Sermon Tone Analysis

*/Ephesians 1:3 /*

 

Last time we finished the Prologue which included the author, the recipients, the destination and the greeting.

First the

 

Recipients (1:1b):

 

We found that Paul was writing to “saints” and that “saints” are those who have been “set apart to God”.

“Saints” are not a special class of believers but it is a title that refers to all believers.

It doesn’t mean without sin.

The Bible does not teach perfectionism.

Destination (1:1b)

 

These “saints” were living in western Asia Minor in the major city of Ephesus.

Some scholars claim that the words “in Ephesus” are not in the original since 3 manuscripts do not contain the words.

But, this has so little manuscript support that the Holy Spirit sure did a poor job of preserving the text if that were so.

Thus, the letter is a local letter, written in such a way that these more advanced believers would be able to learn to creatively apply doctrine.

We also know that this church in Ephesus was primarily Gentile, about 98%.

Paul had been accustomed to working with Jews who already had a strong OT background but in Ephesus Paul ran into the problem of a mass of Gentiles becoming believers who had little to no OT background.

So, Paul had to find a place, somewhere firm, to ground them.

What Paul found was that Gentile believers have to be grounded in the eternal counsels of God.

Jews had the grounds of Abraham and the extensive history of the nation of Israel, but here Paul is dealing with a mixed up history of pagan idolatry.

So, Paul goes all the way back to the eternal counsels of God in order to ground Gentile Christianity.

On this ground Gentiles could move forward in the Christian life.

The particular truths Paul is going to emphasize in the coming verses are predestination and selection of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit.

So, Paul is going to ground Gentile Christianity in the work of the Triunity of God.

The Explanation of Saints (1:1b)

 

We found that Paul calls these saints “believers”.

Paul is not making two groups, one larger or smaller group of saints and then one smaller group of faithful, but rather he is saying that the saints are believers “in Christ Jesus” not OT saints like Apollos had been.

It should be translated “to the saints who are in Ephesus, that is, believers in Christ Jesus”.

The word for “faithful” and “believers” is the same Greek word */pistois/*.

It can be translated either way.

To become a Christian one must “believe” in Jesus Christ is identical to saying one must have “faith” in Jesus Christ.

The context determines that what Paul meant here was “believers” not a select group of “faithful”.

This has to do with the epexegetical */kai/*.

Further, the question was raised as to who was “in Christ Jesus”?

Was it the “believers” only?

Or was it both the “believers” and the “saints”?

We concluded that it was both the “believers” and “saints” for two reasons: 1) the grammar identifies saints as believers so they both have to be in Christ since they refer to the same group and 2) because there is a definite article before “saints” but not before “believers” indicating that both are of the same group.

So, if you are a believer here tonight you are a saint and you are “in Christ Jesus.

What does it mean to be “in Christ Jesus”?

It means to be put in union with Christ.

It means you are now united to Christ.

Who or what is Christ Jesus?

Well, “Christ” is the Greek equivalent of /mashiach /or “Messiah”, the promised Redeemer of Israel.

Christ is the anointed one of God sent to set the captives free.

You and I are born into the world held captive to sin and Christ came to set us free from the captivity of sin.

That makes Christ a Redeemer.

Well, who then is “Jesus”?

Jesus is the human name of the Redeemer.

Christ is not Jesus’ last name but it is properly a title.

The Greeting (1:2)

 

Paul then gives the greeting which comes from early church liturgy and used in 8 of Paul’s other epistles.

He begins with the words “grace and peace”.

“Grace” is “unmerited favor”, “peace” is that which results.

Even though you were an enemy of God He extended “grace” to you and your reception of that “grace” results in “peace”.

You are no longer God’s enemy (*polemos*) but His ally; you’ve been bound to Him in an unbreakable treaty.

“Grace and peace” are always without exception in this order in the NT.

Grace is the cause of peace, they stand in proper order.

Where do grace and peace come from?

The preposition *apo* indicates source and that source is both God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice it’s not God THE Father, but God OUR Father.

God is the Father of the Son but He is also the Father of all saints.

This indicates the personal relationship you as a believer have with the Father through His Son.

Grace and peace also come from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The title “Lord” means “power”, “might” and points to His omnipotence and sovereignty over the universe.

Deity of Christ

 

We found that some use this last verse to deny the Deity of Christ.

It is said that only the Father is called God and the Son is not called God.

We looked at 4 verses that explicitly identify the Son with God: Heb.

1:8 the Father says to the Son, “Thy throne, O God is forever”.

So, God the Father calls the Son God.

The 2nd reference was 1 John 5:20 where “Jesus Christ” is called “the true God and life eternal”.

The pronoun *outos* refers to Christ and Jesus is called the “truth” and the “life” in John 14:6 so nothing would be odd about calling Jesus Christ the “true God and life eternal” as here.

The last two examples employed what we call the Granville Sharp rule, named after Mr. Sharp who was a strong student of the Scriptures and particularly of the deity of Christ.

He found the repetitive patter of Article-Substantive-Connective Kai-Substantive.

Whenever he found this and the two nouns were singular and of the same case both nouns referred to the same person.

Two texts specifically use Sharp’s rule to show the deity of Christ; namely Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1.

Titus 2:13 says “of the great God and Savior of us, Jesus Christ” and 2 Peter 1:1 says “of the God of us and Savior, Jesus Christ”.

Both texts are significant and explicit references of the deity of Christ.

Tonight we turn our attention to v. 3, the Praise for God’s Planned Spiritual Blessings.

*B.

Praise for God’s Planned Spiritual Blessings (1:3-14)*

 

*/Greek Text: /**/1:3 /**/Euvloghto.j

o` qeo.j kai.

path.r

tou~/ kuri,ou h`mw~/n VIhsou~/ Cristou~/( o` euvlogh,saj h`ma~/j evn pa,sh| euvlogi,a| pneumatikh~/| evn toi~/j evpourani,oij evn Cristw~/|(/*

*Translation: 1:3 **Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ,  *

 

*Commentary: *This verse is the introduction and the summary of the whole eulogy (1:3-14).

Typically after the greeting Paul enters into a prayer of thanksgiving (OVERHEAD) here he deviates from the normal structure with an extended eulogy followed by the prayer of thanksgiving (1:15-23).

In 2 Cor.

1:3-4 Paul replaces his thanksgiving with a eulogy.

The only other NT book to follow this structure is 1 Peter 1:3-12.

Interestingly, in all three books which begin with a eulogy this identical phrase introduces the eulogy.

The eulogy here in Ephesians is the longest sentence in the Greek NT spanning from v. 3.

Your version probably breaks it up into 3 sentences (4-6, 7-10b, 10c-14) but in the Greek it is a single sentence weaving together in a logical sequence the work of the Trinity in Redemption.

However long this sentence, there are seven other long sentences in Ephesians (e.g.

15-23; 2:1-7; 3:2-13, 14-19; 4:1-6, 11-16; 6:14-20) and some longer in classical Greek.

*Euvloghto.j o` qeo.j kai.

path.r

tou~/ kuri,ou h`mw~/n VIhsou~/ Cristou**, *“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

The word *Euvloghto.j

*(/eulogetos/) means “blessed” or “praised” and we get our word “eulogy” from this Greek word.

God is blessed for who He is and also for what He has done for the saints.