Ephesians Study Lesson 6

This week we went over Ephesians 2: 8-22

⁸ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast.

¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

¹¹ Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

¹² That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

¹⁵ Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

¹⁶ And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

¹⁷ And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

¹⁸ For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

¹⁹ Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

²⁰ And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

²¹ In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

²² In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

So here we go, we are saved by faith. So what is faith? well it is more than just belief because then many who believe the Bible yet deny it for some reason would be saved and even demons believed Jesus was the Messiah. It is more than that. It is belief and trust.

(Proverbs 3: 5-6)

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

⁶ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

now to skip on to verses 9- 10 as you see we can not boast in what we do as they are God's

(Galatians 6:14)

¹⁴ But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Tough you do have to admit you want to do good works for the blessings of God and try to work for them. 

OK so for a slightly different topic I move to 11 - 22. 

These verses are here because there was enmity between Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles. 

Christian Jews wanted Christian Gentiles to follow the "Old Covenant" laws(circumcision, sacrifices, Passover, etc.) though the Gentiles were not supposed to as the Jews themselves were given a 40 year transition period before the were to stop.(transition ended in the destruction of the temple).  This basically describes how the Christian Gentiles were fellow citizens in the Faith.


Well that's it for now. Have a blessed day

Ephesians Study : Lesson 5

I'm sorry this one was so late I went to church camp over the last week and wasn't able to put it up.

In the last lesson we went over the end of chapter 1 and a little bit of chapter 2.

Ephesians 1:15-23 

¹⁵ Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

¹⁶ Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

¹⁷ That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

¹⁸ The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹ And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

²⁰ Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

²¹ Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

²² And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

²³ Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

In verse 17 you should notice the Trinity ex. Jesus Christ, Father of glory, spirit of wisdom(Holy Spirit).Verse 20 speaks of the resurrection and ascension of Christ.
In verses 21 when it speaks of principality, power, might, and  dominion some believe it is referring to angels and the hierarchy of them. They reasoning behind this is because we were made a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8 :4-5 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.)and we have gained an inheritance through Christ and rule with Him since we are the Body of Christ,the Church, with which He communes as stated in verse 18 and Hebrews 2. While it may be true I am not sure about it: though, it still does apply to the other meanings having to do with the rulers of the earth.


Now for Chapter 2's verses:
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

² Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

³ Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

⁵ Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Verse 1 talks about the regeneration of our souls through by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.

Verse 2 talks about the prince of power of the air. This is referring to Zeus the Greek god of the sky. One thing you must realize is that back then demons were much more prevalent as God had aloud them to roam for various reasons.  Many of the false gods were probably demons wanting to get the praise which God truly deserved: though, some gods were merely idols. Back in the days of the Roman Empire the worship of "the gods" was quite prevalent and  confusing, as you had to know what sacrifices to give to what god for what reasons and if you were not careful if wanna of the gods(demons) was angry at another "god" you could be killed or cursed because even though you did what you were supposed to, you sacrificed to Poseidon while Zeus was angry at him so Zeus doesn't like what you did. In the modern world demons are less prevalent because Christ bound Satan after His death and resurrection and thus the power of the devil is more limited.


Verse 3 explains that in Christ we have all been changed.


Verse 4 In this verse the most important word is "but"  because it shows how we are sinful but he decided to save us anyway. This was a foreign concept to the Greeks and Romans as they did not truly believe in an afterlife the closest thing they had to salvation was if a "god" thought you good enough to come live with him. They loved the idea of being saved but hated the idea "flesh" is good. You see they believed if all flesh is evil "it does not matter what I do with my body" because all flesh is evil; thus. the people had to give up adultery, gluttony, lusts, and all kinds of perversions of the flesh.


Verse 5 This verse talks about how we have been save by God's grace alone. For we were dead in sin, no dead man if you offered him life could accept it only if you could give him life it would be your choice it is not like he'd be like"Um , no I won't come back to life, because I don't want to." he could choose to kill himself afterwards but he could not refuse his resurrection. Its like when Jesus called Lazarus from the grave.  Lazarus rose and came out. He had no choice for God had commanded it.




Now to talk a little about salvation. You must remember the Father Chose us before the foundation of the world, Christ died for us, redeemed us, and sent the Holy Spirit of Life to us, and while Christ's death was sufficient for the entire world it was only intended for the elect.
God has granted us grace and salvation which can not be lost.

Also remember to show love to others by rebuking them in wisdom and love being humble. Do not be disheartened if they do not listen for after showing him his sin it is now between him and God. Remember the foolish despise wise instruction but the wise man listens and increases in wisdom. If they bring up the "judge not lest you be judged" remember this John 7:24


Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.


If you have a similar problem you may have another friend tell him while you deal with yours Matthew 7:3-5
 ³ And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

⁴ Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

⁵ Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

But always remember to speak the truth in love.

Now go blessed and content in Jesus our savior knowing that the Father loves His children and he shall never forget you and shall love you always. Amen

Ephesians Study Lesson 4

This lesson we went over Ephesians 1:1-11 again. Basically this will  be a small overview with some new stuff.

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

² Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

⁴ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

⁵ Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

⁶ To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

⁷ In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

⁸ Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

⁹ Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

¹⁰ That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

¹¹ In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

So who are the saints? Well saints literally means holy ones or those set apart.

Also "Church" means assembly. 

Thus this was sent to an assembly of holy men.

In  verse 2 it says grace(greek)be to you (grace is usually a gift you get that is given even though you have disobeyed) and peace(hebrew)

Ok now for a little change in subject to adoption and predestination.

In the Old Testament, when Abraham had been placed under covenant by God, he had to be circumcised, not only him but all his sons and male servants. you see the covenant was extended to his family and workers. The same applied in the New Testament every-time a specific instance of a baptism is listed it was to him and his household.
All the people had to do was believe, love, and obey Christ.


As we have already covered predestination I'd advise you to look back upon that lesson once you get the chance. Basically God has planned all things, but this does not impare free-will because we do not know His plan.
We were purchased with a price. Purchased not rented or any other nonsense God sends the Holy Spirit to take reign of your life steering you in the right direction. We can find some assurance in John 15 verses 3-4,6, and 11

³ Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

⁶ If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

¹¹ These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Ephesians1 is also full of doctrine you must know verses:

4 = Justification

5 = Adoption

6 = reconciliation

7 = redemption

I'm going to give you a link this time so you can learn about the five points of Calvanism.(the five point of Calvanism were made countered the five points of Armenianism and show what is true)

http://calvinistcorner.com/tulip/

Blessings  to you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Lesson Postponed

Lesson was postponed till Friday Ill try to  get it out fast