De Hoop | 14
Exegetical Paper
Ephesians 2:1-10
Theme Statement of Ephesians
Through the grace of God, we are all unified and called to walk worthy as one with Him by Christ’s salvation to walk as one with Him.
Main idea of Ephesians 2:1-10
We are all sinful creatures, deserving the wrath of God, but by His grace He saved us through faith and made us alive because He loves us and His workmanship so that we would walk with Him.
Outline of Ephesians 2:1-10:
I. Our flesh craves sin and we all deserve wrath (v. 1-3).
II. God loves us and saved us from our sins by His grace through faith we are made alive (v.4-7).
III. We are the product of God, made in His image, to do good works for Him (v. 8-10).
Introduction
As Warren Wiersbe says in his book Be Rich, “Are you wearing the ‘graveclothes’ or the ‘gracesclothes’? Are you enjoying the liberty you have in Christ, or are you still bound by the habits of the old life in the graveyard of sin?” Since we are no longer dead but alive in Christ and adopted into His family we are to show our faith through the works of good deeds that we allow Christ to do in us and through us to bring Him glory. We are to take off our old self, our sinful ways, and put on the new way of Christ. We come from a sinful nature where we naturally crave the evil waves of the world that the devil has put out in front of us. But God, being so powerful, created us knowing that we would need to be saved, we would need someone to guide us. By His grace He saved us when we least deserved it, not because of anything we did, but merely because of our faith in Him and the relationship that we share. He created us for His purpose and even before we were born He knew what our purpose was. He knows what we will and will not do, because we are made in the likeness of Him, for His glory.
Context
Ephesus, according to The Lexham Bible Dictionary, was made the capital of the Roman province of Asian Minor by Augustus in 27 BC to AD 14 (Barry, np). Ephesus was known as a political, religious, and commercial center in Asia Minor. They were known for having oil lamps lining their streets at night, something other cities could not afford. (Brand, np). The city had a large role on the growth of early Christianity (Brand, np). The city was between the Maeander River and the Hermus River, giving it excellent access to river valleys, which allowed it to flourish greatly as a commercial center (Brand, np). The first people in the city were called Leleges and Carians, who were then kicked out by Ionian Greek settlers. These settlers worshiped a goddess of fertility called Artemis. Ephesus was then conquered by Croesus of Lydia in 560 B.C., and under his rule was constructed the magnificent temple, the Artemision, for the worship of Artemis. Ephesus then came under the control of the Persians, and then onto direct Roman control (Brand, np). The great temple of Diana or Artemis, was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world (Smith-online). T...
