Divine Combat in Ephesians 1-2, Pt. 3
Aug 19, 2026 · 54 min · 10 segments
In this episode, I talk about the second half of Ephesians 2 and the second cycle of conflict-victory Paul elaborates there.
- Speakers
Tim GombosHost
Aug 19, 2026 · 54 min · 10 segments
In this episode, I talk about the second half of Ephesians 2 and the second cycle of conflict-victory Paul elaborates there.
Tim GombosHost
And by the way, this last week has been really busy with a bunch of travel and a lot of fun stuff going on.
I just, I have been really busy with wonderful things, but I got this great question from Danny based on the previous episode that I wanted to just address because I think it's really, it's really good.
It's And it has to do with what I had said about Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, being the story of the audience that Paul is writing to.
And so that threatening section where he talks about the audience's past in forming their identity, I said this should be taken to refer to the sort of the whole identity and the story that Paul's audiences find themselves in.
And you shouldn't take part of that story and be talking about sort of people who are outside the Christian faith to theologize about them.
If Paul is describing the audience's former identity and their new identity in Christ, doesn't their former identity still, in some sense, describe all of us before we are brought into this cruciform upside-down kingdom? In other words, I understand that we shouldn't flatten Ephesians 2 into a generic formula about, quote-unquote, what every unbeliever is like, but I But I'm struggling to see why the story Paul tells about who they were, emphasis, Danny's, wouldn't also become part of the larger Christian story of who we all are apart from Christ.
Am I collapsing something Paul is trying to keep distinct? Help me see what I'm missing.
So I guess the question is, I'm struggling to see why the story Paul tells about who they were wouldn't also become part of the larger Christian story of who we all were apart from Christ.
But it does seem to me... that, um, all Christian people, uh, who sort of own a Christian identity, um, part of what it is to be Christian is to hear texts directed to the people of God as if they are directed to us.
And by the way, this last week has been really busy with a bunch of travel and a lot of fun stuff going on.
I just, I have been really busy with wonderful things, but I got this great question from Danny based on the previous episode that I wanted to just address because I think it's really, it's really good.
It's And it has to do with what I had said about Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, being the story of the audience that Paul is writing to.
And so that threatening section where he talks about the audience's past in forming their identity, I said this should be taken to refer to the sort of the whole identity and the story that Paul's audiences find themselves in.
And you shouldn't take part of that story and be talking about sort of people who are outside the Christian faith to theologize about them.
If Paul is describing the audience's former identity and their new identity in Christ, doesn't their former identity still, in some sense, describe all of us before we are brought into this cruciform upside-down kingdom? In other words, I understand that we shouldn't flatten Ephesians 2 into a generic formula about, quote-unquote, what every unbeliever is like, but I But I'm struggling to see why the story Paul tells about who they were, emphasis, Danny's, wouldn't also become part of the larger Christian story of who we all are apart from Christ.
Am I collapsing something Paul is trying to keep distinct? Help me see what I'm missing.
So I guess the question is, I'm struggling to see why the story Paul tells about who they were wouldn't also become part of the larger Christian story of who we all were apart from Christ.
But it does seem to me... that, um, all Christian people, uh, who sort of own a Christian identity, um, part of what it is to be Christian is to hear texts directed to the people of God as if they are directed to us.
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