Reading Through The Bible - Ephesians

Some Books of the bible are very short and some are very long but this one is one of the shortest.

Ephesians  -  NEW TESTAMENT  -  EPISTLE

10th book of the NT 

49th book of the Bible

It starts with a reminder about the redemption & forgiveness we have in Jesus and His grace in

  chapter 1 v 7

What is it?

The Book of Ephesians is one of the Epistles in the New Testament which means it is a Letter.

How Long is it?

It has 6 chapters.

When was it Written?

It is generally thought to have been written between 60 & 62 AD.

Who Wrote it?

Apostle Paul

Chapter 1 v 1 tells us the answer straight away 

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,"

Who was it Written to?

It was written to the church at Ephesus as we see in

ch. 1 v 1

 "To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus"

Why was it Written? 

Paul had visited Ephesus twice and this letter was written while he was in Prison to encourage the Christians he had met there and the others in the church.  

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Paul writes to the church at Ephesus about how to walk in grace, peace, and love."

 

What is the main theme? 

It focuses on being called by Grace 

and how to walk in the Faith

The Overview Bible  tells us the following:

"Paul wrote Ephesians to accomplish two things:

1. Describe the Christian’s calling. The first half of the letter focuses on the Ephesians’ calling. They were chosen by God, sealed with His Spirit, and saved by His grace. 
2. Prescribe the Christian’s walk. The second half teaches how to “walk in a manner worthy” of the Christian’s calling (Eph 4:1). Paul outlines what the Christian walk looks like in various facets of life."

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"Paul encouraged the believers telling them they were the adopted sons of God ....  picked before the foundation of the world."

"Paul encouraged the believers to walk in a manner worthy of their calling."

What 2 special relationships does Paul teach about in Ephesians?

Parents & Children.

Husbands and wives.

What very well-known passage in included in this Book?

The Christian Armour in Chapter 6 v 10 - 18

This is where Paul tells the believers to know their enemy and how to stand against him.

This ends with the order to Pray continually in

 verse 18

How does it end?

It ends with the announcement that Paul has sent Tychicus to comfort them and tell them all the news of Paul.

and then a Blessing in ch. 6 v 23-24

23 Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  

24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

 

Quick outline of Ephesians

1. Our calling in Christ (Eph 1–3)
   • Identity in Christ (Eph 1)
   • Grace in Christ (Eph 2:1–10)
   • Peace in Christ (Eph 2:11–22)
   • Paul’s calling (Eph 3:1–13)
   • Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians (Eph 3:14–21)
2. Our walk in Christ (Eph 4–6)
   • Walk in unity (Eph 4:1–16)
   • Walk differently from the world (Eph 4:17–31)
   • Walk carefully (Eph 5:1–21)
   • Walk in love (Eph 5:22–6:9)
   • Stand firm in the armour of God (Eph 6:10–24)

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE 

Reading Through The Bible - GALATIANS

Some Books of the bible are very short and some are very long but this one is one of the shortest.

GALATIANS  -  NEW TESTAMENT  -  EPISTLES

9th book of the NT 

48th book of the Bible

It starts with a blessing and reminder of salvation through Jesus in chapter 1 verses 3-5

I love the blessings pronounced in God's Word and we can see in the Epistles that they form lovely greetings.

What is it?

The Book of Galatians is one of the Epistles in the New Testament which means it is a Letter.

How Long is it?

It has 6 chapters.

When was it Written?

It is generally thought to have been written between 49 & 50 AD.

Who Wrote it?

The Apostle Paul

The first 2 verses tells us who it was from 

"1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead)," 

2 and all the brethren who are with me,"

Who was it Written to?

Verse 2 tells us who it was written to 

2 and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia "

Why was it Written? 

It was written because Paul wanted to clarify certain things for the Galatian Christians. 

 

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Paul hears that the Galatian churches have been led to think that salvation comes from the law of Moses, and writes a (rather heated) letter telling them where the false teachers have it wrong.."

Teach Sunday School  tells us the following

"The Galatians were starting to say Gentiles must follow the Jewish laws in order to be saved. It was confusing the people and putting a burden on them that was unnecessary. Paul wanted to straighten that out."

What did Paul want to explain about himself?

