Ephesians 1:1-14

Personal Observations:

v.1, Paul’s affirms his apostleship to the audience as only by the will of God and not man.

v.1, The Ephesians were faithful in Christ

v.2, Paul presents a standard greeting to the Ephesians

v.3, He begins his letter to the Ephesians with a “worship session” that continues from 3-14; afterwards he has a “prayer session” from 15-23.

v.3, Christians are blessed with every spiritual blessing by Christ, in Christ

v.4, Paul makes the connection between our spiritual blessings and our predestination

v.4, we are called to be holy and blameless before God

v.5, our predestination was established in love, according to His kind intention of will

v.6, God does not hold back His grace from us, but He freely bestows it upon us in Christ the Beloved

v. 7-8, we have redemption in Christ and our sins are covered and forgiven according to the riches of His grace, which he lavished on us (note v.6, twice Paul makes this point)

v. 8-10, In His wisdom and insight, God made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention, in Christ (note, v.5 and 9, God’s interactions with humanity, where we are saved and exposed to the truth He reveals, it is all based on His kind intention, we are absolutely dependent on Him)

v.11-12, we have our inheritance in Him, a gift established in the beginning according to His will, to the praise of His glory

v. 13-14, we who believe are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit, given to us as a pledge of our inheritance, for the purpose of redemption in God’s own possessions (v. 6, 12, 14, Paul’s worship session is clear through his repetition of “to the praise of His glory/ of the glory of His grace)

Overview: Paul gives glory to God by praising God’s kindness and grace to sinners, redeeming Christians and gifting them with an inheritance, mentioned multiple times. Note, this plan was a long time in the making; not sporadic or some emotional outburst on God’s part. What is also important to observe is that this passage reveals the full Godhead at work in the lives of Christians. The fullness of the Trinitarian God is 100% involved in the salvation of mankind.

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Intro:

The letter to the Ephesians is called a Prison Epistle (along with Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon) because it refers to Paul’s chains (6:20; cf. ; ; ; ), and to his being the Lord’s prisoner (3:1; 4:1).

Ephesians has been described as “the crown and climax of Pauline theology,” and a bombshell in its explanation of the gospel and of life with Christ .

Author. The writer of Ephesians identifies himself as Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God (see ; ).

Most of the letter is about two subjects: power and identity. It describes the power God’s Spirit gives for living. It shows who we really are without Christ and who we become both individually and corporately with Christ. It is about how we understand ourselves and how we can get along with each other and God. The focus on God’s new society also makes Ephesians one of the most important works for understanding the church.

Nothing short of attachment to him will rescue us from the human plight, and nothing can define us as human beings more than attachment to him. From living with him we learn how to live for him.

Ephesians does not give a list of rules to follow, nor can response be superficial or easy. This letter requires us to change our inner being and character in a radical way. Life can no longer merely happen, for all our activity must now take place in, to, and for the Lord. Truth and love as defined by Christ become the twin forces guiding all else. In fact, Ephesians has more focus on truth and love than nearly all other New Testament documents.

Snodgrass, K. (1996). Ephesians (p. 17). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

■ AUTHOR: The apostle Paul and Timothy.

Recipients.

Because the phrase who are at Ephesus is not in many early manuscripts, and because there is no mention of a local situation or individual believer, many scholars think this letter was an encyclical, intended to be circulated among all the churches in Asia Minor (including those in Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, and Sardis, as well as Ephesus).

It is probably best to view Ephesians as a letter intended for all Christians in Asia Minor, with Ephesus being the primary or first recipient, as Ephesus was a very important city. From what we know about Ephesus, it was a port city in western Asia Minor, made the capital of the region by Emperor Augustus in 27 BC.

As for Ephesus it was a port city in western Asia Minor, made the capital of the region by Emperor Augustus in 27 BC. With a population probably above 250,000, it was the most important city in the region. So logistically speaking, it would be a natural choice for Paul’s church-planting ministry. reports that Paul’s work there was so effective that after two years all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Paul’s time in Ephesus spanned approximately AD 52–55.

So logistically speaking, it would be a natural choice for Paul’s church-planting ministry. reports that Paul’s work there was so effective that after two years all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Paul’s time in Ephesus spanned approximately AD 52–55.

Date. Unlike other letters (e.g., ), however, in Ephesians he mentions no fellow prisoners. Thus, Paul was incarcerated at the time. He could have written during his two-year Caesarean imprisonment (; ). Yet, Paul probably wrote while under house arrest in Rome (). First, there are many similarities of content and wording between Ephesians and Colossians, suggesting that they were written near the same time, and Colossians was most likely written from Rome (see Introduction to Colossians). Furthermore, Tychicus delivers both letters (; ). Rome fits well with the large number of coworkers mentioned in , as compared to Caesarea’s relative smallness. Because this is a prison epistle, and we know Paul was incarcerated multiple times, if it was written from Rome, Paul penned the letter around AD 60–62.

