The Book of Ephesians
Our Blessings in Christ
This first article in the Book of Ephesians gives the necessary background to the Book of Ephesians. The "who," "what," "where," "how," and "why's" are asked to give the necessary information that is needed for this study. It establishes why the Apostle Paul wrote this most important letter to the Church(es) at Ephesus.
Learn from an Eastern mind
It must be noted that the Apostle Paul was an Eastern man, coming from a different time, culture, socio-economical, and governmental structure. He was an Eastern man, coming from a country in the Eastern Hemisphere 2000 years ago. While written from a prison in Rome, the Apostle Paul spent his life as an Easterner either in Jerusalem, or around the northern Israel borders in Syria and Asia Minor. Those in Israel, Syria, and Asia Minor were people who thought and acted Eastern.
The Difference Between an Eastern and Western Culture Mind
Those of the Western Hemisphere, which includes the United States, and even into Western Europe are a Western culture, thinking, acting, and responding to life as Westerners. As a general rule, we rely more on concrete facts – we are more abstract in our thinking. The Bible, on the other hand, was written by all Easterners, who thought Eastern, wrote Eastern, and to an audience who were Eastern. Easterners are generally more relational in their thinking. Westerners think lineal – meaning we have a beginning thought and it follows a lineal direction toward an ending. In other words, there must be a beginning and ending to every story. The authors of the Bible, including the Book of Ephesians, however, were Easterner in nature, meaning they were more cyclical in their thinking. Their thoughts kept revolving back to its beginning and grew in cycles. It was about relationships. What was in the beginning stayed in motion all through history. In other words – if you gave a story to a Westerner and an Easterner, they would each process and reiterate the story in two different ways. The westerners would look at the facts and view it as a process to an end, maybe even as a historical one of facts. The Easterners, on the other hand, would look at the people, their relationship to one another, and go into detail about their lives. The essence of the story would be the intermingling of their lives together. Nothing would come to an end, because relationships are meant to last forever. This is way of the Bible - cyclical in nature, and it keeps revolving. What you read in Genesis really is no different than what you read at the end of the Book of Revelation. God meant for all His creation, even in the Book of Revelation, to be just like what He created in the Book of Genesis. It’s written about people, their relationships to one another and to their God, and it became a revolving, cyclical book. It’s not just a history book or random words from God. When you learned about Abraham in the Book of Genesis, you find that it is a foundation of relationships. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel. continuing on to King David, then to Jesus, teaching that Jews and Christians alike must come to Him, tells us that our lives are all intertwined with one another. You see Abraham in the Book of Genesis and in the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament. God always brings you back to the roots of what He wants His people to know.
All of God’s Word is written by Easterners, about Easterners, and for Easterners. To be Easternized then means you must get into the head of the author of the book you are studying. In this case, it is important that you get into the head of the Apostle Paul, as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit when he wrote the Book of Ephesians.
Key verse
This series of articles will differ from the other articles in that you will be asked to study along in your Bible and write down important facts as this study progresses. This series will not be in essay form, as the other articles have been, but it will be more interactive with you.
For this study, we will have a key verse that points us to what this book is all about. It stands alone as the summarization of all six chapters.
Key Verse
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: KJV
The Complete Jewish Bible says it like this: Praise be to Adonai, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who in the Messiah has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in heaven. (1)
What the Apostle Paul wanted to emphasize in the first three chapters of Ephesians is what are the spiritual blessings for believers in Christ. So to begin with, underline the whole third verse of the first chapter of Ephesians. Put special emphasis in the words "in Christ." You may want to circle those two words.
Other versions may have similar words than "in Christ." Circle, or underline, whatever those words are.
The question then arises, what are our spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ? For this article and the next, we are going to examine every scripture verse in the first three chapters of Ephesians that has the words “in Christ,” “in Him,” “by Him,” “through Him,” through Christ,” etc. What I want you to do is mark up your Bible when I indicate such verses to point out what your spiritual blessings are. When I give you the scripture verse, put the number that coincides with that blessing. Then I will want you to circle or underline the words “in Him, by Him, or by Christ Jesus, etc. There will be 16 in all. Let us begin.
