Ephesians

About Ephesians

Ephesians is a big-picture letter about God's plan to bring everything in heaven and on earth together under Christ. Written to believers in and around Ephesus, it celebrates salvation as a free gift of grace and the church as one new people made from Jews and Gentiles alike. The second half shows what this looks like in ordinary life: unity, honest speech, marriage and family, work, and standing firm in spiritual battle.

Written by

The letter names Paul as its author, and the church has traditionally received it as his; some modern scholars question this because of its style, while others defend Paul's authorship.

When

If written by Paul, it dates to his imprisonment around AD 60-62; scholars who doubt his authorship usually place it a decade or two later.

Themes

• Saved by grace through faith
• Jew and Gentile made one
• The church as Christ's body
• Walking worthy of the calling
• The armor of God

Key verses

• Ephesians 2:8-10For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
• Ephesians 4:4-6There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.