Larry Herzog Jr. Ordinary Means Faith · Grace · Vocation
Online Bible study

In Christ

Volume One of The Pauline Captivity Letters

A Confessional Lutheran Study of Ephesians

What follows is an eleven-session Bible study designed for use in adult Sunday school classes, small group settings, or personal devotion. Each session opens with the assigned Scripture passage, walks through it as the apostle’s pastoral word to the saints in Ephesus and to the Church across the centuries, and closes with discussion questions and a prayer drawn from the language of the text itself. The study is unapologetically confessional in its theological commitments. It treats the Lutheran reading of Ephesians (as a sustained meditation on God’s eternal purpose to gather all things in Christ, accomplished by grace alone through faith alone, working itself out in the new humanity of the Church and in the ordinary callings of the Christian life) as the reading the letter most rewards. The Book of Concord is treated not as an outside witness brought in to police Paul’s text but as a faithful guide that has heard Paul rightly and confessed him faithfully.

Start with the prefaceGo to Session 1 →
Cover of In Christ
Full reading order

Study contents

Start here

  1. Preface Preface 4 min read

Eleven sessions

  1. Session 1 · Ephesians 1:1–2 Faithful in Christ Jesus 22 min read
  2. Session 2 · Ephesians 1:3–14 In Christ Before the Foundation of the World 25 min read
  3. Session 3 · Ephesians 1:15–23 Eyes of the Heart Enlightened 22 min read
  4. Session 4 · Ephesians 2:1–10 Grace, Through Faith, the Gift of God 19 min read
  5. Session 5 · Ephesians 2:11–22 One New Man in Place of the Two 20 min read
  6. Session 6 · Ephesians 3:1–21 The Mystery Made Known 17 min read
  7. Session 7 · Ephesians 4:1–16 Walk in a Manner Worthy 21 min read
  8. Session 8 · Ephesians 4:17–32 Put Off the Old Self, Put On the New 18 min read
  9. Session 9 · Ephesians 5:1–21 Walk in Love, Walk as Children of Light 19 min read
  10. Session 10 · Ephesians 5:22–6:9 The Christian Household 24 min read
  11. Session 11 · Ephesians 6:10–24 The Whole Armor of God 22 min read