Verses about the
Apostles' "TRAVELS and ACTS"
Part 19 - PAUL'S LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS
Introduction to Ephesians & Location Map
Some of Ephesians is here; |
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back to J B Phillips HomePage
Book 10 of 27 - PAUL'S LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS
Writer: The apostle Paul
Date: c AD62; sent with the letters to the Colossians, and to Philemon
Where written: Under house arrest in Rome
Readers: The church in Ephesus, but also a circular letter to other churches in the province of Asia;
Why: The Christian Jews of Asia may have been keeping themselves somewhat aloof from Gentile converts. In this general letter, Paul shows that God sent Christ to break down the ancient barriers between Jew and Gentile; through a shared faith, all are one as the Church of Christ. The second part of the letter has advice on the Christian life including the well-known verses on the "armour of God" (6:10-18).
According to some modern scholarship: Composed and written c AD62 by a secretary and signed by Paul; OR towards the end of the 1st century by an unknown Christian using Paul's name to give the letter authority
Map - Paul Writes from Prison in Rome
Map Key: Letter for Ephesus sent from 1 to 4
GOD'S PLAN TO SAVE ALL MANKIND
19.1 GREETINGS TO THE EPHESIANS AND ANY OTHER READERS
Ephesians 1:1-2 - Paul, messenger of Jesus Christ by God's choice, to all faithful Christians at Ephesus (and other places where this letter is read): grace and peace be to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
19.2 PAUL GIVES THANKS FOR THE EPHESIANS; HE PRAYS THEY WILL GROW IN GOD'S WISDOM AND POWER
Ephesians 1:15-19 - Since, then, I heard of this faith of yours in the Lord Jesus and the practical way in which you are expressing it towards fellow-Christians, I thank God continually for you and I never give up praying for you; and this is my prayer. That God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the all-glorious Father, will give you spiritual wisdom and the insight to know more of him: that you may receive that inner illumination of the spirit which will make you realise how great is the hope to which he is calling you - the magnificence and splendour of the inheritance promised to Christians - and how tremendous is the power available to us who believe in God.
| including verses 1:1-2 and 1:15-19 above, all of Ephesians Chapter 1 follows |
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BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES ARE UNITED THROUGH CHRIST
19.3 THEIR PREVIOUS CONDITION
Ephesians 2:1-3a - To you, who were spiritually dead all the time that you drifted along on the stream of this world's ideas of living, and obeyed its unseen ruler (Satan - who is still operating in those who do not respond to the truth of God), to you Christ has given life! We all lived like that in the past, and followed the impulses and imaginations of our evil nature .....
19.4 HOW THE GENTILES NOW HAVE THE SAME ACCESS TO GOD AS THE JEWS
Ephesians 2:11-13, 19-20 - Do not lose sight of the fact that you (in Ephesus) were born "Gentiles", known by those (the Jews) whose bodies were circumcised as "the uncircumcised". You were without Christ, you were utter strangers to God's chosen community, the Jews, and you had no knowledge of, or right to, the promised agreements. You had nothing to look forward to and no God to whom you could turn. But now, through the blood of Christ, you who were once outside the pale are with us (the Jews) inside the circle of God's love and purpose. .... (verse 19) So you are no longer outsiders or aliens, but fellow-citizens with every other Christian - you belong now to the household of God. Firmly beneath you is the foundation, God's messengers and prophets, the actual foundation-stone being Jesus Christ himself.
| including verses 2:1-3a and 2:11-13,19-20 above, all Ephesians Chapter 2 follows |
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19.5 PAUL IN PRISON
Ephesians 3:1 - It is in this great cause (of Jesus Christ) that I, Paul, have become Christ's prisoner for you Gentiles.
19.6 HIS KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST THROUGH REVELATION; HIS RESULTING MINISTRY TO THE GENTILES
Ephesians 3:2-9 - For you must have heard how God gave me grace to become your minister, and how he allowed me to understand his secret by giving me a direct revelation. (What I have written briefly of this above will explain to you my knowledge of the mystery of Christ.) This secret was hidden to past generations of mankind, but it has now, by the spirit, been made plain to God's consecrated messengers and prophets. It is simply this: that the Gentiles, who were previously excluded from God's agreements, are to be equal heirs with his chosen people, equal members and equal partners in God's promise given by Christ through the Gospel. And I was made a minister of that Gospel by the grace he gave me, and by the power with which he equipped me. Yes, to me, less than the least of all Christians, has God given this grace, to enable me to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ, and to make plain to all men the meaning of that secret which he who created everything in Christ has kept hidden from the creation until now.
| including verses 3:1 and 3:2-9 above, all Ephesians Chapter 3 follows |
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CHRISTIAN UNITY AND CHRISTIAN LIVING
19.7 PAUL CONFIRMS HIS IMPRISONMENT
Ephesians 4:1 - As God's prisoner, then, I beg you to live lives worthy of your high calling.
19.8 THE GENTILES MUST N0T RETURN TO THEIR OLD PAGAN WAYS
Ephesians 4:17-20 - This is my instruction, then, which I give you from God. Do not live any longer as the Gentiles live. For they live blindfold in a world of illusion, and cut off from the life of God through ignorance and insensitiveness. They have stifled their consciences and then surrendered themselves to sensuality, practising any form of impurity which lust can suggest. But you have learned nothing like that from Christ .....
| including verses 4:1and 4:17-20 above, Ephesians continues |
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and concludes here in Part 42, "Travels and Acts" with | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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19.9 PAUL ASKS FOR PRAYER
Ephesians 6:19-20 - And pray for me, too, that I may be able to speak freely here (in prison in Rome) to make known the secret of that Gospel for which I am, so to speak, an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may speak out about it as my plain and obvious duty.
19.10 TYCHICUS WILL BE PAUL'S MESSENGER; A FINAL BLESSING
Ephesians 6:21-24 - Tychicus, beloved brother and faithful minister, will tell you personally what I am doing and how I am getting on. I am sending him to you bringing this letter (and the Letters to the Colossians and and to Philemon) for that purpose, so that you will know exactly how we are and may take fresh heart:
Peace be to all Christian brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Grace be with all those who sincerely love our Lord Jesus Christ.
PAUL
continuing the Apostle's "Travels and Acts", on to Part 20, Philippians OR back to J B Phillips HomePage
J.B.Phillips, "The New Testament in Modern English", 1962 edition, published by HarperCollins, is presented here with the kind permission of Mrs Vera Phillips and the J.B.Phillips estate
Maps by Gordon Smith can be used without further permission. Please quote http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/JBPhillips.htm