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The Apostle Paul's Epistle
to the Ephesians |
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Chapter 1
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The
Torah teaches that out of all the nations of the
earth, God has chosen Israel to be His elect
people. This is most explicit in the following
verses:
6"For you are a holy people to the LORD your
God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a
people for His own possession out of all the
peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7"The
LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you
because you were more in number than any of the
peoples, for you were the fewest of all
peoples, 8but because the LORD loved you and
kept the oath which He swore to your
forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a
mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of
slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of
Egypt. 9"Know therefore that the LORD your God,
He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His
covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth
generation with those who love Him and keep His
commandments; 10but repays those who hate Him to
their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay
with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his
face. 11"Therefore, you shall keep the
commandment and the statutes and the judgments
which I am commanding you today, to do them.
(Deuteronomy 7:6-11)
Many
other passages could be cited (Isaiah 45:3-5,
Psalm 33:12, Psalm 105:6, Psalm 135:4) but
the point is that no other nation on earth can
make the claim that they are God's chosen
people. Israel alone can make the claim that God
has chosen them to be His special people, to
whom the light of the Torah and of the Messiah
shines through. That being said, are all natural
born Israelites faithful to God and His
covenants? Is all of Israel truly Israel? What
about those who haven't been born Israelites,
can they be chosen? If they are chosen, do they
form a group separate from Israel or do they
join Israel? Can non-Jews obtain the promises of
Israel? If so, does it come with any
responsibilities? With all of this in mind,
let's study Paul's epistle to the Ephesians.
Greeting
1Paul, an apostle of Messiah Yeshua by the will
of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who
are faithful in Messiah Yeshua: 2Grace to you
and peace from God our Father and the Master
Yeshua Messiah.
For
more information about Paul and what it means to
be an Apostle, you can refer back to the
introduction of our study of Paul's epistle to
the Galatians. You'll notice that the letter is
addressed to "the saints who are at Ephesus" and
also to those "who are faithful in Messiah
Yeshua." Not all of the early manuscripts
contain the word "Ephesus" but instead contain a
blank space. This is understood to mean that
this letter was distributed in cities other than
Ephesus and thus, when read, the reader would
substitute their own city's name. In fact, there
isn't anything in this epistle that would
indicate that Paul was writing to any specific
issue in Ephesus but rather he was speaking to
issues facing all Believers. So, while in one
sense all of Paul's letters are applicable to us
today, we can be especially confident that when
apply this epistle to ourselves that will not be
taking anything out of context.
Paul
begins this letter as he does all of his
letters, with the greeting "grace to you and
peace." The phrase "grace to you and peace"
perfectly encapsulates the reality of what God
has brought to us through Yeshua the Messiah;
that is, through His grace, we have peace.
Every Spiritual Blessing
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Master
Yeshua Messiah, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in
Messiah,
Paul, in classic Jewish style, begins with a bracha,
that is, a blessing. Notice how Paul almost
always pairs God with the Master Yeshua the
Messiah. Paul never declares that God and Yeshua
are one and the same and yet he consistently
couples them together, as if they were
inseparable. This is the mystery of the
relationship between God and His Word, which was
made flesh (John 1:1-3, 14).
By
declaring that in the Messiah we have every
spiritual blessing, Paul shows that we are all
the same in Him. Beyond the continuing work of
sanctification, there isn't a later work of the
Spirit that awaits Believers after our initial
spiritual conversion. Upon coming to faith,
positionally, all Believers are endowed with all
spiritual blessings that exist in the Messiah.
What does it mean to be "in Messiah?" To be in
Messiah means to fully identify with Him. In
Messiah, all promises are "yes," as Paul says in
2 Corinthians:
For
as many as are the promises of God, in Him they
are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen
to the glory of God through us. (2 Corinthians
1:20)
In
other words, all of the promises and blessings
that the Messiah enjoys belong to us as well,
since we are in Him. This is our positional
reality that, as we'll see, was determined for
us before the foundation of the world. In our
lives now, our position before God is not always
manifest. Our hope is that God, who has begun
this work in us, will bring it to completion (Philippians
1:6). This hope will find its fulfillment
when the Messiah returns and we are resurrected
to the immortal state.
The
phrase "heavenly places" is not in the Greek,
but rather the word "heavenlies." The addition
of the word "places" is misleading because the
word is not describing a location but a reality.
The reality that the word "heavenlies" refers to
is the reality of a life in God, which is
eternal life. This "heavenly" reality is in
contradistinction to this present evil age.
Before the Foundation of the World
4just as He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we would be holy
and blameless before Him In love
The
Scriptures, specifically Paul, teach that God,
before He even created anything, chose an elect
group in every generation to be His. We've
already seen how, from the Deuteronomy passage,
God has chosen Israel to be His chosen nation,
now we get to see the individual realities of
those who make up the chosen nation of Israel.