■ DATE: a.d. 60–61 (Paul imprisoned in Rome).

■ OCCASION:

As for Ephesus itself, it was a port city in western Asia Minor, made the capital of the region by Emperor Augustus in 27 BC. With a population probably above 250,000, it was the most important city in the region. Thus it was a natural choice for Paul’s church-planting ministry. reports that Paul’s work there was so effective that after two years all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Paul’s time in Ephesus spanned approximately AD 52–55.

• To give new believers converted from a background in Judaism, local religions, magic, and astrology a positive grounding in the gospel of Christ.

• To help and admonish believers to cultivate a distinctively Christian lifestyle.

(1) Unity of the Church. All believers have a God-given unity, which they should recognize and seek to maintain (4:1–6). Their position as members of one another means laying aside falsehood and speaking truth with each other (4:25). Among Paul’s letters, Ephesians is second only to Romans in its attention to Gentiles. Because of amazing grace, they share in blessings once enjoyed only by Israel (2:11–22).

(2) Exaltation of Christ Rather Than His Suffering. Although Paul referred to Christ’s cross and blood (1:7; 2:13, 16), in Ephesians he does not use the verb meaning “crucify” (cf. ; ; Gl 3:1) or words for Christ’s afflictions (cf. ; ; ). Instead Paul emphasizes Christ’s exalted state: resurrected, glorified, and seated at God’s right hand (). All things have been subjected to this exalted Savior (1:22).

■ KEY THEMES:

(3) Community Life and Ethics. Nearly half the letter treats how believers should live together and before the world. Very important is the address to wives and husbands (5:22–33), unique in the NT for its length and its treatment of marriage as a picture of Christ and Church. Also there appear exhortations to community love and harmony (4:25–32), to purity of lifestyle (5:1–14), and to the proper relationship between slaves and masters (6:5–9). “Be filled with the Spirit” (5:18) is a command unique to Ephesians.

1. Christ is supreme over all of creation, especially the powers of darkness.

\ above all rule and authority and power and dominion (1:21). Believers are already God’s light in a dark world (5:6–11). Significantly, Paul gave 11 verses (6:10–20) telling believers how to prepare themselves for spiritual conflict. In doing so, he gave a unique passage on the armor of God (cf. ; ).

2. Believers participate with Christ in his death, resurrection, and fullness.

(5) Life as Spiritual Warfare. This last theme is closely connected to the others. Although other letters warn about the enemy’s work (e.g., ; ), only Ephesians spends so much time on the defeat of evil forces. Christ has already been exalted far above all rule and authority and power and dominion (1:21). Believers are already God’s light in a dark world (5:6–11). Significantly, Paul gave 11 verses (6:10–20) telling believers how to prepare themselves for spiritual conflict. In doing so, he gave a unique passage on the armor of God (cf. ; ).

3. The church is the one body of Christ and is composed of Jews and Gentiles.

Peterman, G. W. (2014). Ephesians. In The moody bible commentary (pp. 1845–1846). Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.

Most of the letter is about two subjects: power and identity. It describes the power God gives for living. It shows who we really are without Christ and who we become both individually and corporately with Christ. It is about how we understand ourselves and how we can get along with each other and God. The focus on God’s new society also makes Ephesians one of the most important works for understanding the church.

Nothing short of attachment to him will rescue us from the human plight, and nothing can define us as human beings more than attachment to him. From living with him we learn how to live for him.

Ephesians does not give a list of rules to follow, nor can response be superficial or easy. This letter requires us to change our inner being and character in a radical way.

In this epistle Paul speaks of “the riches of His [God’s] grace” (1:7), “the unfathomable riches of Christ” (3:8), and “the riches of His glory” (3:16). He calls the believer to “attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ” (4:13), to “be filled with the Spirit” (5:18), and to “be filled up to all the fulness of God” (3:19).

In this book the word riches is used five times; grace twelve times; glory eight times; fulness, filled up, or fills six times; and the key phrase in Christ (or in Him) fifteen times. Christ is the source and the guarantee of every spiritual blessing and of all spiritual riches, and those who are in Him have access to all that He is and has.

