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Background: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon are sometimes referred to as the Prison Letters, since they were written during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment. For two years, Paul was kept in or near the barracks of the Praetorian Guard, or in rental quarters which he paid for. Messiah’s Community at Ephesus probably began with Aquila, who was a Messianic Jew, and his wife Priscilla, when Paul made a brief stop there on his second missionary journey. On his third journey, he stayed in the city for about three years, and the Message about the Messiah spread throughout that region of Asia Minor, which is present day Turkey. The city was a commercial, political and religious center. The temple of Artemis (Diana) was there. Timothy led the community there for a time (1 Timothy 1:3) and later John made the city his headquarters (Ryrie Study Bible).
This divinely inspired letter was written around 61 AD, toward the end of the life of one of the greatest human beings who ever lived. Rabbi Paul of Tarsus was intense, intelligent, courageous, devoted, zealous. He was a great scholar and theologian. He was also a Roman citizen. He spoke and wrote Greek and was familiar with Greek and Roman culture.
Paul was one of the greatest evangelists of all time. He was a missionary and congregation planter. He was a prophet – one of a relatively few men who were privileged to hear clear messages from God and then communicate those messages to the rest of us. He was also an apostle, a special representative of the Son of God. Paul was a very special apostle – the apostle to the Gentiles, a Jewish rabbi uniquely equipped and sent to reach and teach the non-Jewish peoples of the world. Paul wrote much of the New Testament and left a tremendous imprint on Christianity and on Western civilization. Paul was one of the very greatest human beings who ever lived. We should pay very careful attention to his divinely inspired writings that have been preserved for us, like this letter to the Ephesians.
After his third missionary journey, Paul had been arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Rome, the capitol of the Roman empire. He was in confinement there, awaiting his trial, which could have resulted in this death. From there he wrote this letter to Messiah’s Community in Ephesus.
Paul, an apostle of Messiah Yeshua by the will of God. Paul was an apostle, which is an authoritative representative of the Messiah. He was an apostle, not by his own desires, not because of his own plans, not due to his own efforts, not by the authority given to him by some rabbinical academy, but by the will of God. It was the desire of the almighty God to make Paul one of Messiah’s Representatives. As someone raised up by God, empowered and sent to represent the Son of God, Paul wielded great spiritual authority. Paul was to be obeyed – by the Ephesians and by us. His writings are just as relevant and just as authoritative today as they were the day this letter was first received by the Ephesians.
Next come the recipients. To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Messiah Yeshua. This letter was written to Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians in Ephesus. They were holy people, saints, set apart ones, called out from a sinful world to accomplish God’s good purposes, set apart by a holy God to serve Him and live with Him forever! And that’s who we are too. That’s who God made us to be! Now, we need to live in a way that reflects that reality, amayn?
They were in Messiah, which means they were joined to Messiah. They were united to the ultimate Prophet, who speaks the words of God; the ultimate Priest who brings God closer to humans and brings humans closer to God; the ultimate King who will rule over a redeemed humanity; and the ultimate Savior who will help humanity with our greatest needs. They were in Messiah, united to the Son of God who is united to God the Father. And we are in Messiah too! So, we are able to hear the ultimate prophet speaking. We are able to get very close to God. We are able to submit to the King’s leadership. We are able to be saved with His everlasting salvation. How amazing and how wonderful is that?
They were the faithful in Messiah. That means that they were not were not only united to Messiah, but were faithful to Messiah. They were loyal to the Son of God; loyal to His teachings; loyal to His priorities; loyal to His Community of Jews and Gentiles. What a great group of people! If only it could be written about us one day: The people of Shema were holy and they were faithful in Messiah. They were loyal to the Son of God.
After the introduction of the author and the identification of its recipients, comes the greeting. It’s not something shallow like “hi”, “hello”, or “how are you?”, but a “prayer greeting” that is deeply meaningful: Grace and peace, chesed v’shalom, to you from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Paul is praying that God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah would bless the Ephesian Community with grace – unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor; and with peace – wholeness, completeness, well-beingness, everything-that-is-necessaryness. Human beings who have been damaged by the Fall – and that’s all of us – desperately need grace and peace that come from God the Father and from the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. What a wonderful kind of greeting! Grace and peace, chesed v’shalom, to you from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Much better than “hey!”
Understand that God the Father is not the Father of every human being. Grace and peace to you from God our Father. It is only those who are saved, who become loyal to the Messiah, who can rightfully say, “Abba, Father – You, Great Creator God, You, Maker of all things, are now my abba, my dad, my father.”
Understand too that God the Father and Messiah the Son are equal in nature. Chesed v’shalom, grace and peace flow equally from God the Father and from the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. It’s the shared and equal nature of the Father and the Son to give undeserved favor and restore wholeness to fallen and broken creatures, who are made in the image of God – especially to the sons and daughters of God, who have ended their rebellion against the High King and His Son, King Yeshua. Being joint-givers of the wonderful gifts of grace and peace indicates the equality of nature shared by the Father and the Son. They are by nature equally God, equally divine, equally dispensers of divine blessings like grace and peace.
