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The Scriptures —Study 0 — Introduction of the book of Ephesians
Study 0 From the Book of 1 Ephesians is: The Introduction of the book of
Ephesians.
INTRODUCTION
This
epistle, together with Philippians, Colossians and Philemon' form a
group known as the 'Prison' Epistles, because all four were' as is
generally believed, written from Rome when Paul was a prisoner there,
as described in Acts 28:16, 30, 31. The words 'at Ephesus' (1:1) are
omitted in a number of important manuscripts, and this has led many
to suppose that the Epistle was not intended for Ephesus alone, but
for all the churches of the Lycus valley, of which the church at
Ephesus was the chief.
It
was God's purpose from before the foundation of the world to form a
people for Himself. But, mankind fell into sin and death, and only
when Christ came was it revealed that God's purpose was to find
accomplishment through the creation of a new humanity in Christ, made
up of both Jew and Gentile, reconciled to God and to one another
through the blood of the cross, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This
'new man' consists of the whole redeemed community of which Christ is
the Head, and stands in contrast to the 'old man' whose head is Adam,
and which is under the dominion of the world, the devil and the
flesh, and its subject to divine condemnation.
The
new humanity in Christ is the theme of the Epistle. The doctrine of
individual salvation by faith, as expounded in Romans and Galatians,
is here less prominent, and the apostle dwells rather upon the
corporate aspects of salvation under the image of the church as the
body of Christ, together with the vision of a final oneness of all
things in Him.
