In Chapter 1 we discussed 4 key points:

1. How great our Father in heaven is and how He has blessed us through Christ
2. How we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing and have had His rich grace lavished upon us
3. That we have been redeemed through Christ’s blood and adopted as children of God
4. That we have hope through the Spirit who was given to us as a seal or mark that we belong to the Lord

Paul then proceeds to encourage or exhort the body of believers (the church) through his thankfulness and requests that he makes on behalf of the body in prayer. Paul asks that all believers may be enlightened (have the eyes of their hearts enlightened) to the wisdom and revelation (revealing) of Jesus so that we may know the infinite greatness of God’s power towards us. This power that He works towards us is the work the He did raising Jesus from the dead and seating Him at His right hand so that all things (good or evil and great or small) are subject to Him…and most importantly placing Jesus at the head of the church, which is described as the fullness of His body. May all glory be to God for what He has done for us!

Now we enter into chapter 2, which makes a slight change in course focusing not on the Trinity but on us.

Ephesians 2:1–3:

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

It seems like an abrupt change to go straight from describing the greatness of God’s power towards mankind through Jesus Christ to us who were dead in our sins. This is the greatness of God juxtaposed with the weakness of man. However, this makes more sense as we read through all of Ephesians. It is God’s greatness, His mercy, and His grace that Paul is glorifying throughout Ephesians. At no time does Paul glorify people, even the people of God. This juxtaposition of God and man together shows us at a deeper level how wonderful God really is towards us. And knowing this, we should strive to bless God more and more through our worship, praise, and obedience.

Here in these opening verses, Paul is describing all believers before they were believers. We were dead in our sins; that is, we could do nothing in our own power to pick ourselves up and remove our sins before a holy God. We had no power of righteousness of our own to make ourselves holy.

Verses 2 and 3 describe our state of being before we were believers. Notice the word “walked” in verse 2, that we walked according to the evils of this period of time in the world. The word “walked” is an active verb showing that we willingly participated in the evils of this world. It wasn’t that we were somehow passively carried along unwillingly or unwittingly by the evils of this world but that we were active participants. Keep this word “walk” in mind as we will encounter it again in verse 10 in a totally different context.

Paul goes on to expound on our depravity while we were still sinners. We lived in the lusts of the flesh. Being dead in our sins there was nothing we could do but to behave according to our sinful flesh. This behavior caused us to indulge in the desires of both our flesh and our mind. The word for “indulge” in the Greek is a verb that is conjugated in such a way as to express an ongoing and continuous action. Essentially, we wallowed in our sin without end while we were sinners. There was nothing we could do but be sinners. That is, until grace came and we were lifted out of our sin by Christ. Christ changed everything for us. As it says in Ephesians 1:3, He choose us before time began so that we would be holy and blameless before Him. And our holiness reflects the merciful God that chose us and gave us salvation. So God’s actions to save sinners are to His own glory…His glory in grace, His glory in mercy, and His glory in infinite power. May all glory be to God!

Paul causes us to remember our pre-salvation days here. It is a good thing for us to consider how depraved and unlovable we were before we were saved. Remember that there is a whole world out there still dead in their sins who are acting just as the prince of the power of the air wants them to act, just as we used to be. They are following the world’s idea of what righteousness and justice are. And the world’s idea of righteousness and justice are ever changing according to the prince of the power of the air. Knowing this should spur us on to boldly speak God’s truth in love. But never forget that last part…”in love”.

Ephesians 2:4–7:

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Now in verse 4 Paul contrasts our sinful state before we believed to what God did for us out of mercy and grace. In other words, Paul contrasts our depravity with God’s mercy. Verses 4 and 5 mirror John 3:16–17 beautifully:

16 For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

Grace is defined simply as withholding what one deserves. In God’s compassionate and full love (agape) for us, He withholds the punishment we deserve, eternal separation from Him. Notice the adjectives here, God’s “great” love and God’s “rich” mercy (more precisely, God is described as richly having mercy). The overwhelming, infinite mercy and love of God towards sinners is why we are made alive (or saved). This salvation is described as a union with Christ (i.e., “together with Christ). As the words of verses 2:1-3 echo in our heads, Paul describes here how truly powerful, loving, and merciful He truly is towards us that don’t have a word of defense to stand on. What wonderful news that should be to us and to unbelievers. May all glory be to God!