Blessing #1
Eph 1:4 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, NKJV
Mark in your margin "#1." Circle or underline "in Him" to emphasize your that blessings come because of Christ.
The Jewish Bible states : In the Messiah he chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in his presence.
Because of Christ, God chose YOU out of the depths of His love before the creation of the universe – which means you were on God's mind even when He created the worlds. In Genesis 1:1, God states that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." When He created it, He knew man would sin and need a Savior; therefore, God had a plan for the Messiah to come for the salvation of His creation even before the foundation of the worlds. God knew, and planned, that the Messiah would one day be the Savior of the world, and His body would be called “the Church.”
God has a people both natural and adopted. As the Church, those who believe in Jesus as the Christ are God's adopted children and predestined before the world began. You then, as a believer, are a part of that Church. That means He has a plan and purpose for your life. It also means that God thought about YOU and what plans He has for you before the foundation of the universe. So then, because of Christ, God chose YOU.
Having a righteousness mentality
As a member of Christ's body, the Church, God created you to be holy and without defect when you come into His presence. I then ask you this question: Have you ever considered yourself as holy? Let me tell you - the more you consider yourself holy, the more holy you will become. You will begin to develop a righteousness mentality instead of a “woe is me” mentality. The thoughts of sin will disappear and thoughts of righteousness in God will replace it. You need to see yourself as a "saint in Christ." Look at the first verse of this chapter..."to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus." Paul addressed this letter to saints - those righteous in Christ Jesus. God then is telling us in verse 4 that when you come into God’s presence, God sees you without defect, because, as we will see later, the blood of Jesus covers over us, and we are perfected because of Jesus Christ. Again, when you come to God, you are coming through Christ. Hallelujah!
God is no respector of persons
Many people have asked whether this scripture is meant for the “church at large,” or “individuals” within the Church. I believe it is both because the Church is made up of individual people. Today, it is made up of you and me – we are all in this together. God told Jeremiah that He knew him before he was in his mother’s womb. If God knew Jeremiah, He knew you – because the Bible tells us many times over that God is no respecter of persons.
Blessing #2
Eph 1:5 Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
Mark in your margin "#2." Circle or underline "by Christ Jesus."
NIV uses the words "through Christ Jesus."
Here we have a word that has caused major division within the Church at large – the word “predestined.” There are some who want to use that word to say “God chose, or predestined, only certain people for salvation.” That thought would defies hundreds of other basic scripture verses regarding salvation. All the Apostle Paul is trying to emphasize is that God chose the Church, which includes all who believe in Christ, before the foundation of the world.
But let’s get at the heart of what this verse is saying: God chose you – as part of the Church – as His adopted sons and daughters because of Christ. When you, out of your "free will" came to believe in Jesus, you became part of the Church, becoming God's adopted sons and daughters - there again, because of Christ. And it in keeping with His pleasure and purpose, and according to His will, He chose the Church (you and me) before the foundation of the universes to be holy before Him as His adopted children. We are God's sons and daughters – we are the bride of Christ. Because we are, can can call Him “Abba, Father.” In that, He is pleased – and so are we!
Blessing #3
Ephesians 4:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
Mark in your margin "#3." Circle or underline "in Him."
It is important to keep in mind that it is only through Christ Jesus we have been set free. Jesus paid the ransom, the price for our sins. The Hebrew word for redemption or ransom is “Pidyon”, meaning an exchange – a substitute.” In the Torah (Hebrew Old Testament) - if the Law of Ransom was put upon someone, that meant every firstborn male or donkey must be ransomed until death. The Greek (Strongs: apolutrosis – NT 575), carried the meaning of ransom as riddance or deliverance from, especially in reference to Christian salvation.
Jesus was God’s firstborn and only Son. He became the ransom for sin for the whole world, meaning Jesus became our substitute, the one ransomed for our sins unto death, so we wouldn’t have to pay our own penalty. What a blessing God gave to us.
