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Ephesians
According to tradition, the Apostle Paul wrote the letter while he was in prison in Rome (around AD 62). Here’s Papyrus 49, a 3rd-century manuscript of the Epistle to the Ephesians (below).
Ephesians is a letter that it is written to the church in Ephesus. Paul’s main goal here is to create a divine society of believers, where each one understands who they are in Christ, and also corporately, every believer combines together to form the Church, the body of Christ. He explains that in this new society, cultural, racial, gender divides and biases are no more, and that everyone is one in Christ.
In Ephesians 1, he started by telling us about God’s plan, which was made way back before the world even began. In Ephesians 2 and 3, he explains that the plan was to bring together a new group of people through the death and rising again of Christ, and to bring the whole church and creation together under Christ’s leadership. Paul has made it clear that this plan includes Jews and non-Jews on an equal footing. The old divisions and prejudices are gone. Now there’s a whole new unity, where Jews and non-Jews, through their connection with Christ, are all part of the same body and share in the same promise. So, there’s one Father with one family, one Saviour with one people, and the one Spirit with one body. These are the solid facts of what God has done through Christ and the Spirit, and they’re the foundation for Paul’s passionate appeal. The book of Ephesians was written to emphasize the believer’s identity in Christ and the implications of that identity for daily living. Paul wanted to remind the Ephesians of the spiritual blessings they have in Christ, including being chosen, redeemed, and sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3-14). He also aimed to highlight the unity between Jewish and Gentile believers, showing that both groups are reconciled to God and each other through Christ (Ephesians 2:14-16).
In Ephesians 4 and 5, he’s telling his readers that they need to live in a way that matches their calling and their status as part of God’s new and reconciled society. They need to show their unity in the Christian fellowship, while also celebrating the variety of their gifts and ministries. They need to leave behind the impurity of their old ways and live a life of true goodness and holiness. And they should learn to submit to each other in all kinds of family relationships to bring harmony into their homes. Unity, diversity, purity, and harmony — these are the key features of the new life and community in Christ, according to Paul. It sounds like a lovely ideal, a really good goal, and not all that hard to achieve.
In the book of Ephesians, chapters 4 through 6 are often considered the application chapters. After laying a theological foundation in the first three chapters, where Paul discusses the believer’s identity in Christ and the spiritual blessings they have received, he transitions to practical application in the latter half of the letter.
In short, Ephesians is the blue-print of a healthy body that enriches itself from Christ, and expresses Christ.
