Ephesians 1:1-6 (09/20/08)

Below are Hession's notes from Saturday's study. In our study, the one thing that really stood out for me was the concept of the "will of God". How many times do we think about the will of God as some abstract goal we need to achieve with our lives? When in reality it is our sanctification. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7.

Ephesians 1:1-6 (KJV)

1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

The following bullet points are all taken from William Hendriksen’s, New Testament Commentary on Ephesians.

Blessed (be) the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Goodness, truth, and beauty are combines in this initial doxology, in which the apostle, in words that are beautiful both in the thoughts they convey and in their arrangement, pours out his soul in true adoration for God’s goodness in action. He ascribes to God the honor due Him for spiritual blessings past (election), present (redemption), and future (certification as sons with a view to complete possession of the inheritance reserved for them). The apostle realizes that divine blessings bestowed upon God’s people should be humbly, gratefully, and enthusiastically acknowledged in thought, word, and deed, that response is the only proper way in which these spiritual bounties can be “returned” to the Giver. The circle must be completed: what comes from God must go back to Him! That is the meaning of saying “Blessed (be)….” (Hendriksen)

Says John Calvin, “The lofty terms in which he [Paul] extols the grace of god toward the Ephesians, are intended to rouse their hearts to gratitude, to set them all on flame, to fill them even to overflowing with this disposition. “Paul’s “heart aflame” is bent on setting other hearts aflame also, with sincere, humble, overflowing praise to “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Hendriksen)

Together with the gifts He imparts Himself. (Hendriksen)

While it is not true that the Old Testament regards material goods as being of higher value that spiritual, for the contrary is clearly taught in such passages as Gen.15:1, 17:7; Ps. 37:16, 73:25, it is true, nevertheless, that between the two Testaments there is a difference of degree in the fullness of detail with which earthly or physical blessings are described (Exod. 20:12; Deut. 28:1-8). God is ever the wise pedagogue who takes his children by the hand and knows that in the old dispensation, “when Israel is a child” it needs this circumstantial description of earthly values in order that by means of symbols (e.g., earthly Canaan is the symbol of the heavenly), it may rise to the appreciation of the spiritual (cf I Cor. 15:46). The New Testament, while by no means depreciating earthly blessings (Matt. 6:11; I Tim 4:3-4), places all the emphasis on the spiritual (II Cor. 4:18), and it may well have been that in order to emphasize this difference between the old and the new dispensation it is here stated that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ blessed us with every spiritual blessing. It is best to allow the context to indicate the nature and content of these blessings. Though, to be sure, the very word every clearly proves that it would be wrong to subtract even a single invisible bounty from the list of those “vast benefits divine which we in Christ poses,” yet the context indicates that the apostle is thinking particularly of – or subsuming all these benefits under – those that are mentioned in the present paragraph, namely, election (and its accompaniment, foreordination to adoption), redemption (implying forgiveness and grace overflowing in the form of all wisdom and insight), and certification (“sealing”) as sons and heirs. (Hendriksen)

The phrase “in the heavenly places” or simply “in the heavenlies” indicates that these spiritual blessings are heavenly in their origin, and that from heaven they descend to the saints and believers on earth. (Hendriksen)

“In Christ”. It or its equivalent occurs more than ten times in this short paragraph (1:3-14), clear evidence of the fact that the apostle regarded Christ as the very foundation of the church, that is, of all its benefits, of its complete salvation. It is in connection with Christ that the saints and believers at Ephesus (and everywhere else) have been blessed with every spiritual blessing; election, redemption, certification as children and heirs, and all other benefits subsumed under these headings. Apart from Him they not only can do nothing but are nothing, that is, amount to nothing spiritually. (Hendriksen)

“In time the Father blessed us in Christ, just as from all eternity he elected us in Him. (Hendriksen)

For election is not an abrogation of divine attributes. (Hendriksen)

(John 17:24)

If already before the foundation of the world those destined for everlasting life were elected, then all the glory for their salvation belongs to God, and to him alone. Hence, “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Hendriksen)

The purpose of election is found in the words, that we should be holy and faultless before Him. (Hendriksen)

Earthly parents may love an adopted child ever so much. Nevertheless, they are, to a large extent, unable to impart their spirit to the child. They have no control over heredity factors. When God adopts, he imparts His Spirit! This adoption is through Jesus Christ for himself. It is through the work of Christ that this adoption becomes a reality. By this atonement the news standing and also the transformation into the spirit of sonship were merited for the chosen ones. Thus, they become God’s children who glorify him. (Hendriksen)

What he did was a result not of sheer determination but of supreme delight. A person may be fully determined to submit to a very serious operation. Again, he may be just as fully determined to plant a beautiful rose garden. Both are matters of the will. However, the latter alone is a matter of delight, that is, of his will’s good pleasure. Thus God, who does not afflict from the heart, delights in the salvation of sinners. (Hendriksen)

(Rom. 8:32)

The son, knowing what is pleasing to the Father and in harmony with his will, does not wait until the Father orders him to do this or that, but willingly offers himself. He volunteers to do the Father’s will. (Hendriksen)

It is this marvelous delight, on the part of the Son, in doing the Father’s will and thereby saving his people even at the cost of his own death, yes, death by means of a cross, that the Father, again and again, to exclaim, “This is my beloved Son.” (Hendriksen)

In a visible manner the Son took upon himself the sin of the world. (Hendriksen)

Extra Notes/Definitions

Apostle - One who blazes a trail and starts churches,
Will of God - There is a vast difference between God’s will and the future. Many seek God’s future for their life, but we are called to know His will, which is, our sanctification. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-7)
Saints/Faithful - Here the saints and faithful are one and the same there is no difference. The idea of being a saint it not of one being called to be a saint but, seeing we are saints, we should act accordingly.