Divine Combat in Ephesians 1-2, Pt. 2
Aug 12, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min · 12 segments
In this episode, I talk about Eph 2:1-10, the first cycle of divine warfare Paul elaborates after writing about God's victory in Christ in 1:20-23.
- Speakers
Tim GombosHost
Aug 12, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min · 12 segments
In this episode, I talk about Eph 2:1-10, the first cycle of divine warfare Paul elaborates after writing about God's victory in Christ in 1:20-23.
Tim GombosHost
Now, I was not in a classroom yesterday, which was Monday, but I was in, I was back, school has begun here as of last Thursday, so I was, I subbed in a classroom last week on Friday, was in a classroom today, which is Tuesday with first graders last week and first graders again today.
I love kindergarten later into the school year when they understand patterns a little bit.
But I was driving in today and I was thinking about the film, The Odyssey, and obviously this is a big thing in the story, but I was thinking about that it was a prominent note running through The Odyssey that the whole notion of philoxenia, which is the Greek term for the love of the stranger.
And in many parts of the world, welcoming strangers and offering hospitality is a really significant cultural practice.
We're not such a hospitable culture by and large, although certain ethnicities you can certainly find, and certain people you can certainly find greater or lesser levels of hospitality.
But throughout the ancient world, this was just such a significant and major and main practice.
And it was interesting, this note was struck once or twice in the film, The Odyssey.
And that is the importance of welcoming a stranger and opening your home and offering hospitality and treating someone to a feast and to a meal and provision and whatever they needed for their travels.
Because there was this notion that they very well might be entertaining or hosting a deity.
And this is also a significant note that is struck, like a profoundly significant note that is struck throughout the Christian Bible.
So in the Christian Old Testament or in the Hebrew Bible, Scriptures of Israel, whatever we want to call them, This is such a significant practice.
But it occurs right at the beginning of Scripture there in Genesis 18. where God appears as three strangers walking past Abraham's tent, and Abraham, you know, sort of insists that they come in and that he treat them to a meal and offer them warm hospitality.
And throughout the New Testament, this is practiced, and this note is struck again and again and again.
But again, modern Bible readers tend to completely gloss over this or pay it no mind.
But at the rhetorical high point of the letter to the Hebrews, this is in a cluster in Hebrews 12, it's in a cluster of commands that function as the rhetorical high point of that letter, that mystifying letter, which is really difficult to understand, but really brilliant.
Now, I was not in a classroom yesterday, which was Monday, but I was in, I was back, school has begun here as of last Thursday, so I was, I subbed in a classroom last week on Friday, was in a classroom today, which is Tuesday with first graders last week and first graders again today.
I love kindergarten later into the school year when they understand patterns a little bit.
But I was driving in today and I was thinking about the film, The Odyssey, and obviously this is a big thing in the story, but I was thinking about that it was a prominent note running through The Odyssey that the whole notion of philoxenia, which is the Greek term for the love of the stranger.
And in many parts of the world, welcoming strangers and offering hospitality is a really significant cultural practice.
We're not such a hospitable culture by and large, although certain ethnicities you can certainly find, and certain people you can certainly find greater or lesser levels of hospitality.
But throughout the ancient world, this was just such a significant and major and main practice.
And it was interesting, this note was struck once or twice in the film, The Odyssey.
And that is the importance of welcoming a stranger and opening your home and offering hospitality and treating someone to a feast and to a meal and provision and whatever they needed for their travels.
Because there was this notion that they very well might be entertaining or hosting a deity.
And this is also a significant note that is struck, like a profoundly significant note that is struck throughout the Christian Bible.
So in the Christian Old Testament or in the Hebrew Bible, Scriptures of Israel, whatever we want to call them, This is such a significant practice.
But it occurs right at the beginning of Scripture there in Genesis 18. where God appears as three strangers walking past Abraham's tent, and Abraham, you know, sort of insists that they come in and that he treat them to a meal and offer them warm hospitality.
And throughout the New Testament, this is practiced, and this note is struck again and again and again.
But again, modern Bible readers tend to completely gloss over this or pay it no mind.
But at the rhetorical high point of the letter to the Hebrews, this is in a cluster in Hebrews 12, it's in a cluster of commands that function as the rhetorical high point of that letter, that mystifying letter, which is really difficult to understand, but really brilliant.
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