Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians is a rich, upbeat, and positive letter, full of warmth, theological insights, and spiritual depth. “Pound for Pound,” writes Klyne Snodgrass (1996), “Ephesians may well be the most influential document ever written” (p. 17). Its application for believers today is as significant as it was then. The Church in America, Snodgrass (1996) writes, “need[s] nothing less than a new reformation, and Ephesians is the document to bring it about” (p. 18). If Ephesians is such an important epistle, it might be helpful to know a little about who the Ephesian’s were and why Paul wrote to them.
The city of Ephesus was a major seaport city located on the east coast of the Aegean Sea at the mouth of the Caÿster River in the Roman
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Paul intended, as evidence suggests, that this letter be circulated among the numerous churches in the province of Asia. Hays & Duvall (2011) note, however, that “the letter became associated more permanently with Ephesus because it was the leading city in the region” (p. 838). Paul seems to have no particular reason, i.e. no specific circumstance to address, to write this letter other than to strengthen the believers in Ephesus and Asia Minor. Paul cared deeply for the people that he had contact with and wanted to encourage them to stand firm in sound doctrine, holy living, and love (Barton, Comfort, Osborne, Taylor, and Veerman, 2001, p. 800).
Paul’s beautifully written letter to the believers in Ephesus and Asia Minor is intended to remind them of their standing in Christ and what that means for how they are living. Its message is as relevant today as it was when Paul wrote it. Connection with Christ is what brings life to the believer (John 15:1-17). As Klyne Snodgrass (1996) writes, “all the privileges of life are found in union with Christ and conveyed by the Spirit” (p. 18). Knowing this union himself, Paul wanted all believers to know the
To the Jew First: The Case for Jewish Evangelism in Scripture and History edited by Darrell Bock and Mitch Glaser builds a case for the importance of Jewish Evangelism based on the Bible, theological viewpoints, and the suggested missions approach. In the first article, “’For the Jew First’ : Paul’s Nota Bene for His Gentile Readers”, Mark Seifrid presents the importance of evangelism to the Jews as focused on the salvation of the Gentiles in order to provoke jealousy of the Jews.
In the book of Philemon, many scholars differ in their opinion of why Paul wrote a personal letter to Philemon, the master to Onesimus. A couple of those reasons could be that Paul hoped that Philemon would release the slave so that he could work for him or that he wanted Onesimus to be treated better than before since slaves were treated harshly. Although, there were suspicions as to why Onesimus could have gotten himself into trouble. These reasons consist of him stealing property or money from his master, then accidentally running into Paul while he was in prison. The other reason consisted of him displeasing his master and leaving out to find Paul.
The author of this article, Dr. Simon J. Kistemaker, is a professor of New Testament Emeritus at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando Florida. According to his bio on the RTS website he is an accomplished author, holds three degrees and is a native of the Netherlands . In this article Dr. Kistemaker addressed the topic of the temple during the Apocalypse. First, the author made the distinction between the Greek words for the temple complex and the holy of holies; showing how they have different meanings.
The second letter to the church at Thessolonica has Paul giving comfort to the church to alleviate the concern and worry they had over the second coming. In the first letter, he focused more on the gathering of the church that would occur upon Jesus’ return. He approaches it from the perspective of being a glorious occasion and a time for celebration. In the second letter he writes, “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon
For Centuries the interpretations of Paul’s letters have been centered on them apparently being of Judaist works and legalistic. Kent L. Yinger’s 105-page book, The New Perspective on Paul: An Introduction, Yinger studies the history of NPP via E.P Sanders 1977 publication of Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A comparison of Patterns of Religion. He details Sanders views and main arguments of NPP in the book since these are what laid the groundwork for the new perspective. He uses historical background and an outline format in each chapter as a method to illustrate new aspects to the perspective of Paul. Yinger, who is pro-NPP, attempts to introduce these topics in lame terms to prevent confusion and create clarity in understanding the new
JOURNAL ARTICLE CRITIQUE of MacLeod, David J. "The Present Work of Christ in Hebrews" Source: Bibliotheca sacra, 148 - 590 Apr - Jun 1991, p 184-200. THEO 510 LUO (fall 2015) Work of Christ Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary James E. Thomas (ID# 25797530) October 8, 2015 Contents Introduction....................................................................................................................................1 Commencement of Christ 's Present Ministry ................................................................................2 Activities of Christ 's Present Ministry............................................................................................3 Critical Evaluation .........................................................................................................................4 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................5 Bibliography.................................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction This journal article comes from, David
“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God”. -The Letter of Paul to the Philippians. Irving chose this quote because he wanted people to have an idea about what the book will be about and also give an important message to readers that can be applied to their everyday life. The message to readers is if you believe in God, there is no need to be worried because if you speak to God and tell him your problems, you will be taken care of.
