Ephesians

September 23, 2021

The gospel is bearing fruit (Col. 1:6)

“The gospel

Has come to you.

Just as it is bearing fruit

And growing

In the whole world,

It has done the same

Among yourselves

From the day

You heard it

And truly comprehended

The grace of God.”

τοῦ παρόντος εἰς ὑμᾶς, καθὼς καὶ ἐν παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν καρποφορούμενον καὶ αὐξανόμενον καθὼς καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀφ’ ἧς ἡμέρας ἠκούσατε καὶ ἐπέγνωτε τὴν χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ·

Paul said, “The gospel has come to you (τοῦ παρόντος εἰς ὑμᾶς).  Just (καθὼς) as it is bearing fruit (ἐστὶν καρποφορούμενον) and growing (καὶ αὐξανόμενον) in the whole world (καὶ ἐν παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ), it has done the same among yourselves (καθὼς καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν) from the day (ἀφ’ ἧς ἡμέρας) you heard it (ἠκούσατε) and truly (ἐν ἀληθείᾳ) comprehended (καὶ ἐπέγνωτε) the grace of God (τὴν χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ).”  Paul indicated that the gospel had come to them at Colossae.  The gospel of Jesus Christ was bearing fruit and growing or expanding throughout the whole world.  So too, among the people of Colossae, the gospel was growing and bearing fruit.  They had followed the gospel of Jesus since the first day that they heard and understood about God’s grace to Jesus Christ.  Do you live in a Christian community that is growing and bearing fruit?

September 23, 2021

Hope (Col. 1:5)

“This hope is

Laid up for you

In heaven.

You have heard

Of this hope beforehand

In the word

Of truth,

The gospel.”

διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τὴν ἀποκειμένην ὑμῖν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἣν προηκούσατε ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦ εὐαγγελίου

Paul said, “This hope (διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα) is laid up for you (τὴν ἀποκειμένην ὑμῖν) in heaven (ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς). You have heard of this hope beforehand (ἣν προηκούσατε) in the word of the truth (ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας), the gospel (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου).”  Only this unique word προηκούσατε, is found here in Colossians, that means to hear beforehand.  Paul indicated that the Christian Colossians had hope in heaven because they had previously heard about this hope from the truthful gospel about Jesus Christ.  There was a clear equivalence between truth and the gospel that has led to the common saying “the gospel truth”.  Do you believe that the gospel is true?

August 26, 2021

Thank you! – 57

After a little more than a month, I have finished reading and commenting on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians.  I have now finished the New Testament four canonical gospels, plus the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul’s letters to the Romans, as well 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Ephesians.  Every time I finish commenting on a book of the Bible, I send a thank you blog.  I usually post five blogs a day covering a verse of the biblical books.  So far, I have posted over 13,970 blogs about the individual paragraphs of all the 46 books of the Old Testament, plus the individual verses of the first ten books of the New Testament.  It has taken me over seven years to get this done, since I first began in 2013.

248 people follow this blog every day.  Many people have visited this site, with the highest recent month being October, 2020 when 1,939 people visited this site.  There have been over 78,608 hits on this blog since its inception.  I just want to thank all of you.  Word Press sent me a compilation that showed that about 56,000 Americans plus people from 174 other countries have visited this web site since its inception.

I realize that over 14,445 people have left comments this year, but I have not responded to them.  There have been 3,135 visitors and 667 likes.  Some of you might want to moderate my comments, which is fine with me.  If you want to contact me directly, my email is efinne1540@gmail.com.

Some of you sent me more than ten emails about how you liked this website during the last month.  They include:

Deep Believer | The Normalcy of Miracles Signs and Wonders

Sebastian

Ccoutreach

Pure Glory

Yuval Bloomberg

Gods Abundant Life.

Here is a list of the others who have sent email comments during the past month:

Art Sound Life

Operation X

Elena

Becoming His Tapestry

Image 1999

Michael A. King

itu112

Igniter Food

thedihedral

Jasrameshen

Sachin Singh

Meredith Feltman.

Thank you to everyone. 

Peace – love – joy

Eugene Finnegan

August 25, 2021

Strong in the spiritual struggle (chapter 6)

Paul wanted the Ephesians to be strong in the Lord.  They were to put on the armor of God so that they could fight off the devil.  The fight was not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, cosmic powers, and heavenly evil spiritual armies.  Therefore, they had to have all the spiritual armor to fight this battle.  In this struggle with the spiritual evil, they had to stand firm.

August 25, 2021

Slaves and masters (chapter 6)

Paul said that slaves should be obedient to their earthly master as if he was Jesus Christ.  These slaves should do the will of God as servants from the heart with an enthusiastic service.  They are rendering a service to God, not to men.  Whatever good they did, they will receive the same again from the Lord.  This also goes for the free slave owner.  Masters were not to threaten their slaves.  Both the free master and the slave serve the same master in heaven where there is no partiality.