Equality of nature. But, there is also a hierarchy of authority. God our Father is also the God and Father of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Just as a human father is greater than his son in authority in the family (the son is to honor and obey his father), so the Father is greater than the Son in position and in authority. The Father sends the Son. The Son never sends the Father. The Father gives order to the Son. The Son does not order the Father. The Father sits on the main throne of Heaven, as the High King. The Son sits at the Father’s right hand as a King, but the Son of the High King.
A simple way to understand the Trinity: There is a distinction of Persons; an equality of nature; and a hierarchy of authority.
Paul was in prison, and could be facing death, so naturally the first thing he would address to his brothers and sisters in Ephesus was his concerns about his own situation, and maybe complain about how unfair life was, and how he felt like a failure, and how depressed he was, right? No. He begins the main part of this letter by praising God for the many and amazing blessings that God has given His sons and daughters. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Messiah. And what are some of these “every spiritual blessings?” that Paul praised God for?
For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Messiah Yeshua, in accordance with His pleasure and will – to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Messiah, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment – to bring unity to all things in Heaven and on Earth under Messiah. 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, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Messiah, might be for the praise of His glory. And you also were included in Messiah when you heard the message of truth, the Gospel, the Good News of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory.
Joined to the Son of God, and having God as our Father, Christians and Messianic Jews possess every spiritual blessing that exists! We are the recipients of divine grace, mercy and love; chosenness; salvation; redemption; atonement; forgiveness; acceptance; reconciliation; righteousness; sonship; being sealed by the Holy Spirit; being protected by the power of God, followed by eternal life. How can we fail or not serve God when we understand that we possess every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms? How can we remain depressed when we know these truths, and believe these truths, and mediate on these truths and declare these truths? How can we feel defeated, even if our circumstances are difficult, even if we are in prison, if we understand that every spiritual blessing in heavenly realms belong to those who are joined to the Messiah?
Lets look at these fantastic spiritual blessings in further detail. First, there is Chosenness, or Election: For He, God the Father, chose us to be united to Messiah before the creation of the world with the result that we will be holy and blameless in God’s sight. Those joined to the Messiah were chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Messiah, might be for the praise of His glory. It’s nice to be chosen by someone good for something good. I remember when I was a kid, that to form a baseball game at school, the gym-teacher would pick two boys, and they would pick the other boys to be members of their team. It was exciting to be chosen by the captain of team you wanted to be part of, especially if you were chosen early, which meant that the captain really wanted you on his team. Well, we have been chosen by God the Father who is good and wise and powerful and worthy of our praise; and all of us were chosen early in the time of choosing, before the creation of the universe; all of us were wanted; and we were chosen to be part of God’s eternal family; and we were chosen for a wonderful purpose, so that one day we will be holy and blameless – without the slightest taint of sin or imperfection, so that we can enjoy a perfect and holy God, and He can enjoy us – forever and ever; and we were chosen to bring honor to God, to show how great, good, merciful and wonderful He is; and we were chosen by God the Father, who wills these things, and whose will is supreme, and who works out everything in conformity with His will, so that no one is able to overcome His will and remove our chosenness.
Yes, the Jewish people are the Chosen People; but every Christian, every Messianic Jew, is a Chosen Person; marked out by God before the creation of the universe to be holy and blameless, not just good in the sight of sinful human beings, but holy and blameless in the sight of the infinitely holy God, whose moral sight is perfect; chosen to enhance the glory and honor of the eternal God.
The implications of this tremendous spiritual blessing of election? Gratitude; appreciation for the Creator; the desire to be holy and blameless now; the desire to bring Him honor and praise now – by the way we live, by the values we embrace, by the priorities we have; by the service we give Him.
Chosenness; Election; next comes Adoption: In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Messiah Yeshua, in accordance with His pleasure and will – to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. Before the universe began, it was God’s plan; it was God’s purpose; it was God’s will – it was what He wanted – it was His pleasure to create creatures, made in His image, who could be friends of God, companions of the Creator; but even more than friends, sons and daughter of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!
There is no greater honor; no higher position, than a son or daughter of the High King of Heaven; a brother or sister of the High King’s Son – Yeshua. If you are saved; if you are a believer, you have the highest possible status – higher than any politician, rock star or movie star; more lifted up than a glorious angel; more exalted than a mighty archangel! You are a son or daughter of the great Creator God, and you have all the rights and privileges, honors and blessings that go with that exalted status.
The implications of this tremendous spiritual blessing of adoption? Being a good and faithful son or daughter of God – now. Pleasing your wonderful Heavenly Father – now. Assisting your Elder Brother, Messiah Yeshua – now, in the work of evangelism outside His Community, and doing something to build up His Community from within. Expressing thanks and gratitude to God for His love, which motivated Him to make us sons and daughters; communicating appreciation for this great gift of sonship that His grace made possible. Having an understanding of yourself based on this reality, that you are son or daughter of God, and therefore noble and precious and worthwhile; living in a way that reflects these realities and honors your Father.
After Election and Adoption come other spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms: Redemption; Information; Salvation and finally Protection: But for those, you will need to come back next week! In the meantime, let’s all meditate on Ephesians 1, and see how the Lord will bless us.