At the end of verse 5 Paul brings in the word “grace”…by grace you have been saved. Now mercy (the withholding of punishment) must be inextricably bound to grace. Grace is defined as the giving of something to one that is undeserving. Think of it like this, God gave us salvation in His grace, but in order to give us this salvation He must also withhold His punishment towards us. Conversely, withholding His punishment is pointless without His loving grace to save us and join us in union with Christ. Mercy and grace go together like interlocking puzzle pieces. Apart, they wouldn’t have the full saving effect of joining us to Christ as one body…the church.

Ephesians 2:8–10:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Verses 8 through 10 sum up the entire book of Ephesians and can also act to sum up the basis of Paul’s theology. We could summarize these three verses as: God saves and we serve God through our good works, which He also gave us. Earlier I summed up the book of Ephesians as: “What God has done for me motivates me to walk in a way worthy of the Lord”. These are both very similar and capture what the book of Ephesians is about. Also, you may notice that verses 8 and 9 sum up the first three chapters of Ephesians and verse 10 is a generalization of the last three chapters of Ephesians. So, verses 8 through 10 are very important to keep in mind as you read through Ephesians.

Verse 8 begins with the conjunction “For”. This conjunction acts to connect the previous verses (4-7) with the following verses 8 through 9. Essentially, verses 8 and 9 expound and explain verses 4-7. Verse 8 explains very simply what God has done for us. He has shown us the surpassing (other translations use exceeding, immeasurable, or incomparable) riches of His grace through our salvation. However, salvation comes through faith in Jesus. It is this faith that is also given to us through His great grace. This is followed by the statement that none of these things: grace, salvation, or faith are things we can achieve. These are gifts from God the Father. Verse 9 follows up with and emphasis on our works having nothing to do with this great gift from God. We did nothing to be deserving of this great gift. The reason that our works are not required nor are able to save us is so that we do not get the glory (i.e., we cannot boast), but rather all the glory goes to God. You probably know what I’m about to say yet again. May all glory be to God!

As a note, there has been much debate on what exactly the gift of God is in verse 8. That is, what is the antecedent for “it” in “it is the gift of God”? You may say that faith would be the gift of God, but there are three possible antecedents: grace, salvation, and faith. While it is true that faith is a gift from God, most Biblical scholars believe that all of the phrase “by grace you have been saved through faith” is the antecedent of “it”. This makes sense if you take this whole phrase as a single idea. That is, the gift of God is salvation that comes through faith and is given to us by His great grace.

Finally, we get to verse 10, which shows us the causal relationship (through the word “For”) between verses 8-9 and verse 10. That is, our lives should display our joy through the works that God has prepared for us because of the salvation we enjoy. We are God’s creation and as His creation our purpose is to bless and glorify the creator first through the unmerited gift of God, which we have previously discussed, and secondly through the good and useful works God gave us.

These works that were created for us were also prepared beforehand. Just like it says in verse 1:4 that God choose us before the foundations of the world were created, so He has also appointed good works for us before time began. This is in agreement with Romans 8:29–30:

29 For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

30 And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified.

God not only foreknew those who are saved, but He also predestined them to be conformed to the image of Jesus. It’s this predestination for believers to be made like Jesus where the works that God has prepared for us come into play. These works are not only an outward expression of the joy of knowing our Lord and Savior, but they are also transforming us more and more into the likeness of Christ. One can think of the good works that we walk in as part of the process of sanctification.

