Éphésiens 4:1-7/Le Chemin du Salut/Pasteur Timothy Andre/Église Chrétienne de Bethel/09-08-2024.

Éphésiens 4:1-7/Le Chemin du Salut/Pasteur Timothy Andre/Église chrétienne de Bethel/09-08-2024.
Ephesians 4:1-7/The Way of Salvation/Pastor Timothy Andre/Bethel Christian Church/09-08-2024.
Text
Ephesians 4:1-7
New International Version
Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ
4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
Who penned the Ephesian book?
Author: The apostle Paul is named as the book's author in Ephesians 1:1.
Writing Date: It is most likely that the Book of Ephesians was composed in the years 60-63 A.D.
Writing Goal: Paul wrote this while imprisoned in Rome with the intention of reaching out to everyone who aspires to be mature and like Christ. The discipline required to mature into true children of God is contained in the Book of Ephesians. Studying Ephesians will also assist in establishing and strengthening the believer so that he can carry out the mission and calling that God has given him. This epistle's purpose is to equip and confirm a church that is maturing. It offers a fair assessment of the significance of the body of Christ in God's economy.
Key Verses:
Ephesians 1:3: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
Ephesians 2:8-10: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Relationships: Ephesians' striking (to the Jews) notion that the church is the body of Christ serves as the main point of reference to the Old Testament (Ephesians 5:32). The church holds that "the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 3:6). This is an incredible mystery, a truth not before known. The saints of the Old Testament were not even aware of this mystery (Ephesians 3:5, 9). True God-fearing Israelites always felt that they were the only ones who were God's chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:6). In this new paradigm, it was very difficult to accept Gentiles on an equal footing, and arguments arose between Jewish believers and Gentile converts. In addition, Paul describes the church as the "bride of Christ," an idea not found in the Old Testament before.