Ephesians is widely celebrated as the queen of Paul’s epistles. It is especially ‎relevant for Christ-followers in Africa because it deals at length with two topics of ‎immense importance in Africa: the power of the gospel to unite people who are ‎natural enemies and the power of the gospel to grant the believer victory and ‎authority over evil powers in Christ.‎

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • Discuss the major background issues relating to Ephesians.
  • Perform an overview study of Ephesians as a letter to a missional church.
  • Construct an appropriate exegetical method for the letter to the Ephesians.‎
  • ‎Conduct a detailed exegetical study of a passage in a Pauline letter.‎
  • Interpret and teach each passage in Ephesians from a missional perspective.

Course Outline

  • Unit 1: Background Issues of Ephesians
  • Unit 2: Panoramic Study of Ephesians as a letter to a missional church.
  • Unit 3: Exegetical Method
  • Unit 4: Exegesis of Ephesians 1–3
  • Unit 5: Exegesis of Ephesians 4–6

Required Reading
Adeyemo T (Gen. ed.) 2006. Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars. Nairobi: WordAlive Publishers.
Asumang A 2008. Powers of Darkness: An Evaluation of Three Hermeneutical Approaches to the Evil Powers in Ephesians. Conspectus 5: 1–19.
Baugh SM 2015. Ephesians. Edited by H. Wayne House, Hall W. Harris, and Andrew W. Pitt. In Evangelical Exegetical Commentary. Bellingham: Lexham.
Cohick LH 2013. Ephesians: A New Covenant Commentary. In New Covenant Commentary Series. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press.
Fee GD 2002. New Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors (3 rd ed.). Louisville: Westminster John Knox.
Grassmick JD 1976. Principles and Practice of Greek Exegesis. Dallas: Dallas Theological Seminary.
Ilo SC, Ogbonnaya J 2011. The Church as Salt and Light: Path to an African Ecclesiology of Abundant Life. Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers.
Kaiser WC Jr. 1981. Toward an Exegetical Theology: Biblical Exegesis for Teaching and Preaching. Grand Rapids: Baker.
Keener CS 2014. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (2 nd ed.). Second edition. Downers Grove: IVP.
Metzger BM 1994. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (2 nd ed.). New York: United Bible Societies.
Patzia AG 1990. Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon. In New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers.
Schreiner TR 1990. Interpreting the Pauline Epistles. Guides to New Testament Exegesis. Grand Rapids: Baker.
________ 2011. Interpreting the Pauline Epistles (2 nd ed.). In Guides to New Testament Exegesis. Grand Rapids: Baker.
Smith KG 2018. Semantic Diagramming. Johannesburg: SATS.
Stott J 1989. The Message of Ephesians. In The Bible Speaks Today. Leicester: InterVasity Press.
Thielman F 2010. Ephesians. In Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker.
Turaki Y 2006. Ephesians. In Africa Bible Commentary, edited by Tokunboh Adeyemo, Logos edition, 1451–64. Nairobi: Word Alive.
Young RA 1994. Intermediate New Testament Greek: A Linguistic and Exegetical Approach. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.