Lastly in verse 10 we see that word “walk” again. Remember in verse 1 that we formerly “walked” in sin. Now in verse 10 we are called to “walk” in the good works that God has also given us. To “walk” in something is to behave accordingly. It’s not just a one time action or something we do occasionally. It is to live our lives joyfully doing the good works that God has given us. It’s not that we need to quit our jobs and find something to do in the church, since God also gave us our jobs. Instead, we should look for ways that God wants us to do good in our jobs for Him. But there are also many other ways that we can live out these good works in our church as well (that don’t require us to quit our jobs). One good work that comes to mind is the prayer life of our church. We should all be praying individually and together. To that end, one way to step into God’s good work in our church is to begin to pray with others. Bridget Marchetti runs the prayer group at our church and I know she’d love to have more people praying together in earnest not only for our church as a whole but for the sick, the needy, the lost, and of course our country. Our church uses the GroupMe app to keep us all apprised of those needing prayer. Ask Bridget about how you can get plugged into the church prayer group. This is just one of the many ways you can walk in God’s good works that He prepared for us so long ago.

May all glory be to God!

Paul loved the church body deeply. In this section of Ephesians, Paul expresses his love for the church body in Christ. This love is expressed through the prayers that Paul prays for the church body. Notice this entire section is not exactly a literal prayer that he would pray (unlike in the gospels where we can read what Jesus actually prayed at times to the Father). Rather, this is an explanation of how Paul prayed for the body of believers. From this we’ll not only understand how to better pray for our own church but also how to pray in love for one another through Christ who binds us all together as one.

These 9 verses in Ephesians are one entire thought from Paul. In the original Greek manuscripts, punctuation was not used. This is why we sometimes have such long sentences in our English translations. The long sentences are showing us Paul’s continuous, cohesive thread of thought as he expounds even more on our relationship as the church (the body of believers) with Christ. Verses 15-23 should be read as one thought even though our English Bibles break this up with punctuation marks. In ways this makes it easier for us to read, but always keep in mind that this is one continuous thought. As such, each verse builds upon the previous.

Ephesians 1:15–16:

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,

16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

Now these two verses tripped me up a little as I read through them. When I see the word “For” at the beginning of a sentence, I typically go back to the previous verses to see how the author will connect what he is writing to what he has already written. But that’s not exactly how this word is used here. For all you NASB folks out there (of which I am one), these verses are a bit harder to read so for this week I switched to the ESV, which is more readable without sacrificing the formal equivalence in translation. Or in other words, in this case the ESV gives a more understandable translation than the NASB while at the same time preserving the original wording.

In verse 15 the phrase “For this reason” points to the reason, which is stated in the following section surrounded by commas: “because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints”. And then it picks back up in verse 16. So a decent paraphrase of this could be: “Because I [Paul] have heard of your faith and love, I continually give thanks and pray for you.” So the reason Paul is thankful and prayerful towards the church body is due to the things he has heard about them. Specifically, Paul has heard of their faith in Jesus and their love towards all the saints.

From this we know that Paul is still receiving word from the churches in and around Ephesus (in Asia). And that word is that the church’s faith in Jesus is strong and growing. But not only that, notice Paul adds that he also received word that the church is exhibiting love (agape) to all the saints. Note the word “all”. The saints weren’t just loving those within their own churches or within their own cliques in the church. They loved all the saints, or we could say they loved the collective whole of the church body.

Why did Paul add this extra phrase about loving others? Well, Jesus not only summed up the law as love God, love your neighbor but in addition to this we, as believers, give evidence of God’s love by loving others both inside and outside of the church. So Paul is saying that he’s not only heard of the church’s faith but he’s heard the strongest evidence of their faith through their love.

May I (we) always exhibit this love as evidence of my (our) hope in Christ!

Paul finishes up his introduction to this section by saying two things. First, he continuously gives thanks for the church. This continuous thanksgiving is not meant to be taken literally as if he was 24/7 in constant state of prayer giving thanks to just the church. That would be impossible, even in prison where he would have ample time for prayer. However, it does express that Paul is thinking of and giving thanks for the church in his prayers daily (as would be possible whether he was in or out of prison). Paul isn’t just thinking of the church at this one point in time as he’s writing this epistle; he’s thinking of them daily.

Second, Paul remembers the church in his prayers. This isn’t just a quick “oh I just remembered…” type of prayer. This is a deep and loving prayer towards the church, an unceasing prayer that is based on his thanksgiving for the church. Throughout the rest of this section, we will see how Paul remembers the church in his prayers.

