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Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Topics Collection ii

Starting with Ephesians ...

Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010. Today we start reading the letter of the apostle Paul to the Ephesians. You can start reading biblical letters in many different ways. You may read an introduction first. You may listen to some sermons about the letter, or attend a scientific presentation. But in any case, if you want to learn more, you need to read the letter yourself. That's what we will do. We will find a fantastic piece of literature, … but more than that, a letter full of faith and life!

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Paul writing …

Paul starts his letter by presenting himself and addressing his audience:

1 From Paul, sent by Jesus Christ (i.e. God’s sent one)1 according to God’s plan, to God’s people in Ephesus, those who have been true to Jesus Christ. 2 May God’s great kindness come to you and also his peace. May our Father God and Jesus Christ send them to you.

3 May our Father God and Jesus Christ our master be honoured, because they have given us immense favour through Jesus - every possible favour in the spiritual realm in heaven. 4 God chose us to belong to Christ, even before the world was made, and that we should be set apart for him and be totally pure in his eyes. Because of his love for us, 5 even before we existed he planned that we would be adopted as his children through what Jesus did for us. It was his choice to plan that for us.

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The framework and the interesting bits …

The letter starts with some general framework. Paul is presenting himself. These more formal parts are still quite important. Today, we have the letters since they were passed down by people of faith, by the church, through history. But often the framework in which the letters have been written is unclear. There is some church tradition telling us about their authorship. But usually scientists start with the letters themselves and try to deduce knowledge about them from the written words.

Paul wants us to come into the presence of God. That's what he talks about right in his second sentence. May God's great kindness come to us, and his peace. Key parts of Paul's letters and of the whole New Testament are concerned with this process: how God's kindness comes to us. How can his peace enter our heart. The New Testament calls this process “salvation”.

Paul writes about God's calling. He writes about God's plan for his people before the beginning of the world. We will need to talk about this in more detail in another session. Here, let us realize that God wants us to belong to Christ Jesus, and that in Jesus God gives immense treasures. Paul calls them “every possible favour in the spiritual realm in heaven”. What gifts are these? It also needs more explanation, more thinking, deeper digging to understand what Paul thinks about when he talks about God's favour given to those who are in Christ. More about this shortly … ... more texts

jn_en_2010_10_19.txt · Last modified: 2017/06/18 16:48 by 127.0.0.1