Book Review: Ephesians by John K. McVay

Ephesians by PhD John K. McVay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The book of Ephesians is only six chapters long, but Paul packs in so much that it takes three months just to scratch the surface. Ephesians, the supplement book for the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide (3rd Quarter 2023) by John K. McVay covers every verse of the book through 14 short chapters that tease out the meaning of Paul’s message in those passages. Coming in at 128 pages, this book is an excellent way to study one of the Apostle Paul’s most important letters.

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Book Review: The Spirit of the Laws by Montesquieu

The Spirit of the Laws by Montesquieu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A French aristocrat spent his life looking at the laws of various people, though mostly those of his native country, to develop political theories related to different governments that would influence the coming “Age of Revolution”. The Spirit of the Laws by Montesquieu is a treatise on political theory that covers a large range of topics including law, social life, and the study of anthropology that would change the way people would look at the development of government.

In a little over 700 pages Montesquieu covers a lot of material but three major themes throughout this treatise that influenced readers of his time and up to the modern day. Those three themes were the classification of political systems and the “principles” that motivate them and that the lack of means they don’t endure, the political liberty that is defined as personal security especially that provided by system of dependable and moderate laws, and the development of political sociology in which geography and climate interact with particular cultures to produce a spirit of the people that influences their politics and laws. Based on these themes Montesquieu pleads for a constitutional system of government with separation of powers, the preservation of legality and civil liberties, and the end of slavery. At times the material Montesquieu covers could be somewhat tedious especially close to the end of the treatise as he covered the transition of French institutions from the Frankish conquest of Gaul to the medieval French monarchy. Yet even with that tediousness the reader gets the thoroughness in which Montesquieu dedicated a lifetime of study to produce this treatise, which influenced the American Founding Fathers, French republicans, and others around the world.

The Spirit of the Laws is the life’s work of Montesquieu, a pioneering work on comparative law, but a treatise on political theory that would be influential almost immediately after it’s publication and be relevant to this day.

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Book Review: Exploring Galatians and Ephesians by George R. Knight

Exploring Galatians and Ephesians by George R. Knight
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The two books are back-to-back in the New Testament, but they represent the earliest and one of—if not the—last epistles that the Apostle Paul wrote to the churches that stress theology and then living ethically. Exploring Galatians & Ephesians: A Devotional Commentary by George R. Knight explains how these two books each focus on a particular element of the theology of salvation and how to live as a Christian.

Knight divided both Galatians and Ephesians into 25 segments each, allowing him to not only explain each passage within the context of the specific book but within the rest of the Bible as well providing commentary about what the passage means for us today. Throughout Knight stresses throughout Galatians Paul’s message of justification by faith and how we are to live with that knowledge all after defending his original message and apostleship; while focusing on Ephesians Knight notes Paul’s emphasis how God’s grace for an individual’s salvation is equal for everyone and thus puts all believers into a new community, they must live up to no matter their position while on Earth. Though Knight doesn’t emphasize this, Galatians as the first of the epistles reveals Paul’s insistence on the basics of the faith while Ephesians as potentially Paul’s final message is that for a mature believer thus providing an interesting symmetry.

Exploring Galatians & Ephesians is an excellent commentary and devotional by George R. Knight that gives an in-depth understanding of two of Paul’s most important epistles and how their contents apply to us today.

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