As a note, you may notice that I don’t use the word Ephesians here, but rather the church. This letter is one that focuses on the church, not just the church of Ephesus. In fact, in verse 1 where it states that that this letter was directed towards the church at Ephesus, some original manuscripts do not contain the words “at Ephesus”. I won’t go into all the reasons why this happened; although, there are several possible explanations. But what we can understand from this is that while this letter may have been sent to Ephesus first, the reality is that it was circulated amongst all churches. Even today we can think of Paul’s letters as being circulated amongst all churches, even our own. So when I write about the book of Ephesus, I write as to what Paul was originally writing to, that is the church as a whole (including Ephesus and Crossings).

Ephesians 1:17–18:

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Here in Verse 17, Paul begins to expound on what he is specifically praying for the church..that is, first and foremost the wisdom and revelation of God. Notice the word “and” tying  together both wisdom and revelation. It is both the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation that is given to us by God, but it is given to us in the knowledge of Him. This is not just some worldly wisdom that some have. After all, there are non-believers that seem wise or are considered as wise by the world. Rather, this is a God given wisdom that puts our faith to work. It is a wisdom that is different from the world’s version of wisdom.

Alongside wisdom we have the God given revelation of Him. This word “revelation” means an unveiling of previously hidden knowledge. Within this context it is the unveiling of God’s will. Now this does not mean that we today should expect new knowledge that is extra-biblical. The canon of scripture has been fully and completely written. We need not add to it or subtract from it. In fact the book of Revelation warns in the strongest words possible to not do this. However, since the canon of scripture was not fully written at this time, Paul was writing this letter as directed by the Holy Spirit to the churches (and Ephesus) to reveal new revelation that had been unveiled through Christ. This book revealed several mysteries to the early churches…mysteries that have been fully revealed to us today including some, like the church, that we may take for granted. But remember, back in those days the church only had the Old Testament, which pointed to the mystery of Christ which had just been fulfilled. The unveiling of these mysteries was happening as the Ephesians and other churches were reading this letter of Paul’s. Just imagine the wonder they had from reading the Old Testament anew as the mystery of Christ had just been revealed to them.

All of this wisdom and revelation came about in the knowledge of Him. This word “knowledge” is a bit nuanced in the original Greek. In English this word means an understanding or maybe a “head knowledge” of something or someone. But in the Greek this word for knowledge is prefixed with the Greek “epi” which signifies a more intimate or full knowledge of something or someone, God in this case. So it’s not just knowing that God is real or exists somewhere or even that God has certain attributes like love, justice, etc. It is a personal knowledge of who God is in the person of Jesus Christ, a full and intimate relationship with Jesus.

In verse 18 Paul continues to explain how he prays for the church. The phrase “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened” is a metaphor for having a true and personal knowledge of Christ in our most inner being and that we would even more deeply understand the wisdom and revelations of God. To the early church this wisdom and revelation came through the apostles and their preaching, teaching and writings; to us today that comes through the preaching and teaching of our elders and pastors as well as our own personal study of His word.

Here again we hear of the greatest of heavenly blessings that are bestowed on us through Christ. Namely, the hope we have been called to and the glorious inheritance. Now this hope we have is not just a possibility of something. Rather, it is something that we know to be true because of our relationship to Christ. It is a hope that we look forward to expectantly… something that we do not yet posses but will when we are perfected in Heaven alongside our Savior.

Now the glorious inheritance that is spoken of here is a difficult one to translate. Does it mean God’s inheritance of us as believers who will glorify Him forevermore? Or does it mean our inheritance of the eternal blessings that God bestows on us? There is much discussion of this in various circles and commentaries. I tend to lean towards the former where we are God’s inheritance and as such we will glorify Him because of this inheritance. However, I’m not 100% tied to that interpretation. I do believe it could mean both. That is we can, at the same time, glorify God as His inheritance and also receive an inheritance through Christ. Being an inheritance and receiving an inheritance both let us doubly glorify God. And God’s glorification is a constant theme throughout Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:19–20:

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

The message from verse 17 that God may “give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him” is continued in verse 19. Paul’s prayers include that we, the church, may know the power of God. This power is described as immeasurable greatness or (in other translations) it is a surpassing greatness or exceeding greatness. This infinitely great power is directed towards us as believers in the church.

