Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

• Ephesians 1:1-23

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Ephesians 1:1-3 ‘you in Christ’: ”Paul’s epistles change from ‘Christ in you’ to ‘you in Christ:’ In Ephesians through Philemon, we discover what it means for us to be in Christ and to share the body life of the church, the body of Christ. Thus, the great theme of this letter concerns the believer in Christ and the believer’s relationship to fellow members of the body.
After the salutation in the first two verses of Ephesians, Paul sets the tone for his epistle. …
It is easy to misunderstand the phrase ‘the heavenly realms;’ which appears several times in this letter. If you interpret this only as a reference to heaven after we die, you’ll miss the main thrust of Paul’s message in Ephesians. While this phrase does include the fact that we are going to heaven someday, it speaks primarily about the life we are to live right now, here on earth. The heavenly realms are not off in some distant corner of space or on some planet or star. They are simply the realms of invisible reality in which the Christian lives right now, in contact with God and in conflict with the satanic realms in which we are daily engaged. “

• Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible

Ephesians 1:2 ‘Grace to you and peace’: “A common greeting in the early church which Paul used in all his letters. God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. From them came the authority with which Paul spoke (v. 1), as well as the blessings of grace and peace to all believers. The conjunction and indicates equivalence; that is, the Lord Jesus Christ is equally divine with the Father.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Ephesians 1:3 ‘God is infinitely blessed’: “How can we bless God? God blesses us with all spiritual blessings, but we cannot give him any blessings. He needs nothing at our hand, and if he did, we could not give it. He is infinitely blessed already; we cannot add to his blessedness. When he blesses us, he gives us a blessedness we never had before. But when we bless him, we cannot, by one iota, increase his absolutely infinite perfection. “

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Ephesians 1:4 ‘He chose us’: “The doctrine of election is emphasized throughout Scripture  (cf. Deut. 7:6; Is. 45:4; John 6:44; Acts 13:48; Rom 8:29; 9:11; 1 Thess. 1:3, 4; 2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim 2:10; see … 1 Pet. 1:2). The form of the Greek verb behind ‘chose’ indicates that God not only chose by Himself but for Himself to the praise of His own glory (vv. 6, 12, 14). God’s election or predestination does not operate apart from or nullify man’s responsibility to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior (cf. Matt. 3:1, 2; 4:17; John 5:40). before the foundation of the world. Through God’s sovereign will before the creation of the world and, therefore, obviously independent of human influence and apart from any human merit, those who are saved have become eternally united with Christ Jesus. Cf. 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8; 17:8. holy and without blame before Him. This describes both a purpose and a result of God’s choosing those who are to be saved. Unrighteous persons are declared righteous, and unworthy sinners are declared worthy of salvation, all because they are chosen ‘in Him’ (Christ). This refers to Christ’s imputed righteousness granted to us (see … 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9), a perfect righteous­ ness which places believers in a holy and blameless position before God (5:27; Col. 2:10), though daily living inevitably falls far short of His holy standard. in love. This phrase belongs at the start of verse 5, since it introduces the divine motive for God’s elective purpose. Cf. 2:4; Deuteronomy 7:8.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Ephesians 1:6 ‘God’s glorious Grace’: “God is essentially glorious. When God glorifies his grace, he glorifies his whole character. Grace becomes a platform upon which all the perfections of deity exhibit themselves, and grace becomes a light which shines on all the rest; and they, albeit bright enough in themselves, seem to be doubly bright when they glow in its brilliance.“

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Ephesians 1:7 ‘Grace and Freedom Now’: “The apostle spoke of present blessings, matters of actual experience. The grace of the eternal past is a matter of faith, but here is something within our grasp and enjoyment. The other we believe, but this we actually and literally receive. We do not hope for it, but we have it. We do not merely think so, but we know we have it. We are redeemed. We are free from bondage. We are forgiven and are no longer under condemnation.“

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Ephesians 1:7 ‘freedom through submission’: “Jesus spoke of freedom, but he spoke of a different kind of freedom: the type of freedom that comes not through power but through submission. Not through control but through surrender. Not through possessions but through open hands.
“God wants to emancipate his people; he wants to set them free. He wants his people to be not slaves but sons. He wants them governed not by law but by love.
“We have been liberated from our own guilt and our own legalism. We have the freedom to pray and the freedom to love the God of our heart. And we have been forgiven by the only one who could condemn us. We are truly free! “

