Ephesians: A Summary

The purpose of this paper is to give a brief overview the New Testament book, Ephesians. The book of Ephesians is a letter written to the Christians at Ephesus. Most books attribute the authorship to that of the Apostle Paul. The intention of the letter to Ephesus is to help them understand God’s purpose for their lives, unity of the church, and the spiritual realm of the Christian life.

Most writers seem to agree that Ephesians was a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians. In Acts 1:1, It begins “I Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus” (NASB, 1995, p. 1631). “Ephesus was the capital of proconsular Asia and as such was the political and commercial center of a large and prosperous region”(Boice, 1988, p. 12). “To this city the apostle Paul came to preach briefly on his second missionary journey and extensively on his third. In this city God was pleased to establish a faithful church. To the Christians of this city, attempting to live for God in the midst of utter paganism, the apostle directs this letter” (Boice, 1988, p. 13). “The Ephesians had been instructed by Paul in the pure doctrine of the gospel. At a later period, while he was a prisoner at Rome, and perceiving that they needed confirmation, he wrote to them, on that account” (Calvin, 1979, p. 191).

Some books reference someone other than the Apostle Paul as being the author of Ephesians. “Increasingly interpreters propose that “Ephesians” was written by an admiring disciple of Paul, late in the first century one who wrote in a different style from the apostle” (Vanhoozer, 2008, p. 125). “Other interpreters, however, consider Ephesians authentic and see most o...

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... Ephesians. “If we will open ourselves to the spiritual blessings our Heavenly Father has made available to us, then we can begin Living Abundantly” (Harbour, 1992, p. 126).

Works Cited

Boice, J. M. (1988). Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary. (J. Comanda, Ed.) Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House.

Calvin, J. (1979). Commentaries on the Epistes of Paul to the Galations and Ephesians. (W. Pringle, Trans.) Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House Company.

Halley, H. H. (1964). Halley's Bible Handbook: An Abbreviated Bible Commentary. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Zondervan Publishing House.

Harbour, B. L. (1992). Living abundantly. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.

NASB. (1995). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House.

Vanhoozer, K. J. (Ed.). (2008). Theological Interpretation of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michagan: Baker Academic.