This power can be and has already been shown to us. We can know this power through the raising of Jesus Christ from the dead as well as from the seating of Christ at the right hand of God. That’s what Paul is saying in 19b-20a: ” according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ”. This idea of God raising Jesus from the dead and seating Him as Lord over all is beautifully echoed for us in Ephesians 2:6:

6 and [God] raised us up with Him [Jesus], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

Of course, Jesus was raised up as Lord over all, while we are simply and graciously raised up with Him.

Taken together, verses 17-20 are a large portion of the prayer Paul is continuously giving up for the church. Paul wants believers to grow in the very personal knowledge of who God is, and he furthers this by asking for wisdom and an unveiling of the mysteries of God’s will to be given to all believers. This enlightening of us though wisdom, revelation, and knowledge of God is for three purposes so that we might know:

* The hope of His calling.

* The riches of His inheritance.

* His infinite power towards us who believe (this power could also be thought of as providing a full and unyielding security in Christ) .

If one of the great Apostles would desire to pray this prayer of hope, riches, and power for all the believers, shouldn’t we too also pray this on a consistent basis…not only for our church but for all believers in all churches?

Ephesians 1:21–23:

21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Verse 21 continues from verse 20 to describe more fully what it meant for God to seat Christ at His right hand. The seat at God’s right hand places Jesus in a position of power far above all things. Before we talk about what specifically Jesus is Lord over, we need to look at the words “far above” and “all”. These words give a sense as to the power and completeness of Jesus’ lordship. He is far above all things, which means that He is not only “above” all things in rank and power, but that He is “far” above all these things. That is, His rule extends to such great heights that no one and nothing can even come near His lordship. Thusly, we can be assured and secure in the knowledge that Jesus’ lordship will never leave us or forsake us. The second word is “all”, which gives us the security of knowing that there is nothing and no one that Jesus is not lord over. This includes both good and evil, angels and demons, believers and unbelievers. All means all.

Knowing this gives us a better sense of the fullness of Jesus’ lordship over the list of things Paul gives us next. The list starts with rule or those acting as rulers or leaders and continues with authority or those who exercise control over others. Following this is power, which is any governing authority. Next is dominion, which are those having ownership over others. Finally we get to “every name that is named”, which fully covers all people, angels, demons, etc. The name of Jesus Christ is far above all names that have been named and even those that will be named. The name Jesus means God is salvation. That is who Jesus is. Jesus is God and therefore is our salvation. Without Jesus there is no hope, inheritance, or power towards us. It is no wonder that there is no name that will ever be above Jesus as only Jesus can provide the one thing that we as sinners need most…salvation!

It should be noted that there is evidence that Paul meant for all rule, authority, power, dominion, and names to be more related to a spiritual rule, authority, power, dominion and names. And indeed some of these are mentioned in Colossians 1:16:

16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

These cover both heavenly and earthly (invisible and visible) thrones, dominions, rules, and authorities. I think it is obvious that Jesus is above all of these things in both the heavenly and earthly realms; however, Paul may have been stressing the heavenly realm due to the fact that many early churches, especially Ephesus, were battling the spiritual forces of evil. Remember the church at Ephesus and elsewhere were surrounded by temples to other gods (Dianna, for example being one of the most prominent ones at Ephesus). Later we also read in Ephesians 6:12:

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

This verse shows us a strong leaning by Paul towards spiritual warfare against forces unseen, forces in the heavenly or spiritual realm.  

Verses 22-23 sum up what has already been said of God the Father and Jesus. However, we also get this new word “church” (more on the church later as we get into chapter 3 and how this must have sounded to the believers at that time). Yes Jesus is Lord over all, but here we get a new idea that Jesus is Lord over all especially in His relationship to the church. This is for the benefit of the church body and for the glory of God. The church is also defined as the body of Jesus (i.e., from verse 23a, “which is His body”). Furthermore, the body of believers, which all believers are partakers of, is not only the fullness of Jesus but is also filled by Jesus just as the Holy Spirit fills each believer individually. What this means is that we as a church are in union with Christ. Christ fills the church so that those outside of the church body may see Jesus in the church. Through this Jesus draws sinners to Himself to become part of His body as the church under His lordship. Our part is to worship, praise, and obey God. Jesus does the rest as He draws sinners to himself through His filled body…the church.

