Day #39

Review

Today you will be reading the letter of Ephesians. This is the church Paul, along with Priscilla and Aquila, established in Ephesus which you read about in Acts 18:18-23. He visited Ephesus on his next missionary journey and stayed there for three years, Acts 19:1-41. Paul wrote most of his letters while he was in jail. This one was probably no exception. Scholars date its authorship at 60 A.D.

Read

Read Ephesians for your quiet time today.

Reflect

Ephesians 5:19 commands us to be, "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." In the Lord's church we sing our hymns a'capella, without instruments. That's because this is the type of music that was used in the first century church. The word a'cappella means "in chapel style." The church in Ephesus did not use musical instruments in their worship services. Neither did the churches in Galatia. In fact, no church you are going to read about in the New Testament used instruments in worshipping God. Since God is the object of our worship we worship according to the pattern of His Word. Worship is about doing what pleases the Lord.

The subject of submission, which Paul brings up in 5:22f is a sensitive one in our day and age. Liberals like to use this passage to brand Paul as a "woman-hater", but that is false. Paul did not hate or look down on women in any way. It was quite the opposite in fact. Paul commands the husbands to love their wives the way Jesus loved His church. Jesus loved the church so much He died for her. Paul demands that wives receive that type of love. Does this sound like a "woman-hater" to you? Godly submission of a wife to her husband is not a derogatory teaching. It is God's design for the home. The wife is in a supportive role for the good of the family, and it works beautifully when the husband and wife follow all of what this passage teaches.