Greetings Paul wrote this letter as one who was specially chosen and sent by the Lord himself (Acts 9:10-16). He wrote to the saints in Ephesus. A saint is one sanctified, or set apart, for God's service (1 Corinthians 6:11). Sanctification is an ongoing process God is completing in us as long as w... [ Continue Reading ]
Spiritual Blessings Are In Christ We owe God thanksgiving and praise because of all the spiritual blessings we have in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The expression "in the heavenly places" occurs four other times in this epistle (Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 2:6; Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 6:12). Here... [ Continue Reading ]
God's Sons By Adoption Under Roman law, a Roman citizen could take one not his child by birth and make him his child through a legal act properly attested to and witnessed. The child would thereby gain all the rights and privileges of a son in the family. Similarly, those who because of their sinfu... [ Continue Reading ]
Redeemed A redemption price is paid to buy something back. As Lipscomb says, in this case it is to rescue from bondage to the devil. It is in Christ and through his blood particularly, that we find release from, or forgiveness of, sins (Hebrews 9:22; 1 Peter 1:18-20; Matthew 26:28; John 19:31-34; Ro... [ Continue Reading ]
God's Purpose God was not rushed, or delayed, in the carrying out of his purpose. Instead, when the time was ripe, full or ready, God sent Jesus. He sent him to die, shed his blood, be buried and raised. Then, all the things that had been divided by man's rebellion could be united in Christ (Ephesi... [ Continue Reading ]
A Divine Inheritance Paul went on to show the gathering together of the previous verses includes the Jews who had been God's chosen ones under Moses' law, thus he uses "we." The word "works" means God continually works. Notice, again it is those "in" Christ who will be a part of God's prearranged p... [ Continue Reading ]
The Spirit's Part In Man's Redemption If the "we" of Ephesians 1:11 is the Jews, then, the "you" of Ephesians:1:13 is the Gentiles. They too trusted in Christ once they heard the gospel preached and believed. In John 3:36, the A.S.V. has, "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that... [ Continue Reading ]
Reason For Thanksgiving We have already seen that Paul worked among them and so knew of them firsthand. Perhaps he had not seen any of them since he saw the elders when he called them to Miletus (Acts 20:17 ff). However, he was thankful that he had heard of their faith which was rooted in the Lord,... [ Continue Reading ]
A Prayer For Further Understanding The prayer Paul started in the previous two verses is continued in 1:17. Lipscomb notes God is often referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3:6; Exodus 4:5; 1 Chronicles 29:18; Acts 3:13). However, Paul now calls him "the God of our Lord Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
God's Greatness To show God's ability to accomplish his purpose, Paul uses six different Greek words in describing his power. The word "exceeding" and "greatness" come from the original huperbalo and megethos respectively. According to Thayer, they mean "to transcend, surpass, exceed, excel" and "g... [ Continue Reading ]