This section of Ephesians 1 ends appropriately with Paul’s prayer blessing God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. All of Paul’s prayers for the church culminate in the glorification of Jesus. Notice that these verses begin with requests for wisdom and knowledge that can only come from God and end with the glorification of our Lord Jesus. In heaven we won’t have to pray the first part anymore. We can focus for an eternity on the second part, glorifying God the Father, Son, and Spirit!

Background

Today our journey begins in the book of Ephesians. Now the church at the city of Ephesus was most likely started through the missionary works of Priscilla and Aquila along with Paul (see: Acts 18:18-21 and Acts 19:9, in fact most of Acts 19 serves as a background to the church of Ephesus). Ephesus is also mentioned elsewhere in the Bible such as Acts 20:17-38 and 1 Cor 15:32. Interestingly we get a picture of the more mature church at Ephesus in Rev 2:1-7:

1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

2 “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.

4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

We see that the church of Ephesus did endure, but they had lost their first love, their love for Christ. While the church was patiently enduring, staying disciplined, and resisting evil their love for Jesus had grown cold. Perhaps legalism had taken hold of the church or they had lost their focus on Jesus as the center of their faith and works. Whatever the reason, I would hope that they would have dusted off this letter from Paul and re-read it in its entirety.

Now the city of Ephesus was the third largest city in the Roman empire at this time and a growing center of commerce. The population consisted of various nationalities including  a large Jewish community. We can surmise that the church itself consisted of both Jew and Gentile. This will become important later on as we investigate the “mystery” of which Paul speaks later in this letter.

Another important point is that Ephesus’ culture was home to vast idol worship. The main god worshiped was the goddess Diana (or Artemis as the Greeks knew her) who represented fertility, magic, and astrology. In fact, the temple of Diana was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world. It is estimated that around 50 other gods were worshiped in Ephesus. Imagine if our church was literally surrounded by temples to other gods (or to demons) and one of those temples was so majestic that it was labeled as one of the few wonders of the world. I could only imagine the thoughts that would run through my head or the fear of speaking Christ in such a situation. However, God uses the weak to overcome the strong which is why the church at Ephesus persisted all those years even beyond the point in time it was mentioned in Revelation.

Themes

Before we jump into Ephesians 1, it would be wise to understand a few of the prominent themes in this book. Understanding the themes of a book gives you a place to anchor your thoughts and helps to act as a guidepost as you are reading. There are two main themes that appear in this book.

The first theme I will summarize as: “What God has done for me motivates me to walk in a way that honors God.” This theme covers the entire book of Ephesians. How did I extract this theme from this text you may ask. Well that’s a very good question. The first step is prayerful reading, that is praying for guidance and help understanding what the text is truly saying. But this usually doesn’t come after just one (prayerful) reading or even two or three readings. The text starts to come alive through the Holy Spirit’s guidance after many prayerful readings. Then, after you have understood the text, it is always wise to consult Commentaries to verify that you are on the right track.

After many prayerful readings of Ephesians, I began to notice that the entire book consisted of two main sections. Chapters 1-3 were the first section and deeply covered New Testament theology. Paul elegantly puts on display in these first three chapters God’s blessings, grace, redemption, purposes, glory, His mystery (more on that later), and much more doctrine. But God’s doctrine is always related to us: Our redemption through His blood, God’s grace freely given to us, that He choose us, that we were made alive in Him, among many others.

Then we arrive at chapters 4-6 where Paul urges us to walk worthy of our calling in Christ our Lord and Savior. In this section Paul shows us how we are to live and God’s plan for His church. We are to walk in love, wisdom, and sobriety. Paul lays out how a family should function and the employee/employer relationship. Finally, Paul gives us direction in using the spiritual armor of God and prayer to help us in our fight against the enemy.

