Ephesians 2

Paul talks about the devil as though he’s a sentient “evil spirit” (Ephesians 2:2) who commands a coalition of evil forces. Do you think most people today think of Satan in those terms? Or do they think of Satan as more of a metaphor, a way of expressing the power that can latch on to people and get them to do hurtful things?

Paul told the Christians, “You have been saved by kindness” (Ephesians 2:5). What do you think he meant by that? And have you ever seen anyone saved by kindness or what the Bible often calls “grace”?

Paul wrote to the Christians, “You’re saved out of the kindness of God when you take that leap of faith and believe. You didn’t save yourself. Salvation is God’s gift to you” (Ephesians 2:8). Some might argue that we have a role to play in getting saved because we have to take the leap of faith. So at least to that degree, we do save ourselves. What would you say to defend Paul’s idea that we have nothing to do with saving ourselves?

“It’s the blood of the Messiah that drew you to God” (Ephesians 2:13). That’s what Paul told Christians in the letter of Ephesians. Do you think he was right back then? Did the death of Jesus draw people to God? And does it still draw people to God, or is the image of a sacrificed Jesus more repulsive than attractive?

Paul said the era of Jewish law came to an end when Jesus died. These laws given by Moses are preserved in the first five books of the Bible, which Jewish tradition says Moses wrote. The prophet Jeremiah, some 600 years before Jesus, wrote that one day God would retire the contract agreement he made with the Jews. No more written laws to observe. In the new contract between humans and God, God said, “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33, New Living Translation). If the old contract died with Jesus, why do you think it survived among observant Jews?

Sinners and saints, it didn’t matter. Paul said Jesus preached the same message to everyone—the “message of peace” (Ephesians 2:17). Why do you think Paul said something like that to his readers?

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul said, “God is rich when it comes to mercy. That’s because mercy is a side effect of love” (Ephesians 2:4). If that’s true when it comes to people too, what stories could you tell to prove it?

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul said God’s household is built on the foundation of his people: “his apostles and his prophets. Jesus the Messiah is the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). In what way do you think our local churches and our families operate in pretty much the same way?

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul’s closing words stop the show: “You are home to God” (Ephesians 2:22). If we really believed that, what difference would it make in the way we lived?