Ephesians 1:1-14: Gospel Basics
Part one of a four-part series from Urbana 06by Ajith Fernando
“Jesus is the atmosphere in which we live. We are surrounded by him, and we belong to him.”
[Tonight] we will start a study of the book of Ephesians. I will be starting with the first few verses; then you will look at the next verses in your small groups. This is a great book, and I look forward to being with you during the next few days, looking at some of the great things Paul has to say through this book.
FOUR FEATURES OF CHRISTIAN IDENTITY (1:1)
The way Paul starts his letter is typical of letter writing in those days. First, the author identifies himself. Second, the readers are identified, and third, there is a greeting from the author. So let’s look at verse 1.
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” (1:1a). So he introduces himself. He says he’s an apostle. Apostle means “a sent one” but in the early church they used the word apostle to mean someone who had been directly commissioned by Jesus Christ; someone who has been called to be one of those pioneers who was going to set the church in motion. So Paul is really establishing his credentials here.
Then he talks about the people who were going to receive this letter. He tells four things about those people, and those four things tell us something about the identity of who a Christian really is.
He starts by saying, “To God’s holy people in Ephesus” (1:1b). Now “God’s holy people” is really a translation of the word that is usually translated “saints”. The people receiving this letter were Saints. In six of Paul’s letters he calls the people who receive the letters “saints”. In other words, that’s an important identifying mark of a Christian. The word saint means someone who is set apart for God; someone who is holy.
Then we are told “who are in Ephesus.” (1:1). Ephesus was a city. Probably this letter was written to a whole heap of churches, of which Ephesus was one—but the main church. It was a circular letter. In all these letters he calls people saints or something like that, and then says, “You are in this place.”
A Christian has been separated for God. But God has now sent them into the
world to be his salt and light in that particular place. One scholar commenting
on this verse wrote, “Every Christian has a human address and a divine
address.” We belong to God, but God has sent us into this world.
Jesus said that even though we are not of this word he sends us into the world
to be holy people (John 17:14-18). In the same way, you are to be a Christian
in your dorm, in your classroom, in your job, in your home and in your neighborhood.
That is where you practice Christianity.
Next Paul says “… who are faithful” (1:1). Faithful means people of faith. This means that they are believers in Jesus. That’s how we become Christians—by believing in Jesus. We realize that we cannot run our own lives. In fact it is rebellion against God. It’s sin, and it’s going to be punished. Then we hear the gospel: that God loved us, and we do not need to be punished for our sins because he has been punished for our sin; and that this Jesus calls us to follow him as the lord of our lives. And we realize: this is the way to live. We repent of our past life and entrust ourselves to God. That is what it means to believe in Jesus. To realize that the life that I lived earlier is not going to get me anywhere; now I’m going to live for Jesus. Let me say this: if you feel you haven’t yet become a believer in Jesus, this would be a great place. For some of you, Urbana is going to be the place where God says to you, “Welcome home.”
Then Paul says “… who are faithful in Christ Jesus.” “…in Christ Jesus” is a favorite expression of Paul. Expressions like “in Christ” or “in the Lord” or “in him” appear 164 times in his writings and the largest number is in Ephesians: 36 times. It means that we are united with Christ. Not only do we follow him; he also lives in us and—amazingly—we live in him. He is the atmosphere of our lives.
The university where I studied had just been transformed from a Buddhist seminary into a full university. The President of the university was a Buddhist monk. Most of the students were Buddhists; there was just a handful in the whole university. My friends were quite intrigued about Christianity. They would ask me questions and I would talk with them. One time I told them that Jesus was my best friend. Now they were really intrigued by that. Sometimes they would ask me, “Hey, did you speak to your best friend today?”
And I would tell them, “Yes.” And it was the sense that Jesus was with me all the time that helped me not only to survive as a Christian, but also to enjoy my time in college. Jesus is the atmosphere in which we live. We are surrounded by him, and we belong to him. He is what makes life click for us.
Here then are four things that identify Christians: they are saints; they follow Christ in the geographical location where they live and work; they believe in Christ; and they live in him.
Now the one who wrote the letter has been introduced, and the recipients have been introduced. Next comes the greeting.