• Max Lucado, Walking with the Savior

Ephesians 1:9-12 ‘Summing up all Things in Christ’: “The Lord performed this marvelous work of salvation ‘with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth’ (verse10). The Greek word oikonomia means ‘house law, economy, administration, or dispensation.’ More than likely the apostle Paul is not refer­ ring to the various earthly dispensations but to the time when all of history is concluded in the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees the present church dispensation as the next-to-the-last period before eternity. The ‘summing up’ I probably not a reference to the last dispensation, the kingdom, but to the eternal state. This is so because Paul says that this summation includes both ‘things in the heavens and things upon the earth.’ There may be some disagreement on this. For example, Walvoord writes, ‘Paul revealed that it is an important part of God’s ultimate purpose of bringing all things under Christ’ (Prophecy Knowledge Handbook, p. 469).”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Ephesians 1:10 ‘Nothing Gets Lost’ : ”A verse is going around repeatedly in my head: ‘Brother, come; from all that grieves you / you are freed; / all you need / I again will bring you.’ What does this mean: ‘All you need I again will bring you’? Nothing is lost; in Christ everything is lifted up, preserved-to be sure, in a different form-transparent, clear, freed from the torment of self-seeking desire. Christ will bring all of this again, and as it was originally intended by God, with­ out the distortion caused by our sin. The teaching of the gathering up of all things, found in Ephesians 1:10, is a wonderful and thoroughly comforting idea. ‘God seeks out what has gone by’ (Eccl. 3:15) receives here its fulfillment. And no one has expressed that as simply and in such a childlike way as Paul Gerhardt in the words that he places in the mouth of the Christ child: ‘All you need I again will bring you.’ Moreover, for the first time in these days I have discovered for myself the song, ‘Beside your cradle here I stand.’ Until now I had not thought much about it. Apparently you have to be alone a long time and read it meditatively to be able to perceive it. … Beside the ‘we’ there is also still an ‘I’ and Christ, and what that means cannot be said better than in this song.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

Ephesians 1:11 ‘In Him we have also obtained an inheritance’: “Christ is the Source of the believer’s divine inheritance, which is so certain that it is spoken of as if it has already been received. Cf. 1 Corinthians 3:22, 23; 2 Peter 1:3, 4. being predestined. Before the earth was formed, God sovereignly deter­ mined that every elect sinner-however vile, useless, and deserving of death-by trusting in Christ would be made righteous. See note on verse 4. who works all things. The word translated ‘works’ is the same one from which energy, energetic, and energize are de­ rived. When God created the world, He gave it sufficient energy to begin immediately to operate as He had planned. It was not simply ready to function, but was created functioning. As God works out His plan according ‘to the counsel of His will,’ He energizes every believer with the power necessary for spiritual completion (cf. Phil 1:6; 2:13).’

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30 ‘Our Eternal Inheritance’: “After listening to the truth, the gospel of salvation, those who believed are ‘sealed in Him [in Christ] with the Holy Spirit of promise’ (Ephesians 1:13). This ‘sealing’ (Greek, sphragizo) is accomplished at the moment of belief. The illustration used here is chat of an official government wax seal used to close a scroll chat can only be opened by the recipient to whom it is addressed. Believers ‘were sealed for the day of redemption’ (4:30). The coming of the Spirit was prophesied or promised to the disciples just before the ascension of Christ (Acts 1:4; 2:33), and not only would the Spirit spiritually baptize all believers ‘into one body,’ the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-14), but He would also be ‘a pledge’ (Greek, arrobon), a surety, the guarantor of our inheritance, ‘with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory’ (Ephesians 1:14). The security of a child of God is not based on his or her goodness or perfection, but on the work of Christ at the cross. Through Him, believers are justified and have the promise of someday being glorified (Romans 8:30).
To make sure the readers of this letter understand chat God is honored and recognized in giving to Him ‘the praise of His glory,’ Paul makes this point three times (Ephesians r:6,12,14). Salvation in Christ came about because of the eternal plan ‘which [God] purposed in Him’ (verse 9). Redemption came by ‘the riches of His grace which He lavished on us’ (verses 7-8). The apostle Paul cannot say enough about the grace of the Lord, which saves even the most wretched of sinners. The church is part of the grand purpose of God in Christ, and salvation is the great redemptive scheme that would bring deliverance to both the Jew and to the Gentile (3:6-8). This deliverance is available to any individual who chooses to call upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13).”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Ephesians 1:14 ‘God’s infinity’: “Grace is infinite, but I don’t want you to strain to understand infinitude. I had the temerity to preach on infinitude a few times, and I got along all right-at least I got along all right. Let’s try to measure it against ourselves, not against God. God never measures anything in Himself against anything else in Himself. That is, God never measures His grace against His justice or His mercy against His love. God is all one. But God measures His grace against our sin. ‘Grace … hath abounded unto many,’ says Romans 5:15, ‘according to the riches of his grace’ (Ephesians 1:7). And, says Romans 5 again, ‘But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound’ (5:20). God says ‘much more abound,’ but God has no degrees. Man has degrees.”

