Guide to Ephesians

Paul's epistle to the Ephesians is, of course, a letter that Paul of Tarsus supposedly wrote to those in the Christian church at Ephesus^[1].

[edit] Themes

Paul takes ten verses to say that Jesus died so you could live in heaven and do good works.^[2]
There exists no distinction between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.^[3]
There is to be a clearly defined hierarchy in the household involving neither utter dominance nor egalitarianism, but rather an echo of that between Christ and the Church. Husbands are to lovingly preside over wives, parents over children, and masters over slaves.^[4]

Ephesians 6:10-18 is ~~some tripe~~ about "the Armor of God;" the passage uses a suit of armor as a metaphor for virtues and spiritual warfare.^[5]
- One verse in this passage can be interpreted to discourage warfare or activism in the name of Christ: "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."^[6]
The passage that tells wives to submit to husbands^[7] is used to justify things ranging from gender roles to wife beating^[8].

↑ Scholars now doubt the authorship of Ephesians, and ascribe it a much later date, anywhere from 70CE to 100CE
↑ Eph. 2:1-10
↑ Eph. 2:11-22
↑ Eph. 5:22-6:9
↑ It uses such language as "the belt of truth;" it does not, however, mention "the mustard of your doom" as a weapon of "the enemy."
↑ Eph. 6:12; all of my quotes are from the American Standard Version
↑ Eph. 5:22-24
↑ The next paragraph, however, tells husbands to love their wives just like Christ loves the Church, weakening some of the more wingnut positions.