GRACE AND PEACE (1:2)
“Grace and Peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:2).
These two words, “Grace and Peace,” come in all thirteen of Paul’s Epistles. It describes what Paul wishes for all Christians. It would be good to see what they mean.
Grace
Paul uses this word about 100 times. In the Bible it essentially means what God has done for us in Christ. It came to mean undeserved or unmerited favor that God extends to us, because Jesus did for us what we did not deserve. But God loved us! He gave it to us—these great blessings. Sometimes in the Bible the word “Grace” is used almost as a synonym of joy. Grace and joy are very closely linked in the Bible. An Australian biblical scholar, Leon Morris, says that the fundamental idea of grace is “that which causes joy.”
When we realize that we don’t deserve all the blessings that God has given us and that those blessings are amazing, our natural response is joy.
Because of that, joy is one of the most important features of Christianity. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is in Luke 15—the story of the prodigal son. There is one particular part of this story that I really like. It’s the part where the son is coming home. He’s messed up his life.
Do you remember how the father responded when the prodigal son returned home? In those days older people did not run on the roads, especially because they wore long cloaks. But this father ran when he saw his son coming. He must have had to lift his cloak a bit! And when he caught up with him he embraced him and kissed him. And they had a party with feasting and singing and dancing (Luke 15:11-32).
Here’s a guy who had lived a terrible life. He had squandered the wealth his father gave him. But he had given up that life and come home. And the father has accepted him and now everybody is thrilled. That thrill should never leave you. But it does sometimes because of sin or because we refuse to believe what the Bible says about how much God loves us and looks after us. So Paul needs to wish them grace in all his greetings.
Peace
The next quality that Paul wishes for his readers is peace. The Jews greeted each other often saying “Peace,” which is shalom in the Hebrew or salaam in Arabic. It is a word which carries the idea of wholeness and general well being. It describes well what God does to us. We were once God’s enemies because of sin. But now we have peace with him as our sins are forgiven and we are no longer rebelling against him. This means that he can come into our lives and give us the purpose for which we were created. We are restless until we find this purpose. But now we have found it, and there is peace in our hearts.
This peace gives us the strength to seek reconciliation with others. We are no longer angry with the world. We want to see others enjoying the peace we have. So not only do we work to make peace with our enemies, we also become peace-makers. That is, we work hard to bring peace between people and the God whose enemies they have become because of sin. And we also work to bring peace between people who are alienated from each other. We will look at this more in my second study tomorrow.
From God and Jesus
Paul wants us to know that this grace and peace come not through our efforts. So he says that they are “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1:2). Can you see how Jesus and God are kept on the same plane by Paul? This is something that is found right through the New Testament. The divinity of Jesus is not something that was forged by church councils in the fourth century; it is a doctrine that comes all through the New Testament. The grace and peace is a gift from God won through Jesus did for us by coming to this world, dying, rising and ascending to heaven.
A friend visited an elderly woman who was badly crippled by arthritis. He asked her, “Do you suffer much?” She pointed to her hand and said, “Yes, but there is no nail here. He had the nails, I have the peace.” Then she pointed to her head and said, “There are no thorns here. He had the thorns, I have the peace.” She touched her side and said, “There is no spear here. He had the spear, I have the peace.” Grace and peace are gifts from God because of what he did for us in Christ.
PRAISING GOD FOR BLESSING US 1:3
Verses 3-14 is one long sentence in the Greek. It has 202 words! One sentence—try writing a sentence like that in one of your term papers!! Paul bursts into what is called an eulogy or doxology where he praises God for what he has done for us in saving us. He says, “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” (1:3).
The praise is because God “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” John Stott describes the heavenly realms as “the unseen world of spiritual reality.” In the biblical way of looking at life, the intellectual realm, the material realm and the spiritual realm are all important. But if you are blessed in the spiritual realm you can handle problems that come in the other realms.
There was an old woman who lives in a small cottage. She had nothing but a piece of bread and some water for her meal. She lifted up her hands and said, “What? All this and Christ too!” Paul is saying that when God gives us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms, we have enough equipment to face whatever comes our way.
