Introduction to Ephesians – DTS008

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It is hard to value one part of Scripture over another, but Ephesians is certainly a crucial book in the New Testament.  It is a comprehensive book making broad statements on big issues.  Similar ideas are discussed in the book of Colossians, but Ephesians deals with the issues more broadly compared to the more condensed text we read in Colossians.

This episode gives an overview and brief history of the book, spending a little time with possibilities for when it was written, and to whom it was written.  Ephesus was certainly the major city in that area of Asia, but because the oldest manuscripts do not have the name of Ephesus in the first verse, it is possible this was a circular letter written to all the churches in the region, which of course includes the Ephesians.

The episode closes by exploring Paul’s identity as an apostle of Jesus Christ as he introduces himself in the first two verses, suggesting how we, too, should find our identity in Christ.

This is the first episode of a six part series on the book of Ephesians.  It was recorded in January of 1980 at the First Baptist Church in Ballinger, TX.  Dr. Bush taught at this church in Ballinger several times because one of his students was on staff there.  The introduction shows that this recording was part of a series called “Theologoumenon, Modern Homilies for Christian Believers.”  Theologoumenon seems to be the title of a series of recordings Dad was making when he went to teach at churches instead of just teaching in the classroom all of the time.

The next episode, Part 2 covers Ephesians 1:3-14, Part 3 will cover Ephesians 1:15-23, Part 4 will be Ephesians chapter 2, Part 5 is chapter 3, and the last in this series on Ephesians will lead us through chapters 4 though 6.