• A. W. Tozer, The Attributes of God I

Ephesians 1:15-22 ‘The Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ’: “Paul tells the believers in Ephesus that he does ‘not cease giving thanks’ for them, ‘making mention [of them] … in [his] prayers’ (Ephesians 1:15-16). His desire for them is that ‘the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him’ (verse 17). The apostle wants believers to be fortified with certain spiritual truths about Christian living. He wants them to have bee ‘enlightened’ (Greek, photizo) in order that they may know 1) the hope of God’s calling (verse 18), 2) the riches of the glory of His inheritance (verse 18), and 3) the surpassing greatness of His power toward the child of God (verse 19). The knowledge of these workings of the Lord in the lives of believers ‘are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might” (verse 19).”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Ephesians 1:18-20 ‘Spiritual eyes in the heart’: “Divine things are usually better seen by the heart than by understanding. God has revealed a thousand things which we shall never understand, and yet we can know them by a loving, trusting experience. The purifying of the heart is the enlightening of the spiritual eyes. Strange as it may seem, the true eye of the renewed man is seated in the heart rather than in the head. Holy affections enable us to see and, as far as possible, to understand divine things.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Ephesians 1:22-23 ‘The Church is the Body’: “In Ephesians, Paul uses six metaphors to explain the nature of the church, the nature of the Christian, in relationship to Jesus Christ. In the first of these metaphors, he refers to the church as a body.  …
The first chapter of Ephesians is devoted to the wonder and amazement that we as ordinary, flawed, sin-drenched human beings should be called by God, in a most amazing way, to become members of His body. The apostle Paul never got over his amazement that he, a bowlegged, bald-headed, half-blind former persecutor of the church, should become a member of the Lord’s own body. He seemed continually astonished by the fact that God had called him before the foundation of the earth, and had blessed and equipped him with everything he needed to serve God.
What is the purpose of the body? Paul says that the body of Christ is to be ‘the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.’ Do you think of yourself that way? Do you dare to think of yourself the way God thinks of you-as a body to be filled with the fullness of God Himself? This is a realization that should transform our lives.”

• Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible

My Thoughts

Paul identifies himself here as an apostle by God’s will.  In other epistles, he uses other descriptors, such as a bond servant.  As Rev. MacArthur says, he greets them with Grace and peace.

Paul then praises them.  After all, God chose them.  They were predestined by God to bring all things under Christ.  They were part of God’s promise.

Then Paul gives thanks for them.  I like the Rev. Spurgeon quote above about the “eyes of the heart.”  Those eyes enlighten us.

Christ is at the right hand of God.

Rev. Stedman mentions that Paul has six metaphors for the church.  The first one is mentioned at the end of Ephesians 1.  Rather than keep you in suspense, the six metaphors are: 1) The church is the body; 2) The church is a temple; 3) The church is a mystery; 4) The church is a new self; 5) The church is a bride; and 6) The church is a soldier.  We will get to the other metaphors later.  But Paul discusses that we are, as a church, the body.

Jesus rules from heaven, but the body is the church, that is the fulness of God here on earth.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Ephesians 1:1-14 Spiritual Blessings in Christ 1. What excites you most about God’s relationship to you?
“2. How do you know if you are ‘chosen’? Knowing you are adopted, how will you view yourself and God differently?
“3. What changes in your lifestyle would help you live more effectively for the praise of God’s glory this week?
Ephesians 1:15-23 Thanksgiving and Prayer 1. How would you change if your group prayed verses 17-19 every week for each other? Try it and see.
“2. In light of the power available to Christians (v.19), what is your favorite excuse for ’operating on one or two cylinders’?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Ephesians 1 has two sets of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.