P1. The Introduction (v. 1-2)

P2. Worship Session pt. 1 (v. 3-6)

P3. Worship Session pt. 2 (v. 7-14)

P1. The Introduction (v. 1-2)

v.1, Paul’s affirms his apostleship to the audience as only by the will of God and not man.

v.1, The Ephesians were faithful in Christ

v.2, Paul presents a standard greeting to the Ephesians

Paul’s credentials were not his academic training or his rabbinical leadership but his being an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. Paul did not teach and write by his own authority but by the dual yet totally unified authority of the Son (Christ Jesus) and of the Father (God). In stating that truth Paul was not boasting of personal merit or elevating himself above other believers. He well remembered that he had been a blasphemer, a violent persecutor of the church, and an unworthy and ignorant unbeliever; and he still considered himself the foremost of sinners (, ). Like every Christian, he was first of all “a bond-servant of Christ Jesus” his Lord (). By mentioning his apostleship, Paul simply established his undeserved but divinely-bestowed authority to speak in God’s behalf—which he states at the beginning of each of his epistles except Philippians and 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

Every Christian is a saint, because every Christian has been set apart and made holy through the perfect righteousness of Christ that has been placed to his account (; ; ; etc.). When a person acts in faith to receive Christ, God acts in grace to give that person Christ’s own righteousness. It is Christ’s perfect righteousness—not a person’s own character or accomplishments, no matter how great they may seem in men’s eyes—that establishes every believer as one of God’s saints through saving faith.

Saints are simply holy people; to be holy is to be segregated from the world. We are a people set apart from the ways of the world, no longer set apart from God.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1986). Ephesians (p. 2). Chicago: Moody Press.

As indicated by his usual introduction and greeting, he wisheshi

P2. Worship Session pt. 1 (v. 3-6)

v.3, He begins his letter to the Ephesians with a “worship session” that continues from 3-14; afterwards he has a “prayer session” from 15-23.

v.3, Christians are blessed with every spiritual blessing by Christ, in Christ

v.4, Paul makes the connection between our spiritual blessings and our predestination

v.4, we are called to be holy and blameless before God

v.5, our predestination was established in love, according to His kind intention of will

v.6, God does not hold back His grace from us, but He freely bestows it upon us in Christ the Beloved

1:3–6. The section starts with a call to praise God (v. 3a) and immediately gives a broad reason: believers have received every spiritual blessing that belongs to the spiritual world (heavenly places, v. 3b; see 1:20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:18). Then v. 4 mentions specific blessings, starting with election. Election is an astonishing blessing, for it has to do with God’s loving choice of certain individuals to be His own. It is not dependent on human faith or deeds (), since election happens before the foundation of the world (cf. ; ; ).

Election has as its goal blamelessness (v. 4b), which is not a human responsibility that flows from election. Rather, blamelessness is God’s certain work. From eternity God chose us to be blameless and in history actually makes us so by the death of Christ (5:27; ; ).

A further blessing is predestination: that action of God in which He decides from eternity what will happen (; ; ). Saying He predestined us (v. 5) is nearly the same as saying He chose us. From eternity, predestination’s goal was that we would be adopted as sons (; Gl 3:26) when we believe (cf. ).

Furthermore, all these blessings are freely bestowed grace (v. 6; cf. vv. 7b–8a). They all come in and through Christ (vv. 3, 5, 6). And it is God’s will that His bestowal of grace should lead to worship (praise, glory).

P3. Worship Session pt. 2 (v. 7-14)

v. 7-8, we have redemption in Christ and our sins are covered and forgiven according to the riches of His grace, which he lavished on us (note v.6, twice Paul makes this point)

v. 8-10, In His wisdom and insight, God made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention, in Christ (note, v.5 and 9, God’s interactions with humanity, where we are saved and exposed to the truth He reveals, it is all based on His kind intention, we are absolutely dependent on Him)

v.11-12, we have our inheritance in Him, a gift established in the beginning according to His will, to the praise of His glory

v. 13-14, we who believe are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit, given to us as a pledge of our inheritance, for the purpose of redemption in God’s own possessions (v. 6, 12, 14, Paul’s worship session is clear through his repetition of “to the praise of His glory/ of the glory of His grace)

1:7–10. Predestination is from eternity, but these verses treat blessings that happen in time. First, redemption and redeem have to do with liberation from bondage or danger (e.g., Israel from Egypt, ; David from oppression, ). All people, however, need redemption from sin, for it enslaves us (; , ) and makes us liable to wrath (2:3; ). This kind of redemption comes only through Jesus Christ. The NT commonly uses blood to refer to Christ’s death (see ; ; ).

The second blessing is forgiveness of sins. Elsewhere in the NT forgiveness is seen as the content of salvation (4:32; ; ; ). Forgiveness, received by God’s grace, means no longer having to pay for one’s own sins.

The third blessing is knowledge of His will. Mystery refers to some aspect of God’s plan that was previously hidden but that has now been made known. In NT the word appears most in Ephesians (3:3, 4, 9; 5:32; 6:19; cf. ; ). His will pertains to His plan (administration) for all history (the fullness of the times, v. 10a). He makes Jesus Messiah the focus of all history and the One in and through whom God restores harmony to all creation.

