Ephesians 1 Verses 3 to 12 Signed, Sealed, and Delivered January 5, 2025
The Immeasurable Love of Christ • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Ephesians 1 Verses 3 to 12 Signed, Sealed, and Delivered January 5, 2025
The Immeasurable Love of Christ Lesson 1 Class Presentation Notes AAAAA
Background Scriptures:
• Romans 8:29–30 (NASB95)
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
• 2 Peter 3:9 (NASB95)
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
Main Idea:
• Grace is giving you what you need, not what you deserve
Study Aim:
• To understand that He chose us in the past, but now He changes us for the future.
Create Interest:
• Dr. Wiersbe told the story of a woman named Hetty Green. She had gone down in history as “America’s Greatest Miser,” yet, when she died in 1916, she left an estate valued at over $100 million dollars. She ate cold oatmeal because it cost too much money to heat it. Her son had to suffer a leg amputation, because she delayed so long in looking for a free clinic that his case became incurable.
• She was wealthy, yet she chose to live like a pauper. She was so foolish that she hastened her own death by bringing on a stroke while arguing about the value of drinking skimmed milk! The life that this woman lived illustrates the attitude that many Christians entertain today. They have limitless wealth at their disposal, and yet, they live like paupers.
• If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you have been given a treasure chest filled with God’s blessings. Many of those treasures are found here in this portion of Ephesians.
• We have been made rich from His redemption. We are loaded because of His love for us. We are prosperous because of God’s provisions for us. So, what is in our treasure chest? Like children that discover a treasure chest on a sandy beach shouting, “Let me see! Let me see!” let’s see what our treasures are in Jesus Christ.
Lesson in Historical Context:
• Ephesians was written about A.D. 60 to 62 during his first Roman imprisonment when Paul wanted to make the Christians more aware of their position in Christ and motivate them to draw upon their spiritual source in daily living. The Ephesian Christians were a group of believers who were rich beyond measure in Jesus Christ, yet living as beggars, and only because they were ignorant of their wealth.
• The authorship has been challenged but with Paul being named in the first verse and his development and growth spiritually over the years, settles the issue for most theologians.
o The phrase "all things to all people" originates from the Bible, specifically 1 Corinthians 9:19 and 22, where the Apostle Paul writes about becoming "all things to all people" to spread the gospel. This concept is understood as adapting one's approach or behavior to relate to different individuals or groups, not for personal gain, but to effectively communicate the Christian message. Paul demonstrated this by tailoring his message to different audiences, such as using Greek poetry references when speaking to the Athenians. However, it's important to note that this approach does not mean compromising core beliefs or principles. Rather, it involves setting aside personal preferences and focusing on building genuine relationships to share the gospel. This biblical teaching encourages Christians to be flexible and look for opportunities to connect with others, regardless of their background, in order to share their faith.
[1] Passion Movement, Simple Pursuit: A Heart after Jesus (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2016).
• Paul was made an apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s will or decision. It was not his own choosing or plan. Thus, he had God’s authority behind him. As an apostle Paul was commissioned and sent by God with the gospel message.
• The letter is addressed to the saints who resided in Ephesus. “Saints” (hagiois, “holy ones”) are those set apart for God’s use. They are a part of the universal church by virtue of their salvation in Christ. If this epistle were a circular letter, it seems that Ephesus, such a strategic city in Asia Minor, would have certainly received it first. The faithful in Christ Jesus further defines the “saints” and could be rendered “that is, the believers in Christ Jesus.” These saints were in Christ Jesus, not in Adam or the goddess Artemis of Ephesus.
• While believers have geographical locations (e.g., “Ephesus”), spiritually they are positioned “in Christ” (cf. “in Christ at Colosse” in Col. 1:2). Paul used “in Christ Jesus,” “in Christ,” or “in Him” quite frequently. In Ephesians 1:1–14 the phrase occurs nine times! Christians have their very life in Christ.
• Paul’s extension of grace (charis) and peace is different from the normal Greek letters:
o “Grace” expresses God’s steadfast love toward man.
o “Peace” shows the relational state as a result of that grace.
Paul opened his letter to the church at Ephesus with greetings to the believers there, expressing his wish that God’s grace and peace be with them.
• Paul now moved from his general greeting to the saints at Ephesus to an expanded discussion of the reason God is to be praised—because of the spiritual blessings He has planned for believers in Christ.
Bible Study:
Ephesians 1:3 (NASB95)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
• The source of our blessings. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God the Father has made us rich in Jesus Christ! When you were born again into God’s family, you were born rich. Through Christ, you share in the riches of God’s grace (Eph. 1:7; 2:7), God’s glory (Eph. 1:18; 3:16), God’s mercy (Eph. 2:4), and “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). Our Heavenly Father is not poor; He is rich—and He has made us rich in His Son.
o In this letter, Paul explains to us what these riches are and how we may draw on them for effective Christian living.
