Ephesians 1 Chapel

This letter is from Paul, the

Ephesians 1:1–2 ESV

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

This letter is from Paul, who says he was chosen by God, his remarkable conversion from Saul of Tarsus the murderer of followers of Jesus, see

Acts 8:3 ESV

But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Acts 9:1–6 ESV

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

Acts 9:1-

So Paul obviously views himself as one specifically chosen by God to be His personal minister of the gospel of Jesus.

He is writing from prison in Rome to the believers in the churches he founded in the area of Ephesus, which was cosmopolitan and commercial: a pagan city devoted to the temple of the Greek goddess Artemis. You can read about this in .

Ephesians 1:3 ESV

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,

Ephesians 1:3-

God is to be praised, because this is the work of God, the sending of Jesus, Paul will go on to explain. But here he tells us that we are blessed beyond imagination with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places because of our union with Jesus.

2 Peter 1:3–4 ESV

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

2 Peter 1:3

Now Paul continues

Ephesians 1:4–5 ESV

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,

Ephesians 1:4