Using the Chapter Overview Chart

Are you overwhelmed with the study guide for this week, fellow Ephesian students? I'm so encouraged to hear you have set your mind to doing this - to finding out what God is saying in this wonderful letter. I would like to encourage you to hang in there. If you are new to inductive study, just write down what you see in one reading of each chapter. For instance, in chapter one: Who? Paul, God, Jesus Christ, saints (you, us) Holy Spirit.
What? Will of God, Grace, Chosen (Predestined, Purposed, Will) Glory
Gospel
When? Before the foundations of the world v.4; fullness of the times v. 10
(you could also put these under Time on back of the sheet.
Where? the saints who are at Ephesus; in the heavenly places; in heaven and on earth. You could put In Christ here - your call.
Why? That we should be holy and blameless before Him; to the praise of the glory of His grace; v.10 with a view to the administration suitable to the times
How? By will of God; thru Christ Jesus Himself acc. to the kind intention of His will; thru Christ's blood; acc to the riches of His Grace
in all wisdom and insight; having been predestined acc to His purpose

If you are frustrated with this, you might want to move on to thinking about Paul and the Ephesians and their relationship and why Paul wrote this letter to them. We will spend time talking this through next Tues.

Julia Stake said some were having trouble with following the pronouns and putting them with their proper antecedents in the first chapter. This is a problem here for a couple of reasons: Paul's long sentences, his involved thought patterns and his lack of concern for our problems in this area! Remember the rule of Bible study: Context Rules. Whenever possible view a passage as a whole. So if you start with 1:3 and follow all that God the Father has done, and substitute His name for the pronoun, it becomes clear.
for instance: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who (God the Father) blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (v. 4) just as He (God the Father) chose us in Him (Christ - probably all the "in Him" phrases refer to Christ)...that we should be holy and blameless before Him (God the Father).

I liked doing this because repeating "God the Father" emphasizes in my mind my relationship with Him as his daughter and reminds me how much He loves me and wants me to know what He has done for me! If He has lavished all the riches of His grace on you, don't you think He will help you in any need or trouble?

Let me know if this helps - remember to email me, I don't think the comments on here get thru.