Ephesians Chapter One

Ephesians 1:1 KJV (WS)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

The Exegesis of Ephesians

Chapter 1

Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament - Volume 1.

apostellō, (Apostle)

to send one off on a commission to do something as one's representative

 hagios.(Saints)

 Paul addresses his letter "to the saints." 

 He was confined to the Greek language. There it

meant "devoted to the gods." 

    The term was also used of persons who were

devoted to the service of a god, separated to the

service of the god, thus, hagios, consecrated,

     hagios when applied to God signifies "His opposition to sin

manifesting itself in atonement and redemption or in

judgment

    The words, "saint, sanctify, sanctification, hallow,

holy, holiness" in the New Testament are all

translations of this same Greek root hagi.

    The verb means "to set apart for God," and refers to the

act of the Holy Spirit setting apart for God the sinner who

has responded to salvation. He is, as such, looked upon as

a non-secular person, a distinctively religious person, in

that he has been set apart for God, His worship and

service. It is easy to see that this set apart position of

separateness demands a separation of life in his

experience, separation from the age system of evil,

separation in his own sphere of life from everything that

would interfere in the least from the worship and service

which is due to the God to whom he is set apart. This is a

saint in the Bible sense of the term.

 pistos (Faith)

These saints are described as "the faithful in Christ Jesus."

The Greek word is pistos It is the word used when the New

Testament writers speak of a sinner exercising faith in the

Lord Jesus.

Charis (Grace)

implied ever a favor freely done, without claim or

expectation of return.

    All the human race could expect in view of its sin, was the

righteous wrath of a holy God, that and eternal

banishment from His glorious presence. But instead, that

holy God stepped down from His judgment seat and took

upon Himself at Calvary's Cross, the guilt and penalty of

human sin, thus satisfying His justice and making

possible the bestowal of His mercy. And this He did, not for

those who were His friends, but His bitter enemies,

unlovely creatures saturated with sin.

eirēnē (Peace)

Peace" is another word rich in meaning. The Greek noun is

eirēnē, the verb, eirō.  Peace is defined by Cremer as

follows: "a state of untroubled, undisturbed wellbeing. It

is used in contrast to strife, and to denote the absence or

end of strife. Our Lord "made peace through the blood of

His cross" (Col. 1:20) in that He by His death, satisfied the

just demands of the law which we broke, thus making it

possible for a righteous and holy God to bestow mercy

upon a believing sinner and do so without violating His

justice. Our Lord thus bound together again the believing

sinner and God, thus making peace. There is therefore a

state of untroubled, undisturbed wellbeing for the sinner

who places his faith in the Saviour. Therefore, the peace

he is speaking about is sanctifying peace, that state of

untroubled, undisturbed tranquility and wellbeing

produced in the heart of the yielded saint by the Holy

Spirit (Gal. 5:22). We have this peace to the extent that we

are yielded to the Spirit and are intelligently conscious of

and dependent upon His ministry for us.

1:3-4

BLESSED