Ephesians
The queen of epistles
Welcome to the adventure
Seat belts please!
•helmets
•Goggles.
•Gloves
st
•1 aid kit
What is our expectation?
Compare;
• Mt 13:44-46
• 44 and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field
• 46 went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
• I.e Paul counted ALL things dung for the excellency of knowing him
• Mt 25:14-30 – parable of the talents
• Why was the servant unprofitable?
• Didn’t know the fathers heart
• Didn’t know his own responsibility
What parable is before both of these?
Luke 8:18 Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given;
and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
A few other verses to consider…
• 1st Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
• Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service.
• Act 20:32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the
word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an
inheritance among all them which are sanctified
Luk 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit
things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few
[stripes]. For unto whomsoever much is given, of
him shall be much required: and to whom men
have committed much, of him they will ask the
more.
Responsibility?
I am determined to “labor in the word”. I am accountable to God
for what He has given me.
Be sure, I make no pretenses. I am what I am, if anything at all, by
grace. To presume to teach is a great burden and a greater
responsibility that I do not take carelessly or for granted, but with
great fear, trembling, and a good deal of stress…
but this is between God and I.
At the same time…
… you are also equally responsible to study yourselves,
and to be “good Bereans” (Acts 17:11) with anything I give
you. I will stand in the gap, but you must stand with
me, and you must hold up my hands.
You not only bear the same personal responsibility to
study to show yourself approved, rightly dividing the
word of truth, but you are absolutely exclusively
responsible for what you end up believing, whether
you (or I) study or not. 
So then, why don’t we all study together?
I need the support, balance, and accountability of your
own diligence in the word. Perhaps you need me as well.
(I only say that because it was in my bible…  )
Again, let’s do this together. I do not intend, nor do I
expect, for you to allow me to spoon feed you.
You must “dig in” for your selves.
You cannot reap your own harvest
without yourself sowing in sweat and tears
Consider this;
if with great effort I can only just begin to understand the depth and
significance of some doctrine through much painful toil and study, and I
teach you 10% of what I get, without all the context and foundational
details, and without the bonding ownership that only comes from having
earned it myself, and if you only get 10% of what I tell you… and remember
even less… what does that leave you with? And what will you have for
others?
On a similar note, never mind what it may cost you to own the truth, (buy
it and sell it not,) but what does it require for it to come to own you?
The pearl of great price comes to mind?
Why study the bible?
• To know his word ;
• It is a light/lamp for our journey,
• For provision/protection,
• It is a manual for life…
• To thoroughly prepare us for “every good work”
• That we “might not sin”
• To be the reason for our hope, and the answer that we give
• For sanctification, for His glory before the world
• To become light and salt for the watching wretched stinking world
What is required; spiritually, and intellectually?
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Spiritual discernment; spiritual things are only spiritually discerned.
A “fear of the Lord” A reverence and a desire for holiness
Conviction of the bibles completeness and infallibility;
Conviction of its authority over the details of our lives.
Determination to obey it and to be conformed to its parameters
Humility and brokenness; readiness to abandon your own ideas and ideals
A prayer and attitude of dependency on the Spirit for revelation and illumination
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Diligences in discipline; study, memorize, meditate
A few good tools; study bible, concordance, dictionary, thayers
Able teachers; a God given, purposeful staple in the biblical NT church
A context (body) to have your doctrine and applications tweaked.
• and for conviction and power
• A place to live it out and share its fruit
• We aren’t changed by what we pour in, any more than a tankful of gas will get you somewhere
• You have to put it in drive to gain some traction…
How should we study?
Our modus operandi
• What is exegesis? Extracting the original meaning
• What is expository teaching? Expounding on the original meaning
• Exegesis is the exposition or explanation of a text based on a careful, objective analysis.
The word exegesis literally means “to lead out of.” That means that the interpreter is led
to his conclusions by following the text.
• Exegesis, as indicated by its etymology, is the act of critically interpreting a text in an
attempt to "draw the meaning out" of the text
• It is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture.
• Interpretation is the rendering of message from one form to another, without losing or
changing the original meaning.
The process of exegesis involves
• Observation - Reading: what does the passage say?
• Read the WHOLE book straight through, at least once
• Interpretation - Hermeneutics: what does the passage mean?
• Follow the rules
• Context x3 - Correlation: how does the passage relate to the rest of the Bible?
• Scripture is infallible. Compare scripture with scripture
• Application: how should this passage affect my life?
• Why else would we study?
A few things about the bible
• 1st ptr 1:25 the word of the Lord endures forever
• 2nd tim 3:16 all scripture is given by inspiration of God
• 2nd ptr 1:21 the prophecy came not in old times by the will of men,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit
Josh McDowell Answers to tough questions;
pg 1-3 what makes the bible special
A few more details of note;
• 66 books were Canonized (confirmed to be authentically of God and
gathered exclusively together)
• 40 authors, 2000yrs, from 3 continents –
• and with no contradictions
• It covers about 6000 yrs of history/prophecy
• There are 2 main sections, (Testament means covenant)
• The old Covenant (everything up to the new one)
• The new covenant (everything after the old one)
Notice what the historical divide is about…
9 types of literature
• Law/statutory
• Proverbial/wisdom
• Poetry/songs
• Prophecy
• History/narrative
• Epistles/letters - didactic
• Genealogies
• Parables
• Apocalyptic
Glossary of important words to define:
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Jew
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Gentile
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Pagan
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Christian
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Saint – a Jewish word. Set apart or •
consecrated one. Imagine what
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Paul was saying in eph 1:2
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Heathen
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Pharisee
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Sadducee
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Essenes (dead sea scrolls)
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Testament
NT
OT
Covenant
Dispensation
Presupposition
Dead
Death
Sin
Old man, sin nature
quickened
Grace
Faith
Truth
Believe
Repentance
Church – the “body” of Christ; all
Christians of all time – universal
and local
• Mystery – divine secret (acts 3:213,) that gentile was brought in
equally by grace with the Jew
• It was a mystery because 1 cor 2:18 if they knew, they wouldn’t have
crucified Jesus
• Visible church – universal
• Invisible church - Local church
• Body – analogy of our ½ of the
union we have with Christ, it is
parallel with the wife of her
husband (functionally)
• Orthodoxy
• Orthopraxy
• Unity
• Gospel
• Rationalism – relying on (one’s
own) reason as the final authority
• Doxology – a short hymn of praise
to God
The binder and handouts;
• Our outline,
• Other outlines,
• Glossary,
• The prayer outline,
• Chart/timelines,
• Paper for notes