Paul says that He chose us to be holy and
blameless, which, if we're honest with
ourselves, is not a reality in our lives. What
does this mean? It means that in the eyes of
God, because we are in Messiah, we are holy and
blameless. This is our positional reality. I
don't believe that's where it ends. One day God
will make us truly holy and blameless. This can
only happen after we have died and come back to
life. Therefore, I believe this is one of many
verses that teaches about eternal security.
Predestination
5He
predestined us to adoption as sons through
Yeshua Messiah to Himself, according to the kind
intention of His will, 6to the praise of the
glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on
us in the Beloved.
The
doctrines of election and predestination are
hard pills to swallow for Believers who have not
been exposed to these verses. Scofield defines
predestination as "that
effective exercise of the will of God by which
things before determined by Him are brought to
pass." God
has predestined us to be a part of His family.
The idea of being an adopted child of God
conveys, again, our positional reality. We have
all the rights, privileges and responsibilities
of a child of the Father. And, just like in the
Deuteronomy passage that we already read, God
chose the elect not because of anything inherent
in us but according to the kind intention of His
will; that is, God chooses simply because He
wanted to, according to His own wisdom. This
reveals how gracious God is. In Hebrew, the root
word for "glory" has the sense of "heaviness."
Therefore, the glory of something is actually
the full revelation of that thing, that is, the
full weight of revelation. In this case, the
"glory of His grace" refers to how gracious God
is. God was not under any obligation to save
anyone but out of His graciousness, He has
chosen some for eternal life. The "Beloved" is
Yeshua (Matthew 3:17),
and when we are in Him, we can be called the
Beloved as well.
The
Future has invaded the Present
7In
Him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the
riches of His grace 8which He lavished on us. In
all wisdom and insight 9He made known to us the
mystery of His will, according to His kind
intention which He purposed in Him 10with a view
to an administration suitable to the fullness of
the times, that is, the summing up of all things
in Messiah, things in the heavens and things on
the earth. In Him
Through the Messiah's blood, God has redeemed
us. The Holman Bible Dictionary says "religious
redemption language grows out of the custom of
buying back something which formerly belonged to
the purchaser but for some reason had passed
into the ownership of another." |
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Through Adam's sin, mankind lost its connection
to the Creator.
The
Messiah paid the price, with His own blood, to
buy us back from the clutches of sin. Legally
speaking, we deserve to be eternally punished
for the trespasses we have committed. God,
through the Messiah, has manifested how infinite
His grace is and has forgiven us of our
trespasses.
What
is a trespass? A trespass is an action that
brings offense to a higher authority. Which
standard of righteousness have we trespassed?
God's standard of righteousness is the Torah.
This is why the Apostle John can say:
Everyone who practices sin also practices
lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. (1
John 3:4)
Through the Messiah, we have assurance that our
trespasses will not be held against us. Not only
that, in God's unending wisdom and insight, He
also made known to us the truth of the Bible,
which Paul calls "the mystery of His will." Why
does Paul use the word "mystery?" As we'll see,
Paul is specifically referring to the revelation
that Gentiles were to be a part of Israel even
before the Messianic kingdom was actually
established. This is most likely what he is
referring to as he references that our current
positional reality has a view to "an
administration suitable to the fullness of the
times," which he further explains is "the
summing up of all things in Messiah, things in
the heavens and things on the earth." In
other words, God has begun this work in our
lives but it will be completed in the World to
Come. The future has invaded the present.
Obtained an Inheritance
11also we have obtained an inheritance, having
been predestined according to His purpose who
works all things after the counsel of His
will, 12to the end that we who were the first to
hope in Messiah would be to the praise of His
glory. 13In Him, you also, after listening to
the message of truth, the gospel of your
salvation--having also believed, you were sealed
in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who is
given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a
view to the redemption of God's own possession,
to the praise of His glory.
What
is the inheritance that we have obtained with
our salvation? Contrary to the traditional
Christian notion that Heaven is our eternal
resting place, the Bible actually teaches that
our future dwelling will be the Land of Israel.
As we will see in chapter 2, Gentile Believers
have a share in the covenants of the promise.
The covenants of the promise are the covenants
God has made with Israel, which are realized in
the Messiah. Therefore, the inheritance Paul is
speaking of is the inheritance of the Land of
Israel and the eternal Kingdom of the son of
David, King Messiah Yeshua, which we will freely
enjoy in a sinless and immortal state.
Paul
again mentions that we have been predestined
according to God's purpose and says that God
works all things according to His will. This
parallels Romans
8:28 where he says "And
we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to
those who are called according to His purpose." In
other words, God is sovereignly working all
things together to bring about the salvation of
His elect. In His sovereign plan, He has
purposed to reveal the Gospel to the Jews first
and then the Gentiles (Romans 1:16).
