Letter To The Ephesians: Description Of A Christian Leader

“While God’s understanding of human nature is the goal of a Christian psychology, given human finitude and the existence of distinct Christian traditions, Christian psychology will actually consist of many different perspectives found within the historic Christian Church” (Johnson, n.d., slide 26). The five views are represented as models, of these five model’s, the Christian Psychology Model is the best one to describe Hawkins and Clintons integration approach. This model provides a great understanding of how psychology and Christianity integrate and synergize in helping clients heal. This helps us to define and shape the soul “to understand human nature, we must carefully explore the components of the soul” (Hawkins & Clinton, 2015, “Defining and Shaping the Soul, para. 1). This model purpose is to show and focus on strengths rather than weaknesses. It’s a middle passage for integration and Biblical

In the book Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders, by Reggie McNeal it examines the need for strong spiritual Christian leaders in today’s society. McNeal looks at the good and bad characteristics of a leader in order to help leaders understand and develop the characteristics needed in one’s own life to be a good leader. McNeal states “we are desperate for great

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.

In response to this Donald McGavran cites Paul by comparing the different denominations and emphases of the church to actual body parts as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 12 (McGavran, 2012). About differing views on biblical matters, he states “Nevertheless, Missouri Synod Lutherans and Southern Baptists ought to believe that the other denomination is a genuine part of the body of Christ”( McGavran, 2012). He also points out that while many of these churches recognize each other as other parts of the same church they also tend to favor themselves as more correct in their beliefs or interpretation (McGavran, 2012). It could be compared to an eye or ear of Paul’s illustration recognizing the importance of the eye, ear, or other body part but then still treating the self as superior to the other part. The parts need to work together for the body to

Sadly, we live in a world that’s full of “you’re not.” You are not valuable: You are not pretty enough: You are not smart enough for this job: You are not competent enough to be a leader. And the list goes on. Today, God is saying “You are everything I’ve created to you be!”

Introductions and greetings are very important tools in communication. How people perceive you will often determine how they treat you. If you are trying to make friends, find clients, make contacts, sell them something, or anything else we might to, with one simple process, you can move one giant step toward your goal.

The Apostle Paul wrote thirteen epistles, also called letters, that can be found in the New Testament (Demarest, 2018, no pg.). There has been some debate that the epistles of Ephesians, First Timothy, Second Timothy, Titus, Colossians and Second Thessalonians were pseudonymously written in Paul’s name, but that he was not the actual author. There seems to be discrepancies about the attitude that Paul conveyed towards women in the church between the letters known to be written by him, and the ones that were not. The letters known to be written by Paul convey Jesus’s message that everyone is to be welcome in worship, including women.

According to Paul, the armor that God gives us is made up of several separate pieces: the belt of truth; the breastplate of righteousness; the shoes of the Gospel of peace; the shield of faith; the helmet of salvation; the sword of the Spirit; and prayer. (Each individual piece of armor will be discussed more thoroughly in the next section.) To truly grasp the meaning of Paul’s command, we need to first examine the context in which it was written. It is believed that Paul was actually in the custody of Roman guards as he wrote this letter to the Ephesians, which explains why he chose to describe the Christian's warfare using military equipment. By that time in his life, he had seen much conflict and opposition, and he understood well the

I chose the book of Ephesians because It’s my favorite book. From chapter one straight through until the end, it is inspirational and encouraging. The book of Ephesians was penned by Paul the apostle, while he was imprisoned. This letter was written to the church in Ephesus. Ephesus is located in the western Asia Minor at the mouth of the Caster River, an important Seaport (HCSB, 2010). The message of this letter is so powerful. Paul opens this book by encouraging the audience to give thanks for the amazing work of the cross and all the blessings that entail the work of the cross upon reception of Christ. Paul encourages the unite created by God known as family; solidifying humanity, both Jew and Gentile. Teachings of church maturity

At the beginning of chapter 5, Paul states that we should imitate God because we are His children, Ephesians 5:1 (NLT). He then goes on to say that because Christ was pure we too should be pure. Paul lists some sins we should stay away from in an effort to remain pure. He proceeds by warning us of people who try to sway us to do otherwise.

As one begins to read the letter to the Ephesians, he is intrigued not only by the many topics that the letter mentions, but also the fact that there are some major differences between this book and Paul’s other writings. The purpose of this essay is to explore the book of Ephesians by commenting on critical issues, such as date, authorship, and setting, major theological themes, the purpose of the letter, and to offer an outline of the book itself.

Throughout the book, the author carefully details the need for balance between theology and spirituality, and psychology and Christianity. Though the author discusses methods and approaches that are spiritual but based on a strong theological foundation. “Nothing is more crucial to an effective Christian life that a clear awareness of its foundation” (p. 25). Essentially Crabb (1977) maintains that spirituality is a product of the correct thinking associated with strong theological foundation.

Upon our arrival to Ephesians 4, we come to an epistle that many believe was penned by the Apostle Paul while being held in prison. In writing this letter, his primary audience is to a group of churches in 1st century Ephesus. It is important to note that in the historical context in which this letter is written, Christianity was not the popular religious belief of the nation. But rather, Ephesus was an extremely diverse culture in its religious practices throughout the city. As a result of this cultural norm, seemingly anything and everything was deemed acceptable, and any attempt of creating a moral compass was met with vast opposition by the majority culture. This cultural paradigm eventually began to infiltrate the church as well in several ways, both implicit and explicit. For due to the plethora of moral doctrines sweeping the culture, many who inhabited the city of Ephesus found themselves being exposed to beliefs, doctrines and practices that were plain heretical in nature simply because in OT language, “everyone (was doing) what was right in their own eyes.” (Judg. 21:25) Consequently, many of those who attended the church found themselves wavering in their theological foundations. In doing so, Paul writes this narrative in an attempt to challenge the church at Ephesus to redirect their lifestyle focus back to the Word and ways of the God who, by grace, saved them.

The Pauline epistles are very crucial to the understanding of how a church and a Christian should act. Throughout all the letters, different subjects have been touched creating almost a guide of “how to’s”. The farewell is especially important as noted in Second Corinthians 13 explains the depth of God’s love to the people and the wrath of doubtfulness. “since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking though me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you” (13:3). With corrections in the beginning of the letter, or a defense towards Paul’s teachings, shows the continuation of the struggle of Corinth, yet they were doing better as spoken by Titus.

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.