Ephesians 2–5
Finding Eternal Truths
How confident are you in your ability to find truth in the scriptures? Prophets teach truths that come from Heavenly Father for our benefit. For example, Paul taught the Saints in Ephesus truths about overcoming the world and becoming more like Jesus Christ. This lesson is intended to help you learn how to find truths from the scriptures that will help you in your life and bring you closer to the Savior.
Practicing scripture study skills. Students can benefit from practicing scripture study skills, such as likening scriptures to their lives, using study helps, identifying themes and patterns, understanding symbols, finding general conference sources, annotating scriptures, making lists, summarizing what they read, finding and using cross-references, defining difficult words, and so on.
Student preparation: Invite students to study the scriptures between now and the next class looking for truths the scriptures teach. Invite them to ponder the different ways they can identify these truths.
Possible Learning Activities
Finding value
The video “Flecks of Gold” (3:15) is about two men who searched for gold. Read the story or watch the video, available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org, from time code 0:00 to 2:26. Think about any spiritual lessons you learn from it.
Oftentimes we are like the young merchant from Boston, who in 1849, as the story goes, was caught up in the fervor of the California gold rush. He sold all of his possessions to seek his fortune in the California rivers, which he was told were filled with gold nuggets so big that one could hardly carry them.
Day after endless day, the young man dipped his pan into the river and came up empty. His only reward was a growing pile of rocks. Discouraged and broke, he was ready to quit until one day an old, experienced prospector said to him, “That’s quite a pile of rocks you are getting there, my boy.”
The young man replied, “There’s no gold here. I’m going back home.”
Walking over to the pile of rocks, the old prospector said, “Oh, there is gold all right. You just have to know where to find it.” He picked two rocks up in his hands and crashed them together. One of the rocks split open, revealing several flecks of gold sparkling in the sunlight.
Noticing a bulging leather pouch fastened to the prospector’s waist, the young man said, “I’m looking for nuggets like the ones in your pouch, not just tiny flecks.”
The old prospector extended his pouch toward the young man, who looked inside, expecting to see several large nuggets. He was stunned to see that the pouch was filled with thousands of flecks of gold.
The old prospector said, “Son, it seems to me you are so busy looking for large nuggets that you’re missing filling your pouch with these precious flecks of gold. The patient accumulation of these little flecks has brought me great wealth.”
(M. Russell Ballard, “Finding Joy through Loving Service,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2011, 46)
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How could this story relate to finding truths in the scriptures?
Read the following statements, and rank from one to five how true they are for you (one = never true for me; five = always true for me)
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I am confident in my ability to find eternal truths in the scriptures with the help of the Holy Ghost.
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Finding truths in the scriptures is a blessing in my life and helps me feel closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Consider inviting students who completed the student preparation activity to share their experiences.
Finding truths in the scriptures
Some truths in the scriptures are more difficult to find than others. Seek Heavenly Father’s help through the Holy Ghost to help you identify truths in Paul’s message to the Saints in Ephesus. The Holy Ghost will help you by testifying to you of these truths (see Moroni 10:5; John 16:13).
This section is intended to be an example to help students see how to identify truths in verses of scripture. Consider using other truths from Ephesians 2–5 if they would be most helpful for students.
Consider sharing the video “Identifying Doctrine and Principles: Students’ Testimonies” (2:38) to help students see the value in learning how to practice this skill. This video is available on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Invite students to share how they identify truths in scripture.
While Paul was a prisoner under house arrest in Rome, he wrote to the Ephesians to encourage them and counsel them about how to continue drawing closer to Jesus Christ and how to overcome the spiritual attacks of the devil. Practice identifying truths from what Paul shared with these Saints.
The following is one way you can look for eternal truths as you study the scriptures. Read Ephesians 2:4–10, and do the following steps:
Consider writing the following steps on the board so students can refer to them during the lesson.
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Look for words, phrases, or verses that seem especially important. Consider marking them in your scriptures.
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Summarize the main idea of these words, phrases, or verses. (For example, can you summarize what Paul said about grace in verse 8?)
