Ephesians Series - #1
Notes
Transcript
Ephesians 1:3-14
Ephesians 1:3-14
3 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, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.
—> We begin our series in Ephesians not by looking at ourselves but by looking fully at God.
He says God has blessed us … with every spiritual blessing (3b); predestined us to be adopted as his sons (5) and made known to us the mystery of his will (9).
The sections built around these clauses (3b–4; 5–6 and 9–10) actually provide the core of what Paul is saying. In each case, the focus is on the Father’s action (i.e. he is the subject of the verb), and the point is that God is to be seen as worthy of praise precisely because he has performed the actions concerned.
In the other three sections, God is not the subject of the actions, rather the focus is on what ‘we’ (all Christians) have received in the Son (7–8; 11–12), or on what the readers have begun to experience through the Spirit (13–14; note the change to ‘you’), as a consequence of God’s action.
3 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, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
—> God has blessed us with Spiritual blessings!
—> The realization that what’s to come is far better than what we have hear.
—> As a “Predestination” passage this doesn’t apply to individuals, notice the language in verse 4. “he chose us in Christ” “us” meaning the church, a people, not an individual.
5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
—> God adopts us and makes us new!
—> We are bought and paid for.
—> Paul emphasizes adoption to help all his hearers understand that this is for everyone. Jew and Gentile.
9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
—> God has let us know the plan!
—> We are included.