THE GOSPEL OF GRACE
SCRIPTURE: EPHESIANS 1 (NIV)
(Exegetical)
Greetings (vv.1-2) (exegetical)
1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ (Vv. 3-14)
3. Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
To be blessed is a profoundly glorious thing. The words bless and blessed are used in the Bible a great a great number of times and with many different meanings. The more important of them are:
TO BLESS IS—
· to make holy
· to confer happiness upon
· to grant divine favor to
· to express a wish for happiness for some other person
· to invoke special attributes upon
· to praise or glorify
TO BE BLESSED IS TO BE—
· holy
· sanctified
· consecrated
· enjoying blessings or highly favored
· blissful or joyful
· enjoying spiritual happiness
· enjoying oneness with God
TO BE IN CHRIST: is to be part of the Body of Christ.
When God, the Father looks at us He sees us as part of his Beloved Son, in all his purity and perfection. This is GRACE. Although we are growing in Grace, we are not yet what we shall be. “P-B-P-W-M-G-I-N-F-W-M-Y.”(Bill Gothard) (Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet.)
4. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight, in love
God does not strike us with a bolt of faith while denying others the opportunity to come to Him by faith.
5. he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
6. to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Faith is the condition of the new birth, not election. God loves His Son Jesus the Christ and we are in Him and we share the acceptance of the Son.
7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (see verse 14)
8. that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
9. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
10. to put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment----to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
11. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
The word “predestined” is a totally inappropriate translation from the Greek, (proorizw). This translation “predestinated” was derived from the Latin Vulgate Translation (Ca. AD. 406), not in the original writings. It is a word that has caused a great deal of division within the Christian Church as if it attributed to God absolute and capricious determination of who would be saved and who would not. A careful examination of each instance of its occurrence is important. In Eph. 1:5 the purpose of this foreordination is the adoption, which means the placing of those who were born of God into their proper position which means “Son” in His personal and voluntary conformity to the character of God (v.11). It is used again in (v.12).
It is not who are the objects of this predestination, but what they are predestined to. We are predestined to be conformed to the character of Jesus. (Zodiates, p. 1724). Predestination is based on foreknowledge. (Romans 8:29) “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.”
12. in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
13. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,`
Some of you might be wondering—“What happens when someone drifts away from the faith? Do they lose their salvation?
The answer to that question is three fold.
· First, there are those who made a counterfeit confession of faith. (Wherever there is the genuine there follows a counterfeit) To those the following verse applies.
“They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth” (1 John 2:19-20).
· Secondly, there are those who have backslidden, who will most likely come back to faith. I know several who fit that description. The Apostle Peter had an experience like that. He denied Christ three times. If we would be honest with ourselves, most of us have gone through periods of some backsliding during our spiritual journey.
· Then there are those who merely decide to quit one church to join another. They have not quit the Lord and should not be treated as such.
Your choice of church fellowship is more a matter of personality chemistry than anything else. Each fellowship has its own personality. It could also be a doctrinal issue. Or perhaps they don’t jive with the pastor’s personality, or the music.
14. the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life is like a down payment or earnest money,
“guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
1 John 2 further says—“whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what He promised us—even eternal life. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing your received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as it that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him (vv. 23b-27).
Thanksgiving and Prayer (Vv. 15-23)
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15. For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
16. I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
17. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance to the saints,
19. and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,
20. which he exerted in Christ when he raise him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21. far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
22. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed to Him to be head over everything for the church,
23. which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Perhaps you are sitting here this morning, feeling yourself as being sort of on the outside of Jesus Christ and you have a knowing feeling that you want to be “IN CHRIST”
