The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse by Verse Exposition

by F.F. Bruce

A thorough verse-by-verse exposition of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. “Nowhere,” says Bruce, is God’s “glorious purpose unfolded so fully and clearly as in the Epistle to the Ephesians. . . . The message of Ephesians is that only through Christ, in the fellowship of his body, can iron curtains, color-bars, class-warfare and all other divisions of this kind be brought to an end. . . . Only Christ can bring together the people on either side of these barricades, by first bringing them to himself, thus making them one with him and therefore one with one another. . . . If the same divisions of class and race and color as we see in the world are tolerated in the Church, her witness is nullified; the salt of the earth has lost its taste and has become good for nothing.” It’s no wonder that Bruce quotes John Mackay as saying, “because of the nature of the problem with which it deals, Ephesians is the most modern of the New Testament writings.”
This book is intended for the general Christian reader who is interested in serious Bible study, not for the professional or specialist student. Therefore Bruce deals only lightly with textual, linguistic and other critical questions. His main aim is to bring out the meaning and message of Paul’s Epistle.

Genres: Theology

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 1961

About the author

Frederick Fyvie Bruce FBA was a Biblical scholar who supported the historical reliability of the New Testament. His first book, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (1943), was voted by the American evangelical periodical Christianity Today in 2006 as one of the top 50 books "which had shaped evangelicals".

Reviews

[Shawn Aebi · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first verse-by-verse analysis of a book in the Bible. Lots of detail and research that were not useful to me but it was easy to skim over based on how he laid the book out with verses highlighted. Many points where the insight was invaluable.

[Frans Kempe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A verse by vers commentary of Ephesians. For scholars

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

F.F. Bruce doesn't disapoint ... much.

F.F. Bruce is my favourite Bible scholar, author, and historian. He brings a wealth of knowledge to Ephesians,points out a few things I have missed in multiple readings of Ephesians, brings insight with his greek knowledge, and grasp of Paul's history.

There are a few things in Ephesians that are a bit of a mystery and up for some debate. So the one disappointment I have is that he does not wade into those debates much.

An excellent straight commentary of Ephesians.