We have just finished a set of lessons on Ephesians 1 where we saw Paul open his letter to the Ephesian church with the grandest of scopes. He wrote with strokes of splendor telling us of being seated with Christ, bearing an allotment in forever. He used big language while painting the breadth of God’s eternal vision, and his power to make it happen. Life, as chapter 1 unfolded, was decorated with sparkles as big as the imagination could conceive. It encompassed the councils of God before the creation of the world projecting all the way to time’s fulfillment. He touched on destiny, the abundance of grace, the victory of Christ and the power of God. Paul filled the beginning of this letter with heady stuff.
Those vistas painted, Paul could not afford to foster pride in the new believers. Lest the Ephesian church get ahead of themselves, he shifted the focus of his writing from way off in forever to the little segment of time surrounding their salvation. In order to temper the strength of the fledgling church, he splashed a little water on the flames of excitement he had been fanning. Paul slowed down and drew their thoughts to their origins rewinding all the way from forever back to their past. [Read more…] about Ephesians 2:1-3>>Tempering exuberance with the past