Ephesians Series - Part 1 - Introduction Series

When I first studied through the book of Ephesians there was one out of the many sections that intrigued me…one section that amazed me. It was found in chapter three. In this chapter the Apostle Paul writes about the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to him for the churches (vs. 2).

What was once a mystery, was now being revealed to Paul. This “sacred secret” that was the Jew and the Gentile would be “made heirs together, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel” (vs. 6).

Paul goes on to say in verse 10 of chapter three that this body, composed of Jews and Gentiles, would be called the church and it would be through the church that “the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places”. In other words, the angelic beings would see God’s grace and wisdom on display!

Furthermore, Paul writes in verse 11 that all this “was according to the eternal purpose that God has purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This is why at the beginning of this letter in chapter one Paul writes:

Eph 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

Eph 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

Eph 1:5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

Eph 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Eph 1:8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

Eph 1:9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

Eph 1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

This is telling us that all of salvation, in which is displayed the wisdom of God, is according to God’s purpose. Christ is in it—His incarnation, His sufferings, His death and everything surrounding it, were decreed by God. All those for whom Christ became incarnate, suffered and died were appointed by God and the applying of this great salvation to them was according to His purpose.

The time when, the place, and the means whereby souls are converted, are all settled in the decrees of God; the Gospel itself, the preaching of it by such and such persons, its use to bring men and women to repentance are all according to a divine purpose: and this purpose is eternal, or was in the mind of God from all eternity.

No new purpose can arise in God; no purpose, resolution, or decree can be made by Him in time, which was not in His mind and heart and hands before the world began.

Background - Ephesians was written around AD 63 while Paul was under house arrest (or detention) in Rome. Under house detention he enjoyed certain privileges in what was a relaxed form of custody. Among these was the freedom to receive a constant stream of visitors. Intimate friends like Luke, Aristarchus and presumably Timothy were often at Paul’s side. From time to time he would receive messengers from churches outside of Rome.

Also while under house arrest Paul was able to minister to people and churches through letters. It was at this time that Paul wrote a letter to the Colossian believers and the letter to Philemon and then his third letter from prison, to the church at Ephesus.

This letter was sent to Ephesus and to all the churches founded as a result of the mission there throughout the Asian Province.

In this letter, Paul didn’t deal with specific issues as in Colossians and in much of his other correspondence. In Ephesians, he dealt with the implications of the Gospel.

The Expositor's Bible Commentary writes, “Ephesians, unlike Colossians, was not devised to combat error and expose the inconsistencies of false teaching. Paul’s aim was more detached and therefore more exalted. He rose above the smoke and battle and captured a vision of God’s sovereign plan…and contemplated God’s overall design for His church and for His world. As he [Paul] did so, he came to realize as never before the breathtaking scope of God’s strategy in Christ for the fullness of time.”

They lost their first love…The book of Revelation (Rev 2:2) tells us that the Ephesian church had succeeded in keeping out the false teachers but had failed to maintain the vibrancy of their first love for Christ (Rev. 2:4)