In Revelation 2:1-7, we read the letter to the church in Ephesus, a cosmopolitan port city where intellectual and religious currents were always trying to divert the faith of the Christians. Jesus commended the Ephesian Christians for standing firm for the faith in such a difficult environment but called them back to something essential they had forgotten – love. Although truth and love are equally important, they are often difficult to keep together in practice. Like the Ephesians, we need to make sure we maintain faith in the truth and practice love for God, for each other, and for our neighbor.
Through his death Christ has brought near believers from the nations who were very far from God.
Even as he adapted his defense to the hostile Jewish audience, Paul did not shrink back from emphasizing that the gospel is for all...
In the middle of writing about his sufferings for the church, Paul explained that the message he preached was a mystery hidden for generations...
