There is a rich heritage of classical homiletical literature available to us today. The names of the most prominent authors, if not the titles of their books, are predictable: Broadus, Brooks, Spurgeon, Meyer, Morgan, Newton, Parker, Stewart, Jowett, Luccock. ... Read More »

Two artists have lighted the pathway to my preaching from Ephesians. James Galway, the incomparable Irish flutist, declared on television that all true art makes its creative source transparently clear. It causes us to sense the reality of the ultimate. In the... Read More »

Echoes of Worship The mood of Ephesians is arresting. It impresses the reader with a sustained loftiness, serene thoughts, and utterances of praise breathed in the repose of prayer. Gone is the joust­ing and din of the Galatian battlefield; behind is that tra... Read More »

According to the traditional view, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, along with Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, is one of the so-called “prison epistles,” written from Rome during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment. Contrary to this v... Read More »

Prologue: Events preceding the ministry of Jesus, 1:1-13 John the Baptist prepares the way for the ministry of Jesus by preaching in the wilderness, 1:1-8 Jesus comes to John for baptism, 1:9-11 Jesus is tempted by Satan, 1:12, 13 The early stages of the Galil... Read More »

The good news of God, of which Jesus Christ is the source and substance, is so contrary to logic, so abrasive to finer sensi­bilities, so disarming in its stark plainness, so scandalous to sophisticated minds that ministers who stand before cultured, technolo... Read More »

Introducing the Gospel The reader may well ponder the striking paradox of the above title. Mark’s gospel carries, in the popular imagination and much pastoral use, the reputation of being the most un­complicated and straightforward report of Jesus’... Read More »

One way of describing the redemption through Jesus Christ is as a new and greater Exodus, the telling of it patterned after the Exodus story. That there is a “typological parallel between the historical Exodus and the Messianic Salvation”[1]Harold ... Read More »

Egyptian Religion If some understanding is to be gained from the book of Exodus and its doctrine of God, a preliminary look at the religion of the Egyptians is necessary. A very important question is to ask how much of Egypt and its culture is authentic in Exo... Read More »

Covenant and law are two of the most significant terms in the Old Testament. They stand at the heart of the faith of Israel. Anyone who wants to understand the religion of ancient Israel must have some comprehension of the meaning of the terms “covenant ... Read More »

Some specific assignment, requirement, or unique oppor­tunity is of ten essential to discovery! How often has some preacher reluctantly agreed to accept a topic or text, doubting that any real challenge could be found there, and then been amazed at the rich, ... Read More »

Dynamic tension results when learning is translated into living. That which Paul has taught in chapters one through eleven and which his readers are now learning must be lived in daily, ongoing experience. Both the learning and the living are based on faith: f... Read More »