Extegitcal Essay example - 716 Words

â€Å"For this reason†, â€Å"is an expression that is repeated from verse 1 when Paul was about to pray. He then broke off before finishing the sentence in order to elaborate on the mystery, the body of Christ, and on his ministry of dispensing the mystery. † Paul shows us the message of Christ through demonstration and oral delivery. He demonstrates prayer by praying for our spiritual well being. Then goes on to explain what prayer is and why it is key aspect of our relationship with God. We are God’s chosen people, we are called to know him more and the way we do that is through spiritual interaction with Christ. In Ephesians 3, Paul emphasis’s on unity. Unity with Christ and the church, we are joined together through Christ and with God’s†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Paul is praying for strength, depth, apprehension, and fullness † Authorship is debated but many scholars refer back to the apostle Paul as the author of Ephesians. â€Å"In our consideration of Paul’s life and letters, we have assumed that those letters which indicate Paul was a prisoner when he produced them were written from Rome between A.D.60 and 62.† His imprisonment was caused by racial division between the Jews and the gentiles (IVP.541) The audience of this specific letter was the Ephesians and the church of Ephesus. It is also directed towards the Gentiles and Jews, directing them to act as one. One main tradition was circumcision; unless you were circumcised you were viewed as unclean. There was a great division between Jews and Gentiles. Circumcision is just one example. (IVP pg. 544) The people of Ephesus were well off on their own; they were wealthy, healthy and happy. Ephesus was the most important city in Asia minor, it was next to a great river and Aegean Sea, ( BEB pg. 706) it was a place of commercial trade, running water, some heated rooms .They were wealthy upper middle class people. Paul used a philosophic language along with a persuasive edge in his presentation. As he wrote the letter to Ephesus he used a lot of repetition to emphasize how important the message was. Also his letter has been