The importance of the shed blood of Jesus Christ
Important: In this verse the Apostle Paul was counteracting the cultic belief regarding Gnosticism that had entered into the valley. In the last article it was pointed out how the cultic belief Docetism, an early form of Gnosticism was spreading throughout Ephesus and the valley, which, in their eyes, nullified the physical life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ. The basic belief of Gnosticism is "knowledge" - that one gained salvation through a “special kind of knowledge” instead of rely upon the physical death, shed by blood, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Gnosticism claimed that Jesus never came to earth in a physical form. They denied his bodily birth, death and resurrection. They claim He only came as a spirit, stating that what the people saw of Jesus on earth was simply a figment of their imagination because, as a spirit, He did not possess flesh and bone. This belief was very much like that of the Gentile Roman/Greco pagan gods. Considered spirits, these mystical gods lived in the spiritual realm and ruled and watched over the universe of people. The people in turn worshipped these gods in a variety of ways.
As pointed out before, whenever the blending of two of more cultures are joined together, the blending of religions often happen. The cult of Gnosticism that was spreading in Ephesus and throughout the Lycos Valley was no exception. Since they did not believe in the shedding of Christ's physical blood on the cross, that meant they had to discover a new way to claim entrance into heaven. A special kind of knowledge became that entrance. This then created an elitism (misusing the word "predestined" in verse 5) amongst Gnostics over Christians who maintained the apostles teaching on the physical birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul was emphasizing the importance of the blood of Jesus in verse 7. It was only through His physical blood on the cross that our sins were redeemed. It was through Christ’s blood that we have been ransomed. And because of Christ’s blood we also have forgiveness of our sins - in other words, in God's eyes, our sins are forgotten – they is gone. The riches of His grace, meaning God’s unending mercy, upon us has released us – delivered us from all sin. We stand holy and righteous before God. Because of Jesus’ shed blood, we are holy. We are righteous! We are delivered! We have been redeemed! We have been ransomed! We are God’s children – we belong to His family. The power is in the blood of Jesus. Without Christ's blood, there is no remission of sins. Without His blood there can be no salvation – no eternal life. It took the physical blood of Jesus – what He did for us that gives us that wonderful inheritance of eternal salvation. That is reason for shouting. Halleluyah.
Without Jesus' blood there is no remission of sins
Without Jesus' blood there can be no salvation - no eternal life
It took the physical blood of Jesus - what He did for us that gives us that wonderful inheritance of eternal salvation.
The Apostle Paul was refuting the false doctrine of Gnosticism.
Blessing #4
Ephesians 1:9 Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed In Himself
Mark in your margin "#4." Circle or underline "in Himself.
NIV uses "in Him."
Blessing #5
Ephesians 1:10 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 the earth.
Mark in your margin "#5." Circle or underline "in Him.
Now we are getting doctrinal. That word “dispensation” as it is written in the NKJV is rendered "fulfilment," or "fullness of time" in the NASV. The Amplified states it as the "maturity of time" and the Hebrew Bible says "when the time is ripe." It becomes very clear that God deals with mankind in periods of time. There, then, will be a time when God will gather together together (in one) all things that belong which are in heaven and on earth. All of this will be done because of Christ.
God’s foreordained purpose of creating you and me before the foundation of the universes will come to a fullness when we are all under Messiah’s headship. That sounds like the rapture to me – a time when Christ will gather – in the twinkling of an eye together to Himself His family so that He can rule and reign over the world. Followed by the period of the millennium, is not far away, and we are all a part of that process. Right now, in this dispensation of time, we are that forerunner to His coming right now.
Remember, we must think as Easterners. We need to think relational. God wants a relationship with mankind. Believing in Jesus isn't just a head knowledge of who He is and what He has done for us, but it is meant to bringus into His family. As His sons and daughters, He has a plan and purpose for us. His plan and purpose for us runs far longer than the few years that we have on this earth, but for an eternity.
Blessing #6
Ephesians 1:11 In Whom 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.
