Answers for a study in the book of Proverbs 6-10, and Ephesians Chapter 1

“Answers For A Study in the Book of Proverbs and Ephesians” is a weekly post in addition to the regular “apologetics” posts on the weekend where the original questions can be found at the bottom of the study, and then answers appear here mid-week. This gives you time to do your own research, and then check your answers. Keep in mind these will be basic answers with a little depth, but you can go much deeper for discussion if you’d like.

Note: The answers will focus on what the text of the Bible says, and commentaries and speculative answers will be noted as such. There are many scholarly commentaries out there but it will be important, as students of the Bible, to keep the text of the Bible as our first source. Commentaries can be used, keeping in mind that they are human thoughts about God’s Word.

The Goal for the notes, questions and answers: Share and reuse to lead your own Bible study!

Bible Study

Always remember to pray before you study and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and lead you into the truth found in God’s Word – pray for protection from the evil one who will try to discourage, distract and deceive us when we commit to growing closer to the LORD. 

NOTE: Questions are taken directly from the chapters, and answers should be found and cited from the Scripture text in order to be Biblically accurate (unless asked to summarize in your own words). Study Bibles, commentaries and your own thoughts can be used for “Discussion” or “Going Deeper” questions. Cite your sources to share with your group.

Daily Devotional:

Read one chapter a day from the book of Proverbs for five days and take two days off. This week do Proverbs chapters 6-10, note any questions you may have, or anything that stands out to you as a life application.

1.  From your daily devotional reading in the book of Proverbs 6-10, discuss the following:

a. What do you think the topic of the “adulterous woman” is all about in these proverbs? It is true that these proverbs speak wisely to avoiding that act, but is it possible that adultery can have a deeper meaning spiritually?

Assistance from the Life Application Study Bible:

• In these Proverbs the “adulterous woman” is used to refer to several things that we should avoid: 1) lust, because it leads directly to the act of sexual sin; 2) the specific act of adultery; 3) it is used as a contrast between rival young women, where wisdom is portrayed as a “woman who guides us” and the adulterous woman is deceiving; 4) folly (the adulterous woman) appeals to the senses, whereas wisdom appeals to the mind; 5) these Proverbs also contrast wickedness (adulterous woman) with righteousness.
• The “adulterous women” is a phrase often used in Scripture that refers not only to the negativity of the actual act itself, but is also used in the Bible to refer to God’s people when they go outside of His will, as well as when they leave the worship of, and obedience to, the one true God and follow Pagan idols, including the ritual practices and lifestyles.

b. What have you learned in your reading of the Proverbs so far, that relates to the topic of “Christian Apologetics”?

Answers will vary…

• The importance of wisdom cannot be understated, which is the main goal of Christian Apologetics, because we are called to give an answer for the hope that we have in Christ Jesus (1 Peter 3:15). To that we must be wise and discerning of the culture we live in, and Satan’s deceptions.
• The book of Proverbs helps us to think well, and follow that up with lifestyle actions that lead us to have a Biblical Christian Worldview and look to God first in all that we do.

Bible study in Ephesians:

Read Ephesians Chapter 1, then to the best of your ability, answer these questions:

2. Re-read Ephesians chapter 1:1-23, which is Paul’s introduction.

a. What does Paul say about how God has blessed believers?

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”  Ephesians 1:3-6

• As believers, God has blessed us here with the same blessing that are heaven, through Christ Jesus we received this (by grace, and not by our own works).
• As believers, we are adopted through Christ Jesus, because He is kind, and that is in His will (He loves us as His own).
• As believers, we received all of this freely (by grace, and not by anything we have to do).

b. How do believers receive redemption, and how are we “sealed in Him”?

 ^“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,  to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,  who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”  Ephesians 1:7-14

• We receive redemption through the blood of Jesus which was shed in our place so that we could receive forgiveness of our sins – and this is all according to His grace (not our works).
• We are sealed, after listening to the message of truth (The Gospel) and believing, with the Holy Spirit (that He, Jesus, promised).
• This seal is given as a pledge of our inheritance (eternal life) because we are now adopted as children of God.
• Note: The mystery in verse 9, refers to the revealing of Jesus, as the promised Messiah, the Son of God, God incarnate, who came to be the final sacrifice for our sins, and who died in our place on that cross, resurrecting in defeat of death and Satan. (It is not some kind of mystical or special knowledge as some cults have claimed)

c. How does Paul model the importance of prayer as he has prayed for the Ephesians?

