Ephesians 5:3-5: Not a Hint

This week we will keep diving into Ephesians 5. Read Ephesians 5:1-5.

Our focus this week will be on Ephesians 5:3-5. Ask yourself  the questions below (using Ephesians 5:3-5 to find your answers) and write down the answers in your journal:

• What is not to be named among you? (Who are the you?)
• What do you know with certainty?

Look up these key words (remember key words are important words that help unlock the meaning of the text) using Blue Letter Bible (you can get the app for your phone or go online) and write down what you find in your journal:

• immorality
• impurity
• greed
• proper
• filthiness
• silly talk
• coarse jesting
• fitting

Let's look at another place in Scripture that talks about something similar (we call this a cross reference). Look up 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and write down in your journal what you learn and how it connects with Ephesians 5:3-5. 

Ask yourself: 

• who will not inherit the kingdom of God (according to Ephesians 5:3-5)
• What is not fitting or proper for a saint (follower of Christ)?
• Why do you think Paul stressed this matter? Does anything you learned this week apply to today? 

Come to Bible Study ready to talk about what you learned!!! Cannot wait ti see you! 

Ephesians 5:1-2 Sacrifice and Fragrant Aroma Pt 2

Last week we talked about Old Testament sacrifice. This week we will look at a New Testament perspective of sacrifice. 

Read Ephesians 5:1-2. Last week we talked about the two instructions in Ephesians 5:1-2: to be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Jesus loved us and gave himself up as an offering and fragrant aroma. Remember we are trying to understand what the text means when it says that Jesus loved us and gave Himself up as an offering and fragrant aroma. We must understand Jesus' love to understand how we are called to love. Keep this at the front of your mind as we study this week. Ultimately our purpose is to take everything we learn back to Ephesians 5:1-2 and understand what it means and how that applies to our lives.

Read the following cross references and write down in your journal what you learn about sacrifice and how it relates to Ephesians 5:1-2:

• Hosea 6:6
• 1 Samuel 15:22
• Hebrews 9
• Hebrews 10
• Hebrews 11

Now, go back and read Ephesians 5:1-2. What does it mean that Jesus loved us to the degree that He gave Himself up as a sacrifice and a fragrant aroma? Really think about it. What then does that mean for what you believe or how you live? Write down your thoughts in your journal. 

Ephesians 5:1-2 Jesus our Sacrifice and Fragrant Aroma Pt 1

This week we will focus on verses 1-2 of chapter 5.

Start by reading through chapter 5. Now let's look at verses 1-2.  What instructions does Paul give in these verses? (There are two) Write down the instructions in your journal.

Look for comparisons. A comparison is when someone is looking to two things to see how they are similar. What is Paul comparing here (hint: they are connected to the instructions, look for the word as.)? Write down what you observe in your journal.

Now let's do some word studies. Remember a word study is when we look at the definition of the word in the language it was written. Look up these words using Blue Letter Bible: imitators, offering, sacrifice, fragrant. 

Now let's look at cross references. Remember in Inductive Study we want to have an overall view of Scripture. We want to let Scripture interpret Scripture and speak for itself. To fully understand these verses in Ephesians, we must look at the Old Testament sacrificial system. We will not look at it comprehensively, but I want you have a glimpse so you can better understand these verses. Read: Leviticus 1& Leviticus 16. Write down what you learn from each portion of Scripture about the sacrificial system. What was to be done, why, who did it, what do you learn about the pleasing aroma, etc. Write down your answers in your journal. 

Next week we will look at the New Testament and see how the Old Testament and New Testament connect. 

Ephesians 5 - Chapter Overview

Well, we made it to chapter 5!! Yeah!!!! Did you think we would never make it out of chapter 4? I was starting to think we might be there forever.

This week we will do an overview of chapter 5. That means we are going to look at chapter 5 with a high view. We will not dive in deep this week, but that is okay. We want to establish a good context of chapter 5 before we go deeper. This week our goal is to observe all that we can of chapter 5 and see how it fits together. Remember, when we observe we are asking ourselves "what does the text say?"

Begin this week by reading all the way through chapter 5. Okay, now let's read the text again, this time read with a purpose, investigate the text looking for key repeated words. Look for main themes or concepts.

Now it's time to mark words. What words stuck out to you as key words? Did you see any words that were repeated? Remember we mark key words because it helps us slow down and it helps us see what is obvious. This is an important part of Bible Study, what we observe helps build a foundation for everything else. Marking words, is when we use colored pens or pencils and actually mark up the text. 

If you are recently joining us, you will need to mark these words: Paul(my, my, I), The Ephesians (you), walk, formerly, in Jesus(in Him, in the Lord, etc)

If you have been studying with us and have already marked the words above, mark these words (newbies, you need to mark these too): God, Jesus, dark, light, husbands, wives, subject, love,  church, therefore (term of conclusion), but (showing contrast)

I encourage you to mark only one word at a time. Each time reading the text. Don't just skim. Reading while marking will help the text become familiar to you. Our minds are not trained to really read and soak up the text, so this may feel frustrating, keep going!! Press on! 

Once you have marked these words, the paragraph themes will become more clear. Now we want to walk through each paragraph and look for a word or phrase that sums up what the paragraph is saying (you are looking for words from the text, DON'T PARAPHRASE. Look at the words you marked in each paragraph, that should give you an idea of what the theme is.) Write down in the margin or in your journal what paragraph themes (maybe one word, or maybe a string of words from the text) you see. If you are using the worksheets, you can see the beginning of a paragraph noted with a bold number. Here are the paragraphs: 1-2, 3-5, 6-14, 15-21, 22-24, 25-33. Observe these paragraphs, investigate the text. Remember you are looking for the text to tell you what it says, you are not trying to make it say something. 