1:11–12. There is a strong connection between we in v. 11 and we in v. 12. In v. 12 we is defined as those who were the first to hope in Christ, meaning Jewish believers. The Gospels and Acts show that Jewish Christians were the first to believe the gospel and receive the Spirit (cf. ). The phrase we have obtained an inheritance (v. 11; NASB) translates one word. Because of the word’s OT background and because it is passive, it is better translated “we were made His inheritance” (HCSB). That is, believing Israel has begun to fulfill its OT role and has received the spiritual blessing of being claimed as God’s portion or inheritance (; ).

God’s goal in choosing Israel as His inheritance was for them to glorify Him. This purpose was hinted at in the OT (; ) but because of disobedience was never fully accomplished. Now this purpose has been fulfilled in the gospel because He is sovereign—that is, He works all things according to the counsel of His will (v. 11).

1:13–14. But God’s inheritance is not limited to Israel. Here you also refers to Gentiles, the primary audience of the letter (2:11; 3:1). Because they heard and believed (cf. ), they also have received the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Concerning the Spirit, first, He seals. In the ancient world a seal both protected and announced ownership (cf. ). Thus, God’s own are fully secure and will most certainly receive eternal life (the inheritance). Second, He is the Spirit of promise because the OT promised He would be given (; ). Third, the Spirit is called a pledge (cf. ; ). He is a good faith deposit that guarantees future completion, that is, the redemption of God’s possession (; ). Finally, just as with Jews, so also Gentiles are to the praise of His glory.

v. 13The Spirit is called “the Holy Spirit of promise” in —not simply because he is the promised Spirit, but (as the context indicates) because to those whom he indwells he is himself the promise of resurrection life and all the heritage of glory associated with it. The most well known source of this teaching is . There “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead” will “quicken” the mortal bodies of those who believe in Jesus; as “the Spirit of adoption” he enables them to realize their privileges and responsibilities as sons and daughters of God against the day when they will be publicly revealed as such. This “revelation” (for which, says Paul, all creation eagerly waits in order to share “the liberty of the glory of the children of God”) coincides with “the redemption of our bodies”—that is, the resurrection. And of this consummation believers have already received the “first fruits” in the person of the Spirit. To the same effect Paul speaks in , with reference to believers’ coming investiture with their “heavenly dwelling”: “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

v. 13The Spirit is called “the Holy Spirit of promise” in —not simply because he is the promised Spirit, but (as the context indicates) because to those whom he indwells he is himself the promise of resurrection life and all the heritage of glory associated with it. The most well known source of this teaching is . There “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead” will “quicken” the mortal bodies of those who believe in Jesus; as “the Spirit of adoption” he enables them to realize their privileges and responsibilities as sons and daughters of God against the day when they will be publicly revealed as such. This “revelation” coincides with “the redemption of our bodies”—that is, the resurrection. And of this consummation believers have already received the “first fruits” in the person of the Spirit. To the same effect Paul speaks in , with reference to believers’ coming investiture with their “heavenly dwelling”: “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

This is precisely the doctrine of the Spirit in Ephesians. It is the distinctively Pauline doctrine, not merely the more general Christian doctrine. Believers, both Jewish and Gentile, have been “sealed” with the Spirit, who is the “guarantee” of their inheritance, pending God’s redemption of his own possession (). This collocation of “seal” and “guarantee” has already appeared in : “God has sealed us and set the guarantee of the Spirit in our hearts.” The sealing is coincident with their believing; the occasion is that indicated in , when “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and were all watered with one Spirit.”

These words of sum up the other aspect of Paul’s distinctive doctrine of the Spirit. Baptism in the Spirit (the baptizer being Christ himself) is not simply an individual experience; it is the divine act by which believers in Christ are incorporated into his body. Incorporation into Christ is implied by Paul elsewhere, when he speaks of being “baptized into Christ” (; ) or “putting on Christ” (; ), but it is in that the Spirit’s part in this experience finds clearest expression. This is the teaching that underlies the injunction of , to “preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”; this “unity of the Spirit” is the unity of the body of Christ into which the people of Christ are baptized in his Spirit, for (in the words that follow immediately) “there is one body and one Spirit” ().

Bruce, F. F. (1984). The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (pp. 234–235). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Overview: Paul gives glory to God by praising God’s kindness and grace to sinners, redeeming Christians and gifting them with an inheritance, mentioned multiple times. Note, this plan was a long time in the making; not sporadic or some emotional outburst on God’s part. What is also important to observe is that this passage reveals the full Godhead at work in the lives of Christians. The fullness of the Trinitarian God is 100% involved in the salvation of mankind. This sort of truth must result in praise, adoration and worship towards God.

If you accidentally walk into heavy traffic and someone comes and pushes you out of the way of a truck, dying in your place, so that you may live, such an action would demand some sort of response beyond mere apathy.

Ephesians 1:1-14

Blessings in Christ