Pauls Footsteps #403

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” Ephesians 1:3 NLT 

Footsteps #403. The story of how Paul came to Ephesus is really interesting. We followed the Footsteps of Paul here with Luke in Acts 19. In the first century, Ephesus was one of the three great cities of the Mediterranean. The name means ‘desirable’. Ephesus also received the first of letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2. It was the epicentre of worship for most of the Greek and Roman gods. For over two years, Paul had a really effective missionary presence there. Lots of people became followers of Jesus, both in the city and surrounding regions. Years later, after being imprisoned by the Romans, Paul wrote this letter. It was a circular letter that does not appear to be called forth for any particular reason. It is a letter for the universal church of all ages. The letter was written in either AD 62 or early AD 63. Paul was subsequently released. The great fire of Rome occurred in AD 64. Paul was re-arrested in AD 67. He was executed in AD 68 by Nero. That same year Nero suspecting to be deposed committed suicide. The destruction of Jerusalem happened in AD 70. 

If you want to read the letter with a goal in mind (it will take about 15 minutes) then highlight every time the phrases ‘in Christ’ ‘in Him’ or ‘in the Lord Jesus’ appears. There are 33 of them in 6 chapters. Why? Being ‘in Christ’ transforms our lives. All human relationships, including relationships between neighbours, family, or church, are transformed by the power of Christ in our lives. This is crucial to unity, which is a major theme of the book. 

The movement of thought in the letter divides into two clear halves. In the first half (Chapters 1-3), Paul is exploring the story of the gospel, how all history came to a climax in Jesus and His creation of this multi-ethnic community of His followers. The second half of the letter (chapters 4-6) is linked to the first by the word “therefore.” Here Paul explores how the Gospel story should affect how we live every part of our life story, personally, in our neighbourhoods and communities, and in our families.

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