Read Ephesians 3 16-19 CSB
I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Playing on the idea from yesterday, that “we do because we know,” and to help us gain a deeper understanding of the book of Ephesians, let’s take a look at the structure of the book. Or should I say, letter! Ephesians is actually a letter, often called an epistle, that was written to the followers of Jesus, whom Paul calls “Saints,” in Ephesus. We’ll dive more into who Paul was, who the Ephesians were, and just where Ephesus even is later in the week. But, on to the nuts and bolts of Ephesians!
So… Ephesians is a letter! It is considered a circular letter, meaning that although it is addressed to the church in Ephesus, it was probably intended to be passed around, with the author’s intent for the letter to impact a much larger audience. In our Bibles, it is broken up into 6 chapters and generally that is how we study it – breaking it up by the themes each chapter presents. However, it is good to remember that it probably would have been read in one sitting to a large group of people, and it is good for us to think about how those individual themes fit together within the context of the letter as a whole.
The letter itself can be broken down into two sections. The first half of the letter addresses doctrine. Which is just a big word for the principles of our faith. It is all about who we put our faith in and why, and who we are because of who we believe in. It is a beautiful picture of the extravagant love of God for His creation. The second half of the letter is all about application. Its focus is on how we live in light of what we believe, both individually as followers of Christ and corporately as His church. Together, the two halves of the letter give a glimpse of the fullness of God and how we fit into the wonderful story that He is writing.
Pray
God,
Thank You for the way You have crafted Your Word so that we might know You more and more – and that we might experience the fullness of what it means to be loved by You and to be Your child. As we dig into Ephesians, open our eyes to see Your extravagant love and to allow it to change us and grow us into who You have created us to be. Amen.
