Category Archives: Bible Study

Bible Study Helps Available

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Over the years I have taught hundreds of Sunday School lessons, and written study guides for many biblical topics. I’ve made many of these available for download on my website. I’m thankful that many people have made use of these materials. Here is a picture of one of the download pages showing the topics and the number of downloads over the past four years. If you like Bible study, take a look at these pages to see if any of the topics might be of interest to you.

On the menu above choose “Teaching” and then “Roger” and you can choose from several general areas of study. Everything there is available there for your personal use and study.

Ephesians 1:13

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In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Not only those who were the first to hope in Christ, as verse 12 says, but also the Ephesian believers, and, I believe, we as well, have the blessings of the promises of God.

Here we see some of the process. First, they heard the word of truth, the gospel. How can they believe on Him of whom they have not heard? So hearing is the first step.

What was heard? The gospel, which Paul says in Romans 1, is the power of God unto salvation.

Second, they believed in Him. Believing in Christ is what saves us. Believing, trusting, entrusting ourselves to Him is saving faith. Saying you believe isn’t the same as believing. Saying a prayer to accept Christ is not the same thing as believing. Going to church is not the same thing as believing.

The result of this believing as explained in verse 13 is that we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. The next verse is going to tell us that He is our guarantee, the down payment of our eternal inheritance.

The Holy Spirit is the one Christ promised to us before He left. He told us that He would not leave us comfortless, but would send the Holy Spirit to teach, guide and convict us, and be the one who encourages us as we travel through life.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 1:23 PM September 28, 2020.

Ephesians 1:12

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So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

Verse 12 finishes the thought from verse 11. So that… We learned in verse 11 that God works everything according to the counsel of his will. But in this predestinating work, the question is why? What is he trying to accomplish? Verse 12 gives the answer to that question. So that we who hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. There you have what is basically the answer to the greatest philosophical question of the universe. Why am I here and why is God doing what He is doing? The answer is so that those who place their hope in Christ would be to the praise of the glory of God. Do you see your life that way? That the reason you go to work, mow your lawn, vacuum your house, are all done for the glory of God? Whether you eat or drink or in whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 1:18 PM September 28, 2020.

Ephesians 1:11

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In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

In him we have obtained an inheritance. In other words, when we receive Christ, we enter into a relationship with God that makes us joint-heirs with Christ. That means we will receive the same inheritance that Christ receives. Ultimately we will rule and reign with Him. We are brothers and sisters to the Son of God.
Verse 11 repeats the fact that we have been predestined. God has planned and ordained the destiny of every one of his children. In verse 5 we are told that we have been predestined for adoption as his children. In this verse we learn that this predestination accords with God’s will. God never does anything outside of his own will. Everything he does aligns with His will. And remember, His will and plan have been the same forever. God never changes. So our predestination to be adopted as sons is in line with God’s eternal purposes.

Verse 11 goes on to tell us the character of God that this is all based on. God works all things according to the counsel of his will. Another way to put this is that God works everything according to the decisions that result from his will. We often will to do something, and then begin to put our will into effect. But many times, we fail to accomplish what we willed to do. God doesn’t have that problem. Everything He does is an out-working of His will.

And notice one other thing before we go on to the next verse. How many things does God work according to the counsel of his will? All things! There is not one thing going on in the universe that He has lost control of.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:47 PM September 24, 2020.

Ephesians 1:9-10

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Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

I think it will work best if we put verses 9 and 10 together. God, in revealing his message of grace and salvation, is making known to us the mystery of His will. A mystery, the way Paul uses the term, is something that God has kept unrevealed until a particular time in history. When that time arrives, He makes known that mystery to His prophets and apostles, who then incorporated the truth in the Scriptures.


Paul writes in Colossians 1:25 “I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.”
The God of the universe has a plan which He is gradually putting into play. And He, the God of the universe, has chosen to reveal that mystery to human beings. That is an amazing thing to contemplate.

Paul goes on to tell us in Ephesians 1:9 , that He is making this mystery known according to His purpose. So even the revealing is according to a purpose. And remember, God doesn’t change his plans. If He does something according to His purpose, it is a purpose He has always had in mind for the zillions of years of eternity past.

This purpose is set forth in Christ or displayed or revealed in Christ. Further, it is a plan for the fullness of time. When everything surges toward the conclusion, what is that plan, Paul? That purpose is to unite everything in heaven and on earth in Christ. Everything will be brought together in Christ. Remember that the word “Christ” means Messiah and that is none other than Jesus. And John told us that Jesus is the Word, the logos of God.
Logos means more than “word.” Logos, the way it was used in the Greek culture at Jesus time, meant the wisdom, logic, thought, and, yes, word, behind all of creation. John told us that this logos became a man and lived here on earth among us.

So in the end, everything will be brought together in Christ.
This is the mystery that had been hidden for thousands of years, but which God revealed to His apostles 2000 years ago.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:47 AM September 22, 2020.

