Chapter four begins the second half of the letter with a major change in Paul’s grammar and intent. The entire letter contains 41 imperative verbs (which is already a high percentage ); however, only one of them occurs in the first half (“remember” in Ephesians 2:11). Thus, of the 197 verbs in chapters 4-6, more […]
Chapter three closes the major doctrinal section of this letter with three sections. The first section begins with “for this reason” (Ephesians 3:1), but Paul does not actually get to that reason until Ephesians 3:7 – “I became a servant of this gospel.” In Ephesians 3:2-6 Paul takes a side trail to explain why the information
Chapter two, again, divides neatly into two sections; the first addresses salvation (Ephesians 2:1-10), the second adds new revelation about the Church (Ephesians 2:11-22). In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul set out the natural state of unsaved humanity. Without Christ we are “dead in our transgressions and sins,” living “according to this world’s present path” which is
