By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor This is the second installment of a six-part series for the January Bible study on the book of Ephesians. ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – In Chapter 1, Paul explained redemption as a blessing from God and emphasized Christ as the means by which we receive it. In Ephesians 2, he built on this doctrinal concept, instructing that this “blessing” is a gift, or the “grace” of God. Again, Paul emphasized that this grace is found “in Christ.” Moreover, he contrasted “grace” with “works” to help us understand the enormity of the gift. This is important to his refutation of the Judaizers who emphasized the “works” of the law (the legalistic lives Jews had to live, including circumcision of males). In other words, they believed that the people of Israel had to “labor” to make themselves acceptable to God. Further, in verses 1-10, living in “trespasses and sins” is described as being “dead,” and in verses 11-22 being dead is defined as being separated from Christ. Moreover, Paul states three times that salvation is by “grace” (vv. 5, 7, 8) in contrast to the notion of “circumcision” (v. 11) – a reference to the legalism of the Judaizers in the passage that follows. Importantly, Paul … [Read more...]

This is the first installment of a six-part series for the January Bible study on the book of Ephesians. By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – While a prisoner in Rome, Paul wrote a letter of freedom to the members of the church at Ephesus, reminding them that “in Christ” God had provided the means of salvation. Indeed, it is almost a singular emphasis in the first chapter of Ephesians. This is critical to note because many scholars agree that Paul wrote half of his letter (Chapters 1-3) to emphasize doctrine -- and Paul chose, first, to emphasize as doctrine the means by which God chooses us. Consider how the translators of the New King James Version presented verses 1-13 (there are only slight differences in the English Standard Version). They concluded that Paul: -- wrote to the saints who were faithful “in Christ” (v. 1); -- offered grace and peace from God, specifically mentioning two Persons of the Godhead, “our Father” and “the Lord Jesus Christ” (Son) (v. 2); -- described redemption as being blessed “in Christ” (v. 3); -- declared that God had decided – before the world was made – that the means of our salvation would be “in Him” (Jesus) (v. 4); -- … [Read more...]