Ephesians 1:1-13

Steps Class Sunday School at Hillside Baptist Church

Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago • Presented 4 years ago

Ephesians

Will of God

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Steps Class Sunday School Study in Ephesians

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Ephesians

Second Slide

Third Slide

When did you decide to be born? Did you make a mistake?

When was a time that someone went far out of their way to help you and you didn’t expect it?

Do you like giving good things to your kids? Do they always deserve it?

Ephesians 1:1–3 CSB

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.

Verses 1 & 2

Ephesians 1:1–2 CSB

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

What do you notice from this verse?

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will:

To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will:

Let’s meet Paul again—>

Who was Paul?

The “apostle to the Gentiles”, Paul converted from Judaism by an encounter with the risen Christ. Paul planted and corresponded with churches through much of the Mediterranean. In his letters, Paul stresses the universality of the gospel, which knows no distinction between Jew and Gentile, and the effects of Christian faith upon life and conduct.

Paul, previously known as Saul, had been a zealous persecutor of the church, but an encounter with the risen Christ (c. A.D. 35) led to his becoming the apostle to the Gentiles, with a mission to proclaim the gospel throughout the Gentile world. He was probably martyred during the persecutions of Nero, possibly in A.D. 67.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will:

But what is God’s will?

Paul makes it explicit here what he will lay out further along. It is great news to be chosen by God!! Paul didn’t deserve to be chosen. He’s basically the enemy of Jesus. But by God’s will he changed.

It is God’s will to make him faithful (like the faithful saints) and to make him an apostle*.

*apostle is those whom Jesus Christ has sent. Paul refers to a number of people as apostles, all who carried the good news on behalf of the risen Lord they had seen.

To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus.

Unlike most of his letters, Paul adds the word “faithful” (or believing). Late in his ministry, he had seen many fall away or betray him personally. The Ephesians, however, were indeed faithful to Jesus.

What do you notice from verse 2?

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

Paul will use “grace” 12 times in Ephesians. It’s how we get the gift of faith. It’s how we are saved. Our riches come from Jesus’ grace. We give grace with good words, and with love.

*Grace is an undeserved special favor. We get it (salvation, blessing, faith, peace) and we give it (love, kindness).

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

“our father” —> adoption as real children is primary message of Paul in this letter.

Grace and peace come from the Father and our Lord (Yahweh) Jesus (Ya-saves) Christ (Messiah). The Spirit will guide us later on.

Application of Verses 1 & 2

In a phrase we have grown used to, Paul pronounces a blessing on his audience “from God our Father.” That God the Father is our Father should be seen as the most extraordinary privilege imaginable. Both the OT and NT testify that God acts as a Father to his people in the most persistently loving fashion: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; … As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him” (Psa 103:11–13). The Sovereign God of the universe intimately and tenderly identifies with us his adopted children, who were once “children of wrath” (2:3). This is all brought about through the mediation of the second person named in the benediction: “grace to you and peace from God our Father and from Jesus Christ.” (EEC)

Verses 1:3-13

Ephesians 1:3-13

Ephesians 1:3–13 CSB

3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. 11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.

Deuteronomy 7:6-10

Deuteronomy 7:6–10 CSB

6 For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 “The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands. 10 But he directly pays back and destroys those who hate him. He will not hesitate to pay back directly the one who hates him.

What do you notice from verses 3-6

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.

What do you notice in verses 7-10?

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.

What do you notice in verses 11-13?

In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.

Application of Verses 3-13

Ephesians: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary Application and Devotional Implications

Application and Devotional Implications

Paul recounts three times in 1:3–14 how God’s incredible redemption, revealed and accomplished in Christ, redounds “for the praise of the glory of his grace” (v. 6) and “for praise of his glory” (vv. 12, 14). For this reason, Paul not only recounts these as facts, but he is here praising the glory of his grace in the benedictionform: “Blessed (be) the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ …” Here doctrine and practice meet in sweet fellowship of grateful praise.

Ephesians 1:3–14 is a very full passage with many other recurring themes: “[E]very blessing of the Spirit … you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,” “In love he predestined us … we were predestined according to his plan,” and “according to the good pleasure of his will … according to his good pleasure which he purposed … according to his plan … in accordance with the counsel of his will.” The most prominent recurrence occurs at the end of each of the periods: “In Christ … before him … his grace … his grace … his good pleasure … in him … in Christ … the promised Holy Spirit … his glory.” Each of these words ends with one or more long syllables, mirroring the divine dignity of the subject matter. All focus in this passage of praise is on God in Christ through the Spirit.

Time and again, Paul emphasizes God’s initiative in planning, ordaining, executing, and then revealing our redemption. In fact, the only thing we contribute is hearing and believing (v. 13), and these are themselves the reception of grace, not initiatory or meritorious actions (cf. 2:8–10). In all other cases, the Father is the subject of the other acts: he blesses, chooses, predestines, purposes, forgives (v. 7), lavishes grace, seals, and redeems his treasured possession, among the many other things given here. The monergism of redemption cannot be expressed any more clearly (cf. 1 Cor 1:26–31; Hodge, 38).

To make the initiative of God even more profoundly understood, Paul expresses in v. 4 that this was “before the foundation of the world.” There can be no mistaking that God originates his grace from his eternally conceived plan (vv. 9, 11). And Paul emphasizes, again through repetition, that this plan conforms only to God’s “good pleasure” (εὐδοκία, eudokia; vv. 5, 9), “will” (v. 5; cf. v. 9a), and “the council of his will” (v. 11) rather than to any external forces or other considerations. This is a large part of how we are to understand grace.

Grace is certainly at the heart of our passage, as can be seen in these interlocking phrases: “for praise of the glory of his grace which he bestowed on us in his Beloved … according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us” (vv. 6–8).