Mark in your margin "#5." Circle or underline "in Whom."
In Christ - because of Christ – we also have obtained an inheritance, again, by being predestined (as the body of Christ) according to His purpose, which we know was established before the foundation of the world, and was according to His will. This is our inheritance – this belongs to us.
The whole concept of the word “inheritance” becomes vital for us to know. The Hebrew word “morashah,” appears in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) in examples that the Jews were given an inheritance of the land of promise to rule and reign over it. All they had to remain was faithful to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (To learn more, refer to the series of articles on the Dual Covenant Theology).
The body of Christ has been given a spiritual inheritance of ruling and reigning with Christ for an eternity. (We will get more into that as we further our study our spiritual blessings. All God asks of us is to be faithful to Jesus. The Greek word for inheritance is “kleeros” meaning a heritage, to assign by lot - a private possession something. So this inheritance, which was given to us before the foundation of the world, all preplanned for us, is to be a part of God’s kingdom through Christ to become part of God’s family is to rule and reign with Christ forever.
Blessing #7
Ephesians 1:13 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.
Mark in your margin "#6." Circle or underline "in Him" and "in whom."
Two things happened to a person when they hear and accept the Gospel of Truth: 1) God gives you the ability to trust in Him, meaning you believed, that what you heard was the truth. 2) You become sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
It isn’t sin which sends a person to hell - a person goes to hell because they don’t believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. So when you heard, you believe, meaning you put your eternal salvation in trust that:
- Jesus is the Son of God, and He is God
- That He died on the cross for your sins
- That God rose Him from the dead
- That He now sits on the right hand of His father God
- That one day, Jesus is coming back for you, His body, to rule and reign for an eternity.
That belief gave the Holy Spirit permission to take up residence within you. At that point, you become sealed until the day of your salvation, meaning your belief keeps you sealed in Christ – in your hope of salvation.
The Greek word for "sealed" is sphragizo (sfrag-id'-zo); from NT:4973, meaning to stamp (with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation (literally or figuratively); by implication, to keep secret, to attest. In the Thayer's Lexicon (NT 4972) it refers to marking a person or confirm. Does that mean you can lose your salvation? Absolutely, if you stop believing. Remember, it isn't sin that brings you to heaven. It is your belief in who Christ is and what He has done for you that keeps you sealed unto eternal salvation. Don't think, however, for one minute that sin doesn't play a part in developing unbelief. Everytime you sin, which all believers do, and you do not repent, your spirit becomes hardened. If that sin is allowed to continue, it can one day change your belief to unbelief. It is at that point where your eternal salvation is at risk.
Verse 14 is a continuation of verse 13…who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
This verse simply reiterates what the Apostle Paul has been saying all along. The Holy Spirit is your guarantee – your seal, of your inheritance because of what Christ did for you. Christ purchased your salvation through His blood – your redemption. We can never forget the power of the blood of Jesus.
A Pauline prayer
The rest of this chapter, verses 15-23, the Apostle Paul tells how he prays for the believers in Ephesus. It is often referred to as one of the Pauline prayers. This wonderful prayer is a prayer of the culmination of the teaching in which the apostle just wrote about – regarding some of their blessings and inheritance that the Church in Ephesus (all believers) have in Christ. This is a prayer we should be praying over one another as well. This is a prayer for the Church. This is a prayer for you.
Let me now prayer this prayer over you! I will modernize it to make it easier to understand.
Eph 1:15-23
After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers… that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, (what has learned from this article)…and that the eyes of your understanding are enlightened; and that you may know what is the hope of God’s calling upon you, that you may truly know what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance for the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward you – all of who believe..which is according to the working of God’s mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
God put all things under Jesus’ feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. NKJV
Amen
End Notes
(1) Sterns, David H. Complete Jewish Bible - an English Version. Jewish New Tesament Publications, Inc. Clarksville, Maryland & Jerusalem, Israel. 1998.
(2) Strong, James. Strong's Concordance of the Bible.
(3) Thayer, Charles. Thayer's Lexicon of the New Testament