Exegetical Essay on Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV)

Overview
Write a 400 – 500-word exegetical essay discussing how to faithfully apply their selected passage in a contemporary setting. The essay should be in 12 point, Times New Romans font. Format per the Turabian guidelines. Resources for Turabian formatting may be found in the Online Writing Center. Your paper should follow the footnote method of citation.

Instructions
After completing the assigned reading for this week, follow the guidance below to construct your essay:

Explain how Christians today should faithfully apply the ancient passage of inspired Scripture that you have been working with throughout the course. Applications must arise from your prior analysis of the meaning of the passage in its original context. Now, you need to carefully shift from asking “what did the text mean in its ancient context?” to “what does the text mean in my context today?” Imagine that Paul, as the ancient human author of this text, will be reading your proposed contemporary applications. You want to remain true to what he intended for the passage, but you also want to best represent what you think he would say about the same topic today.

Go back to your Discussion: Theological Interpretation and read through your classmates’ replies to you and to others who wrote about the same passage. Their feedback should give you a sense of the range of concerns, questions, and application areas that your passage might mesh with in our contemporary settings. These are likely the same things that a congregation would think about when listening to a sermon on this passage. You want to avoid suggesting simplistic or broad applications that overlook or dismiss the complexities or scenarios that people hope you will address. Although you will never be able to anticipate and address every question, the point is that you need to include enough detail to sufficiently address the major questions that your passage will bring to mind amongst an audience.

Remember that application of Scripture is not always behavioral – do and do not. Sometimes the application can be intellectual, social, and emotional. If the application is about holding a correct belief rather than an incorrect one, how should that impact our thought life, our social interaction, our emotional health, and our behavior?

When exploring how to apply your selected passage, it might be helpful to determine which aspect of our fallen human condition the passage offers redemptive hope for.