the Church at Ephesus, the growing threat of the spiritual issues confronting the body of Christ. The central beliefs implant and reside in the texts, seem to be a battle cry that resounds from the heart of the Apostle Paul. Paul's aim in the texts is to shade light on the spiritual warfare that's outside of the eyesight of the believer. Furthermore, the battle that is in question is a spiritual battle that seizes eternal ramification involving every believer. As noted by author Warren Wiersbe, when he stated that "sooner or later every believer discovers that the Christian life is a battleground, not a playground and that he faces an enemy who is much stronger than he

Introduction: Introduction: Introduce your conclusions on why the BOC needs to be understood for a group of people to be effective in their service to God (1 page). In order for the body of Christ to be understood in its service to God, there are three conclusions for consideration. First, the BOC is a living organism. Paul employs this metaphor in Ephesians 4 to help us visualize it characteristics.

The exegetical issue that I am exploring is derived from Ephesians 2:14. In the verse it discusses how Jesus has created peace between the Jews and the Gentiles by “Dividing the wall of hostility.” (NIV) The issue that comes forth from this verse is what exactly is Paul referring to when he mentions”the wall.” There are many references Paul could be aproposing to. There are two main categories that solutions that have been offered fall under. There are literal solutions, which suggest that the wall is a physical object that was destroyed once Jesus was crucified, and then there are more metaphorical solutions that refer to a spiritual wall falling down, or a metaphorical wall coming down instead of a literal wall.

Ephesians 6:10 – 13 introduces the reader to the imagery of a battle that is to be fought. Paul gives the command to the believer to stand his ground against the onslaught. With this command he also provides the means by which to do so successfully, while at the same time pinpointing the enemy that they will face. As a start, Paul highlights the fact that believers should find their strength in God. Snodgrass (1996) explains that “Paul had prayed [Eph 1:19] that the readers would know the greatness of God’s work; now he exhorts them to use this power” (p. 338). Consequently, the believer should not only find his strength in Him but also don the full armor that has been given to them by God himself. Clothed in His armor, the believer will be able to stand against the enemy.

The genre of Ephesians 2:1-10 is an Epistle. The Epistles were letters teaching specific churches or groups of people; often inspired by God. They are split into two categories: Pauline Epistles, written by Paul and traditionally Paul was the first word of the book in Greek, and General Epistles, often referred to as the Catholic epistles and were written to the universal Church. The Pauline Epistles consist of: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The General Epistles consist of: Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude. The interpretive principles of this genre are that it is meant to be read as a whole and in one sitting in order to get the main idea of the passage, one must view the paragraphs as the main unit of thought in the passage, one must know the structure to understand the letter, and one must do background reading to fully comprehend the main concept and the history and culture of the setting.

Believers have been unified in salvation by grace and are called to live like Christ.

2. Paul explains how God 's armor is useful and why we need to use it. (6:12-13)

In the beginning of the book of Ephesians, Paul specifically states that he is the author of the letter to Ephesians, though the authenticity of Paul’s authorship has been questioned. Signing the name of an influential person of the period was common practice from “the third century BC to the first century AD.” Though it would not be the first time that Paul’s name was forged, Ephesians is not a controversial letter, so if the author did not want to include his own name, he could have written the letter anonymously; also, given moral influence of the text, the author would not have lied for no cause. Ephesians is a bit different from the other letters of Paul in that it does not follow the normal structure he has previously used: “salutation, thanksgiving, prayer, body, ethical exhortations, greetings.” Paul also makes many personal references throughout the book of Ephesians including sharing that he is in prison.

In my passage Ephesian 1:15-23, this is Pauls prayer to Jesus of giving thanks, God has given us so much, and when God gives us a lot our perception can be changed based on how much we get from God, but we are blind because we can never be satisfied so we ask for more. We can build a wall of ungratefulness and never see the “light of God”.