linda osborne ephesians bible study book answers

Introductions to the New Testament will include a chapter on Ephesians to guide students and readers to its key literary features and issues of interpretation. These features could be viewed as part of the process of social integration of the Christ-movement in the postapostolic period, although the Jewishness of thought in Ephesians still resembles Paul’s symbolic universe. Although both of these letters describe the salvation of the Gentiles and include household codes in their ethical sections, Ephesians places particular emphasis on their cultural otherness and status improvement in Christ (2:1–22), and the ministry of Paul (3:1–12) it also offers a more extended discussion of Christian households in their Roman setting (5:21–6:9) as well as more institutionalized ideas about ecclesiastical structures. Ephesians exhibits close thematic and linguistic parallels with Colossians, whose authorship is similarly disputed. Instead of contextualized Pauline instruction found in, for example, Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Philippians, Ephesians takes a broad view of the community as God’s people, envisioning a universal church rather than a particular local community well known to the apostle. In addition, Ephesians lacks detailed advice regarding issues of communal life that regularly characterize Paul’s letters. For instance, Ephesians lacks Paul’s urgency of mission or expectation of Christ’s return, offering a more symbolic vision for experiencing God’s presence. Some continue to uphold the letter’s claim for apostolic authorship during an imprisonment of Paul others deem differences in terminology, style, theology, and social values to indicate that the letter is pseudonymous, penned by a follower of Paul in a later 1st-century CE context. Ephesians scholars remain divided on the authorship of the letter. Nonetheless, it offers a fascinating glimpse into early Christian thought and theologizing on the meaning of Jesus’ death for a community of early Christ-followers imagined to be his organic body, in which members from different gender, ethnic, and social classes join together in harmony. Although many are impressed by its treatment of “ethnic others,” women, and children in its original time and context, others suggest that its egalitarian notions do not go far enough, arguing that the social values of the letter are patriarchal, and that its gender hierarchy and heteronormativity are problematic in our time. It describes God’s blessings upon his people, reconciliation of their ethnic differences, and prototypical values for a godly lifestyle in familial and communal contexts. Ephesians is a 1st-century CE New Testament letter in which a Jewish writer applies the memory of Jesus and Pauline thought to Christ-followers from different ethnic backgrounds.

Linda osborne ephesians bible study book answers