Ephesians 2 

2:1-7

1-3: Dead in your trespasses and sins. Everyone is spiritually dead, which follows a major theme throughout Ephesians 1 that God works to save us, dead people cannot give life to themselves.

4-7: But God. It is God himself, being rich in mercy, who made us alive together with Christ. It is by God’s grace that we have been saved.

Question: All throughout the New Testament, and clearly in this passage, we see that it is by God’s grace through Christ that saves us. Knowing this, why do we so often struggle with thinking/acting that we must do enough good to earn our salvation? What causes this?

2:8-10

8-9: We are saved by God’s grace, which means believers have no right to boast as if they are more righteous than anybody else.

10: Though we are saved by grace, God has still created for good works. How we live our lives should reflect where our faith and trust is put (that is Jesus).

Question: Can you point to anything in your life (habits, things you used to do or say, etc.) that have changed as you became a believer who have changed as you have matured in your faith? What are some desires/things you used to do that you no longer do (or do differently)?

2:11-22

11: To be the “uncircumcision” was a derogatory term the Jews used to describe Gentiles (non-Jews).

12-13: It is because of Christ, not their good works, that grants them salvation. The blood of Jesus has the power to save anyone, regardless of ethnicity, history, background, etc.

14-16: Christ is our peace and has broken down the wall of hostility. That is that there is no distinction between Jew/Gentile. No longer are Jews and Gentiles under the “law” (the Mosaic law of the Old Testament), but are now under Christ.

18-22: We are welcomed into the family of God all because of what Jesus has done. Christ has given us access to God so that we are no longer strangers and aliens, but are fellow citizens…of the household of God.

Question: Ephesians 2 gives us a glimpse at the greatness of Christ. How do these deep theological truths affect your practical, every day lives? What has this chapter shown you about God’s character?

I am excited to share that Christina and I are pregnant with our first baby! Well, we aren’t both pregnant, but Christina says I like to take credit for things so just go with it.

We are due near the end of April and are very excited. If you want to start donating small things like cribs and car seats you are more than welcome to :).

Below are some pictures that we took to share the news.

Spiritual.

That’s the way we like to define ourselves in our culture today. It sounds “open minded” and like you are willing to change your stance on things if necessary.

It also gives room for those who honestly don’t consider God much at all, but are fearful others will judge them for it. While at the same time not wanting others to think they believe in something that they really don’t (like a certain religion).

And this “spiritual” mentality has bled in into the Church. Nominally committed Christians can keep the “Christian” label without really having to follow Jesus. Or we hear things like “I like Jesus’ teachings” or that the Bible says we should love one another.

And so many view the Bible as another self-help book. Something you read only time to time (if at all), maybe only to say that you read it.

After looking at the date of the Gospel of John’s composition, as well as the external evidence, we conclude with the internal evidence for who wrote this book.

The internal evidence (that is, evidence inside the Bible) has caused more disputes about the authorship of the Gospel of John than the external evidence. Some arguments against Johaninne authorship seems from an internal perspective seem quite strong on the surface. However, upon further examination the internal evidence also points in John’s favor.

Continuing for my last post looking at the date John’s Gospel was written, we now look at the external evidence.

When it comes to the external evidence that supports Johannine authorship (that is, evidence outside of the Bible), D.A. Carson states that the contemporary scholars that dispute John’s authorship do so by virtually dismissing all the external evidences in John’s favor.

Who actually wrote what is in the Bible? This is an important question. Perhaps even more importantly, who actually wrote the Gospels, the four books in the Bible that tell us about Jesus’ life and teachings? And if we cannot know who wrote them, on what grounds can we trust what they say?

Over the next few posts I will be looking at the Gospel of John in particular. Contrary to many biblical critics, these posts will argue that the author of this Gospel is, believe it or not, actually the person from which it was named. We will start the actual date of this book’s composition.

Date of the Gospel’s Composition

Following Jesus should affect many changes in a believer’s heart and life. Many of these changes, whether they be certain desires, actions, how we speak, etc., can happen slowly and sometimes they can happen quite quickly.

There is one character change, if we can call it that, that all believers must undergo. It is a character flaw that has no place in the Christian life, one that must be continually fought against. One that in some ways shows the spiritual maturity (or lack of trust in Christ) more than most other things. What is it?

Ephesians 1

Written by the Apostle Paul most likely around 62 AD as a prisoner in Rome.

1:3-10

3-6: God chose us and predestined us for adoption as sons. This means that God chose to save us, and that apart from God’s grace and the working of the Holy Sprit, believers would not be saved. We do not simply choose to become Christians without God working in our lives.

7-8: Through Christ’s blood we are redeemed and forgiven, meaning we are no longer slaves to sin or the desires of the world. We are saved not from anything we do, but from what Jesus did on the cross.

9-10: What was once a mystery (when the Messiah, Jesus, would actually come, and what all God had planned for him), has now been made known. This was not done at a random time, but had been planned at the perfect time.

Question: If God has not only done everything necessary to save us through Christ, and has also chosen to save us, how should we respond to this? How does it feel to know Christ not only took your punishment but also chose to save you? With this in mind, how should this cause us to live our lives?

1:11-14

11: All believers are saved because God has willed it to be so (even though we have all sinned against him).

13-14: Believers are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. This means that are salvation is secure. This makes sense as there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, so there is nothing we can do that would cause us to lose it.

Question: Unlike all other world religions, Christians know exactly what it takes to be saved (faith in Christ) and therefore can know for sure they are saved. How does it make you feel to know your salvation is secure? How does knowing this help us when we share our faith?

1:15-23

19-20: The power of God to defeat sin and save sinners is shown in how he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at is right hand in the heavenly places.

21: God’s power is (clearly) greater than anyone or anything in this world.

22-23: Christ is now head over all things. The Church is his body. This means that the church is full of Christ’s representatives in the world. To belong to a local body believers is essential to spiritual growth and maturity.

Question: One major theme in Ephesians 1 is that believers are now given the same inheritance that is Christ’s. Another is that are salvation is accomplished through Christ alone. God is freely given believers not only salvation but a lavish inheritance in the age to come. Knowing that we are sinners given all of this by God’s grace, how should we respond to this? The Christian life is not the easy life, does this encourage you to want to follow Jesus even more?

Last night’s game between the Seahawks and Packers started this year’s football season. So what more appropriate infograph this week than football? Below are 16 interesting facts your probably didn’t know about the NFL.

The rise of the emphasis on human rights along with the rise of secularism in the West has always been interesting to me. The growth of secularization has lead to the growth of marginalization of religious rights. Our society as a whole is increasingly caring less about any sort of religious (largely Christian in America) morality, but is more vocal than ever about the idea of human rights.

In their book City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner write,