Now think, how does chapter 5 fit in with the rest of the book of Ephesians? Do you see how it connects? Write down in your journal your thoughts. You may need to go back through and read the first 4 chapters again, it is worth your time to understand how this chapter fits in with the other chapters. Write down in your journal what you observe and how Ephesians 5 connects with the rest of Ephesians.

Come to Bible Study ready to talk about the main ideas/themes of chapter 5. Be ready to discuss how this chapter fits into the rest of the book of Ephesians. It's important to build this foundation before we dive in deep to chapter 5.

Ephesians 4:30-32 Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

This is the week we will finish Ephesians chapter 4. We have slowly been mining the truth in this chapter. I pray that God has revealed so much about His character and what true heart transformation looks like. 

Start by reading Ephesians 4:17-32. Remember the context is the old self and new self. Get out your journal and write down what you learn in verses 30-32 about the old self and the new self.

What does verse 30 tell us? What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? Look up the definition of the word grieve using Blue Letter Bible. Write down what you learn in your journal. How is the Holy Spirit defined or explained in verse 30? What has the Spirit done? What role does He have according to this verse? Write down what you see in the text. 

What can we learn about the Holy Spirit from other places in Scripture. Look up the following verses and write down in your journal what you learn about the Holy Spirit:

• John 14:26
• John 16:13
• Rom 5:5 
• Rom 7:6 
• Rom 8:11-16
• 1 Cor 3:16
• 2 Cor 1:22 
• Gal 5:22 
• Eph 1:13 
• 1 Thess 5:19 
• 2 Thess 2:13
• Titus 3:5 
• 1 John 3:24
• 1 John 4:13

Now let's focus on verses 31 and 32. What is listed in verse 31? What is the action in verse 31? Paul tells the Ephesians to put away bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice. Using Blue Letter Bible look up the definitions for: put away, bitterness, wrath, anger clamor, slander, and malice.

What do we see in verse 32? There is another list in verse 32 that describes the new self. Using Blue Letter Bible look up the definitions for each attribute listed. 

Now, how does the Holy Spirit connect to the old self and new self? Write down your thoughts in your journal.

Have you ever grieved the Holy Spirit? Spend some time talking to the Lord about it, even write down your thoughts or a prayer in your journal. 

Ephesians 4:29 - No Unwholesome Word...

This week we will focus on Ephesians 4:29. Below you will find some prep work that will help you prepare for our time together on Thursday. I encourage you to take some time and complete all the work. You will get more out of our time together if you have completed the prep work. 

Read Ephesians 4:17-32. Ask yourself, what is the context of Ephesians 4:29? Write down in your journal the contrast you see in Ephesians 4:29 (look for the word "but" to help you find the contrast). What are we not to do? What are we to do? Write down in your journal what the text says.

We want to find out what Ephesians 4:29 means. One way we can find out what the text means is to do word studies. Word studies are when we look at what the words mean in the Greek. We use Blue Letter Bible to help us do our word studies. Go to Blue Letter Bible and look up these words/phrases: unwholesome, good, edification, according to the need of the moment, give, grace. Write down everything you learn about these words in your journal. 

Another way we can find out what the text means is to do cross references. Cross references help us to see what the rest of the Bible haste say about the text we are looking at. Look up the cross references below and write down what you learn:

Words:
James 3:12
Proverbs 18:21
Proverbs 31:26
Matthew 12:33-36
Mathew 15:18

Unwholesome:
Matthew 7:17-18
Matthew 12:33
Luke 6:43

Edification:
Romans 14:19
1 Corinthians 10:23

Grace:
Luke 4:22
Romans 5:20-21
Ephesians 2:8-10
Colossians 3:16
Colossians 4:6


Now, go back and read Ephesians 4:29 again. What is this verse calling us to? What is the Lord specifically saying to you in this verse? Write it down in your journal. 

Ephesians 4:28 - Do not Steal - Labor and Give

Since it's been a couple of weeks since we met, I want you to begin by reading Ephesians 4:17-32. Ask yourself, what is the context of verse 28? What is the main idea that Paul is talking about here? 

Remember, Paul is focusing on what it looks like to wear the new self, the righteous robe of Jesus. So what do we learn from verse 28? What doesn't it look like? What does it look like? Write down your observations in your journal. 

Now let's dig a little deeper. Using Blue Letter Bible look up the words: steal, labor, and share. Write down everything you learn in your journal. 

Now let's look at some cross references. Remember we look at cross references because we want to see what the entire counsel of God's Word has to say about what we are studying. Look up the verses below and write down what the verses say about stealing, laboring, or giving (Not what you think it means, but what it says)

Steal:
Exodus 20:15
Jeremiah 7:3-11
Romans 13:7-10

Labor:
Romans 16:6,12
1 Corinthians 15:10
1 Timothy 4:10
Exodus 20:9-11
John 17:4 
Colossians 3:23
1 Thessalonians 4:9-11
2 Thessalonians 3:10-12

Give:
Luke 3:11
Acts 4:32-35
Acts 20:35
Matt 6:1-4
James 2:15-20

Now, how does any of this apply to your life? Is God showing you something through His word this week? Write down in your journal what you have learned and how you can apply it to your own life (This is a personal question, think specifically).