Ephesians : Historical Background For Passage Essay

After Jesus came about the rules had changed, what used to be a sin is no longer a sin. In Ephesians 2:14 Paul talks about Jesus bring down the walls between Jews and Gentiles and when he died he set aside the commandments and created new ones. Paul explains in the rest of Ephesians some of the rest of the new rules for getting into heaven through Jesus. I believe that all of God’s rules old and new are easy to follow as long as we try to do onto others as we want done onto us.

The first letter to the Christian community was sent from Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, though Paul was the main author. Paul was writing to them to clear up their misunderstandings about the return of Christ, also considers it as instructions in holy living. Paul wrote about his longing to visit the church in Thessalonica but

We must understand Ephesus if we want to understand the Book of Ephesians. Ephesus was a large prosperous city in Asia Minor. One of the seven wonders of the world was in Ephesus. It was a large temple dedicated to a goddess named Diana (Artemis). The temple and streets were lined with immoral goddess prostitutes. It was a very wicked city and immorality flourished and flooded over into society and families. Paul was clever in using the concepts of holiness, service, and temple to reveal the power of the Gospel in how it creates a new people born of God dedicated to His holy purposes.

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

Paul’s letter to the Romans can be broken down into four major sections. Within each of these sections there is a single compelling issue. Within the context of these respective issues, several interpretive questions can be answered through the interpretative process. These answers help us to understand how to apply the spiritual principals to our lives, as well as, help us compel other individuals to apply these spiritual principles within their lives.

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.

For you were once murkiness, however now you are light in the Lord. Live as offspring of light (for the product of the light comprises in all decency, nobility and truth) (Ephesians 5: 8-9). "Here Paul develops the difference in the middle of obscurity and light" (Wood, 69). They were not oblivious and after that in the light. They were the dull and afterward they were the light. Obscurity alludes to when they were lost and did not know the Lord. They were the light when they were spared and got to be one in Christ. "The entire passage plays on the rich imagery of dimness and light, "obscurity" speaking to lack of awareness, blunder and shrewd, "light" speaking to truth and exemplary nature" (Stott, 199). The word, you, alludes to the Christians

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.

According to the historical background of the book of Philemon, Paul wrote this letter approximately A.D.60 when Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome. It was probably the time Paul wrote the letters to the Ephesians

Another passage that helps to make up my Biblical boundary is I Chronicles 16. This chapter tells the story of King David bringing the ark of the covenant to the city of Jerusalem. The king ordered some of the Levites to play music to “Thank and praise the LORD God” (I Chronicles 16:4). In this passage, I find the purpose of my music should be to praise and glorify the Lord. The purpose of today’s secular musicians’ songs is self-promotion and financial gain. The music that I listen to should be that which praises God and give glory to the Lord. Praise is simply telling God something that He already knows but telling Him anyway because of our love for Him.

From Chapter 17: Ephesians - The Unity of the Spirit: Briefly summarize the issues surrounding authorship of Ephesians. Highlight the purpose of Ephesians. Discuss the theme of Ephesians.

The book of Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul, to the saints at Ephesus. It is suggested that Paul wrote this letter around 60 AD, while imprisoned in Rome. The biblical author of Acts, Luke, eludes to Paul’s imprisonment in Rome in Acts 28. Paul initially identifies himself as the author of the letter to the Ephesians in his greeting in Ephesians 1:1 and again in 3:1. To further identify himself Paul often makes particular references to himself in the body of the letter to the Ephesians (c.f. Ephesians 3:3, 7, 13; 4:1; 6:19).

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.

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”.