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This is the second part of my blog commentary series on the book of Ephesians. In this post, we look at Ephesians 1:15-2:10 verse by verse.
Ephesians 1:15 ESV For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, The book of Acts tells us that Paul had ministered in Ephesus. So why does he say, ‘I heard of your faith… and your love...’? As we saw last week, this letter was not originally a letter to the Ephesians. It was a circular letter to various churches in the region. Paul’s mention of their faith in Jesus and love for one another reminds us that the Christian faith is both vertical and horizontal. These believers didn’t only have faith in Jesus, they also had ‘love towards all the saints’. Notice the word ‘all’. We don’t get to pick and choose who our spiritual family is. We are to have love towards ‘all’ the saints. Ephesians 1:16 ESV I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, Notice how frequently Paul gave thanks to God - ‘I do not cease to give thanks for you’. I think it is a good practice for us that when we pray for someone we also thank God for them. It helps get our heart ready to pray. So what does Paul pray for these believers? He continues in the next verse... Ephesians 1:17 ESV that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, ‘the God of our Lord Jesus Christ’ - notice that Paul does not conflate the persons of the Trinity. Within the Trinity there is a distinction of persons. The Father is the God of Jesus, and Jesus is subordinate to Him. As such, Jesus models the relationship that we as believers are to have with God. Paul also calls God ‘the Father of glory’. The NIV translates this as ‘the glorious Father’. Such terminology produces within us an image of glorious light emanating from the being of God. As we will see when we look at the next verse; this light brings illumination to our hearts. But first, Paul refers to this illumination in terms of the Holy Spirit’s work. He prays that God would give them ‘the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him’ (‘him’ = God). In other words, he prays that 'the Spirit' will enable them to understand God’s plan to bring all things together under Christ (see Ephesians 1:10), and that 'the Spirit' will enable them to live in the light of it. By mentioning the Holy Spirit, Paul reminds us how dependent we are on the Holy Spirit to understand God’s truth and to live according to it. Paul continues in the next verse... Ephesians 1:18–19 ESV 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might Paul’s prayer is that the revelation that comes from the Father of glory, and is administered to us by the Holy Spirit, will cause our understanding to be enlightened so that we would know three things.
These three things that Paul wants us to know are not actually three things. They are simply three different ways of referring to the same event. The hope that we look forward to is our glorious inheritance. And it is also the moment when all of us together will experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power. So what is this immeasurably great power that we will experience? Well, there is somebody who has already experienced it. And Paul will tell us about it in the next verse. As verse 19 ended in the middle of a sentence, so we will read verse 19 and 20 together so that it makes sense. Ephesians 1:19–20 ESV 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, So the hope to which we are called has already happened. It has already happened to Christ. And it will also happen to all who belong to Christ. God has raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly places. To sit at God’s right hand means that God has exalted Jesus to the supreme position of power, honour and favour. And God will also raise us from the dead and seat us in the heavenly places and we will reign with Christ. Paul continues to describe Jesus’ exaltation to the Father’s right hand in verses 21 Ephesians 1:21 ESV far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. Paul writes that Christ has been exalted 'far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and name'. In other words, Jesus is the supreme authority in this universe, and in the universe to come. Paul continues in verse 21-23... Ephesians 1:22–23 ESV 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. God has put all things under Jesus’ feet. And Jesus is head over all things. Not only is Jesus head over all things, He is also head of the church. However, whilst all things have been put under Jesus’ feet, the Church has not been put under his feet. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus is Lord of the church and He is the head of the church. But the Church has not been placed under his feet, because to speak of putting all things under Christ’s feet is the language of subjugation. And that’s not the relationship Christ’s has with His Church. But why do I say the Church is not under Christ’s feet? Because the Church is his body. That’s what it means when Paul says the Church is the fullness of Christ. The reason we are His body is because Jesus fills the Church. That’s what I think it means when it says that He ‘fills all in all’. I understand this to be saying that Christ fills all parts of the Church in all His splendour, and so the Church is truly the fullness of Christ. Your feet are part of your body. We are the body of Christ. As the feet is part of the body, we - the body of Christ - are not under Jesus feet. Instead of us being placed under his feet, we share in His reign over all things. But not yet. Reigning with Christ, is our future reward. It’s popular today to speak of us reigning with Christ now. It sounds good and gives us a sense of power. But Paul made it clear that reigning with Christ will be our future reward. Notice hi’s sarcasm in the following passage: 1 Corinthians 4:8 NIV Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! Again, in 2 Timothy 2:12, Paul tell Timothy that reigning with Christ will be our future reward for enduring faithfully in the present: 2 Timothy 2:12 ESV if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; So, we don’t reign with Christ now. However, the good news is that Jesus does reign now! And in Matthew 28:20, Jesus said, 'I am with you always, to the end of the age'. So in life’s battles, we can face them with the strength of Christ, knowing that He is with us. He fills all of His Church with all of His majesty, and that He cannot be defeated. Should the storms of life cause us to feel like we are drowning, we can rest in the knowledge that our lifeguard walks on water, is able to sustain us through anything, and is able to deliver us from anything in, in accordance with His will for us. Now, whilst reigning with Christ belong to our future, we have already, in the present time, begun to experience in our lives, the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead and exalted Him to His right hand. Our passage in Ephesians continues: Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 'you were dead in the trespass and sins in which you once walked' - so before Christ saved us were spiritually dead and were living in sin. We were following the world and living according to fleshly passions. And when living that way, whether or not we realised it, we were following Satan, who is here called the spirit who is at work in the disobedient, and the prince of the power of the air. 'the power of the air’ is a reference to the lower heavenly realm which is the abode of the demonic principalities and power, the chief of which is Satan. It is not to be confused with the heaven of God’s throne which is much higher. When we lived in sin, we were children of wrath, that is, we were destined for God’s wrath. But thank God for Jesus… because in the next verses Paul continues... Ephesians 2:4–6 ESV 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, God has resurrected us from our state of spiritual death by incorporating into Christ’s resurrection. Instead of being spiritually dead in our sins, we now live for God in righteousness. Because we have been incorporated into Christ, we have also been exalted with Him. But when we look around, it is evident that we are not physically in heaven. So in what sense are we in the heavenly places with Christ? We are in the heavenly places because Jesus is there as our representative. When He came to earth, Jesus left heaven as the only Son of God. But when He returned to heaven, He returned with many siblings - He carries all of His siblings in His heart. We are in heaven, because we are in Jesus, and He is in heaven. But when the kingdom of God comes and we receive our new bodies, we will be there physically! So after saying that we have been raised and exalted with Jesus, Paul continues in verse 7 - 10... Ephesians 2:7–10 ESV 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Our participation in Christ’s resurrection and exaltation serve as a demonstration of God’s grace throughout the coming ages. Our salvation is to the praise of His glorious grace, as Paul said in chapter 1. None of us have saved ourselves. We are only saved because of God’s mercy and because of His grace. We now do good works, not because that is what saves us, but because as a new creation in Christ, that is what we were designed for. You are designed to do good! Paul says, that the good deeds we were designed for, were prepared by God beforehand. In other words, when you obey God, you are releasing something that God prepared before time even began. So when you do something good, something kind, something loving, you may think that it is something you thought to do; but it is actually something that God prepared for you to do, before you even existed. Summary
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Stuart PatticoPastor of Joy Community Church, Milton Keynes. Archives
August 2023
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