Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
But Ephesians 2:3 does not say that. It speaks collectively of "all of us" and the cravings of "our" flesh. He sees himself within the truth of the fallen condition, but is not declaring that every aspect of what he mentions is personally his. He is not declaring himself to be a pagan. That is simply a stretch beyond what is there.
|
On Paul’s third journey beginning with Galatia he arrives in Ephesus and stays for 3 years. Acts 20:31 “…for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears”. During his stay in Ephesus he wrote 1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians 16:8,19 without Timothy Acts 19:22. Following his journeys ending in Rome Acts 28:14,30 which is approximately 7-9 years later when he would have written Ephesians as a prisinor in chains 3:1, 4:1, 6:20 writing to the Gentiles in Ephesus 3:1, 3:6 with a soldier guarding him Acts 28:16.
Paul also wrote Philippians from prison Phil. 1:7, in Rome 4:23 with Timothy 1:1. He wrote Colossians from prison Col 4:18 in Rome with Timothy 1:1 and he wrote Philemon in prison with Timothy Philemon 1:1.
Notice that Ephesians is the only book from prison during that time when Timothy is not with him or at least not mentioned. It is ironic since Timothy was in charge of Ephesus 1 Tim 1:3. Aside from that, the way it is written is different than his other epistles with many more longer sentences in the Greek which doesn’t really show up in English.
The question is: does it matter that Paul wrote it or that he wrote it to the Ephesians. Certainly it was someone who was a follower of Paul. If you read the entire context of Ephesians 2 it is a different perspective than 1 Corinthians 15 which is what this is all about and, therefore, Ephesians 2 was taken out of context as I noted in my original disagreement most probably because it was written by someone else.