• The scope of our blessings. We have “all spiritual blessings.” This can be translated “all the blessings of the Spirit,” referring to the Holy Spirit of God. In the Old Testament, God promised His earthly people, Israel, material blessings as a reward for their obedience (Deut. 28:1–13).
o Today, He promises to supply all our needs “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19), but He does not promise to shield us from either poverty or pain. The Father has given us every blessing of the Spirit, everything we need for a successful, satisfying Christian life. The spiritual is far more important than the material.
• The Holy Spirit is mentioned many times in this letter, because He is the one who channels our riches to us from the Father, through the Son.
o Not to know and depend on the Holy Spirit’s provision is to live a life of spiritual poverty. No wonder Paul began his Ephesian ministry asking some professed Christians if they really knew the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1–7).
o Romans 8:9 (NASB95)
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
Unless you have the witness of the Spirit (Rom. 8:15–16), you cannot draw on the wealth of the Spirit.
• The sphere of our blessings. Our blessings are “in heavenly places in Christ.” Perhaps a clearer translation would be “in the heavenlies in Christ.” The unsaved person is interested primarily in earthlies, because this is where he lives. Jesus called them “the children of this world” (Luke 16:8).
o The Christian’s life is centered in heaven. His citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20); his name is written in heaven (Luke 10:20); his Father is in heaven; and his attention and affection ought to be centered on the things of heaven (Col. 3:1). “The heavenlies” (literal translation) describes that place where Jesus Christ is right now (Eph. 1:2) and where the believer is seated with Him (Eph. 2:6). The battles we fight are not with flesh and blood on earth, but with satanic powers “in the heavenlies” (Eph. 6:12).
o The Christian really operates in two spheres: the human and the divine, the visible and the invisible.
Physically, he is on the earth in a human body,
Spiritually he is seated with Christ in the heavenly sphere—and it is this heavenly sphere that provides the power and direction for the earthly walk.
Likewise with the Christian: no matter where he may be on this earth, he is seated in the heavenlies with Jesus Christ, and this is the basis of his life and power.
Ephesians 1:4–6 (NASB95)
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
• Paul’s great prayer at the opening of this letter is a celebration of the larger story within which every single Christian story—every story of individual conversion, faith, spiritual life, obedience and hope—is set.
o Only by understanding and celebrating the larger story can we hope to understand everything that’s going on in our own smaller stories, and so observe God at work in and through our own lives.
• The prayer itself falls into three sections, though each one is tied so closely to the others, and overlaid with so much praise and celebration, that sometimes it’s difficult to see what’s going on. Verses 4–6 are the first paragraph, following the introductory word of praise in verse 3. Verses 7–10 are the second, and verses 11–14 round the prayer off. Let’s look at them in turn.
• Verses 4–6 celebrate the fact that God’s people in the Messiah are chosen by grace. This is, perhaps, the most mysterious thing of all. God, the creator, ‘chose us in him’, that is, in the king, ‘before the world was made’; and he ‘foreordained us for himself’.
o Many people, including many devout Christians, have found this shocking, or even unbelievable.
How can God choose some and not others?
How can being a follower of Jesus Christ be a matter of God’s prior decision, overriding any decision or freedom of our own?
• Various answers can be given to this. We must be careful here. Paul emphasizes throughout this paragraph that everything we have in Christ is a gift of God’s grace; and in the next chapter he will declare that before this grace reached down to us we were ‘dead’, and needing to be ‘made alive’ (2:5). We couldn’t lift a finger to help ourselves; the rescue we needed had to come from God’s side. That’s one of the things this opening section is celebrating.
• The second thing, which is often missed in discussions of this point, is that our salvation in Christ is a vital stage, but only a stage, on the way to the much larger purpose of God. God’s plan is for the whole cosmos, the entire universe; his choosing and calling of us, and his shaping and directing of us in the Messiah, are somehow connected with that larger intention. How this works out we shall see a little later. But the point is that we aren’t chosen for our own sake, but for the sake of what God wants to accomplish through us.
• This alerts us to the other hidden story which Paul is telling all through this great prayer. It is the story of the Exodus from Egypt.
o God chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be the bearers of his promised salvation for the world—the rescue of the whole cosmos, humankind especially, from the sin and death that had come about through human rebellion.
o When Paul says that God chose us ‘in Christ’—the ‘us’ here being the whole company of Christians, Jews and Gentiles alike—he is saying that those who believe in Jesus are now part of the fulfilment of that ancient purpose. Notice that belief is always a choice of each of us.
