Digital Logos Edition
In this volume, Clinton Arnold highlights four themes that emerge in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians:
Woven into Paul’s theology is a refrain of praise and adoration to the glory of God that insists that such praise should also be our response. With attention to issues that continue to surface in today’s church, this commentary offers pastors, students, and teachers a focused resource for reading Ephesians.
“I therefore offer the following statement of purpose: Paul wrote this letter to a large network of local churches in Ephesus and the surrounding cities to affirm them in their new identity in Christ as a means of strengthening them in their ongoing struggle with the powers of darkness, to promote a greater unity between Jews and Gentiles within and among the churches of the area, and to stimulate an ever-increasing transformation of their lifestyles into a greater conformity to the purity and holiness that God has called them to display.” (Page 45)
“‘In Christ’ is the most important phrase of this passage and for the letter as a whole. Some form of it (‘in him,’ ‘in the beloved,’ or ‘in the Christ’) punctuates this passage eleven times. The key for understanding this letter is recognizing that believers have a new identity in Christ. A new self-understanding based on a new reality permeates every aspect of life and transforms individuals.” (Page 79)
“The final purpose of election is then relational. God is bringing together a people whom he can delight in and enjoy.” (Page 83)
“God not only chose us to be in Christ, but at the same time he decided to bring us into a relationship with himself that could best be described through the metaphor of adoption.” (Page 82)
“This refers to both knowing and appropriating the truth of one’s new identity in Christ and developing the practice of speaking and living the truth.” (Page 450)
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