We bring all of our selves to everything we interpret, including assumptions we have based on the influence of the cultures around us. When we come to this week’s text, Ephesians 2.1-10, many of us have been influenced by Modern, Western culture, which has conditioned us to understand the concept of “faith” as opposed to…
Today in the United States, many people are experiencing an identity crisis. The labels and categories that used to provide a sense of security and purpose no longer do. To make matters worse, identity has become highly divisive. Race, culture, ethnicity, gender, orientation, partisan politics, and faith are just a few of the areas where…
In Week 1, “A Place of Power,” we learned about some of the historical and cultural context of Ephesus, the setting for the letter called Ephesians and Acts chapter 19. We learned, for example, that Ephesus was home to the Temple of Artemis, one the “seven wonders” of the ancient world. This is a very…
Power is one of the main themes of the New Testament book called “Ephesians,” written by the apostle Paul for circulation among the churches of “Asia.” For example, in chapter one Paul prays for Jesus’s disciples to have power like the power God exerted in raising Jesus from the dead (v.19-20) and praises Jesus for…
In the first century, when the apostle Saul/ Paul 1 traveled to Ephesus (now in modern-day Turkey), a city with a long and illustrious history. Dating back to the Greek migrations of 1200 BC, Ephesus underwent several rebirths. In Greek times, it was the birth place of a great pre-Socratic philosopher named Heraclitus. It was…