Thought to Soak on 😊
• Election, chosen by grace, is a basic affirmation of the Bible.
o (a) It emphasizes the truth that the initiative in bringing about man’s redemption is taken by God and not by man. Jesus expressed it in the words of John 15:16: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (NASB).
o (b) The election or choice of God is not arbitrary, so that some are destined to salvation and others to perdition, without regard to the disposition of the individual man. The extension of salvation is to all men, as the Bible abundantly declares (John 3:16; Rom. 10:13).
The elect are established, not by absolute decree, but by acceptance of the conditions of God’s call.
• Another facet of man’s redemption is expressed in Vs. 5, Having predestinated us unto adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
o The expression having predestinated (proorisas) literally means “having marked out beforehand.” It parallels the idea of election, suggesting once again the fact that God’s plan had been decided on from eternity.
o Paul here specifies how it is achieved, namely, the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. Men were created for fellowship with God as His sons (Gen. 1:26; Acts 17:28), but sin severed that relationship and rendered man a stranger to the divine household. God therefore determined that by Jesus Christ restoration to sonship would be granted to those who accept the Eternal Son.
Ephesians 1:7–10 (NASB95)
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight
9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
• Vs. 7: In Jesus, Paul reminds us, we have “redemption through His blood.” Redemption is a slave-market term. In the ancient world, if a person desired to grant freedom to a slave (or if a slave had the wherewithal to purchase his or her own freedom), a redemption price would be paid to the owner of that slave; a sum of money would be handed over in order to redeem that man, woman, boy, or girl from his or her enslavement. This, says the apostle, is also what God has done for his people!
o We were enslaved to sin. We were in bondage to our own sinful natures and lusts. And yet our Father in heaven paid the price to set us free. We have “redemption through [Jesus’] blood.”
o This is why we can now become “holy and blameless” (v. 4)—because we are no longer slaves to sin! Remind yourself of that fact when temptation tugs like a chain around your ankle, dragging you back toward your old ways. Say to yourself, “In Christ, I am no longer a slave! God paid my redemption price through the blood of Jesus! I am free! And I’m going to live like it! I have ‘redemption through His blood.’ ”
• Vs. 7: In addition to having been set free from sin’s power, Christians have also been redeemed from sin’s debts. “Redemption,” Paul says in verse 7, includes “forgiveness.”
o An ancient slave, in some cases, might be not only a slave, but also a debtor. The whole reason he or she was owned by another human being was because of a failure to pay some debt. So, if such a person was redeemed, if his or her liberty was purchased, the debt was, at the same time, canceled out as well! This person was now not only free, but also forgiven! And so it is with the Christian.
o We owed a great debt to God because of our trespasses and sins. But “through [Jesus’] blood,” the debt was paid. “Through His blood” we are set free, not only from slavery to sin, but also from our debt to God and from its corresponding penalty!
o Restitution has been made in full. “Through His blood” we have “the forgiveness of our trespasses.” Do you have forgiveness? Do you know that your sin debts have been removed by the blood of Christ?
• Vs. 8-9. “Wherein he has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.
o The Greek word translated “mystery” is musterion, or, “that which was previously hidden or obscured.” God has forgiven us, chosen us, predestined us, and elevated us—but He’s also made known to us, by His grace, the mystery of life. What is this mystery? Read on.
• Vs. 10. That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him. What is the big picture? What is the mystery? It is that in due time, everything in heaven and earth will be gathered together in Christ, around Christ, and for Christ.
• Why has God done so much for us? Why has He blessed us with every spiritual blessing, chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, made us holy and blameless, predestined us to adoption as His children, redeemed us through His blood, and lavishly given us forgiveness, wisdom, and insight according to the infinite riches of His grace? Read on….
o God redeems men in order that He might gather everything to Himself. The time of that gathering will be the millennial kingdom, which will be an administration suitable to the fulness of the times. When the completion of history comes, the kingdom arrives, eternity begins again, and the new heaven and new earth are established, there will be a summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. Jesus Christ is the goal of history, which finds its resolution in Him. The paradise lost in Adam is restored in Christ.
• At that time, “at the name of Jesus every knee [will] bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and … every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10–11).
o Christ will gather the entire universe into unity (see Ps. 2; Heb. 1:8–13). At the present time the universe is anything but unified. It is corrupted, divided, and splintered.
o Satan is now “the ruler of this world,” but in that day he “shall be cast out” (John 12:31). He and his demon angels will be thrown into the pit during the Millennium, released for a short while, and then cast into the lake of fire for all eternity (Rev. 20:3, 10).
• When every trace of evil has been disposed of, God will establish an incomparable unity in Himself of all things that remain. That is the inevitable goal of the universe.
