Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Message
  What this book is all about has been the subject of considerable debate. Many people think God gave it to us to provide His answer to the age-old problem of suffering. In particular, many believe it is in the Bible to help us...
• II. COUPLETS EXPRESSING WISDOM 10:1--22:16
  Chapters 1-9, as we have seen, contain discourses that Solomon evidently wrote urging his sons to choose the way of wisdom for their lives.92At 10:1 we begin the part of the book that sets forth what the wise way is in a vari...
• II. Oracle one: Yahweh's love for Israel 1:2-5
  The revelation that Yahweh gave Malachi for Israel consisted of six "heavy"messages. The first one reminded God's people of His love for them and of their ungratefulness.1:2a The Lord's first word to His people was short and ...
• VI. Oracle five: The people's sin of robbing God 3:7-12
  The Lord had said that Israel's earlier history was a time when the priests and the people of Israel pleased Him (v. 4). Now He said that those early days were short-lived (cf. Exod. 32:7-9). In contrast to His faithfulness (...
• A. Salutation 1:1-3
  The apostle Paul began this epistle as he did his others by identifying himself and a fellow worker known to the readers. Then he identified and described the recipients of the letter and greeted them with a benediction. This...
• A. Salutation 1:1-2
  This salutation contains the three elements common in all of Paul's epistles and other correspondence of his day: the writer, the addressees, and a greeting."This salutation exhibits undoubted resemblances in form to secular ...
• Historical background
  Almost all Christians believed in the Pauline authorship of Ephesians until the nineteenth century when destructive biblical criticism gained influence (cf. 1:1; 3:1). The critics built a case against Pauline authorship from ...
• Message3
  The Book of Ephesians enables us to view God's creation from an alpine altitude. When we study this book, it is as though we have climbed a high mountain peak because the book gives us that kind of perspective on what God has...
• Outline
  I. Salutation 1:1-2II. The Christian's calling 1:3-3:21A. Individual calling 1:3-2:101. The purpose: glory 1:3-142. The means: knowledge 1:15-233. The motive: grace 2:1-10B. Corporate calling 2:11-3:191. Present unity 2:11-22...
• I. SALUTATION 1:1-2
  In most of his epistles Paul began by setting forth foundational truth and then concluded by applying that truth to the lives of his readers. This pattern is very obvious in Ephesians where the first three chapters deal with ...
• The believer's position in Christ 1:3
  Christians should bless or praise (Gr. eulogetos, speak well of) God the Father for bestowing these blessings. Paul was thinking of God as both the Father of believers (v. 2) and the Father of His Son (v. 3). God has already ...
• The selection of the Father 1:4-6
  The spiritual blessings that have come to us are the work of all three members of the Trinity. God Himself is the basis of these blessings.1:4 The first blessing is election. God has sovereignly chosen some people for salvati...
• Now alive in God 2:4-10
  The wrath of God on the unbeliever (v. 3) contrasts with the grace of God on the believer (vv. 5, 7, 8). God's grace toward some unbelievers gives them life (vv. 4-5), raises them up (v. 6), and seats them in heavenly realms ...
• 2. Past ignorance 3:1-13
  Paul began to pray for his readers again (cf. vv. 1, 14), but he interrupted himself to tell them more about the church. What he said in this section gives background information concerning the church as a mystery.3:1 "For th...
• III. THE CHRISTIAN'S CONDUCT 4:1--6:20
  Practical application (chs. 4-6) now follows doctrinal instruction (chs. 1-3).
• The basis of unity 4:1-6
  4:1 "Therefore"or "then"refers to what Paul had said in chapters 1-3. To walk worthily or in balance means to harmonize one's conduct with his or her calling. Calling here refers to God's calling to live in unity as Jews and ...
• IV. CONCLUSION 6:21-24
  Paul's anticipation of his defense before Nero brought him back to the present in his thinking. His exposition of the mystery of the church to his readers had ended. He had also explained their proper conduct in view of their...
• I. Salutation 1:1-2
  Paul began this epistle by identifying himself and his companion and by wishing God's richest blessings on his readers."Almost all letters from the Greco-Roman period began with a threefold salutation: The Writer, to the Addr...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• Saints And Faithful
  The saints which are at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus.'--Eph. 1:1THAT is Paul's way of describing a church. There were plenty of very imperfect Christians in the community at Ephesus and in the other Asiatic church...