Ephesians 1-3: Race and the Contemporary Church
My last two posts were about the meaning of Ephesians 1-3. You can read them here and here if you would like. But seeing that this is the word of God for the people of God in all ages, contexts, tribes, and places, how do we apply such a specific meaning to our lives and churches? First, a summary of Ephesians 1-3 may help catch us up: Summary: In the Letter to the Ephesians, Paul is writing to a mostly, if not exclusively, Gentile audience. He is not writing about individual salvation, but about how Christ brings the Gentiles into God's covenant/people. This conclusion is come to from 3 major sections: Ephesians 1 - Paul talks about the work of Christ as revealing the mystery of God. Ephesians 2 - Paul talks about the cross of Christ uniting both Jew and Gentile into one body. Ephesians 3 - Paul reveals what the revelation was he received from God, tells us what the mystery is that Christ reveals, and a major implication of what the gospel is: the inclusion ...