This is what Paul means in verse 12 when he says
those who were the first to hope in the Messiah,
that is, the Jews who first hoped in Messiah
would be to the praise of His glory. In other
words, the Jewish remnant who accepted the
Gospel was a testimony to God's continuing
faithfulness, as He fulfills the promises to the
Fathers. Not only that, God also chose some from
among the Nations to believe in the same message
that the faithful Jews believed in.
Verse 13 brings up an
interesting point, Paul places belief only after
hearing. This parallels
Romans 10:17
where he says that "So
faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the
word of Messiah." While
being a Believer is a matter of God's sovereign
choice, it's only worked out in our lives
through the proclamation of the Gospel.
Additionally, our salvation is sealed in Him
because we have been given the Holy Spirit as a
pledge of our inheritance. In other words, the
work of the Spirit in our lives, sanctifying us
and enabling us to obey God's commandments is a
guarantee that one day we will have our full
redemption, that is, life in the World to Come.
Giving Thanks for Saved Gentiles
15For this reason I too, having heard of the
faith in the Master Yeshua which exists among
you and your love for all the saints, 16do not
cease giving thanks for you, while making
mention of you in my prayers; 17that the God of
our Master Yeshua Messiah, the Father of glory,
may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of
revelation in the knowledge of Him.
Paul, now, directs his attention to the
recipients of the epistle and informs them that
he always "gives thanks" for them. The word in
the Greek for "gives thanks" is "eucharisteo."
This is the same word used in the Gospels and
Acts when the context is obviously referring to
the Jewish custom of saying a bracha. A bracha usually
has the formulation of "Blessed are You, O Lord
our God, King of the Universe," followed by the
specific giving of thanks. It's interesting that
there is a traditional bracha that Jews
recite in the morning that says:
Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the
universe, Who has not made me a Gentile.
In Acts
11:18, however, it says:
When
they heard this, they quieted down and glorified
God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the
Gentiles also the repentance that leads to
life."
It's
possible that among the sect of the Way, a
special blessing was recited on behalf of the
Gentile Believers. Regardless, Paul, like the
other Apostles, glorified God that He had
granted unto Gentiles the repentance that leads
to life.
Paul
also recognized that the life God has granted
Gentiles was not just forgiveness of sins but
also wisdom and the knowledge of revelation in
Him. What are the spirit of wisdom and the
knowledge of revelation in Him? It's the
Scriptures, that is, only within God's Word do
we find His wisdom and the knowledge of Him.
Essentially, Paul is praying that Gentiles be
given illumination in their study of the
Scriptures.
18I
pray that the eyes of your heart may be
enlightened, so that you will know what is the
hope of His calling, what are the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19and
what is the surpassing greatness of His power
toward us who believe. These are in accordance
with the working of the strength of His might
The
“heart,” from a Jewish perspective is actually
the mind, that is, your understanding. This is
why some translations translate the idiom and
use the word “understanding.” Paul prays that
our minds will be illuminated, so that we will
know the greatness of the reality of our
salvation. In other words, his prayer is that we
would “get it.” That we would understand that
God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings,
to be chosen before the foundation of the world,
to be predestined to be adopted children and all
of the other incredible blessings and
responsibilities we have in the Messiah.
Paul
uses four different Greek words to describe the
power God has displayed in saving us. First, “dunamis,”
the normal word for power is used. Then he goes
on to use the word “energeia,” translated
here as “working,” this speaks of the power of
the Spirit that regenerates us. That energizing
work uses the “strength” (“kratos”) of
His might (“ischus”). Paul is describing,
in apparently as many words as he can possibly
use, what amazing feat God has accomplished in
us and what amazing resources that God has
bestowed to us. His desire is that we would
understand this and live in accordance with it.
All
Things are under His Feet
20which He brought about in Messiah, when He
raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His
right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above
all rule and authority and power and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this
age but also in the one to come. 22And He put
all things in subjection under His feet, and
gave Him as head over all things to the
assembly, 23which is His body, the fullness of
Him who fills all in all.
All
that Paul has been talking about was only made
possible through the Messiah, specifically His
death, resurrection and current reign. Messiah’s
reign reaches beyond any conceivable earthly
authority. The Messiah’s rule is not just for
This World but also for the World to Come.
All
things are in subjection the Messiah, most
specifically the Assembly. Here, the Greek word
"ecclesia" is used in a technical sense
to refer to all Believers. This word is almost
always translated as "church." The word
"church," unfortunately, conveys the idea that
the Messiah's assembly or community is a
distinct entity, separate from Israel. We should
do our best to avoid thinking this way. The
assembly or community of the Messiah's followers
is not a separate entity that is distinct from
Israel.
As
we'll see in chapter 2, Israel is community that
Gentile Believers are brought into by faith. The
best way to define the word "ecclesia"
when it's used in a technical sense to refer to
all Believers in Yeshua is that it's referring
to the community of the faithful within Israel.
The Assembly is that part of Israel that is
being true to God because they have accepted His
Messiah and are living out the Torah in
submission to that Messiah. The Assembly of
course is made up not just of Jews but also of
Gentiles.
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