Introduction to Ephesians (Ephesians 1:1-2)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 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, 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, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked 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 above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things 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.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,

and he gave gifts to men.”

(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,

and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.

Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.

Post-Introduction

It’s powerful hearing God’s Word read out loud, isn’t it?

It’s a good reminder for us that the power isn’t in the one doing the reading. The power is in God’s Word. God’s Word does the work.

This morning we’re kicking off our next 6-month in-depth study of the beautiful Letter to the Ephesians.

Quote

The letter to the Ephesians stands in relation to the rest of Paul’s letters rather like the London Eye. It isn’t the longest or fullest of his writings, but it offers a breathtaking view of the entire landscape.

N. T. Wright

More than perhaps any other writing in the New Testament, Ephesians gives us a big-picture view of the Christian life. How does our life fit with God’s big purposes for the world? And how should that practically impact the way we live?

In the time we have remaining this morning, I want to give you a very brief look at The Background of Ephesians and The Themes of Ephesians.

My goal is that you can get a sense of some of what’s ahead of us. And ultimately I want to help us see why we should be excited about taking the next 6 months or so to study this letter.

First,

The Background of Ephesians

Let’s read the first two verses of the letter.

Ephesians 1:1–2 ESV

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This introduction is like the address on a letter, or the subject line of an email that gives us a quick look at who is writing to whom.

As a matter of introduction, I want to quickly look at 4 characteristics of this letter: the author, the audience, the date, and the occasion.

First,

1. The Author: Paul, the Apostle

If you remember from our study of Galatians, this introduction is typical of the Apostle Paul’s other letters.

He says, “Grace to you and peace”, combining a play on words from the traditional Greek word for “Greetings” or Charin with the word “Grace” Charis, with the traditional Jewish greeting, “Peace” or in Hebrew, “Shalom.”

And so it comes as no surprise that this letter bears Paul’s name; in fact, the word “Paul” is the first of the letter, both in English and in the original Greek of the letter.

From the earliest days of the Christian church, this letter was unanimously accepted as authentically from Paul.

But in the modern period, skeptics have claimed it wasn’t written by the real Paul, but was a forgery because of the letter’s style and its different emphasis from Paul’s other letters.

To make a very long and interesting conversation short for our purposes this morning, the historical evidence very strongly supports the traditional claim that Paul wrote this letter.

The biblical writers can write with different styles just like you and I can, and we should expect that the apostles would discuss and teach on lots of different topics, just like Jesus did. More than that, we have clear historical examples that the early church actively rejected forgeries as dishonest.

So when you hear skeptics on social media or in your intro to religion class, what I want you to remember is that there are lots of very thoughtful and historically informed answers to the objections that skeptics raise against the Bible. Don’t believe the first thing you hear.

God is honest and true; its part of his character. The Bible is God’s Word, and so the Bible is also honest and true. We can trust the Bible.

First,

1. The Author: Paul, the Apostle

2. The Audience: The Church in Ephesus

Paul writes in the end of v.1

Ephesians 1:1 ESV

1 . . .To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

Ephesus, which was in modern day Turkey, was the third most populous city in the Roman Empire during this time period, third only to Rome and Alexandria. Some 250,000 people likely lived in and around the city, making this a major metropolitan hub, and the most important port city of the wealthiest region of the Empire.

It was the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis, which was 4 times larger than the Parthenon in Athens, and devoted to the patron deity of the city, Artemis of the Ephesians. Next to Artemis, though, there were 50 other gods and goddesses that were prominently worshipped, making Ephesus a cosmopolitan center of Greek polytheism, idolatry, sorcery, dark magic, and spiritual fear.

There was a large Jewish population in the city, and a Christian community that started off small, but soon became a sprawling network of interconnected local churches in the city.

As it always does, following Jesus meant a radical break with the old life, both for Jews and Gentiles, and so in Acts 19 we read about Christians in Ephesus who burned a massive number of ritual dark magical texts, the value of which Luke reports as costing 50,000 days worth of labor.

For three years, from AD 52-55, Paul lived in the city, building up the church, teaching in the synagogue to reach the Jewish people, and then reasoning in the Hall of Tyrannus to reach the Greeks.

In Acts 20, Paul gathered the elders of the church together and committed them to the Lord, urging them to stay faithful and to watch out for false teachers.