Historical Background of the Policy America is founded on the ideology of Christianity. Whether one believes in the Bible, or not, society still focuses on similar morals and values portrayed in the Bible. The Bible describes children as blessings from the Lord (Psalm 127: 3-5 New American Standard Version), and it also states not to provoke our children (Ephesians 6:4 New American Standard Version). There is controversy in the book of Proverbs where it is notated that a child is foolish until a rod of discipline removes foolishness (Proverbs 22:15 New American Standard Version). Again, it is mentioned when explaining that disciplining a child will not kill the child, discipline will only correct the child (Proverbs 23:13 New American Standard Version).
2nd Corinthians is a deeply personal and touching letter and also a response to the intricate history between the Apostle Paul and the church he had established in Corinth. This letter tells the harsh truths in the ministry. Obviously the Apostle Paul wrote this letter and it’s his fourth letter to the church in Corinth. As we see in 1st Corinthians the church in Corinth wasn’t in good shape, so in 2nd Corinthians we see Paul travel to Corinth to solve the problems, but his visit only powered the church’s resistance. I learned many things when reading 2nd Corinthians.
This quoted evidence illustrates the depths of Paul’s
The book of Philippians is not only one of my favor books of the Bible, but it also is one that carries a very powerful and applicable message. Unlike most of Paul's other books, Philippians was not written as a correctional book for the church of Philippi. The books overarching look is more of a thankful book, because the church had helped Paul very generously through their giving for his other mission trips. Paul does mention minor problems within the church, but none of which were as harsh as the ones from Corinth, Galatia, or Ephesus. Just like all of the other epistles Paul wrote this book in prison.
In the book of Romans, Paul is writing to the church in Rome. At this point, Paul had been interested in Rome and wanted to spread the gospel there. Expanding his grounds, he went to Rome to teach them about the one true King. This passage itself speaks about how dedicated and connected Paul was to Christ and letting no one get in the way of His purpose which as an apostle was to teach others about Christ. It also exemplifies the trust and faith Paul had in Christ.
In Romans 1-3 Paul uses the principle of impartiality to set up his thesis for these three chapters as an unbiased counterpart. Paul writes these three chapters with the goal of uniting the Jew and Gentiles, by proving the means of being saved is through Faith, not the law. Paul breaks apart the law to provide evidence that it alone cannot save oneself, and that faith comes from Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and being humble. Paul strengthens this argument by setting up Romans in a diatribal form. He states his thesis, demonstrates the thesis with the antithesis, restates the thesis, demonstrates the thesis with examples, then he does and exposition of the thesis, and the answers the objections.
Because of his attribution to the New Testament as writing 13 books in the total of 27 books, Paul even considered himself “as little more than an ambassador or emissary for Jesus” (Powell, 231). Paul is the person who had oppressed the church. After that, on the road to Damascus, when he experienced a rendezvous with Jesus, he became a Christian missionary. Discussing particular theological issues, Paul’s epistles are written to a specific person or a specific group of people. Paul’s epistles are to Romans, two to Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, two to Thessalonians, two to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
Paul’s pneumatology found in his writings has been a matter of interest in recent New Testament scholarship. Gordon Fee has been a great contributor in this area and in Paul, the Spirit and the People of God he outlines the various elements found in Pauline pneumatology giving us greater insight into this subject. In this paper I will highlight some of these elements that are unique to Paul and are not found in the Synoptic Gospels and Acts. The first distinctive of Pauline pneumatology is the way he sees the Spirit as God’s personal presence. For Paul, the coming of the Spirit meant that God had fulfilled the promises He had made to Jeremiah and Ezekiel when He said, ‘I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel’ (Jer. 31:31), and