There has never been anyone else like the Apostle Paul. Few people have ever been as completely mastered by the Lord Jesus Christ as Paul was.  The moment Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and asked, “Who are you, Lord?” – followed by – “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:8-10) he completely surrendered to Jesus as his Savior and Lord. Paul gave this testimony in the first letter he wrote the churches:

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20

Paul and the Christian Witnesses

In his book “The Apostle,” John Pollock imagines what it was like for Paul as he persecuted the church before his conversion. He arrested uncounted numbers of Christians and attended the trials where they were told to renounce Christ. If they refused, they were given one opportunity to make their case before they were sentenced and punished.

Paul heard scores, if not hundreds of testimonies from Jesus followers who could not be persuaded to stop following him. They repeated Jesus’ teaching, told about his miracles, and talked about the joy of belonging together in the church. And they were uniformly adamant about his resurrection.

By the time Paul saw Jesus on the road, and heard him say, “Saul, Saul, why do your persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads,” (from Acts 26:12-18. Paul had already been forced against his will to consider that Jesus might be the Messiah as he listened to the testimony of Christians. Resisting the truth about Christ was like kicking at a sharpened prod; he was only hurting himself.

When Paul saw the resurrected Lord Jesus and realized how wrong he had been about him, he fell to his knees in abject sorrow for his sins and stumbled into Damascus ready to surrender to Christ. The next three days, spent in blindness and fasting, were days of rapt inward attention to Jesus. He emerged from that time so zealous for Jesus that he soon created enemies that threatened his life.

But we have already read about all of that and now we are near the end of Paul’s time on earth.

Paul Comes to Rome

When the storm that wrecked their ship subsided, Paul and his companions discovered they had been cast ashore on the Island province of Malta. The inhabitants were hospitable and invited the survivors of the shipwreck to sit by their fire. Paul was doing his part, gathering firewood when a viper struck him and fastened itself to his hand. The residents were sure Paul would die, but he simply shook off the snake and continued his work. The locals thought he must be a god.

Publius, the chief Roman official on the Isle of Malta invited the castaways to his home for three days and while he was there, Paul laid hands on Publius’s ill father and healed him.

“When this happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. They honored us in many ways and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.” Acts 28:9-10

After three months on Malta, Paul and his fellow passengers boarded another ship from Alexandria and sailed to Italy. They traveled up the southwest coast until they reached Puteoli and were delighted to find some believers who invited them to stay for a week.

Paul and his friends walked the last leg of the journey to Rome and were met by believers from the church there.

“At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.” Acts 28:15-16

For years Paul had wanted to visit the believers in Rome; his dream was finally fulfilled.

Paul Preaches to the Jews in Rome

Three days after settling in Rome, Paul called together the Jewish leaders. Since it was opposition from Jewish leaders in Asia and Jerusalem that had put him in chains, Paul wanted to discover where he stood with the Jewish leaders in Rome.

They had not heard any reports about Paul. They were actually eager to hear his views on Jesus because they had heard so much about the Christian “sect.” They arranged to meet for a day with Paul and he witnessed to them from morning till evening, demonstrating from the Law of Moses and the Prophets that Jesus was the Messiah.

Some believed, but others left when Paul quoted a passage from Isaiah that pointed out how hard their hearts were. Paul said, as he had before, that since the Jews resisted the gospel, he was going to go on preaching to the Gentiles . . . “and they will listen!” Acts 28:28

The book of Acts ends with Paul under two years of house arrest in Rome. He welcomed everyone who wanted to come and discuss the gospel.

“He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ – with all boldness and without hindrance.” Acts 28:31

Paul Writes to the Churches

During his imprisonment, Paul had time to write letters from Rome to the churches at Colossae, Ephesus, and Philippi. His epistles provided theological and practical instructions in following Christ and were soon collected, copied and distributed among all of the churches.

The letters reflect the intense and tempestuous way Paul’s mind worked. Paul was enraptured with Christ and passionate to help people grow as Christ’s disciples. His pen could barely keep up with his thoughts.

Dr. G. G. Findlay, who was a professor of Biblical languages at Headingly, Leeds, England, wrote this about Paul:

“He sweeps us breathless through his [thinking], as he pursues far up the steep [slope of] some lofty thought, while language threatens every moment to break down under the weight it is compelled to carry; until at last, he reaches his magnificent climax, and the tangled path through which he has forced his way lies clear beneath our feet.”

Scholars agree that as Paul made his way through “the tangled path” he bent the laws of grammar and sentence construction. The Intervarsity Bible Commentary puts it this way:

“The construction of his sentences is sometimes involved, and the exact connection of one idea with another may occasionally be uncertain. This is due to the tempestuous rush with which his thoughts come crowding into his mind, but the thoughts themselves shine with a splendor that can never be dimmed . . . If we persevere with our study of Paul, we shall soon discover that we are sitting at the feet of one who, more than any other human being, has got far into the wonders and the glories of that ‘open secret of God’ which is ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’” 

And so we come to the letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians

It’s not possible in this blog post to do justice to the first two chapters of Ephesians. The reader needs to explore these passages verse-by-verse and thought-by-thought and look for personal applications. But knowing the themes within the book can provide us with some keys to the content.

There are three great themes in the letter to the Ephesians:

1. Christ has reconciled all creation to himself and to God
2. Christ has united people from all nations to himself and to one another in his church
3. Christians must live as new people

You can even boil these themes down to single words: Reconciliation, Unity, and New Life, and look for the themes as you read each section of Ephesians. What do the sections say about these ideas?

The great evangelist D. L. Moody once said, “The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives.”

Take your time and read Ephesians carefully. Notice the words and phrases that stand out to you and invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Your knowledge of God will certainly increase and your life will probably change forever.