As we prepare to move our magnifying glass from this passage to the next, we want to summarize so that we have a ‘nutshell’ to take with us for context purposes and we want to consider applications to our lives. Remember our three steps of Bible study are, in this order:
- Observation
- Interpretation
- Application
Studying scripture as a merely intellectual pursuit without applying it and allowing it to change us from the heart is actually a stupid, pointless endeavor. Let’s keep asking questions.
- What did I learn about God?
- What did I learn about man?
- What did I learn about the gospel?
- Is this section prescriptive (do this) or descriptive (here is what happened)?
- Did the author have a message directed at me?
These types of questions that we’ve already been attempting to answer from the text will help us zero in on the point for our one or two sentence summary we will craft. For this particular section, probably one sentence will be enough. If it were two sentences, it would stop being a summary and be an expansion….
Let’s answer some of our questions in light of what we learned in the process of interpreting the passage.
- What did we learn about God? Paul said he greets the recipients with grace and peace from God. Based on what we learned in Bite 7 about these two words, God (and Jesus) has divine favor (grace) for us and has no hostility toward us (peace).
- What did we learn about man? An apostle, who is a messenger of Jesus, by God’s plan wrote a letter to some people.
- Who are the recipients of the letter? Definitely Ephesus and based on study and textual criticism from Bite 5, the entire region of Asia Minor and then reaching through time and space, our churches too.
- Is any of the passage specifically for me? Yes! Because the letter has circulated around to North America from Asia Minor and I’m a believer in Jesus Christ, this is my mail too. I get to see how God sees me. When Paul doesn’t even know me, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote about how I am no longer a stranger or alien but I am a fellow citizen, and I’m a member of God’s household. Learning in Bite 6 about some Greek grammar, we could see that saint and faithful are basically equivalents in the original text. God claimed me for his own family.
We learned a lot from these two verses, didn’t we? It’s actually quite a bit to distill into one sentence to carry forward. You can see the challenge we will have as we tackle larger passages. But that is okay, we will work through our challenges and practice as we learn and grow closer to God. Our small efforts are never despised by our gracious Daddy in heaven.
As we attempt to distill, let’s keep in mind our 5 W’s and an H.
- Who wrote it? Paul.
- Who received it? Church-Age christians.
- What? Not addressed.
- Where? Initially Ephesus. However, most likely circulated letter so then Asia Minor (and beyond).
- When? Not relevant to this discussion.
- Why? Not addressed.
- How? In grace and peace from God and Christ.
And so let’s put it together.
Summary: Paul wrote a letter to Christians in Asia Minor, greeting with favor and absence of hostility from God and Christ.
That’s how I summarized this passage. When you summarize, it will be different and that is wonderful. The endeavor of Bible study is both personal and communal. We need to make sure we are not in isolation to hedge against wacky interpretation, but there are definitely aspects that are between you and God.
So I wrote my summary on my structural diagram so I have a nutshell to refer to. And now the process of application can happen because we have, to the best of our ability, observed and interpreted Ephesians 1:1-2. We can not begin the application before the first two steps are accomplished because how can we apply something we don’t actually understand? If we apply scripture without knowledge, we can come up with some silliness or worse! But with knowledge, we can move into application with confidence and joy.
A basic concept that is discussed in books on hermeneutics is that there is one interpretation, myriad applications. I’ve heard a friend who went to seminary talk about this idea. He said that his class was given a passage to study and then they were to come up with 100 applications from it. And then another 100. I’m not that skilled or imaginative to be able to achieve that yet, but like I said, God does not despise our feeble attempts to know him and allow him to transform our hearts.
(Yes, I did just say that we have efforts to allow God to change us. More Greek parts of speech that I’m confident will come up later. Permissive passive. Super cool.)
I will share two applications that have been changing my heart for the last month or so, since I interpreted the scripture. (It takes me a little while to get from my own study to writing it out to you…more thought and fewer words seems prudent.)
First, the concept that Paul wrote to Church-Age believers and that it wasn’t clearly designated in the earliest and most reliable manuscripts “to the Ephesians” impacted my heart. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote a letter to Christians he didn’t know. He didn’t know me, and yet he took time and papyrus to write for my spiritual benefit. God took time and papyrus to make sure I was taught, in a sense, collaterally.
Knowing God cares for me enough to preserve this letter for my benefit causes my heart to worship and rejoice in the provision of my heavenly Daddy. As I discovered that the addressee was left blank in those earliest manuscripts, it was more powerful to have a blank than if he’d said, “to Christian Church in Smithville, USA”. My divine imagination can cavort more freely and joyfully in the idea that Paul had a general audience in mind than if he had a particular group of Christians in mind. I’m definitely part of the general audience!
Second, the uncovering of the meaning of saint and faithful impacted my heart profoundly. Have you ever had the feeling that you just don’t belong? I’ve had this feeling from an early age. Feeling that I didn’t belong in my family, I went searching through my parents’ paperwork and files when I was around 7 for the adoption papers I was sure existed. I have spent many years of my life feeling like an outsider and that I am perpetually in danger of rejection. Reality? No longer stranger, no longer alien, now fellow citizen, member of the household of God.
MEMBER OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD?! Are you serious? No matter what I felt like growing up, the reality is this: I am a member of the household of God. God calls me a saint (nothing is mentioned here of my merit), a “loyal follower” BDAG says. And he calls me faithful (having nothing to do with my merit but everything to with the one in whom I have trusted).
I belong in God’s family. I will not be rejected by my heavenly Daddy. Learning to rest in my position takes time, but it is happening.
There you have it. Those are my applications for this section.
As you have studied, you will have different applications. Our Bible Study Bite for today is to not merely consider Bible study as academic, but transformative. Allow the truth of the Word to resonate in your heart, bumping into dark corners, and bring in light.
Next time, we will determine what the next section is and get to work on it.