And that leads us to the date of this letter,

3. The Date: AD 61-62

Ephesians is one of the so-called “Prison Epistles,” along with Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, written in the period between AD 60-62.

Paul was likely in Rome under house arrest (as the end of the book of Acts tells us), and wrote these letters to these churches and to Philemon.

And that brings us to (4) The Occasion

4. The Occasion: Encouragement in Christ

It had been 6 or 7 years since Paul had left the church in Ephesus.

The city of Ephesus was a massively important strategic city for reaching all of the smaller towns and villages in the region, and we know from his other letters that Paul felt a deep sense of responsibility for the health and flourishing of the churches he invested in.

Unlike several of Paul’s letters, there’s no indication that Paul is responding to any particular crisis or conflict.

True, the threat of false teachers in general loomed large in the early church, but unlike Galatians, for example, the letter doesn’t read like a direct response to a particular problem.

Galatians was responding to the false teachers or influencers that we call the Judaizers, and that letter revolves around Paul’s response to that problem.

But here, Ephesians reads more like a general letter aimed not at resolving any particular problem, but as an encouragement that might be especially meaningful to this network of local churches.

As Jews and Gentiles came to faith and tried to live out their new Christian faith in the midst of a spiritually hostile environment and city, saturated with idolatry and spiritual darkness, empowered by demons and sorcery, the Christian movement faced an uphill battle.

The cultural baggage and barriers of both Jews and Gentiles made living out the Christian faith a challenge, to say the least. More than that, believers would have been pressured and threatened to renounce their faith in Jesus or to add other gods and goddesses to the their faith.

Normal Christians — husbands, wives, servants, children, widows, workers — all would have been pressured to live in fear of dark spirits, who could be invoked and summoned through the worship of Artemis and other false deities, asking for curses to fall on these disruptive new followers of Jesus.

All in all, this church faced tremendous spiritual pressure, both internal pressure and external dangers.

And through it all this church needed a heavenly perspective on their identity in Jesus Christ.

That leads us to our themes.

The Themes of Ephesians

In the time remaining, I’m going to summarize the message of this letter by giving you Ten Themes.

And the summary of those ten themes I can actually give you first theme two words; two words that will summarize and condense and capture the entire structure of God’s message for this church and for our church from this letter:

IN CHRIST.

To expand on that,

1. Union with Christ (In Christ)

“Thirty times in this short letter Paul uses the expression “in Christ” (and its variations) to characterize the new identity of these believers” (Arnold)

This is the overarching theme of Ephesians. Union with Christ. In Christ.

Chapters 1-3 explain what it means to be in Christ

Chapters 4-6 explain what it means to live in Christ.

Or put another way, 1-3 is the “what?” and 4-6 is the “so what?”

From a big picture angle, God’s Word is going to show us that

Big Idea: We need to know what it means to be in Christ if we want to live for Christ.

This is what we will come back to again and again — knowing what it means that we are in Christ and knowing how we should live that out in our lives, practically.

All of the other themes will fit within that overarching theme.

Union with Christ

So, here are 9 more themes.

2. The Sovereignty of God

We see this especially in Chapters 1 and 3.

God had a grand plan long of cosmic redemption long before we were here, and Christ is the grand culmination and climax of that plan.

We see the Sovereignty of God on display in the way God has brought about our redemption in Jesus Christ and in history, working all things according to the counsel of His will.

The Sovereignty of God

3. The Supremacy of Jesus Christ

Again, we see this in Chapters 1 and 3, where Christ is exalted as the glorious head of the church, exalted over all opposing spiritual powers.

This is a high and lofty Christology; Jesus is no mere man; he is the God-man, worthy of worship and honor and glory.

The Supremacy of Jesus Christ

4. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

We see not only God the Father and God the Son, but we learn about the person and work of the Holy Spirit, who is given to us as a down payment of our inheritance and who fills us and empowers us to live the Christian life, as we see in Chapters 1 and 5, and all throughout the letter as Paul prays that we would experience His power.

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

5. The Gravity and Darkness of Sin

Ephesians is where all forms of the Pelagian heresy go to die.

The Pelagian heresy is the view that human beings have a clean slate, equally free to be morally good or morally evil.

But in Ephesians, that view is utterly unsustainable.

In this letter we learn that the religious and the irreligious, the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, the privileged and the oppressed are all doomed because of human sin.

