Romans isn’t a theoretical, systematic theology; it’s a letter written by the apostle Saul/Paul to a specific set of house churches in the city of Rome in the middle of the first century. Far too often, Romans has been taught as if its teaching can be abstracted from time and space. But that’s not how…
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…