Ephesians 1:8

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Which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.

Last time we spoke of the forgiveness we have because of the riches of God’s grace. In this verse, we learn that God has lavished this grace upon us. The word has to do with the abundance and overflowing nature of God’s gift. God is not miserly when it comes to His grace. He pours it out lavishly.


And the verse goes on to tell us that He did this with wisdom and insight. God is all-wise. He knows everything and he knows all of the possible choices, and he knows all the possible consequences of potential decisions. Having considered all of what He knows, and with perfect wisdom, He lavished grace upon us — enough grace to provide pardon for every moral failure and to buy us back from the bondage to sin and Satan.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:31 AM September 21, 2020.

Ephesians 1:7

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In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Ephesians

Ephesians 1:7

“In Him” There we have it again. All that we have, we have in Christ. We have redemption. We have been bought back from bondage to sin and Satan, and we have our paperwork. Redemption isn’t something we need to seek. We have it when we have Christ.
Redemption came through Jesus’ blood. It was the shedding of His blood on the cross that paid the price for our freedom. We didn’t have enough money to buy our own freedom, even at the cost of our lives. But Christ the Messiah paid the price for us.


We have forgiveness of our trespasses. The Greek word behind trespasses is that of a general moral failure, rather than violation of a particular law. In Christ we have forgiveness of every conceivable moral failure, any fall from the position of perfection.
Forgiveness here means pardon, or the removal of an obligation or the ignoring of that obligation by someone with whom we have a relationship.

So, when we are in Christ, we received the complete removal of obligation to fulfill or live up to particular standards of obedience in order to maintain the relationship.
In Colossians 2:13-13, Paul writes, “having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”


It’s important that we get a grip on these truths and embrace them because this is the gospel we are to believe in order to be saved.
And all of this is according to the riches of his grace. God is full of grace. The reason God is doing what He is doing is so that all may see the multifaceted grandeur of His character, especially His grace.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:28 AM September 14, 2020.

Ephesians 1:6

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To the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Ephesians

Ephesians 1:6

And what was the purpose of all of the actions of God described here? So that His glorious grace would be praised. The word “blessed” in this verse is very closely related to the word “grace.” So we could almost say, “To the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has graced us.” God’s grace is multi-faceted. God wants everyone to see how grand and glorious His grace is.


This grace has made us accepted! Think about that. Accepted. Some versions use the word “accepted” where the ESV uses blessed. Most of us try hard to be accepted. We do this both consciously and subconsciously, but we do it. Sometimes we wear ourselves out trying to become accepted. But we are accepted by God! And it is by grace. There is no effort involved. Because we are in Christ, God says, “I accept you. You belong to me.” There is no checklist or achievement program to maintain. We are accepted!


And all of this, as in the previous verses, is in the Beloved. In his beloved son. As I said in a previous comment, when God gave us Christ, he gave us everything. As Paul told the Corinthians, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:20 AM September 14, 2020.

Ephesians 1:5

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He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

The phrase “in love” may belong to the previous sentence about being holy and blameless, or it may belong with verse 5. Either way, all of the things that God has accomplished on our behalf were carried out because of God’s great love for us, his creatures made in His image.
In verse 5 we are told by Christ’s emissary, that God predestined us for adoption. He designated, or appointed something to happen ahead of time. What did he predestine? That we would be adopted as sons of God through Jesus Christ and his saving work on our behalf. Don’t just read past this. God was determined to have adopted children, who, we learn in Romans 8:17, are co-heirs with Jesus Christ. If you’ve trusted Christ, you are one of those co-heirs!


The last part of the verse tells us that God did this according to the purpose of his will. In other words, because he wanted to. God can do what he wants, and this is something he wanted to do, to adopt a group of people to be his children along with his son, Jesus Christ. And, since God doesn’t change, if this is something He wants to do now, then it’s something He has always wanted to do.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 5:10 PM September 13, 2020.

Ephesians 1:4

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…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

Just as he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, he chose us in Christ. Notice how the word “in” is repeated in this passage. This is a description of what we have “in Christ.”

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. When you read the story of the creation event and Adam and Eve, before this took place, he chose us in Christ. And there was a goal in that choosing. His goal was that we would be holy and blameless before him. God doesn’t need a plan B. He knew Adam would fall and the whole world would be fallen and depraved from birth. And yet, before all of this happened, he chose us to be holy and blameless before him. He planned to rescue people from the lost condition they were in, and to pour out his grace on them in such a way that they would be holy. That means set apart, and blameless before God. God knows everything about us. He knows all of our faults and failures. And yet, when Christians come before God, they are blameless.

Remember that today when you come before God through His word and in prayer. If you’ve trusted Christ as your savior, He sees you blameless. What a blessing!

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:49 AM September 3, 2020.