Ephesians 1:11–14 (NASB95)
11 (In Him) also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
13 In 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,
14 who 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.
ESV14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
• HERE is Paul’s first example of the new unity which Christ brings.
o When he speaks of us he means his own nation, the Jews;
o When he speaks of you he means the Gentiles to whom he is writing;
o When in the very last sentence he uses we, it is of Jews and Gentiles together that he is thinking. Let’s look at each to share with others.
• First of all, Paul speaks of the Jews. They, too, had their portion assigned to them in the plan of God. They were the first to believe in the coming of the Anointed One of God. All through their history they had dreamed of and expected the Messiah. Their part in the scheme of things was to be the nation from whom God’s chosen one should come.
o What is true of individuals is true also of nations. Each nation has its part in God’s scheme of things.
The Greeks taught men what beauty of thought and form is.
The Romans taught men law and the science of government and administration.
The Jews taught men religion. The Jews were the people who were so prepared that from them God’s Messiah should come.
o That is not to say that God did not prepare other people too. All over the world God had been preparing men and nations so that their mind would be ready to receive the message of Christianity when it came.
But the great privilege of the Jewish nation was that they were the first to expect the coming of the Anointed One of God into the world.
• Then Paul turns to the Gentiles. In their development he sees two stages.
o They received the word; to them the Christian preachers brought the Christian message. That word was two things.
First, it was the word of truth; it brought them the truth about God and about the world in which they lived and about themselves.
Second, it was good news; it was the message of the love and of the grace of God.
o They were sealed with the Holy Spirit. In the ancient world—it is a custom still followed—when a sack, or a crate, or a package was dispatched, it was sealed with a seal, in order to indicate from where it had come and to whom it belonged. The possession of the Holy Spirit is the seal which shows that a man belongs to God. The Holy Spirit both shows us God’s will and enables us to do it.
• What Paul is saying is that the experience of the Holy Spirit which we have in this world is a foretaste of the blessedness of heaven; and it is the guarantee that someday we will enter into full possession of the blessedness of God.
• The highest experiences of Christian peace and joy which this world can afford are only faint foretastes of the joy into which we will one day enter. It is as if God had given us enough to whet our appetites for more and enough to make us certain that someday he will give us all.
A closing thought to focus before you consider our questions:
• Vs. 14a: We praise God because He guaranteed our inheritance. Harold Hoehner notes that the Greek word arrabōn, translated “pledge”, refers to “the first installment with a guarantee that the rest would follow.” In this context, the “pledge,” or down payment, refers specifically to the presence of the Holy Spirit, who indwells believers.
o We have the Spirit now,
He convicts us (John 16:8),
He comforts us (Acts 9:31),
He strengthens us to experience Christ’s powerful presence (Eph. 3:16),
He assures us that we are God’s children (Rom. 8:16). Even so, our current experience of the Spirit is merely a sneak preview of what’s coming.!
• Vs. 14b with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
• Although our divine inheritance in Christ is a marvelous, awesome, and guaranteed promise to us from the Lord, it is not the primary purpose of our salvation. Our salvation and all the promises, blessings, and privileges we gain through salvation are first of all bestowed with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
• The great, overriding purpose of God’s redemption of men is the rescuing of what is His own possession.
o All creation belongs to God, and in His infinite wisdom, love, and grace He chose to provide redemption for the fallen creatures He had made in His own image—for His own sake even more than for their sakes, because they do not belong to themselves but to Him.
• As Paul has already twice declared (vv. 6, 12), God’s ultimate goal in redeeming men is the praise of His glory.
o We are not saved and blessed for our own glory but for God’s (cf. Isa. 43:20–21).
o When we glorify ourselves, we rob God of that which is wholly His. He saved us to serve Him and to praise Him.
o We are saved to be restored to the intended divine purpose of creation—to bear the image of God and bring Him greater glory.
• This is fully accomplished at the believer’s glorification, when we receive full glory and redemption and are made the perfect possession of God.
Ephesians 1:1-14 Questions to contemplate as you go your way.
1. How was Paul made an apostle? (1:1)
2. What greetings did Paul extend to the believers at Ephesus? (1:2)
3. How has God blessed believers? (1:3)
4. When did God’s work of election take place? (1:4)
5. What is the purpose of God’s election? (1:4)
6. What did God determine beforehand for those who believe in Christ? (1:5)
7. What is the goal of God’s election? (1:6)
8. What is redemption? (1:7)
9. What does the work of Christ do for the believer? (1:7)
10. What has God given the believer? (1:8–10)
11. When will everything be brought together? (1:10)
12. How did God’s plan include people of different cultures? (1:11–12)
13. What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those called to receive spiritual blessings in Christ? (1:13–14)
