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Pentecost
Pauline Epistles

Ephesians

New Testamentc. AD 60-62Greek

Ephesians praises God's cosmic plan in Christ, salvation by grace, Jew-Gentile reconciliation, the unity and maturity of the Church, household life, and armor for spiritual conflict.

Ephesians — manuscript, icon, or classical biblical art from Wikimedia Commons.
Manuscript Leaf with the Opening of the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, from a Bible MET sf1998-538-2s1.jpg — This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy

Why Ephesians Matters

Ephesians praises God's cosmic plan in Christ, salvation by grace, Jew-Gentile reconciliation, the unity and maturity of the Church, household life, and armor for spiritual conflict.

The book's central themes include union with Christ, the Church, grace, unity, and spiritual warfare. Read inside the whole canon, those themes are not isolated topics but part of Scripture's unified witness to God's covenant work and to Christ.

Canonical Reception

Ephesians is received across the Christian traditions. Its place in the canon anchors how the Church reads its witness to Christ. In this entry it is marked as recognized in the Protestant canon, the Roman Catholic canon, Eastern Orthodox canons, Oriental Orthodox canons.

Reading With The Church

A faithful reading of Ephesians asks first what the text says in its own setting, then how its words are received in the full scriptural economy. The goal is not to flatten historical context into later theology, but to hear the book as part of the one biblical canon read by the Church.

Key Passages
  • Ephesians 1:3-10
  • Ephesians 2:8-10
  • Ephesians 4:4-6
  • Ephesians 6:10-18