Ephesians

Eph.1:¹⁷ (NRSV) I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him”

The Bible is powerful, however, to the church, the Book of Ephesians is easily the most powerful in the New Testament. It addresses key issues of the faith, the work of Jesus for us, the value of being a Christian. What does it mean to be called a Christian? What is available to you as a Christian and how can you deploy it? I think these things are the most important things of our faith and it is unpacked in the Book of Ephesians. I am trusting that God will give us amazing insights as we study the Book of Ephesians over the next few weeks in Jesus Name.

Please read Ephesians 1 in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). I love to read the Bible, but more than just reading, I love to study God’s Word. Studying has a way of taking us into the depth of the Word. The beauty of our time is there are a lot of Bible translations. The Bible was not written in English originally. The Old Testament was written largely in Hebrew and the New Testament was written partly in Greek and partly Aramaic. When it comes to translations of the Bible, there are two main types in the world. The Literal Translation is otherwise known as the formal equivalent of the original text. The literal translation seeks to do word for word interpretation as much as possible. Without question, most Bible scholars agree that the best literal translation of the Bible is the NRSV, which is why I suggest you use it for Bible story. The KJV is also a literal translation, but it is stuck in the seventeenth century. Some manuscripts have been discovered since the KJV was written that were not included in the translation.

The second type of Bible translation is the Dynamic Translation also called the functional equivalent. The dynamic translation is more like an interpreted text, seeking thought for thought translation not word for word. The first dynamic translation was the NIV and obviously, it was heavily flawed. Other translations have surfaced after that and in my own opinion, the best dynamic translation is the New Living Translation. So, why bother with the NLT, why not just stick with the good old literal translation like the NRSV? It is because the English language is so handicapped; there are words in the original you lose the meaning if you do a word for word translation. The thought for thought translations usually gets it better. For the purpose of this study, I suggest that we combine both the Literal (NRSV) and the Dynamic (NLT) translations.

Prayer: Father, I ask that by Your Holy Spirit, You give me spiritual insight even as I study Your Word, in Jesus Name. Amen!