Lesson Blog for this Sunday, July 12th from Ephesians 1:3-14

Theme Question:
As I was growing up as a young Christian, I remember being told in Sunday School that "God has a plan for your life!" Do you remember being told this?

Hold onto that thought, while first, we explore some background (stolen directly from Wikipedia.com) regarding the letter of Ephesians.
Wikipedia mentions there is some question by scholars whether Paul was the actual author of the book of Ephesians. Ooh! Big surprise there! I have yet to read critique of a book of the bible where the first question wasn't whether or not it was written by who it was traditionally ascribed to...so let's get onto what they say about purpose and content.

Purpose

The purpose of the Epistle to the Ephesians is born out of its particular socio-historical context and the situational context of both the author and the audience. Originating in the circumstance of a multicultural church (primarily Jewish and Hellenistic) the author addressed issues appropriate to the diverse religious and cultural backgrounds present in the community.

For reasons that are unclear in the context and content of the letter itself, Paul exhorts the church repeatedly to embrace a specific view of salvation, which he then explicates. It seems most likely that Paul's Christology of sacrifice is the manner in which he intends to affect an environment of peace within the church. In short: "If Christ was sacrificed for your sake, be like him and be in submission to one another." Paul addresses hostility, division, and self-interest more than any other topic in the letter, leading many scholars to believe that his primary concern was not doctrinal, but behavioral.

Some theologians, such as Frank Charles Thompson agree the main theme of Ephesians is in response to the newly converted Jews who often separated themselves from their Gentile brethren. The unity of the church, especially between Jew and Gentile believers, is the keynote of the book. This is shown by the recurrence of such words and phrases as:

Together: made alive together, 2:5; raised up together, sitting together, 2:6; built together, 2:22

One, indicating unity: one new man, 2:15; one body, 2:16; one Spirit, 2:18; one hope, 4:4; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, 4:5-6.

In the passages for Sunday, July 12, Ephesians 1:3-14 (the Message)

^3-6How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

^7-10Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

^11-12It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

^13-14It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

Observation:

Paul definitely appears to be laying the groundwork of his argument for unity in the faith here and that groundwork is Christ himself for all Jew and Gentile alike in the Ephesian church. Paul states in a rhetoric of pre-determinism that Christ "had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone."

Theme Question:

Did you hold that thought I asked at the first about if you've ever been told "God has a plan for your life?" Well, what about it? What does that mean to you? Does it mean anything to you at all in this day and age, in the many experiences you have had in your life? If so how is this possibly expressed to others in your daily experience? In your daily expression of reality?