Ephesians

The book of Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus in 62 AD.  Paul talks about the spiritual blessings we now have in Christ and the benefits of serving Christ.  He points out the true and concise meaning of predestination for God predestined all to salvation yet each individual has his own free will.  Paul assures the church that he prays for them on a regular basis.  He talks about what it means to be made alive in Christ and stresses the importance of grace through faith.  Paul stresses the fact that he is a preacher to the Gentiles.  He talks about the importance of unity in the body of Christ.  Unity comes when the brethren and sisters together live in  humility gentleness and follow after one Lord one faith and one Spirit.  Paul talks about the importance of being spiritually awake and alert at all times.  THis is extremely important in a world where it is so simple to fall into temptation.  Paul tells the believers at Ephesus to be imitators of Christ and to live in the light.  He then proceeds to talk about family relationships and the roles of the husbands wives, and children in a family.  These are valuable guidelines which are helpful in our focus on the family.  Paul also speaks to those converts who are slaves and tells them to obey their masters.  Now slavery was an action performed so that people could basically have the means to survive.  They were told to submit to their bosses.  If we submit to our bosses today, then we wil have a much better chance to win them for Christ. Paul then talks about the armor of God and uses this as symbolic terms to refer to spiritual warfare.  He stresses the fact that our battle is not against the authorities and rulers of the arth but against the demons who rule over and inhabit the earth.  Paul spekas symbolically in reference to a particular item of importance such as the sword for the Word of God.  Taht is the only offensive weapon we have.  Other weapons of defense are important.  It is important to pray in the Spirit at all times.  After this, Paul proceeds to close with final greetings to the church.