Hi James and Ellen,
Ephesians is a Christ-follower’s dogma and life manual. Ephesians was penned by a jailbird by the name of Paul. Paul was doing house arrest time in the city of Rome when he saw to the penning of a syllabus that succinctly explains Christ-follower faith doctrines and living norms. Before Paul around the end of 59 A.D., was taken by ship to the city of Rome, Paul did a couple of years of jail time in the city of Caesarea. The reason for Paul ending up in the city of Caesarea’s dungeon was because of Paul’s obstinacy to go to the city of Jerusalem in spite of having a respected, spirit filled Christ-follower – whose name was Agabus, show Paul what God – as God the Spirit, told him would happen to Paul if he continued on his trip to the city of Jerusalem that he was going to end up having Gentiles bind him with ropes by literally binding himself with ropes. Paul by this time had possibly become one of the most well-known – if not the most well-known, proactive proponent of accepting Christ-follower beliefs and lifestyles. Paul was at this time – which was in 57 A.D., finishing up his third missionary journey that included a stay of about three years in the city of Ephesus. Even though Paul claims that God – as God the Spirit, explicitly told him that he was to go to the city of Jerusalem, your grandpaa wonders that just maybe Paul’s bullheaded aspiration to go to the city of Jerusalem – after four years or so from being away from the city of Jerusalem, was influenced by being emotionally and physically tired. Because the city of Jerusalem was the epicenter for the emergent Christ-follower movement and because James – who was Jesus’ half-bro, had been abdicated the role of being the Christ-follower movement’s figurehead, your grandpaa also wonders that just maybe Paul’s desire to be in the city of Jerusalem was to have an audience with James for James to debrief him about the emerging Christ-follower communities that he had been responsible for initiating and maturing. Your grandpaa thinks that Paul had a really good feeling about this four year missionary trip and . . . Paul quickly had his balloon popped when he got into the city of Jerusalem when James – instead of probing Paul for what took place on his missionary journey, wanted Paul to get involved in a situation that to your grandpaa compromised Paul’s teachings to let go of the Torah mandated laws in order to live a Jesus centered life. When it quickly became known to Paul’s distracters that he was in the city of Jerusalem, these guys made sure that Paul was caught and bound. In spite of these guys’ wishes for some gallows to be where Paul would do his last breath on planet Earth, Paul was secretly transferred to the city of Caesarea where it seems to your grandpaa that Paul grossed a lot about his unjust, unfair imprisonment. Your grandpaa conjectures that Paul quite probably dictated what he wanted penned not long after his incarceration or house arrest in the city of Rome began.
Because there are no records that Paul had any letters penned during his interment in the city of Caesarea jail, your grandpaa has a feeling that Paul archived in his mind a lot of his thoughts during those two or so years that he was confined in the city of Caesarea prison. Your grandpaa thinks that once Paul became settled into the rhythm of being a prisoner in the city of Rome, Paul put on paper the missive that he had been storing in his mind. Because Paul taught for a couple of years at the Tyrannus Hall Bible education center – which was in the city of Ephesus, your grandpaa thinks that Paul may have been thinking of the guys who he taught when he had his Ephesians letter penned in 60 A.D. Because the six chapters in the Ephesians letter has a textbook flow to it, your grandpaa argues that Paul sent this letter to Timothy – who was in the city of Ephesus at this time, to do an overview with the elders who Paul may have had a say in positioning in the city of Ephesus Christ-follower communities, and then for the elders to use as an outline for their teaching messages. Your grandpaa thinks that Paul wanted each city of Ephesus Christ-follower elder to underpin their congregants on what it is that a guy or gal who is a Christ-follower is to claim as absolutes. Paul wanted each Christ-follower guy and gal to be assured that he or she had been specially chosen by God – as God the Father, to be a Christ-follower before He placed planet Earth into an orbit, that he or she is holy and blameless in the eyes of God – as God the Father, that he or she was predestined to be a Christ-follower by the unmerited love of God – as God the Father, that he or she has had the blood that was shed by God – as God the Son, for him or her when he was cruelly nailed to and hung on a cross atone the costs that his or her sins incur, that he or she has been totally forgiven of his or her sins through the appalling suffering of God – as God the Son, while He was on the cross, that he or she has an eternal life guarantee that was brought about through the victory over death when God – as God the Son, died while on the cross and then His becoming alive again and that a simple faith is all that he or she needs to live his or her life for the sake of and in the perfect will of God – as God the Father.
The second half of the Ephesians letter has Paul touching on a number of life tensions that a Christ-follower faces. Paul saw it as a given that a Christ-follower guy or gal could not help but live in genuine unity with each other when humbleness, gentleness, patience and love is intentionally and continually lived as a lifestyle, when lives are lived as lights in their homes and to the world and when the armor of God is put on to fend off the enemy’s wiles.
Ephesians