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Form what you learned into a statement of truth that you can apply in your life.
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What is one truth you found? How did you identify that truth?
Ask several students to share. Compliment them on their efforts. Some possible truths include the following: God is merciful and loves us (see Ephesians 2:4); as we exercise faith in Jesus Christ, we are saved by His grace (see Ephesians 2:5, 8); our works alone are not sufficient to save us (see Ephesians 2:8–9). As students share, consider asking follow-up questions like the following:
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How could this truth help you feel Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s love for you or help you become more like Them?
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How have you applied or how could you apply this truth in your life?
Practice identifying truths
It might be helpful to allow students to work individually to locate truths. Then they could find another student in class who studied the same passage and compare the truths they found with each other.
Use the steps listed previously. Select one or two of the following sets of verses, and search for eternal truths in them.
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Ephesians 4:20–32, including the Joseph Smith Translation in footnote 26 a (It may be helpful to know that the “old man” in these verses symbolizes former sinful ways and that the “new man” symbolizes living a righteous life through Jesus Christ.)
Select one of the truths you found, and ponder how it can help you feel Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s love for you or help you to be more like Them.
Using resources available to you (paper, colored pencils, digital tools, and others), create a poster that could be included in the For the Strength of Youth magazine. Include the following on your poster:
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The principle you identified and the scripture verse or verses where you found it
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A simple picture or drawing that helps readers understand the truth or illustrates how someone may use this truth in their life
Consider showing some examples of posters from ChurchofJesusChrist.org. The following link may help: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/collection/inspirational-picture-quotes-images.
Or look to see if the most recent version of the For the Strength of Youth magazine includes a poster.
Invite students to share their poster and explain it. Consider asking follow-up questions like the following: “How did you find this truth?” “How does it help you feel Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s love for you?” “How has the Lord blessed you as you have tried to live this truth?”
Reflecting on finding truths
Think about your experience searching for eternal truths in the scriptures.
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In what ways did you feel you were successful?
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What was difficult?
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How did searching for truths help you see Heavenly Father’s love for you?
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How could you use what you have learned today in your personal or family scripture study?
Commentary and Background Information
Ephesians 2:4–9. What is grace and what does it do for me?
While serving as a member of the First Presidency, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf defined the grace of God as “the divine assistance and endowment of strength by which we grow from the flawed and limited beings we are now into exalted beings of ‘truth and light, until [we are] glorified in truth and [know] all things’ [Doctrine and Covenants 93:28]” (“The Gift of Grace,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2015, 107). For more information about grace, consider reading the complete talk, available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
For additional insights on the Savior’s grace, read Mosiah 2:20–24 and Philippians 2:12–13.
Ephesians 4:22. What does it mean to “put off … the old man”?
Paul taught that when we choose to accept the ordinance of baptism, we covenant to end our old ways (or “put off … the old man” [Ephesians 4:22]) and start a new life as followers of Jesus Christ (see Romans 6:1–6; Doctrine and Covenants 20:37). This includes leaving behind our sins and anything that would keep us from coming closer to Heavenly Father. We cannot make this process happen on our own. It happens only because of Jesus Christ and His Atonement and the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost.
Supplemental Learning Activities
Understanding truth more deeply
After students identify a truth from Ephesians, they could be invited to understand the truth more deeply. They could use scripture resources, Gospel Topics (topics.ChurchofJesusChrist.org), the Gospel Library app, or other resources available to look up key words. They could then be invited to share what they learned about the truths and how they can incorporate the truths into their lives.
Book of Mormon insights on the grace of Jesus Christ
If it would help students to discuss the grace of Jesus Christ instead of finding principles in the scriptures, invite them to study Ephesians 2:1–12, comparing what their lives would be like without Jesus Christ’s grace (see verses 1–3) to what their lives are like with His grace (see verses 4–8). They could then study passages from the Book of Mormon that teach about the Savior’s grace (see 2 Nephi 10:24–25; Jacob 4:6–7; Helaman 12:24; Ether 12:27; Moroni 10:32–33), identify their own needs for the Savior’s grace, and create a plan for how they can seek His grace more often.