Ephesians

What This Book Is

A letter of two clean halves: three chapters on what God has done, and three on how to live as the community that results.

Overview

Ephesians has less of the urgency of Paul's other letters. There is no crisis being addressed and almost no local detail, which is part of why many think it circulated among several congregations rather than addressing one problem.

The first three chapters are almost entirely about God's action. Chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, sealed with the Spirit. Chapter 1 in Greek is essentially one enormous sentence of praise. Chapter 2 states the letter's most quoted lines: you were dead, God made you alive, and this is by grace through faith, not from yourselves, not of works, so no one can boast.

Then comes the turn that gives the letter its heart. Having said that individuals are saved by grace, Paul immediately says what that grace produced socially: Gentiles who were far off have been brought near, the dividing wall of hostility has been broken down, and out of two groups God has made one new humanity. In a world sharply divided between Jew and Gentile, that was the visible proof of the gospel.

The second half turns practical. Speak truth, work honestly, do not let anger fester, forgive as you were forgiven. There are instructions for households, which reflect the structures of their time and which Christians have long discussed carefully, all introduced by a call to mutual submission out of reverence for Christ.

It ends with the armour of God, and the reminder that the struggle is not against flesh and blood.

Structure

• Chapter 1: BlessingA long single sentence of praise for what God has done.
• Chapter 2: Grace and peaceDead made alive, and two groups made one new humanity.
• Chapter 3: The mysteryGentiles included, and a prayer for the readers.
• Chapters 4 to 5: New lifeUnity, honesty, forgiveness, and imitation of God.
• Chapter 6: Households and armourInstructions for the home, and the armour of God.

Themes

Why It Matters

Ephesians holds together two things churches often separate: what God has done and how a community behaves. Its claim that reconciled people are the evidence of the gospel has been used by reconciliation movements across many divides. Chapter 2 is one of the clearest statements of grace anywhere, and the letter as a whole is the best short summary of Paul's theology.

How to Read It

• Read chapters 1 to 3 before 4 to 6, and notice the therefore that joins them.
• Read 2:11-22 and ask what dividing walls your own church has not brought down.
• Read the household instructions with attention to 5:21, which introduces them.
• Read chapter 6:10-20 as a passage about standing rather than attacking.

Key Verse

Did You Know?

• The words in Ephesus are missing from some of the earliest manuscripts, which supports the idea of a circular letter.
• Chapter 1:3-14 is a single sentence in the original Greek.
• Paul writes this from prison and calls himself a prisoner of Christ rather than of Rome.

Where to Start Reading