Dear Theophilus

My last few posts were about the meaning of Ephesians 1-3. You can read them here and here if you would like. For a starter on how Ephesians 1-3 could help with a discussion on Race and Church, you can read that here . 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...

Many, many Christians have read and been encouraged by Ephesians 1 and 2. It is here we get the Reformation battlecry " sola fide ," "faith alone",  from Ephesians 2:8 ("For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— "). It is here that our reformed brothers and sisters (those Christians who lean more Calvinist/Augustinian) hammer the language of being "chosen": "just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world... He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will" (Eph. 1:4). This verse alone has sparked numerous late-night conversations at Denny's as to God's will, free will, the Matrix, robots, automatons, determinism and fixed history. But I would suggest that Western Christianity has not been true to this text. As with almost all things we have turned this text, Ephesians 1-2, into Paul telling...