Talbot Davis
Description
Come Alive: Conversations with Scripture is a guide through the books of the Bible,
providing cultural context and insights that bridge the gap betwe
...
en the world of the Bible
and our world today. Each book includes a daily reading, a daily insight and a daily
reading prompt that will help you reflect on the text and build the skills to read the Bible
for yourself with more confidence and understanding. Discover a new and unexpected
way to engage with Scripture and experience the Bible not as a distant, confusing
document, but as a living, breathing conversation between God and humanity that
continues to speak into our ever-changing world.
Galatians and Ephesians
Galatians is unique among Paul’s letters in that he did not write it to a single church (like
the church at Rome or the church at Philippi) or to an individual (as with 1 and 2
Timothy) but to a collection of churches within the region of Galatia, a rugged area in
what is today southwestern Turkey.
The Galatians were a Gentile people who had come to faith in Christ from the
pagan religions that dotted the landscape of Asia Minor. As Gentiles, they were steeped
neither in the way of Moses nor in the customs of the synagogue. Their naivete toward
all things Hebrew became one of the great ironies of Paul’s letter and the occasion of its
writing. The Galatian drama involved several false teachers who had slipped into the
churches’ congregations and sown both confusion and discord as the Gentiles were
persuaded to accept Jewish legal requirements. In some of Paul’s most majestic
language he calls on the Galatians to accept the true gospel of grace.
Ephesians is written to the church in Ephesus - a singular congregation in a
cosmopolitan city. The city of Ephesus was located on the western coast of Turkey on
the Aegean Sea. You can visit the remaining ruins of the city on any excursion to that
region of the world. Like Galatia, the people in the Ephesian church were primarily
gentile. Their drama differed slightly from their neighbors’ in that it involved merging
Jews and Gentiles together within the same congregation. How could God make
something new and different out of two people so separate and distinct?
Filled with more of Paul’s lofty prose, Ephesians emphasizes the reconciliation
between Jews and Gentiles in Christ, and gives instructions for Christian living.
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