GOD’S INITIATIVE IN OUR SALVATION 1:4-6, 11-12
Election (1:4-5)
Let’s see what these blessings are. The first blessing is election. He describes this using the words “chose” and “predestined.” Verse 4 says, “For he chose us in him;” and verse 5 says, “In love he predestined us.” Verse 11 also talks about predestination. The word “chose” emphasizes that salvation is not the result of our action. It was God who decided to give us salvation. “Predestined” has the sense that God had a definite plan for us. The sole authority and initiative in salvation is God’s. Choice focuses more on the people saved and predestination on the purpose of God in saving them.
The church will debate some of the mechanics of this; and this is healthy. God has chosen to leave some things which cannot be easily resolved so that Christians with grapple with them and grow as a result of the grappling. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” We are going to grow through grappling with these questions. Here I am going to focus on the main thrust of what Paul is saying.
God’s Initiative in Granting Salvation
Clearly the big emphasis in election is that salvation comes totally from God. True we have to accept his offer. But even for that the strength comes from God. Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit” (John 15:16). A boy was asked, “Have you found Jesus?” He scratched his head, and thought for a moment. And then he said, “Sir, I didn’t know Jesus was lost. But I can tell you what I do know. I was lost and he found me.”
There are two wonderful implications in the doctrine of election. The first is an amazing sense of security that we have. If giving us salvation was God’s initiative, he is perfectly able to took after us and keep us in his fold. The second is that we cannot be proud about ourselves for making this great decision to get saved. But this is a very happy thing. People who are proud are never happy, because they always want to show people how great they are. People who are filled with thanksgiving to God for all he has done for them don’t care too much about what people say about them. So they are freed to enjoy their salvation. They are happy people!
Notice how this election Paul says in verse 4 that “he chose us in him before the creation of the world.” This means that even before the world was created there was a provision for salvation in the heart of God. The fall of humanity did not take him by surprise. He knew people would fall, and he had already made a provision for humans to be saved after their fall. This is a good thing for us to remember when we try to answer the problems that come from why if God is almighty there is evil in the world.
Three Purposes of Election 1:4-6, 12
Now our election is not something that should result in apathy. Paul says that there were three reasons behind God calling us to himself. First, verse 4 says, “...he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” We are to be blameless not in the sight of people but in the sight of God. Most of the people on campus may say that sex outside marriage is OK. But God says it is wrong—seriously wrong. So Christians abstain from such activity.
A mother visited her son in college and was rather surprised to find some suggestive pictures of women hanging on the walls of his room. She said nothing, but when she went home, she got a beautifully framed painting of the head of Christ and sent it to him by the mail. He proudly hung it in front of his desk. That night as he was going to bed he removed the picture of the woman closest to the painting of the head of Christ. Later he removed other pictures until only one picture remained: that of Christ. Things that displease God cannot co-exist with him in our lives. We are to be blameless before him.
Mahatma Gandhi’s major objection to Christianity was that people received grace and lived any way they liked knowing that they would be forgiven. I will never forget a Buddhist friend in high school telling me, “You guys are lucky guys! You do anything you want and then go to church and ask your God to forgive you!” That is not true Christianity. When we come to Christ we seek to be holy people.
Of course we know that we don’t become blameless the moment we are saved. What happens is that the basic problem of sin has been identified and a process of healing has begun. Martin Luther described this by saying salvation is like what happens when the sickness of a person whose condition is rapidly deteriorating is identified. There is a specific cure for the sickness. It doesn’t mean that this person is totally healed immediately. But a process has started which will result in total healing. In the same way, for us sin is never excusable. But we know that we can be holy and that sin is never excusable. The Bible assures us that when we sin, if we are truly repentant we can be forgiven.
The next purpose that Paul mentions is adoption: “he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ” (1:5). This is a blessing of salvation that is so great that a whole lifetime will not be enough for us to fully understand what it means. We live in a competitive society. We are constantly put down as others move forward. Our loved ones say that we are useless or not as good as someone else in the family. Our own sinfulness reminds us that we don’t deserve to be considered as significant and worthwhile. But the Lord of creation calls us to himself and treats us like his children. John was amazed by this. He said, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).
