We come to the addendum to Jeremiah— seemingly written by someone else, perhaps Baruch.
Today in Proverbs 11:
16 A gracious woman gains respect,
but ruthless men gain only wealth.
27 If you search for good, you will find favor;
but if you search for evil, it will find you!
The words ‘in Ephesus’ are missing from the best manuscripts of this letter. It is believed that this was a circular letter and every church who received it would fill in their location name.
H.C. Mears says of Ephesians:
In this epistle, we enter the holy of holies in Paul’s writings. Paul speaks in 2Corinthians 12:2 of being “caught up to the third heaven.” Here, as it were, he gives his report, and he seems to be carried away as he tells about it. It is the greatest revelation of truth that God has given to us, the revelation of a mystery that has been hidden from before the foundation of the world.
An important theme in Ephesians is one I have also highlighted this year. It is the idea of being (in literal translations) ‘in Christ’. This idea is also important in John’s writings, like the chapter we heard yesterday. Go back to the vine and branches metaphor in John 15. ‘In Christ’ doesn’t mean inside. It means being joined to Christ or one/in unity with Christ, like a branch is with the vine.
This is the letter where we hear of the Christian’s armor. I believe that a key part of the belt of truth is to believe what God says about us is true.
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