Ephesians



1:1 Simply put, "saints" are those who are faithful in Christ.


1:4 [paraphrase] God chose mankind , before creating us, to be innocent, which we were, until Adam and Eve disobeyed.


1:5 [paraphrase] Out of love, he planned for us to be adopted through Christ.


1:4-5 Verses 4 and 5, taken together, show the chronological plan of God, how he created us perfect, but we disobeyed. He then provided a second way throgh Christ. The use of the word blameless in verse4 is significant, for before manking gained knowledge of good and evil, we were not accountable, but blameless and innocent. Verse 13 would contradict 4 and 5 if it meant that we were handpicked, because that verse puts the burden on belief.

1:13, 14 At rebirth, the Holy Spirit becomes a seal upon our soul. As long as we do not quench or blaspheme the Spirit, He remains our guarantee of salvation. The Greek word used here is that which refers to a wax seal. It takes little imagination to invent a way to tear off a bit of wax. As such, this word can hardly mean that the Holy Spirit, our seal, protects against forfeiting one's salvation. Rather, a wax seal is an indicator that the package is unopened and uncompromised. A seal allows us to know that we're saved, but it certainly does not keep us that way.

2:3 The term "sinful nature" is also rendered simply as "our flesh" indicating that in some translations, the words sin and flesh/carnality are used interchangably, though this is somewhar inaccurate.

2:8 It is by grace that we are saved, but grace comes by faith, and as Galatians 3:2, 5, and 6 show, it is not a work as some theologies suggest.

3:3 Again, Paul speaks of a personal revelation.

3:7 The grace that Paul speaks of is the revelation he recieved.

Up next: Galatians 4-6

4:1 The Law served as Israel's guardian against their own selfish natures.

4:10 No need for special days. This is very similar to Paul's statement in Romans 14:5.

5:2 Not a condemnation of circumcision in and of itself, but a pronouncement against righteousness by works.

5:4 Both senses of "falling from grace" seem to apply here. One interpretation signifies transformation from faithfulness to apostasy. The second, and in this case, more likely (considering the context) implies a return to Law and therefore, a fall from or abandonment of grace.

5:10 This verse has interesting implications for men like (for example) Johann Tetzel, who lead the Catholic Church's sale of indulgences. Do they then become responsible for all the sins that they've "indulged" away?

5:13 Forgiveness is not a license to sin.

5:25-26 It is possible to fall out of step with the Holy Spirit and therefore become unable or unqualified to inherit the kingdom of Heaven. (v. 21)

6:7 Another verse listing the principle of sowing and reaping.

6:11 Paul obviously wrote the original copy of this epistle himself.

To continue with Ephesians 1-3, click HERE.

Tonight, in an attempt to catch up to my current place in the Bible, I'm listing three more chapters from Romans (6-9). I hope you can gain something from them. Since my main point was to post this transcription of my notes, I won't say anymore. Here goes:

6:11-12 Being dead to sin is a command, not an automatic effect of being born-again.

7:10 Commandments which were meant to bring life, brough Paul death-by-resctriction, much like Adam.

8:1 No condemnation for those who are in Christ. The word "in" is indicative of a present condition, not a former one.

8:24 We hope for what we do not have, and for what is to come. We hope to be saved. The terms "salvation" and "saved" actually refer to our presence in Heaven, and is
different from being born-again, which is what we are here, on earth.

8:29 "Predestined," throughout the earliest years of Christianity, extending up until the 1600's, was never defined as being inalterable. It meant only that by being in Christ, our place was reserved in Heaven.

8:35 Nothing can separate us from Christ's love. In contradiction to those that believe in universal salvation, love is not equal to salvation.

9:10-12 culminate with Paul's quotation of Obediah 6, "Esau I hated."Throughout the Old Testament, various prophetic speakers used the terms Jacob and Esau to reference the kingdom/ethnic group that came from them.Obediah, specifically, is one of these. It had nothing to do with thebrother's themselves.

9:17 is referring to Pharaoh, is not considering the emperor's eternal destiny, but his lot in life. God raised him up, never spiritually, but in earthly matters. His destruction was an example of God's manipulation of governments, in order to bring about a specific future. Pharaoh, had he granted the Jews their freedom, could have watched them leave his gates and said to himself (and worse, to his kingdom) "Look at those Israelites. Their God didn't deliver them. If I weren't so merciful, they would still be our slaves." For this condition of his heart, God punished him by tying Pharaoh's irrespective attitude to his actions.

9:20 is an interesting passage in that it defies the axiom that no apocryphal books are quoted in the New Testament. This verse quotes directly from Wisdom 15:7 which, while sounding very much like Jeremiah 18:4, and maybe originating from it, has a different perspective. In context, the book is talking about those who, rather than make vessels, are creating idols. The following verse, 15:8, makes an additional comment that puts the blame for such a lewd creation on the maker of the idol. Unintentionally, the author has made a telling comment about the concept of election: if God has made a man evil, then God, the creator is to blame for it, not the creation.

9:19-21 end with another Old Testament quotation: Jeremiah 18:4. Prophetically, Jeremiah was expounding on God's plan to eventually include the Gentiles in his plan for reconciliation with God. Paul, a former Pharisee, would have known this and not taken the verse out of context.

9:30 and onward is Paul's anticipated answer to those who say that, because the Jews (as a whole) are not, in the end, the sole recipients of grace, then God's prophecies are void. Paul explains that the Jews who try to relate to God by the Law, rather than faith, are in unbelief and therefore, not righteous.

As a side note, I began reading Greathouse's book, From The Apostles to Wesley: Christian Perfection in Historical Perspective. Thus far, it's been extremely enlightening. Greathouse, former general superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, breaks down the definitions into explanations everyone can understand. He proves the pedigree of the doctrine of sanctification, throughout church history.

To continue with Romans 10-16, click HERE.