Bite 46: Choosing the Passage

Reflections as I Worshipped

As I was singing in church last weekend, I was reflecting on the joy that one of my wayward children who has met Jesus is going to be baptized this morning. So intent on my worship of God because of this miracle, every song sounded the refrain of how God is the one who saves.

Previously, I had the fear that I would enter heaven without my daughter. Forever. But now I have the eager anticipation that she will spend eternity with me with Jesus. Oh thank you, God!

Since she is quite a different person than I am with very different disciplines and habits, sometimes I get the privilege of overlooking her and my differences. What struck me this morning is that someday we will be at perfect peace with each other. There will be no need to “overlook” because I will be made perfect. There are patterns in my life that I think are superior and that she should be more like me.

Arrogant? Yeah. I know. But let’s not focus me and let’s focus on what truth the Holy Spirit revealed to me. I recognized that less important than how God will change her is that he will change me to be like him who is able to perfectly love people who are infinitely different than he is.

Honestly, I don’t really understand how he does it, but I can see that he does it.

But God

In reality, he will change both of us, but I can walk alongside her in the same way I walk with myself: I believe the gospel is true and that I can stand before God as a positionally perfect creature. Therefore, I myself walk in that position, trusting Jesus.

Since I can walk in that identity myself, I can walk in that identity for my sweet daughter as well. Knowing God is sanctifying us both, I choose to practice what will be true in heaven even though we are still on earth.

There is another window into my soul. Arrogance as well as recognition that I have so much need for continued transformation.

Reminders of Housekeeping Tasks

Do you remember that we have a few tasks that we want to continue to do with regularity? Throughout our times of worship in study? Even though some of our study is heavily of an intellectual nature, in order to be spiritually appraised, we require an intersection with the Holy Spirit. If you have forgotten to pray when studying, I get that. It’s good for us to both be reminded.

The other discipline I’d like to remind us to be sure to do is to read the epistle start to finish at least each time we start a new passage. There is more capacity to keep the picture big if we continue to be exposed to the complete context. I am always amazed at how much more sense passages make as I am aware of Paul’s overarching train of thought. As our purpose is to discover the authorial intent in the text, keeping ourselves acquainted with the whole book will help us in the endeavor.

Selecting Our Passage

We know from our efforts in searching for the passage last time, we want to notice transition words or a change of subject. If we begin reading at the end of chapter 2 in order to overlap our passages and keep context in mind, we see a change in topic along with a transition phrase right away in Ephesians 3:1.

“For this reason…”

Paul returns to a topic that he broached in the section of thanksgiving in Ephesians 1:9-10 just like Stein says (I’ll explain in a second). When we read on in Ephesians 3, do you notice a repeated word? I see the word mystery three or four times (depends on if we count inferred uses of the word or the actual word in the original language) within nine verses. Suspiciously sounds like a topic.

Genre of Literature Helps

Considering our genre of literature (an ancient epistle), we can know that Paul also used the section of thanksgiving to prepare his readers for what he was about to write in the body and exhortation of the letter (if you’ve like to read more about letters as a literary genre, you can click on this link) Here is Dr. Stein:

“At times Paul also used the thanksgiving to prepare his readers for what he was about to write in the body and exhortation of the letter.” ¹

Speaking of the mystery, Paul defines it for his hearers as he has before. “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” ²

How is the mystery made known to the Gentiles? Through the gospel.

Through whom is the gospel revealed? Paul.

Topic within the Passage

Since Paul speaks of this mystery and the gospel and his part in it for a few inches of parchment, we’re able to see a train of thought continue though verse 13 when he alerts his hearers to a new thought, indicated by another one of those transitions “for this reason.” After this transition, Paul turns to prayer, where we can comfortably make a break for a passage.

What is Paul’s topic for Ephesians 3:1-13? The mystery which he mentioned at the beginning of his correspondence.

It’s a Small Bite After All

My beloved texted me last weekend saying, “Want to use our Disney credits this week and go on vacation?”

Duh. Of course!

Our Bible Study Bite for today is that considering genre of literature is beneficial to our efforts in study. If we fail to identify the rules of information conveyance that Paul used, we run the risk of missing his intent. Or at the least, we will need to spend more time investigating through the back door instead of walking right up to the front door.

Seeing this in action for our study today was revolutionary for me. I didn’t know about ancient letters and the topic introduction that would frequently occur in the salutation/thanksgiving section. We had the joy of learning together today!

It is in the works to write a series of Basics briefly discussing a few of the different genres of literature which are common to my study, that way we can more freely move about in that aspect of study.

And yes, I will say “hi” to the Mouse for you!

1. Stein, R. H. (2011). A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules(Second Edition, p. 191). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
2. Ephesians 3:6 (ESV)