So there we have God’s theology in the first half of this book and our manner of behavior (i.e., our Christian walk) in the second half of the book. You could even restate this as: how we should behave in light of God’s theology.

Consider if Paul had not written the first three chapters of Ephesians. How would the book of Ephesians look? Well, we’d have this very short book of rules to live by. Or, what if the last three chapters had not been written? Then we’d have a short book of Theology with little to no application. So we’d either have theology with little to no application or application with little to no theology. But look what happens when the first three chapters are joined to the last three chapters. We have theology with application. But there’s something deeper at work here. The one compliments the other. That is, the theology in the first three chapters lays a foundation for how we are to walk as Christians in the last three chapters. This foundation shows the immense grace and mercy bestowed on us by the living God. As we study these chapters, we will see more deeply the overwhelming love God has for us. This love, mercy, and grace that we see here are the driving forces of our motivation to walk in a way that honors our Lord and Savior. That’s why we can read the last three chapters and not view them as a list of rules that we must try our best to follow but rather as a way that we can bless, honor, and glorify our Father in Heaven.

The second theme is this mystery that Paul speaks of in chapter 3. We’ll talk about that later as we cover chapter 3 in detail. I just hate to spoil the surprise (granted you probably already know what the mystery is…hint, you are part of it right now).

Ephesians 1:1-2

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a typical introduction that Paul uses. There is a lot here to cover, but I want to focus in on two things. Paul wrote this letter to “the saints” who are “faithful in Christ Jesus”. This is a letter directly written to us as believers as part of the body of Christ here on earth. This is not a letter written to unbelievers or solely to believers who are either new in the faith or mature in the faith. This letter is written to us as a church body. Let me emphasize that to us as a church body. This is key to keep in mind as you are reading Ephesians.

The other thing we should focus on is the grace and peace that proceed from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Both grace and peace are prominent words used throughout Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:3-4

3 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,

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

Paul opens his letter with the most important thing he can..praise to God or “Blessed be…”. The word bless is used three times in verse 3 alone. First as “Blessed be…”, that God is fully deserving of our blessings. That phrase was confusing to me back when I was a new believer in Christ. How do I bless the God of creation, the One who holds everything (including me) in the palm of His hand? Am I not too small and weak to bless such a mighty God? I found that through worship (in truth and spirit) and praise (from my voice and my actions) as well as honoring Him through obedience to His word, I was able to bless Him. Of course that is no easy task; thankfully He gave us His Spirit to enable us to bless Him. Without His Spirit we are dead in our sins and no dead (dead in sin, that is) person can bless the Lord.

Next Paul tells us of the blessings that we have incurred from our Father in Heaven. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing! These blessings, as we will see, are not material blessings. Although God certainly does bless us with material things we need, this particular blessing in this context is talking of the heavenly blessings that are now ours through Christ our Lord..through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His making a way for us to the Father. Surely these blessings far outweigh any material blessings that we could ever receive on earth.

In verse 4 we see that God predestined us to be His children before the creation of the world. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 echoes this:

13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

This idea of predestination tells us that God knew us before He formed the world and chose us to become holy and blameless. Notice that verse 4 starts with “just as” (in some versions it will be “even” or “for”). This is a causal conjunction in the Greek and ties our predestination back to our blessings in verse 3. But there’s more to predestination as we’ll see in the next two verses.

Ephesians 1:5-6

5 In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Verse 5 begins a deeper dive into how God has blessed us with spiritual blessings in Christ. Notice verse 5 starts with “In love…” and then each of the following sections below begin with “In Him…”. These are all supreme blessings given to us that are far greater than any temporal earthly blessings. Blessings such as: redemption, forgiveness, our inheritance, and others…all these blessings which are bestowed upon us in Him. Each time you read “In Him” think of it as “In union with Him”. As we dig deeper in Ephesians and Paul’s train of thought, we will see that by being “In Him” we are truly in union with Him as one body.

Notice there is another repeated phrase, “according to..”. For every “In Love…” or “In Him…” (well, actually not the “In Him…” in verse 13) there is a corresponding “according to…” What follows the “according to…” begins to show us the depth and breadth of Gods love for us. In verse 5b we see that not only was God’s predestination of us due to His love (agape love) but also due to the kind intention of His will. God’s very will towards us was kind. His predestination was out of kindness and love. It is no wonder that Paul begins verse 3 with blessings (praises) towards God.