Al of us are indicted as spiritually dead before salvation, according to Chapter 2. We were not merely in darkness, we were darkness, according to Chapter 5. And Paul isn’t just talking about Gentiles who were formerly involved in pagan worship; he goes out of his way to include himself — who was raised as a devout, upright, and deeply religious Jew — he includes himself as someone who

Ephesians 2:3 ESV

3 . . . once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

In this letter we learn that human sin is not merely a product of our social upbringing or our environment, but deeply rooted in our shared and fallen human nature.

Human beings are not morally neutral; we do not have a clean slate; we are fundamentally and by our fallen nature doomed.

No amount of education or the right social conditioning can cleanse the stain and or heal the disease of our rebellion against God, our Creator.

We are all in deep trouble.

The Gravity and Darkness of Sin

But thankfully, that’s not all we learn from this letter.

6. The Grandeur and Glory of Grace

“As deep as the darkness, so brilliant is the light of God’s grace in this letter—it shines like ten thousand suns.”

To read Ephesians and not experience the overwhelming grace of God is to miss the climax of the story; its to miss the grand finale of the symphony.

In Ephesians, we learn about a God whose grace propelled him to orchestrate and design and accomplish our salvation when we were dead in our sin.

And at just the right moment, Jesus came to do for us what we could never do for ourselves.

Ephesians 2:4–5 ESV

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

And when Paul talks about this grace he can’t help but burst out into worship again and again.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

The Grandeur and Glory of Grace

7. The Identity, Unity, and Mission of the Church

Perhaps more than any other letter in the New Testament, Ephesians is the Letter of the Universal Church, articulating a vision for the global, universal church which is the sum total of all of the local churches from all time.

When we get to Chapters 2-4, we will see in clear terms that our very identity as the people of God is rooted in Christ, and we have become both a dwelling place for God — the new temple — and the body of Christ. And in Christ, all of our many diversities and differences become secondary to our fundamental unity as the people of God.

This was especially relevant to the church in Ephesus, a sprawling network of Jews and Gentiles trying to live out their new calling as the people of God.

In Ephesians we learn about our identity as the church, and what our mission should look like, as we meet together to worship the Triune God, equip the saints for ministry, and eagerly maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The Identity, Unity, and Mission of the Church.

8. Living Out Our New Identity in Christ

The bulk of chapters 4 and 5 deal with practical, tangible realities. Behaviors to put off; new behaviors to put on. Contrasting the old life of darkness with the new life of light.

Relationships to model after the gospel, allowing the gospel to cut against cultural expectations and reframe the way we relate to one another, pursuing unity in Christ.

How does that Spirit-filled unity impact our marriage? Our parenting? Our work relationships?

These are the kind of practical topics that this letter will help us see.

Our identity in Christ should practically impact every single area of our lives.

Living Out Our New Identity in Christ

9. The Already/Not Yet New Creation

In Chapters 1 and 2 especially, we see that we have been raised up from our spiritual deadness and seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

And yet by the end of the letter, we are reminded of the current spiritual darkness that still surrounds us.

We are a new creation in Jesus Christ, created as God’s workmanship for good works, and yet the spiritual reality of the already New Creation is not yet fully consummated.

In Ephesians we learn that the coming New Creation is already, but not yet.

The Already/Not Yet New Creation

And that is related to the last theme

10. The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

Probably because of the spiritual and magical context that Ephesus was especially known for, Paul stresses that God’s power is exceedingly and abundantly greater than we could ever imagine.

The supremacy of Jesus over all the spiritual powers is especially meaningful in a social context where Christians have a background in dark magic and are living in fear of curses from pagan deities.

According to Paul, we live in the overlap of the ages, like the gap between D-Day and V-Day; the decisive victory over all opposing spiritual powers has been won, but not yet fully realized.

And so, by the time Paul gets to Chapter 6, he is reminding and encouraging the Christians to stay in the fight.

He reminds them that the ultimate fight is not material, but spiritual. Yes, the victory has been won, but Satan and his hordes of spirits are kicking and screaming and fighting on their way down.

The victory is sure. We win. But in the mean time, stand firm in Christ.

The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

Conclusion

There you have it. The Letter to the Ephesians. The Background to the Letter. And Ten Themes of the Letter.

2 Words to sum it all up: In Christ.

Big Idea: We need to know what it means to be in Christ if we want to live for Christ.

May God help us as Pastor Joel starts us off with vv. 3-6 next week.

Let’s pray.

Related Media

Related Sermons

Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.