1-2 Salutation
- From Paul the apostle to the saints in Ephesus
- Grace and peace from God and Christ
- Bless God who has blessed us. Bless is an interesting word. Even here it has 2 different connotations, perhaps meaning both "give thanks to" or "give glory to" and just "give."
- And how has he blessed us?
- With every spiritual blessing
- By choosing us even before creation
- By destining us for adoption
- With redemption through the blood of the Beloved
- By making known to us the mystery of his will
- By giving us an inheritance
- By marking us with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit. I see this as a seal that's placed upon us in baptism. Something spiritual -- and Spiritual -- happens in that instance besides getting wet -- something we cannot see, an action of God that he takes because we are submitting to his will.
- The Ephesians have a reputation for faith in Jesus and love toward all the saints. As I read the Bible, I notice this theme again and again. As a Christian, I must strive to achieve a balance of devotion to God and a demonstration of love to others. Christ emphasized this in his instruction as recorded in Matthew 25: Inasmuch as you do it to one of these, you do it unto me. We serve God by serving others. Yet mere altruism doesn't make us acceptable before God. We must also depend on his grace and his goodness to cover our sins. He can't even look at us as long as we're in sin. He can't see our good works unless the blood of Christ is cleansing us from all our sins (1 John 1:7).
- Paul's prayer:
- Unceasing thanks for the Ephesians
- That God would give them
- A spirit of wisdom and revelation as they come to know God
- A knowledge of the hope -- the riches of the inheritance -- and the greatness of his power
- About this power:
- God put it to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead
- Christ is above all authority -- above every name - in this age and the age to come. You can't get more comprehensive than that.
- All things are under his feet - he is the head of the church, his body. So much emphasis here. Christ -- not any person on earth -- is the head of the church. And he has only one body.
1-20 From Death to Life
- What we were before (even if in our eyes we were good enough):
- Dead through sins
- Following the course of this world and the ruler of the power of the air
- Living in the passions of our flesh
- Children of wrath by nature, like everyone else
- BUT God:
- Made us alive together with Christ
- Raised us up with him
- Seated us with him in heavenly places
- Grace and works together (Here's that theme again)
- We are saved by grace, not by our own doing -- to prevent boasting
- BUT we are created (by grace) in Christ Jesus for the purpose of doing good works.
- You Gentiles by birth were:
- called the uncircumcision (by those who were circumcised)
- without Christ
- aliens from the commonwealth of Israel
- strangers to the covenants of promise
- without hope -- without God
- BUT now you have been brought near by the blood of Christ
- BUT now:
- Both groups are one
- The wall of hostility has been broken down
- The Old law has been abolished
- Both Jews and Gentiles have access in one Spirit to the Father
- And now you are full-fledged members of the household of God:
- Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets
- With Christ as the cornerstone
- As a temple, joined together -- growing together into a dwelling place for God. This is a picture we as the church should always have in our minds -- we are the temple, and as we grow together in faith -- and good works -- we become more and more suitable as a place for God to dwell.
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