Skip to main content

Ephesians 1:1-14 [5]

If you are new to this blog, please start with 1 (Intro) and then continue in order.


Just like when you did the overview, start each study time with prayer, asking God to open your eyes to the truth and lead and guide you in the truth through his Holy Spirit.

DAY 1
Read through chapters 1 and 2, marking every instance of grace and peace. I like to mark grace with an orange circle and peace with blue waves under it (as in peace like a river😁), but any distinct way would be fine. As you do this. look for other repeated words and phrases and write some of them down. Spend some time thanking and praising God for his grace and peace. You could even use some of the language of the passage like, "Thank you, God, for the riches of your grace, which you have lavished upon us." (from verses 7 and 8).

DAY 2 AND 3
Choose at least 2 repeated words or phrases in chapters 1 and 2 and mark them in a distinct way. You could also list out the repeated phrases and where they occur, looking for similarities and differences between them. Spend some time thanking and praising him for something in the passage and cast your anxieties on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

DAY 4 AND 5
Start with prayer. We have been looking at a lot of key words, one thing that is important to observe in a passage. Now we are going to focus on lists. Lists can help us to see what different things the passage says about one of our key words or phrases. It can also be a conceptual list.  Let's start with the first one. Looking at just verse 1, write down what it says about Paul. Make another list of what you learn about the Ephesians in verse 1.

You have probably noticed that this first part of Ephesians talks about all the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ. Write out those blessings. You can number them on the left and then write the verse reference on the right like this:

1. God chose us in Christ v. 4

Spend some time thanking and praising God for these blessings! Once again, if you are doing this with a friend, share your observations (key words and lists) and then spend some time praising God together for all the spiritual blessings we have in Christ. Even if you don't have someone else doing the study with you, I still encourage you to share what you are learning with someone else and then you could read about the blessings we have in Christ together and praise him together.


My Observations on the Passage [5.5]

I have decided to include my observations just to give you an idea if you are on the right track or not. Since these are just observations, there really is not a right answer. Different people are going to notice different things. God has made us all different and it is beautiful! But here is what I came up with:

DAY 2 AND 3
One phrase I looked at was "according to"
According to:
1. the purpose of his will v5
2. the riches of his grace v7
3. his purpose v9
4. the purpose of him v11
5. the council of his will v11

DAY 4 AND 5
Paul
 an apostle
  -of Christ Jesus
  -by the will of God

Ephesians
1. the saints (in Ephesus)
2. are faithful
  -in Christ Jesus

Spiritual Blessings in Christ
1. chose us v4
2. that we should be holy and blameless v4
3. predestined us for adoption
  -to himself
  -in love
  -as sons through Jesus Christ
4. his glorious grace v6
5. redemption through his blood v7
6. the forgiveness of our trespasses v7
7. lavished upon us the riches of his grace vv7-8
8. made known to us the mystery of his will v9
9. we have obtained an inheritance v11
10. we be to the praise of his glory v12
11. sealed with the promised Holy Spirit v13
  -the guarantee of our inheritance
  -until we acquire possession of it


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Prisoner With Access: Thoughts on Ephesians 3:1-13 [12]

If you are new to this blog, please start with 1 (Intro) and then continue in order. Even though Paul is suffering in prison (v13 and 1), he does not want the Ephesian Gentile believers to lose heart (v13). Rather than focus on this suffering, Paul focuses on the grace given to him to be able to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and share the "unsearchable riches of Christ". Paul felt especially grateful for this because he considered himself "the very least of all the saints" since he was a persecutor of the church. Wow! I wonder if that would be my focus if I were in prison for sharing the gospel, just being thankful that God allowed me to share it! Once again, we have this idea of access to God. Ephesians 2:18 talks about having access to the Father in one Spirit through Christ, now for both Jews and Gentiles. In chapter 3 verse 12, we again see that it is through our faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, but also have the added idea of  having boldness with confid...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ephesians 1:15-23, My Observations [7.5]

If you are new to this blog, please start with 1 (Intro) and then continue in order. Remember, these are just observations, not necessarily the "right" answers. This is just to give you an idea. DAY 4 Paul's petitions: 1. thanked God for their faith in the Lord Jesus and    -their love toward all the saints vv15-16 2. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him v17 3. that they would know:    -what is the hope to which he has called them v18    -what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints v18    -what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe v19 note: I chose not to include "having the eyes of your hearts enlightened" because the way I read that, they already have the eyes of their hearts enlightened. It is not a request, but a statement of fact. My observations for what God did to/for Jesus can be found in the next post...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ephesians 4:17-32, My Observations [17.5]

If you are new to this blog, I encourage you to start with  Intro [1]  and then continue in order. DAY 1 AND 2 I decided to make a list regarding the Gentiles and how they walk. walk as the Gentiles do 1. in the futility of their minds v17 2. darkened in their understanding v18 3. alienated from the life of God 4. with ignorance 5. with hard hearts 6. become callous v19 7. given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity And then look at what we are to do in light of the fact that we have heard about Christ and were taught in him. But assuming you have heard about Christ and were taught in him v21 1. put off old self v22 2. be renewed in the spirit of your minds v23 3. put on the new self v24 -created after the likeness of God -in true righteousness -and holiness DAYS 3- 6 Sets Generally these lists are: -what to put off -what to put on -reasons given 1. having put away falsehood speak the truth with your neighbor ...
Post a Comment
Read more