He wanted to talk about himself as an Apostle along with the other Apostles.

About what Christ's crucifixion meant to him personally and where his faith was found as we see in chapter 2 v 20

What did Paul want the Galatians to know about Christianity?

He wanted them to know exactly where their faith had to be focused - not on law and instructions but in Christ as we partly see in  chapter 3 v 26

What is the Book of Galatians most well-known for? 

It contains the passage about the Fruit of the Spirit in chapter 5 verses 22 - 23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 

23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

How does it end?

With an instruction to continue to do good deeds

 in chapter 6 v 9

 

and

bringing their attention back again to the cross

 in chapter 6 v 9

OUTLINE of GALATIANS

The Overview Bible  gives us the following

1. The gospel under attack in Galatia (Ga 1:1–10)
2. History of the Law vs. grace debate (Ga 1:11–2:21)
3. Salvation via faith vs. salvation via works (Ga 3)
4. Slavery vs. sons and heirs of God (Ga 4)
5. The sinful flesh vs. the Holy Spirit (Ga 5)
6. How to do good in Christian community (Ga 6)

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE 

Reading Through the Bible - The 10 Shortest Books in the Bible

We are looking at the 10 Shortest books in the Bible.

You might be surprised at what they actually are.

There are 3 ways of deciding on the sizes of Bible books.

Number of Chapters.

Number of Verses.

Number of Words.

You can see a chart comparing these in my Reading Plan by Order of Size of Books

OR - if time is more important to you Number of minutes, hours & days

Here are the

 10 shortest books of the Bible by Number of Chapters

The First 5 each only contain 1 chapter.

None of the other 5 books are more than 3 chapters long.

1. Second John (1 chapter)
2. Third John (1 chapter)
3. Jude (1 chapter)
4. Obadiah (1 chapter)
5. Philemon (1 chapter)
6. Haggai (2 chapters)
7. Habakkuk (3 chapters)
8. Nahum (3 chapters)
9. Titus (3 chapters)
10. Zephaniah (3 chapters)

Note: In my Reading Plan I have combined   1,2 & 3 John,  1 & 2 Peter,  1 & 2 Timothy,  1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians and  as it seemed more logical to me to read these letters to the same churches consecutively as well as the 1st & 2nd books in the Old Testament because they logically & historically followed on from each other.

Here are the

 10 shortest books of the Bible by Number of Verses

The First 5 each only contain 1 chapter.

Only one of the other 5 books are more than 3 chapters long.

1. Second John (13 verses)
2. Third John (14 verses)
3. Obadiah (21 verses)
4. Philemon (25 verses)
5. Jude (25 verses)
6. Haggai (38 verses)   2
7. Titus (46 verses    3
8. Nahum (47 verses)   3
9. Jonah (48 verses)    4
10. Zephaniah (53 verses)   3

Here are the

 10 shortest books of the Bible by Number of Words

The First 5 are each only contain 1 chapter.

None of the other 5 books are more than 3 chapters long.

1. Third John (219 words)
2. Second John (245 words)
3. Philemon (430 words)
4. Jude (608 words)
5. Obadiah (669 words)
6. Titus (896 words)
7. Haggai (1130 words)
8. Nahum (1284 words)
9. Jonah (1320 words)
10. Habakkuk (1475 words)

If TIME is more important to you

Number of Minutes, Hours, Days can be considered.

Of course then it would have to be the number of words to calculate from because people have worked out how long it takes to read a certain number of words and hence from that how long it takes to read the various books of the Bible.

For Example in:

30 mins  you could read the book of Ecclesiastes.

1 hour & 30 mins  you could read the Gospel of Mark.

5 hours  you could read the Book of Psalms.

10 hours  you could read the 4 Gospels and the Book of Acts

This is all to do with reading the Bible.

If you would like to start in the whole bible then why not try my Plan

 Reading Through the Bible from Shortest to Longest Book 

Studying and memorizing of course will take longer.

If you are interested in studying you may find these  Devotionals  

and  Bible Studies  helpful 

or 

if you are thinking of trying to memorize more of the Bible then try our page on Memorizing Scripture  to get help and advice (we even have videos of songs there).

OTHER POSTS ABOUT THE BIBLE & BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR

 READING THE BIBLE PAGE