Ephesians1:1-14

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:   Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  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, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.  In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

GOD’S CALL

• To Paul

• “Apostle” means “one called and sent forth on a very special mission.  A messenger.

• To the church

• “Saints” means “to be set apart, consecrated”
• “Faithful” means “to have placed our faith in Jesus Christ”

Ephesians 4:24 – “and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Colossians 3:10 – “and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

GOD’S BLESSINGS ARE SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS

• Of the Spirit
• Permanent and perfect
• Found only in Christ

GOD HAS CHOSEN US TO BE HOLY (SET APART) AND BLAMELESS (FREE FROM SIN, WITHOUT BLEMISH)

1 Peter 1:15-16 – “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

2 Peter 3:11 – “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?”

Colossians 1:21-22 – “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”

1 Thessalonians 3:13 – “so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”

GOD HAS ADOPTED US AS SONS AND DAUGHTERS

• “Predestination” means “to predetermine, to appoint before”
• “Adoption means” “to place as a son”

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Romans 10:13 – “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’”

2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Romans 8:28 – “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

GOD HAS REDEEMED US

• “Redemption” means “to set a man free by paying a ransom”
• Man is in bondage
• Man cannot free himself
• God has paid the ransom – His son’s death on the cross

Romans 3:24 – “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

1 Corinthians 6:20 – “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Colossians 1:14 – “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

GOD HAS GIVEN US WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING

• “Wisdom” means “seeing and knowing the truth”

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 – “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’  But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?  Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.  For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

James 1:5 – “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

GOD HAS REVEALED THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL TO US

• This is the main theme of Ephesians.  A “mystery” in the Bible is not something mysterious and hard to understand.  It is a truth that has been opened up to man.  A truth revealed by God to man that man had not understood before.  The “mystery” of God’s will is the Church, with Christ as its head.

Galatians 4:4 – “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”

Ephesians 3:9-11 – “and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

2 Corinthians 5:19-21 – “that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Ephesians 4:11-12 – “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

GOD HAS GIVEN US AN INHERITANCE

Malachi 3:17 – “They shall be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, ‘On the day that I make them My jewels.
and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’”

Ephesians 2:19-21 – “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”

1 Peter 2:9 – “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

GOD HAS SEALED US WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

Romans 8:16 – “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

2 Corinthians 1:22 – “who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

Galatians 4:6 – “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”