Posted by Pastor Pat on March 15, 2010
Read Ephesians 2:1-10
Paul continues to show the immeasurable nature of God’s redeeming grace by noting the context in which it took place. It is as if he provides the reader with a snapshot or summary of the whole story from beginning to end. It is because we were dead in our trespasses that God would have to forgive us by means of redeeming us from sin’s debt (1:7). Verses 2 and 3 describe the state of what all once were prior to their adoption as sons and daughters (1:5).
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Posted by Pastor Pat on March 3, 2010
Read Ephesians 1:3-14
Throughout this short letter, Paul speaks of God’s superabundant activities flowing from Himself to His people. Such words as “rich, lavish, surpassing greatness, surpassing riches, unfathomable riches, surpasses knowledge and far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (1:7, 8, 18, 19; 2:4, 7; 3:8, 16, 18, 19, 20) are employed in an attempt to capture the magnitude of God’s person and work to redeem His people from sin’s debt and to adopt them as sons. All of this was written by Him into His story (1:4, 5, 9, 11, 21; 2:7, 10; 3:11).
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Posted by Pastor Pat on January 23, 2010
The church of Ephesus played a significant role in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul. By simply noting the occurrences of the city in the New Testament it becomes apparent that the church of Ephesus was a prominent center for the apostle Paul and the apostle John. Let us consider the following verses as they are found in the New Testament record:
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Posted by Pastor Pat on December 8, 2009
Read Ephesians 5:1-6
There is an element of perplexity offered to us in the text. Is it possible for those who have the inheritance to become disinherited? Is it possible for those who are citizens of His kingdom to be expelled from its realm? There is a weight to what faces us in this text that must not and cannot be negated. Paul speaks to the Ephesians and reminds them that if in Adam behavior characterizes their lives then they are in real danger of losing their inheritance and becoming outcasts of His kingdom.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on November 20, 2009
Read Ephesians 4:17-32
The intent of this article is to show how what we once were in Adam we no longer are, but still have. Paul’s point from the beginning of the letter all the way through chapter 3 is to note how those who were once in sin’s debt and alienated from God are now redeemed from sin and adopted into God’s family. He is their Father and they are His children.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on November 5, 2009
Read Ephesians 1:15-23
In order to treat this passage appropriately, it must be read in light of what was just stated in 1:3-14: God as a trinity in the totality of His essence and energy redeemed His people from sin’s debt by forgiving their sins and then adopted them as His sons and daughters. All of this was freely bestowed and lavishly dispensed.
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