In fact three times in the Psalms and three times in Proverbs in the TNIV we are told that God delights in us (Psa. 22:8; 35:27; 147:11; Prov. 3:12; 11:20; 12:22). Just think of it! Here is God, the Lord of all creation looking at us, smiling and joyfully saying, “That’s my girl!” or “That’s my boy!”
The third reason for election is given in verse 6: “to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” Verse 12 says, “in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.” People look at us and say what an amazing thing God’s grace is!
In 2004 about 150 churches in Sri Lanka were attacked because people are becoming Christians from other faiths. All sorts of false stories were spread about the Christians. They said we are paying people to become Christians, that we are stooges of the west and traitors to our own people. Then came the tsunami and Christians were in the forefront of the relief efforts. The people saw something about Christianity that they had never imagined to be true. Some people told our staff that they had hit the Christians in 2004 and were hoping to do the same in 2005, but after what they have seen the Christians do, they cannot do that anymore.
One temple, which had given a lot of problems to a church nearby, was badly affected by the tsunami. There was a lot of debris, and cleaning debris was one of the most unpleasant things we did after the tsunami. The pastor of the church got together with the members of his congregation and went to the temple and cleaned the debris. The monk came up the pastor and recounted the things he had done to the church that year. Then he said “After all of this you have done this to us. I am very sorry for what I did to you.” People are going to find what a wonderful thing grace is by looking at us!
REDEMPTION, COMPLETION AND GUARANTEE 1:7-10, 13-14
Now let me briefly present three more things about our salvation which Paul points out as part of his praise to God.
Redemption
Earlier we talked about grace. In verses 7 and 8 he describes what grace does saying: “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.” The figure of redemption comes from the marketplace where slaves were purchased for a price and they could purchase their freedom. We were like slaves to sin, headed for punishment and unable to pay the debt we owed for our sin. Christ paid that by his blood. In the Old Testament the figure of blood was used for life violently taken. It became the favorite way to refer to the death of Christ in the New Testament appearing three times as often as “cross” and five times as often as “death.” We are not told whom the price is paid to in the Bible. Therefore it is fruitless for us to try and find a recipient. What we do know is that Jesus paid the price that won our forgiveness.
Completion
Paul sees our personal redemption as a process in a wider plan of God for the whole universe. Verse 10 says this plan is “to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” He’s talking about what will happen at the end of time when God’s plan for the universe is going to be completed.
When Paul talks of bringing all things to unity he does not mean that even those who reject him will be saved. What he says elsewhere in this book eliminates that possibility. He is talking about what the book of Revelation calls the new heaven and the new earth. Paul talked about this day saying that every knee will bow and every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. While we do not know all the details we do know that all that we do for Christ on earth will contribute to this final victory.
When I think of the future of my country it is possible to get very discouraged. We are in the middle of a war that has gone on for 23 years. Over 60,000 people have died. They are about to bring in an anti-conversion law which can make much of our evangelism illegal. But I want to tell you that I am excited about the future. I can see beyond the war and the persecution to the final victory of Christ. I know that if I am faithful in Sri Lanka I will in some way contribute to that. So I am excited! God is going to wrap things up in Christ. And he has called us to participate in the process of winning this victory. What a privilege! What a thrill!!
Guarantee
How do we know this will really happen? Paul says in verse 13 and 14: “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.” He says we have been marked with a seal—that is we have been marked out as people belonging to Christ. This seal is the Holy Spirit whom we have living with us and experience in our daily life.
But that is not all. Paul changes his metaphor and says that the Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing the final victory. When you buy a land, you may pay a deposit as a first installment so that the land it kept for you until all the paper work is complete. The fact that we experience God working in our lives through the Holy Spirit is like that first instalment. Our experience of God assures us that this victory will come for sure at the end. An old man was asked whether he expected to get to heaven. He said, “Why, I live there!” He knew he would go to heaven because he had experienced a taste of it down here.
What powerful verses these are! They are full of material about what Christ has done in our lives. It will take us a lifetime to fully understand these things. But for the moment let’s make it our gaol to get more and more of the great riches that God has in store for us. It is because we have such a powerful gospel to give to the world that we are so excited about missions. I pray that at this conference you will see more and more of what this gospel means and what your response to that would be.
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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