“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”  Ephesians 1:15-19a

• Paul models the importance of praying for one another, believers, as follows:
  • Giving thanks for each other
  • To give a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowing Him
  • That the eyes of our brothers and sister be enlightened to know the hope of His calling (eternal life)
  • To understand the riches of the glory of our inheritance as children of God (grace and forgiveness of sins here and eternal life)
  • To know the surpassing greatness of God’s power

d. So that we would know the greatness of God’s power and might, what did Paul say that God did through Christ, and how does that affect our eternal security?

“These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”  Ephesians 1:19b-23

• He raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand (Luke 22:69).
• He put Jesus above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the age to come. In other words, EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING!
• Jesus is head of our church (all believers) and we are a part of His body – to do His will as a purpose for our lives here on this Earth (as practice for our eternal home)!
• Our eternal home is secure because of what Jesus did, and His protecting role over us for eternity!

3. Going Deeper: “Predestination” is a theological topic that is often debated amongst Christians. There are several thoughts about this topic. Share what you know, jot down a few questions, or do a little research.

It is important to remember that there is only one salvational issue:

Jesus died on the cross for our sins, then resurrected in defeat of death and Satan, thus providing a pathway to our eternal home with Him! It is only through Jesus that we can be redeemed from the Fall (Genesis 3), experience forgiveness of sins, and by whom we can come to the Father (John 3:16; Acts 4:12; John 14:6).

Note: Your belief about predestination is not a salvational issue to stand on, it is an after salvation discussion amongst Christians.

There are many views and doctrines within Christianity, including variations of the following three main views:

1. Calvinism or Reformed (5, 4 and 3 point views)
2. Arminianism
3. Molinism

Calvinism or Reformed view:

• Calvinism is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians.
• This view emphasizes the sovereignty of God and the authority of the Bible, with varying levels of thought on pre-destination, or God’s pre-determining of all events and situations throughout history.
• Weakness in this view: Minimizes freewill

5 points of Calvinism:

• TULIP:
• T = Total depravity
• U = Unconditional election
• L = Limited atonement
• I = Irresistible grace
• P = Perseverance/Preservation of the Saints

4 point (no “L”) 3 point (no “L” and no “I”)

Arminian view:

• Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants.
• This view asserts that God’s sovereignty and man’s free will are compatible, and that God’s election was an election of believers and therefore was conditioned on faith.
• Arminius argued, God’s exhaustive foreknowledge did not require a doctrine of determinism.
• Would argue the opposite of the acronym TULIP – focus is on freewill

Weakness in this view: Can maximize human freewill and diminish God’s control or sovereignty.

Molinism view:

• Molinism is an attempt to provide a solution to the classic philosophical problems associated with God’s providence, foreknowledge and the freedom of humanity.
• This view may be traced to the 16th century Jesuit theologian Luis de Molina.
• Specifically, it seeks to maintain a strong view of God’s sovereignty over creation while at the same time preserving the belief that human beings have self-determined freedom, or libertarian free will.
• Molinism holds that God’s knowledge consists of threelogical moments. These “moments” of knowledge are not to be thought of as chronological; rather they are to be understood as “logical.” In other words, one moment does not come before another moment in time, rather one moment is logically prior to the other moments.
• Molinism differentiates between three different moments of knowledge called natural knowledge, middle knowledge and free knowledge of God:
  1. Natural Knowledge– This is God’s knowledge of all necessary and all possible truths. In this “moment” God knows every possible combination of causes and effects, and all the truths of logic and morality.
  2. Middle Knowledge– This is God’s knowledge of what any free creature would do in any given circumstance, also known as counterfactual knowledge. It is sometimes stated as God’s knowledge of the truth of subjunctive conditionals.
  3. Free Knowledge– This is God’s knowledge of what He freely decided to create. God’s free knowledge is His knowledge of the actual world as it is.

Weakness in this view: Rejects some ideas of freewill yet can seem to suggest God does not have advanced knowledge of all things (most difficult to comprehend).