Ephesians

Many scholars think the letter to the Ephesians was actually written to the neighboring town of Laodicea as there is no reference to the Ephesians in the earliest manuscripts and there is a reference to a letter to Laodicea in Colossians 4:16.


Ephesians emphasizes the character of the church. Once we have been called by grace and have entered into relationship of saving faith with Christ, we should seek to live as the true church.

Rev. Ray Stedman points out that each chapter outlines another aspect of what the church is and what we ought to strive to become:

Chapter 1 - a body with Christ as the head
Chapter 2 - a temple
Chapter 3 - a mystery
Chapter 4 - a new self
Chapter 5 - a bride
Chapter 6 - a soldier


Paul's discussion of spiritual armor in Chapter 6 seems to resonate with a passage Chapter 5 of the Wisdom of Solomon from the Apocrypha in which the armor of the Lord is described.