Ephesians 1:1-6 sunday school lesson

Ephesians 1:1–5 KJV 1900

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: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Some information before we get started.

In the past all of the transcripts of this letter that had been found were addressed to Ephesians until more recently when 10 transcripts were found without the title of the address to anyone

The others that were found were left blank as if the writer wanted someone to add a name of address to them.

Yet, 10 manuscripts is hardly enough to over through the overwhelming evidence of this book going to Ephesus a few have tried.

The more likely scenario is that these were ancient copies made with the intent of sending to other churches after the original.

Or even that Paul had written this mainly to Ephesus but then sent it to a couple other churches he felt could benefit from it.

v.1-2

Ephesians 1:1–2 KJV 1900

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: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul address is pretty easy to get as it usually is.

Paul’s adress follows an important pattern that he almost always does.

I. Paul says “I” am a servant/slave/apostle of Jesus Christ.

II. Paul says, this letter is intended for Ephesus.

III. This letter is also included for anyone who is faithful in the word (that is us)

Iv. Paul greets his readers, (v.2)

What do you notice about Paul’s greeting that can be beneficial to you?

Ephesians 1:3 NKJV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Now Paul begins verse three by by giving God glory.

What Paul is doing here is two things.

This verse is

Statement about our need to “bless” or praise God.

God’s blessings to us that we do not deserve.

In overall the mission of this one verse could be worded as “Paul wants the believers to worship God as God has given them much”

How do you bless God according to verse three?

Ephesians 1:4 KJV 1900

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

So God has chosen us, what does that mean to you?

Now we have to put the entirety of the verse together to understand it and then we have to tie it to overall scripture.

many use this verse as a reason to feel special and say God has chosen me for salvation before I was saved but he hasn’t someone else.

This is very far from the truth.

Here is the reality.

2 Peter 3:9 KJV 1900

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

it would be impossible for all to be able to come to repentance if this false belief were true.

In reality, here is what we are talking about.

God has chosen us, but not thew way you may be thinking.

Before the creation of the world God has chosen us so that whoever will follow him in faith and repentance will be his children.

Ephesians 1:5 NKJV

having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Here is the verse that everyone that believes that uses but we already have an argument against it. watch this.

Having predestined us to adoption - All who choose to follow Him, it is already determined that whoever follows Jesus Christ by faith and repentance will spend eternity in heaven and be “adopted” into the kingdom of the Lord.