One of the Bible’s more beautifully written books is Ephesians, which was sent by the Apostle Paul to the church he had started in Ephesus, Greece.
The Rev. Isaiah D. Tunson Jr. did a treatise on Ephesians last year for Faith International Seminary in Tacoma, Wash., where he is working on a bachelor’s degree in religion.
“It’s a beautiful book, not very long, only six chapters,” said the Rev. Tunson, pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church. “Paul lets us know that even though the church has many members, it is one body.
“I preach a lot from Ephesians because it tells us to walk in love and light and not be discouraged because we can find ourselves drifting away from what we are called to do.
“It gives us a lot of spiritual gifts.”
Tunson said Paul wrote the book while he was imprisoned in Rome, awaiting execution, but he was not at all downcast.
Before the apostle met Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus, Syria, to persecute Christians, the pastor said, he was a full-fledged rabbi who would have probably become the high priest of Jerusalem.
Ephesus was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia. Its ruins are two miles southwest of Selcuk in the İzmir Province of Turkey.
“Paul had more degrees than a thermometer, but instead of looking after his own self, he put that aside because he had love and concerns for the church,” Tunson said. “He was worried about its salvation.
“Like Paul, we are in the world, but we are not of the world because we are set apart as Christian believers by the blood of Christ. Paul is like a bodybuilder building up the body of Christ.
“For the believer, life is lived on both the heavenly plane and the earthly plane where we are now and we must walk in a manner worthy of the calling we have received.”
Citing Second Corinthians 5:17, Tunson said, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
“We have been chosen, so we should act like Christ’s children,” he said. “The world needs to know who we are. We don’t have to put on three-piece suits and walk around with the Bible to let folks know we’re Christians. They’ll know from the way we present ourselves.”
Tunson said Paul wanted to ensure that the Ephesians did not become like the Israelites who made a golden calf and began worshiping it while Moses was on Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments.
“He wanted to make sure they stayed close to God and did not allow anything that was not of God to come into the church,” he said. “He warned them not to be conformed to this world, which is what we as preachers and deacons must instill in all our members.
“We’re living in tough times, but we are like football players who stay with the team all the way through the season. We have to stay with God all the way to glory.”
