There is an ongoing debate, one I'd call unserious at best, about whether Jesus and Paul actually taught the same things. Some claim Paul's letters don't fully align with the Gospels, or even outright contradict them. The more provocative version of this argument is that Paul essentially invented Christianity as its own religion, something largely separated from the actual ministry of Jesus. Makes me wonder if these folks have ever really sat down with Paul's letters. Jesus i

What the Seven Ones of Ephesians 4 Have to Do with Ancient Christian Unity Maybe you remember it from youth camp. Arms around each other, swaying gently in the firelight, singing: "We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord... and they'll know we are Christians by our love." It's a beautiful sentiment. But have you ever really stopped to consider what you're declaring? We are one. Not "we should probably try to get along." Not "we agree on most of the major stuff." We a

A Reflection on Ephesians 4:1-24 There's a shift that happens in the middle of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and it's the kind of shift that changes everything. For three chapters, Paul has been building a case. He's laid out the breathtaking reality of what God has done for us in Christ: redemption, forgiveness, adoption into God's family, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a guaranteed inheritance. We are God's temple, the very place where he dwells. It's stunning stuff

from Ephesians 3 Imagine writing one of the most encouraging letters of your life from a prison cell. That's exactly what Paul did when he wrote to the church in Ephesus. He was locked up; the Roman Empire was at the height of its power; and the Christians he was writing to were scattered in small house churches throughout one of the busiest, most cosmopolitan cities in the ancient world. They were worried. Their founder was behind bars. The odds were stacked against them. Th