Bible Reading Plan: Ephesians
After being imprisoned by the Romans, Paul pens a letter to the Ephesians, painting them a picture of unity. He explains that while we may all have different backgrounds, occupations, and spiritual gifts, we should act as one body under Christ—a family of faith, showing the love of God to others. As we read Ephesians together in 2024, we will discover how we are called to live our lives and connect with those around us according to the Gospel.
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WEEK ONE
Key Thought/Summary
After spending two years with them during his missionary journeys, Paul pens a letter to his friends in Ephesus, and he begins with a breathtaking poem of praise for all of the amazing things that God has done for us in Jesus, welcoming Jews and Gentiles into His new family. Ephesus was a city saturated with power, but in Paul’s mind, the work God did through Jesus’ death and resurrection was the greatest show of power and love of all time. He prays that, amidst all of the other entities vying for their allegiance, these followers would not just know about but deeply understand God’s immeasurable power and His inheritance for them which surpasses everything else on offer.
WEEK TWO
Key Thought/Summary
“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith.” These are some of Paul’s most famous words, and he writes them here in chapter 2 as he walks through the transformative work of Jesus’ death and resurrection from two angles. First, Paul says that God raised us up from death to life with Jesus. Second, he explains that we were outsiders to the covenant with God, but He brought us into a new family. According to Paul, this saving grace accomplishes even more than securing our eternal destination! God's grace means new life–here and now. God's grace means belonging and identity. As you read, think about how this extravagant gift of grace has transformed your own life.
WEEK THREE
Key Thought/Summary
We are reaching a turning point in Ephesians. After meditating on what the crucifixion and resurrection truly mean for believers, Paul gets down to brass tacks. The revelation, he unveils, is this: Through the Gospel, the Gentiles are to share Israel’s inheritance. Does this upshot surprise you? While we might expect Paul’s climactic point to be about salvation or eternal life, he instead proclaims a new family where worldly categories of identity, like Jew or Gentile, no longer count. Paul prays that God would come and dwell in His new temple made up of these diverse human hearts and fill them with power so that they might comprehend the vastness of His great love.
WEEK FOUR
Key Thought/Summary
Paul is shifting gears now. He begins to explore what life could look like in the concrete setting of our realities if believers lived as if everything Paul wrote about in chapters 1-3 was true, and one of his primary focuses is unity. Paul challenges believers to respond to the Gospel by “taking off their old humanity” and “putting on their new humanity,” trading old behaviors that break relationships apart and cause isolation for a renewed mind and actions filled with humility and gentleness like Jesus. Our new status and identity as children of God came first as a gift of pure grace, and now it is time to live into that identity. Out with the old, and in with the new!
WEEK FIVE
Key Thought/Summary
Paul is on a mission to help believers live out the radically equalizing nature of grace, and he explores what that looks like in the context of a first-century Roman household. As we read, remember that Paul’s goal is to cast a vision for what it means to be the New Humanity; that vision requires self-sacrifice and a commitment to unity. In fact, Paul ends the letter with an exhortation to put on the metaphorical armor of God and resist the forces that will inevitably try to undermine that unity and our identity in Jesus. As we wrap up Ephesians, may we allow the Gospel to reshape every facet of our lives and clothe ourselves in the values and strengths of Jesus. We are His body, after all!