Jerry ’s Reviews > The Resurrected Jesus: The Church in the New Testament > Status Update

Read about Ephesians 3. Paul starts to continue his discussion about the mystery of salvation to Gentiles as it was to Jews, when he breaks off to state that it was because of his zeal to preach Christ that he was imprisoned. He returns to his previous thought by showing that Christians must not only learn about God's grace, but apply it to their lives as often as possible.

Read up to Ephesians 3. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8 and 9 that our forgiveness of sins is wholy due to God's Grace. Once we are Saved, we are given the great ability to do good works. These works do not save us... they are a proof that we are already Saved. Also, read that first God walked among humans, then He lived among them, and now He lives in every believer.

Read about Ephesians 1. Paul writes to the Ephesians to instill hope that their belief in Christ is what makes them special. When we become believers, Christ's holiness is transferred to us by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit also serves as a guarantor of our salvation.

Finished Chapter 1. Read about how Christ emptied Himself of His divinity during His Incarnation to better connect with mankind. Also read about God ordained relationships. Just because the Bible says that a woman should submit to her husband doesn't mean that she should not be viewed as his equal. Also, just because there are instructions for slave behavior doesn't mean that the practice was condoned.

Read up to Colossians 3. Read that Christians are under Grace and not strictly adhered by the law. However, that does not mean that we have a license to sin, but an eagerness to do the right thing. There's a difference between doing/not doing something because the law said so to doing/not doing something because you want to do the right thing and please God.

Finished the Inroduction and up to chapter 2 of Colossians.

Finished Chapter 7. Read about Paul's last letter, 2 Timothy. Paul is close to his execution date as he sits at his home in Rome. He writes to Timothy to exhort him about taking over Paul's ministry. Paul gives Timothy some last-minute advice and ends his letter by asking Timothy to visit him one last time.

Finished chapter 6. Paul writes a short letter to Titus, who is operating on the island of Crete. This letter is similar to 1 Timothy but half as long. Paul wants Titus to be able to counteract the Judaisers and secularists.

Finished Chapter 5. Read about Paul's first letter to Timothy. In it, Paul gives advice to Timothy about keeping the faith, running a church, fleeing heresy, and the qualifications of church officials. Paul knows that his death may come soon so his letter has a sense of urgency for Timothy. Paul wants to make sure Timothy has what he needs to be a productive leader of the church.

Finished Chapter 4. Read about Paul's letter to the Philippian church. In this short letter, Paul addresses the first church that he helped start in Europe. He applauds them for their steadfast faith and helping further the cause of Christ. This letter is probably the third best of Paul's letters (behind Romans and Galatians).