The Roman church had not yet been visited and had no New Testament because the gospels were not yet being circulated in their final written form. Thus, this letter may well have been the first piece of Christian literature the Roman believers had seen. In Roman culture to choose to be a servant was unthinkable. Paul was a Roman citizen but chose to be entirely dependent on and abide in Christ Jesus (Romans 1:1). Paul’s impact was made known because of his citizenship and willingness to serve and obey Jesus…
However, there are sound reasons that affirm that Paul wrote Ephesians. First, the letter specifically claims to be Paul’s. Unless there is overwhelming contrary evidence, this should heavily weigh in on the debate. The early church, which rejected fake letters, unanimously accepted this letter as being written by Paul, and this was a city that had a reputation of having discernment regarding false apostolic claims (Rev. 2:2).…
Paul had written approximately a third of the New Testament, which includes the thirteen epistles. The letters, on which our context is based, can be found in the Prison Epistles that consist of Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon. Ephesians is…
The Old Testament shows how a master should behave with his slaves as Paul affirms in his letter to the Ephesians. After the exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel had a new master: God, who ordered that the masters should let the slaves live among them and do not press them (Deuteronomy 22:16). In this verse of the Bible, God establishes the rules in which He allows the practice of slavery; He affirms that slavery is an institution that does not support the oppression nor the suffering of people. Likewise, Paul made the same statements in his letter to the Colossians, in which he makes some rules of how a master should behave with their slaves. In addition, Paul affirms that masters should do what is right and fair because they are the slaves…
But rather was written to a congregation in Rome that Paul had never met, for Paul had never been to Rome before he wrote this epistle. Another difference between the Book of Romans and the rest of Paul's epistles is also quite striking.…
Bruce Milne in his Dynamic Diversity believes that the notion of “New Humanity” as depicted in Ephesians 2 calls for a change in the local church model which is fitting with the realization that believers, whatever their ethnic or cultural background or origin are, might join in what he called “New Humanity” local churches which is a foretaste of the Universal Church . But are there sufficient evidences of this model from the early churches? From Luke’s account, it is inconclusive whether early house church (Act 2:46, 5:42, 12:12) which is the basic ecclesiastical unit for both preaching and teaching, is homogenous or mixed, even though they did exhibit unity as they “had everything in common” (Act 2:44) and “one heart and mind” (Act 4:32). The incident of Hellenistic Jews complaint against Hebraic Jews that their widows were overlooked in the daily distribution of food (Act 6:1) following which seven men were chosen from this group (Acts 6:2-6) may however indicate the non-homogeneous nature of the early Jerusalem church. Congregations subsequently emerged in Palestine toward end of the first century also showed cultural diversity, comprising of Hellenist Jews, Samaritan and other Gentiles.…
A few years after Christ, Paul was born to a family of Jews in the City of Tarsus. His parents were both of Jewish lineage, resulting in his practicing of Judaism in his adolescence. During his schooling, Gamaliel, a Pharisee in Jerusalem, was Paul’s teacher. Paul spent his childhood learning to convert all followers of other faiths to Judaism using any means necessary. The occasional quotes from Greek poets in Paul’s writings allude that Paul also learned Greek and other languages from Gamaliel.…
The book of Ephesians is one of the most popular and important books of the New Testament. It includes topics such as unity within the body of Christ, relationship of believers to God, the Church as a whole. It is the purpose of the writing to discuss briefly the context and theological importance of this book. The book of Ephesians was written most likely in Rome and likely between 60 or 61 A.D. It has been historically accepted that Paul wrote this letter perhaps as a circulatory letter to the churches of Asia Minor. Paul likely wrote the letter from prison in Rome.…
In the text, Paul developed his argument by building up his credibility as an apostle for Christianity. Paul was previously known to fight against Christianity and refuse what it held true. However, he wanted to convince the Gentiles, those who did not follow the Christian faith, that he was previously blinded from the truth. He claimed to have had undertaken a revelation from God and discovered God as the truth he was missing. “If I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor” (Letters of Galatians: 2:18).…
Paul was stuck in between the two biggest bullies in the whole 6th grade. His mind was racing with ways he would get out of this arduous situation, that was becoming more common after the browbeaters realized how powerless Paul was when they threw him in the trash can two days ago. They followed him five blocks on the way back to Paul’s house before finally trapping Paul in an alley beside Mr. White’s Department Store. The bullies continued to draw closer to Paul provoking him, calling Paul names, and throwing rocks at him.…
Introduction: The apostle Paul was very sincere when he wrote his letters in the New Testament. One of his better known letters was to the Romans. We are going to look at what a world view looks like according to Romans chapters 1-8. Everyone has a worldview of some kind, whether they know it consciously or not. As a Christian, it is incredibly important to have a strong Biblical foundation so we can have a Christ like world view.…
According to Dr. Frank Gæbelein, “The letter to the Ephesians was generally regarded as the work of the apostle Paul until the rise of rationalistic criticism at the turn of the eighteenth century.” Dr. Gæbelein also states the following regarding Pauline authorship: “ Ephesians clearly claims to have been written by Paul. In the introduction the writer identifies himself and then proceeds in typically Pauline fashion to ascribe his apostolic authority to the will of God (Eph. 1:1; cf. 2 Cor. 1:1; Gal. 1:1; Col. 1:1).”…
Sermon Notes Ephesians 4:1-6 (part 2) “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Recap: - Urged to walk in a manner worthy of our calling o Calling is discussed in chapter 1-3 of Eph Then Paul talks about how to walk worthy • Humility (Lowliness) • Gentleness (meekness) • Patience (endurance) • Forbearance…
INTRODUCTION Unfortunately, it is not entirely clear from Scripture why Paul wrote to the Ephesian Church back in 62 A.D. from behind the bars of a Roman prison. However, Acts 20:31 (READ THE TEXT) reveals Paul spent three years in Ephesus so he knew the Ephesians well, so one theory as to why Paul wrote Ephesians can be found in (TEXT) Eph. 6:21 in which Paul says, “so that you may also know how I am and what I am doing.” From the text, it can be concluded that Paul was simply letting the Ephesian Church know of his welfare. Scholars, however, believe that Ephesians was mostly doxological.…
From the beginning of creation, it has been Gods desire that we live in his likeness. Referring to the creation of man in Genesis 1:27 the Bible states that man was made in “his own image.” It has always been God intention that we model after him. From the beginning of time, he called us to follow his lead. Just as God walked with Adam and Eve, so did Jesus walk with his disciples.…