At the end of Acts, we find Paul under house arrest in Rome. He was there at least two years. We have reason to believe he was released after no more than yet another year, which would be around 63 AD. Though he was not actually in a prison, per se, we refer to the letters he wrote from his rented quarters as the Prison Epistles, which includes this one to the Ephesians.
There is a very weak argument this was not necessarily sent to Ephesus, but was more a circular letter to the churches in that region of Asia Minor, perhaps. I say the argument is weak because it rests on the two most untrustworthy texts commonly used for sources of the New Testament, which sadly also are the most popular today. There are some other reasons, but I find them without merit. Paul wrote to his good brothers and sisters at a church he planted and where he spent three years, Ephesus.
Unlike many of his earlier epistles, here we do not find Paul attacking peculiar issues directly. Rather, we have a subtle hint of distrust between the Gentile and Jewish members, which seemed to afflict virtually every church which included Jewish Christians. In a broad sense, we find these latter were frequently still taken with their former status as "God's Nation" and the attendant Pharisaical habits. The Gentiles often found the Jews unnecessarily fussy over insignificant details and stand-offish. The Gentiles, on the other hand, suffered from their own cultural arrogance and it seemed a great many had to be dragged kicking and screaming into a holy life. Both suffered a great deal from clinging too hard to the intellectual abilities of the human mind, the accomplishments of human activity, and insensitive to the Spirit.
Thus, the letter aims to weave a strong basis for working in unity, by first understanding our place in Eternity, and then how it should cause us to act. It is the ultimate guide in human relations.
Chapter 1 -- Paul paints an image of Christ's spiritual domain in our souls.
Chapter 2 -- There is no excuse for divisions within the church body.
Chapter 3 -- Paul struggles to put into words the unspeakable vision of God's glorious grace now revealed in Christ.
Chapter 4 -- Bold strokes paint a more concrete picture of how our citizenship in the Realm of the Spirit should manifest.
Chapter 5 -- Specific examples how to show your love for others in manifesting the Spirit.
Chapter 6 -- It's always about people, but people are the field over which we battle in the Spirit Realm.
By Ed Hurst
01 November 2010
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