Ephesians:
This book is a letter from Paul to Christians
at Ephesus. As previously, on predestination, Paul said,
"For He chose us in Him before the creation of the
world..." and "predestined us to be adopted as His sons
through Jesus Christ...," and "having been
predestined...in order that we...might be for the praise of His
glory." (Ephesians 1:4-5;and 1:11) And, on the future events
around his time (or even possibly yet to come now) of the "last
days" Paul spoke of God's purpose: "...when times
have reached their fulfillment -- to bring all things in heaven
and on earth together under one Head, even Christ."
(Ephesians 1:10) Paul stated that salvation is not a reward for
doing good and that Christ's death was to cancel the system of
Jewish laws and to allow Gentiles to be a part of God's house.
Paul referred to Christians as "children of light," and
he advised, "always giving thanks to God the Father for
everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(Ephesians 5:20) For husbands and wives, Paul said "...each
one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the
wife must respect her husband." (Ephesians 5:33) For
children, Paul instructs them to obey their parents, saying,
"'Honor your father and mother' -- which is the first
commandment with a promise -- 'that it may go well with you and
that you may enjoy long life on the earth.' " (Ephesians
6:2-3) For everyone, Paul said to always work hard, with
gladness, "as if you were serving the Lord." Paul
warned that Christians must always have the Lord's strength to
"take your stand against the devil's schemes" and
against the "powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" as
Christian soldiers with God's armor. (Ephesians 6:10-17; also 1
Thessalonians 5:8)
Several of Paul's other points include:
- "one Lord, one faith, one baptism;" (Ephesians 4:5)
- "...the Head... is...Christ. From Him the whole body
(i.e., the Church)...grows and builds itself up in love,
as each part does its work." (Ephesians 4:15-16)