Ephesians chapter one, verse by verse . . .

[com7fy8]

I am thinking, for this, that anyone can take the next verse and give one good thing that blesses you about that verse; or share about a verse that has already been quoted with comments. And anyone is welcome to share more, have discussions, and do more than one verse . . . but just making sure we do not skip any verse, please

I'll start > Ephesians 1:1 > 

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:"

I think about what it means to be "faithful" to our Groom Jesus. This includes not having any affairs with arguing and complaining > 

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain." (Philippians 2:14-16)

Edited November 4, 2022 by com7fy8

[com7fy8]

Ephesians 1:2 >

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." 

Right here, before Paul goes into this letter, he ministers God's own grace and peace to us. This includes God's own action of grace in our character (Philippians 2:13, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Hebrews 12:4-14), and how His peace rules us (Colossians 3:15). So, here we do well to stop and submit to how God blesses us, before we read any further. And this grace and peace will give us God's meaning, deeper than any words can tell, of different things God says in this letter.

Edited October 18, 2022 by com7fy8

[com7fy8]

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ," (Ephesians 1:3)

So, our Heavenly Father has blessed us with His own heavenly things. What He has is what He gives 

And can we share His own good with Him now? 

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:5)

Yes, right now God's own love is being shared with us, by the Holy Spirit. This is Heaven's love which has Heaven's blessedness in us, right now already.

Our Father so shares with us, already.

Edited October 19, 2022 by com7fy8

[Space_Karen]

Is it fair to say ephesians is the most liberal book in the bible.

 

[kwikphilly]

Blessings Comfy

This is an unconventional way to approach Bible Study,in this way verses of Scripture can easily be taken out of context and therefore result in misapplication.

I'm certainly not wanting to put a damper on your Topic,it's a lovely idea to go verse by verse and share how a particular Scripture Blessed our lives & had an effect on us personally that others can benefit from and be encouraged

However,in doing a Bible Study it would probably be very helpful to at least summarize what the Book is about- where,when,who,why & for what Purpose

The Book of Ephesians in very complex- we really need to read Acts 19&  20 to get an even better picture of what transpired.Paul writes to Ephesus not once but 3 times- also his letters to Timothy 1 & 2.     And it's highly likely the Apostle John was motivated to write down " the Gospel" because of his time at the Church of Ephesus - not to mention his Revelation where we see the solution for the Church who has fallen away , simply they have forgotten their First Love

We could spend many hours studying this Church,it was probably the greatest,strongest church that ever existed and resulted in " non existence"

Paul poured out his heart into building this Church,countless hours of teaching for 3 years....Paul teaches us WHO we are in Christ Jesus,what our mission is ,how to effectively use your Gifts and all about spiritual warfare.... So what happened to this Bountifully Blessed Church?

Well,Paul warns ( prophetic) of the coming false teachers,they were already slipping in and seducing the Brethren to go astray. It's seems because of their extensive knowledge in God's Word they had forgotten the very basics,they forgot the serious dangers of spiritual warfare.

The Ephesians had the very best teachers,Paul,Timothy,John & yet they had forgotten the simplicity of the very Gospel they were taught by these leaders because they were looking to themselves rather than Jesus....

Anyway,that's a really brief summary with so much left out but one of my favorite verses are Ephesians 3:16-19

When you are up to that verse I'll come back to share

With love in Christ, Kwik

[com7fy8]

5 hours ago, Space_Karen said:

Is it fair to say ephesians is the most liberal book in the bible.

 

 

What do you mean by liberal? In case someone means like what is now in a lot of American politics and media, how about Ephesians 5:12?

"For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret." (Ephesians 5:12)

But liberal can mean very generous, like we have in Ephesians 3:19 >

"to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

God has liberally blessed us with this 

[com7fy8]

28 minutes ago, kwikphilly said:

one of my favorite verses are Ephesians 3:16-19

When you are up to that verse I'll come back to share

With love in Christ, Kwik

Hi  My hope is to help people feed on each thing in the message to the Ephesians. Doing summaries can have a way of not dealing with a number of things. So, I thought I'd offer us a place where we go into everything.

Plus, I have specialized in simply reading the Bible to see what it actually says, and how each part can give meaning to other parts.

So, thank you for however you share about overall meaning! since I have been using the Bible as it's own commentary.

So, since you value sharing about Ephesians 3:16-19 - thank you > here it is >

"that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height---to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

Thank You, God 

Paul has prayed this to us.

And this "passes knowledge"; so I see how the meaning is not just an explanation, but all  which God does in us as His meaning. 

He shares His very own Son with us within us, and all His own fullness is in His love in us > and it is written >

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:5)

So, yes God does share this personally with us.

@Space_Karen By the way, Karen, this does not sound at all like what American liberals are telling people . . . not where they are calling people's attention! So, I would say this epistle is not at all that meaning of liberal.

[com7fy8]

@kwikphilly Yes, in Revelation 2:4 Jesus says the Ephesians left their first love. And in Acts 20:30 Paul tells the Ephesian elders that wolves will rise up from among them and lead people astray.

I see how this epistle can help people to not be victims of that, and to stay with our first love.

[com7fy8]

1 hour ago, kwikphilly said:

However,in doing a Bible Study it would probably be very helpful to at least summarize what the Book is about- where,when,who,why & for what Purpose

Yes.

Paul writes this to the church in Ephesus; it seems he is especially trying to communicate with "the faithful in Christ" (in Ephesians 1:1). And he maybe already knows how wolves will come and take people away; so he is writing this message in order to give "saints" what can help them to stay with Jesus. And this epistle can help faithful ones to be examples to help to restore anyone who has gotten astray. 

This message, I see, has the overall and  details of our covenant with Jesus; so saints can be fed, corrected, and confirmed. This includes how this epistle feeds us what helps us to fulfill God's eternal purpose stated in Romans 8:29 >

"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."

Paul takes care of ministering us into the image of Jesus, by means of his prayers testified in this epistle. And he gives more detail of what can help us to be conformed to the image of Christ, including things God in us has us doing, for one example > Ephesians 4:15.

And Ephesians 4:31-32 can help us prepare for how to relate as Christ's "many brethren" (Romans 8:29)

What else? That is some of it, I would say 

Edited October 19, 2022 by com7fy8

[com7fy8]

Well, thank you, everyone, for bringing in a question and some commentary about the setting of the letter to the Ephesians. 

Please make yourself at home, here, to share things like that 

I myself find how a scripture portion can be a commentary on another scripture . . . along with other ways of commenting. 

God bless you . . . hoping to see you 

By the way . . . 

On 10/19/2022 at 3:15 AM, kwikphilly said:

verses of Scripture can easily be taken out of context and therefore result in misapplication.

Yes, each verse isolated can be misunderstood. And we can do what we can to make things understood correctly. So, anyone is welcome to check out what I or anyone else says about a verse or a verse combination and give more or correction. 

So-o-o-o . . .  Sharing about each verse can help us to know more of what is in the letter of Ephesians. Then, later, as we meditate on and remember a scripture, we can get more about it, always being able to learn more. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by com7fy8