Ephesians - Christ and the Church Lesson 6

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Ephesians - Christ and the ChurchLesson 6
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Ephesians - Christ and the Church

• Chapter Three...
• Verses 1-13 - The Church - Gods Mystery Revealed
• The previous chapter was spent in discussing the
  eternal plan by which God purposed to bestow
  equal spiritual blessings (13) on Gentiles as
  well as Jews.
• It was for this reason that Paul apparently
  sets out to encourage the Ephesians in their
  newly-found status as Gods children.
• The Ephesian Christians realized that Pauls
  problems, in large measure, had been caused by
  his work in bringing the gospel to the Gentiles.

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Ephesians - Christ and the Church

• Chapter Three...
• Verses 1-13 - The Church - Gods Mystery Revealed
• Paul seemed concerned that his own circumstances
  might adversely affect the faith of some Gentile
  converts.
• The sentence structure of these verses indicates
  that Paul interrupted his initial thought and
  injected other things he decided suddenly needed
  to be said.
• The apostle feels a need to strengthen the
  Ephesians appreciation of what God had done for
  them by stressing his own role as the Lords
  special messenger with a special task to
  accomplish among Gentile peoples.

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Ephesians - Christ and the Church

• Chapter Three...
• Verses 1-13 - The Church - Gods Mystery Revealed
• He had already brought to their attention the
  revelation of the mystery of Gentile salvation
  in the things he had said in chapters one and
  two.
• In other ages God had made known certain
  features of His plan for Gentiles.

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Ephesians - Christ and the Church

• Chapter Three...
• Verses 1-13 - The Church - Gods Mystery Revealed
• Those specifics were important enough to bear
  repetition to the Ephesians
• The Gentiles were now fellow heirs with the
  Jews and eligible to enjoy the wonderful bounty
  of heavens spiritual blessings.
• They were also now of the same body and could
  claim Christ as their spiritual leader and
  benefactor.
• The promise to bless all families of the
  earth had for centuries only been applied to the
  Jews Messiah.

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Ephesians - Christ and the Church

• Chapter Three...
• Verses 1-13 - The Church - Gods Mystery Revealed
• The inclusiveness of a gospel that offered
  salvation to the whole world generated in Paul a
  deep sense of responsibility and satisfaction as
  the one man especially chosen to get the word
  out to all.
• It was almost unseemly that the honor of bearing
  the unsearchable riches of the gospel should be
  given to a man who considered himself to be the
  least of the apostles and even less than the
  least of all the saints because of his earlier
  opposition to that same gospel (1Cor. 159).

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Ephesians - Christ and the Church

• Chapter Three...
• Verses 1-13 - The Church - Gods Mystery Revealed
• Pauls task as an apostle was not only to take
  and tell the gospel to the lost but also to make
  them see the value of its content.

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Ephesians - Christ and the Church

• Chapter Three...
• Verses 1-13 - The Church - Gods Mystery Revealed
• Some of the basics he wished to make men
  understand and appreciate were
• The fellowship of the mystery.
• This gospel age is the first time that faith
  and obedience can be practiced by men to their
  salvation.
• The same God and the same Christ whose power had
  created and sustained the physical world also
  possessed the power to create and sustain a
  spiritual world in which the church would play a
  central role as the body of Christ.

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Ephesians - Christ and the Church

• Chapter Three...
• Verses 1-13 - The Church - Gods Mystery Revealed
• Some of the basics he wished to make men
  understand and appreciate were
• The mind of God is as clearly seen in what He has
  made - the natural world and the spiritual world.
• The manifold wisdom of God is easily seen by
  those who will seriously examine the features of
  the Lords church.
• The church fulfills Gods eternal purpose to
  utilize Christ Jesus as the one divine agent by
  whom lost mankind could be redeemed from
  perdition.

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Ephesians - Christ and the Church

• Chapter Three...
• Verses 1-13 - The Church - Gods Mystery Revealed
• Some of the basics he wished to make men
  understand and appreciate were
• The true worth of Christs church is recognized
  in the fact that it was formed in salvations
  plan in eternity past.

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Ephesians - Christ and the Church

• Chapter Three...
• Verses 1-13 - The Church - Gods Mystery Revealed
• All the things Paul knew about salvation in the
  church were the things he had been sent to make
  all men see.
• Back to the thought that he had interrupted in
  verse one, Paul now urges the Ephesians not to
  stumble in their pursuit of heaven just because
  he was suffering the inconvenience and
  unpleasantness of a Roman cell.