First I want to say we had a wonderful time this past Friday discussing the introduction to the book of Ephesians. The booklet we are going through is called the LifeGuide Bible Study — Ephesians: Wholeness for a Broken World. I mentioned that I plan to get everyone a copy. I can get it for $6 a piece. Let me know who needs a copy so I can order the correct number. (Just reply to this email.) And you can give your money to me next time on September 27th.
Here's a quick recap of the study:
Paul the Apostle wrote this letter around 60 AD. He wrote this in conjunction with Colossians and Philemon. It's generally understood that Paul probably wanted to address some serious issues in the church at Colossae. So he decided to tack on a personal letter to Philemon, who lived in Colossae — since he was sending his slave, Onesimus, back — and wanted to encourage the nearby churches of Ephesus.
However, Ephesians is a letter pretty much free of the typical turmoil associated with the other New Testament letters of Paul. It lays out a big picture view for the church and christians in general of what they are all about and how to conduct themselves.
We also talked about a good approach to bible study:
It's sometimes called the inductive method. But it typically involves examining the biblical text to see what it says. In the process we minimize bringing our own ideas to the text. It follows the approach of
- observing the text (asking the who, what, where, how) and
- interpreting what we observe (what does it mean, why) then
- seeing how it applied to the original hearers and
- how it may also apply to us
These booklets are great for the task. Everyone will be able to prepare on their own and bring their insights to the study.
Attached is the promised outline of Ephesians to see how the letter is constructed. Although the outline is mostly written by me, there are some additional insights from another source that I cite. Also a good timeline of Paul's life and letters can be found here <http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/paul/timeline.cfm>.
Kerry
