Session 2 Bible Study Handout
Ephesians 1:1–2
Published April 18, 2026 · Updated April 19, 2026
This is the participant handout for this session of the Abide 101 · Ephesians Bible Study. It provides contextual background blocks for group discovery, the anchor passage in full, space for notes and reflection, and the reading assignment for the next session. The companion Facilitator Guide is available to session leaders.
ABIDE 101 — BIBLE STUDY
Session 2: Bridging the Gaps — Study to Be an Approved Workman
Anchor Passage: Ephesians 1:1–2
Name: ___________________________________ Date: _______________
Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB) unless otherwise noted.
EPHESIANS CONTEXT HANDOUT
Unlocking the World Behind the Letter
What you are holding is not trivia. Every fact on this page is a key that unlocks something in the letter you are about to read. Context is not background noise — it is the difference between hearing what Paul meant and hearing what we assume he meant.
Take turns reading each section aloud with your group.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Who Wrote This, From Where, and Under What Circumstances?
The letter to the Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul around A.D. 60–62 — from a Roman prison. He was under house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:16–31), awaiting trial before Emperor Nero. He did not know whether he would survive to hear that this letter had arrived.
Paul calls himself "a prisoner of Christ Jesus" (3:1) — but he does not see his chains as a defeat. He tells the Ephesians directly that his suffering is "for you Gentiles" (3:1) and is their "glory" (3:13). His imprisonment was not a sign that the gospel had failed. It was proof that the gospel was worth everything.
Paul had spent nearly three years in Ephesus — longer than anywhere else in his ministry. He knew these people. He knew their city. He knew what it cost them to follow Jesus. And he wanted them to know who they now were in Christ.
This is one of four letters Paul wrote from prison (along with Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon). The fact that he wrote one of the richest theological documents in history from a jail cell tells us something important: the circumstances Paul was in did not limit what God could say through him.
My observations and questions:
GEOGRAPHICAL & CULTURAL CONTEXT
What Kind of City Was Ephesus?
Ephesus was one of the most important cities in the ancient world — the capital of the Roman province of Asia (modern-day western Turkey). It sat on the Cayster River with access to the Aegean Sea, making it a major port and center of international trade connecting Asia to the wider Roman Empire.
The city was massive. Its theater — the one where the famous riot against Paul broke out — seated 25,000 people (Acts 19:23–41). Ephesus had wide avenues, temples, a renowned library, and an economy largely tied to religious tourism.
The city was dominated by the worship of the goddess Artemis (called Diana by the Romans). Her temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The city's economy revolved around it — silversmiths made silver idols, priests managed the temple, and thousands of pilgrims visited every year. When Paul's ministry took hold in Ephesus, new believers publicly burned their magic scrolls — worth 50,000 silver coins (Acts 19:19). This was not a symbolic gesture. It was a declaration of war against their old world.
Ephesus was also a center of Roman imperial religion. Emperor Augustus had been hailed as "Savior" by the city, and his birth proclaimed as "good news to the world" — the exact words Paul uses for Jesus. Every time Paul writes "the Lord Jesus Christ," every reader in Ephesus would have felt the collision with Caesar's claims.
Paul's preaching eventually caused a citywide riot. The silversmiths, led by a man named Demetrius, stirred up the crowd in that 25,000-seat theater: "Our livelihood is in danger — and the great goddess Artemis is being dishonored!" (Acts 19:23–41). That is the world these believers were living in when they received this letter.
My observations and questions:
AUDIENCE CONTEXT
Who Were the Recipients?
The recipients were a mix of Jewish and Gentile believers — former pagans who had come out of the very culture described above. Paul reminds them of who they used to be: "dead in your transgressions and sins" (2:1), "following the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air" (2:2).
Interestingly, the phrase "in Ephesus" is absent from some of the oldest surviving manuscripts of the letter. Many scholars believe this was a circular letter — written to be passed from church to church across the region, not written for one congregation alone. That may explain why it reads differently from Paul's other letters: no personal greetings, no specific crisis, no named individuals. It reads more like a theological foundation meant for every church in every generation.
Paul had spent nearly three years in Ephesus — longer than anywhere else in his ministry. He knew these people. He knew what they had come from. And he wanted them to know who they now were.
One commentator captures the entire letter in a single sentence:
"Ephesians is addressed to a group of believers who are indescribably rich in Jesus Christ, but living a beggarly existence because they are ignorant of their wealth." — Wilkinson & Boa, Talk thru the Bible (p. 399)
My observations and questions:
THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
What Is This Letter About?
Scholars have called Ephesians "the Grand Canyon of Scripture" — because of its elevated, worshipful language and the sheer scale of what it claims God has done (Jensen, Jensen's Survey of the New Testament, p. 316). Paul reaches for words that appear nowhere else in the New Testament, because ordinary language is not adequate to describe what he is trying to say.
The letter has a clear two-part structure:
| Part | Chapters | Focus | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | 1–3 | Who you ARE in Christ | Declarative (indicative) |
| Practice | 4–6 | How you LIVE because of who you are | Commanding (imperative) |
The hinge between the two halves is Ephesians 4:1 — "Therefore, I urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received." The word therefore is a logical connector: everything in chapters 4–6 flows as the conclusion of everything established in chapters 1–3. The commands only make sense after the declarations.
The phrase "in Christ" or "in Him" appears approximately 35 times in the letter. Look at just the first three verses: "blessed… in Christ" (1:3), "chosen… in Him" (1:4), "adopted… through Jesus Christ" (1:5). Before Paul has issued a single command, he has already told you who you are — three times.
Chapters 4–6 have been described as "an orthopedic clinic, where the Christian learns a spiritual walk rooted in his spiritual wealth" (Wilkinson & Boa, p. 399).
The Big Idea of Ephesians:
God has accomplished in Christ everything necessary to rescue spiritually dead people, unite them as one new community, and call them to live from the fullness of their new identity — until every power in the cosmos acknowledges the wisdom and glory of God.
My observations and questions:
ANCHOR PASSAGE — READ TOGETHER
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." — Ephesians 1:1–2 (BSB)
What do you notice now that you couldn't have noticed before?
ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT SESSION
Before Session 3:
- Read the Lesson 3 article on the guardrails
- Listen to the Lesson 3 podcast
- Read Ephesians 1:1–14 slowly — twice
- First read: for understanding
- Second read: find one word or phrase you want to ask a question about
- Write your question here so you remember to bring it:
My question from Ephesians 1:1–14:
© 2026 Jeffrey Benson. All rights reserved.