As promised to you, I've created this blog so that you can keep track of where we are in the letter of Ephesians and you can get access to the power point presentations that I'm using in class. I will be attaching links to the power points at the bottom of each blog post after each week of class. For those of you taking the course for credit, you can also access the course syllabus. You will find the link for the syllabus at the bottom of the post as well.
In our second class last week I took you through chapter one of Ephesians. What we have in these words of Paul is the grand vision of the Trinity working out their plan for creation. From the prior conversation and commitment they made [Father, Son and Spirit] before they created to ensure that we would be with them [and so adoption] to the work of the Spirit in us to reveal to us this wisdom and revelation, Paul weaves through describing God's redemption of humanity and creation.
The church [the holy ones - His community] are the first to experience and believe, having had the Spirit open their eyes to this understanding. It is in this community that the presence of Christ is most pronounced and the power of His resurrection felt through the work of the Spirit in us. He transforms us and by this transformation we too communicate this to everyone everywhere. God's community lives out of such transformation in relationship with the world around them. This speaks of the breadth of the reach of Christ in the world. God's community points the way to the future, the inheritance coming to those who believe, where evil will be no more and the world will be renewed with King Jesus ruling over all.
I will start this week with picking up on the later half of chapter one to help us understand the importance of the Spirit's presence in our lives. It is his presence that causes us to live holy and blameless [relational terms] staying connected to the Father and living in Christ. The Spirit makes us more like Christ, our righteousness being His righteousness. We don't lean on our own understanding. We do not have the capacity to live righteous lives without the Spirit's help made possible through the work of Christ.
We will then move into Chapter Two and talk about how God makes dead people alive again and brings peace to humanity.
Power Point
1.Introduction to Ephesians
2.Chapter One of Ephesians
3. Syllabus
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