Ephesians 1:7-10

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight

9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him

10 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.

Verse 7 begins with the first of three “In Him” statements. Here we have redemption in Jesus and through His blood. This word “redemption” signifies either the act of freeing or the state of having freedom from bondage (in this context, bondage from sin) [this is the Biblical definition]. This freedom only comes through the payment of a ransom. The payment for our freedom from this bondage of sin was given through the sacrifice Jesus made for all on the cross. He gave His life and shed His blood in order to pay our debt so that we may have life everlasting. As we meditate on this greatest of sacrifices that freed us from sin’s chains, we should take time to bless our savior as only his children are able through His Spirit.

One more note on redemption in verse 7, in both the Greek and English it says we have redemption. The verb “have” is in the present tense. In other words, we not only were (past tense) redeemed, but the present tense give a more subtle meaning that we are also now and forever more redeemed…that is we are in a constant state of redemption.

But notice in the “according to” portion of verse 7-8 where He lavished His rich and perfect grace upon us. Grace is the giving of something (redemption in this case) to someone else not based on their merit or abilities; rather, it is given freely. But even more moving is that this freely given gift is given to a recipient (us) that is neither qualified nor deserving of it.

As we begin to understand this grace that bore our redemption how can our response be anything but praise, worship, and obedience to our God…Who considered His own grace something to be lavished upon us. We, who were undeserving, became the recipients of His forgiveness by no effort of our own but by the kindness of His will towards us.

Now the mystery in verse 9 is connected to His plan of redemption. A mystery in the New Testament means something that is hidden. In this context, Jesus’ life and death resulting in our redemption was the mystery that was revealed by God. It is important to understand there is another mystery that Paul reveals later in Ephesians 3 that is closely connected to this mystery.

And in verse 10, to paraphrase, Christ will gather up all things including both Jew and Gentile and all of creation. All of this will be placed under the administration (or lordship) of Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin has wrecked creation, but Christ will be placed over all these things to reconcile all things to Himself. As it also says in Colossians 1:16–20:

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Ephesians 1:11-12

11 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,

12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Through the second “In Him” we see that we have already been given an inheritance. This inheritance is found in Christ. We will receive this inheritance once we are perfected and standing before Jesus in Heaven. What a wonderful inheritance that will be.

This inheritance follows from the fact that we were already predestined according to His will. And we know from verse 5 that His will is kind towards us. Because of this we should, in turn, lavish praise on our most gracious Father in Heaven.

Ephesians 1:13-14

The final “In Him” in verse 13 shows us that by being in unity with Christ we were also sealed in Him. This seal is the Holy Spirit, which was promised by Jesus before He ascended to sit at the right hand of God. Jesus had to physically leave us so that He could send the Holy Spirit to indwell in us, to teach us, to guide us, and to be the promise of our salvation…evidence to the world of the truth and salvation from our Lord.

But the Spirit was not just given to anyone. Notice that it says after listening to the message of truth (the gospel of Jesus Christ) and after believing, people receive salvation through hearing the word of God and believing. How much grace has been poured out on us and our churches from hearing the word of God! Through hearing and belief we have received the Spirit of promise and are sealed forever as God’s own. Never stop preaching, teaching, and speaking the word of God!

What does it mean to be sealed by the Holy Spirit? Well, a seal was usually placed upon a document or letter. Placing a seal on a document meant that document was under the authority of the one who placed the seal. This seal indicated: the authority of the one who placed the seal, the authenticity of the sealed document, security as long as the seal remained intact, and finally ownership by the one who sealed it. Translating this to the Holy Spirit as our seal we know that we are fully secure in our salvation as His seal is unbreakable. We know by Whom we are sealed. We know the authority by Whom we are sealed. We know that we are owned by the One who sealed us.  That is grace at work within us. This is more than a just a comforting thought, it is a foundation for how we may bless our gracious Father in Heaven. May we never cease praising Him for what we could not obtain on our own.