Ephesians

Ephesians is another of Paul's letters. This is a shorter one that spans 6 chapters. Chapter one deals with what exactly being a Christian means. He continues chapter one with a prayer of thanks for other believers. This is what community in Christ really is about. Tonight at small group we just took time to thank God for us being able to get together and form a family away from our biological families.

Chapter 2:8 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." This verse is one of my favorites. This verse places the humbleness of being a Christian in perspective. Every time I read it or hear it, I am reminded that I did not do anything to deserve the forgiveness I have received, but that I am still given it. Chapter 2 also highlights how we are made alive in Christ and are capable of doing things that seem impossible through him.

I found it very interesting that in chapter 2, Paul discusses the body as being the temple of the holy spirit. This is a much different view from the old testament and Jewish belief. I think it fits nicely with Paul's idea of when we become Christians we are no longer foreign. This past sunday the pastor discussed us trying to be a fish-it just doesn't work. God created us to be His, so when we aren't His, we are foreign...

Chapter 3 discussed the purpose of the church. The church can be viewed as many different things. The house of God, a place of worship, where more than one Christian gather, a political/governing body...The church has many different connotations, but in chapter 3 Paul discusses that the intent of the church is to manifold the wisdom of God to the rulers. The church is part of making disciples of all nations...

Chapters 4-6 discuss more of what the "guidelines" are to being a Christian. The image of us all making up one body with him as the head is just amazing. Mean God created the body and then we are part of a larger body. It's a marvelous image. Chapter 6 held a lot of parallels between husband/wife; children/parents, slaves/masters, dark/light. These contrasting parallels describe actions that we are suppose to be taking.