Ephesians 1

When will this happen? It will happen when the times will have reached their fulfillment—that is, at just the right time selected by God. No one but God knows when that time will be.

How great is Paul’s vision! It extends from before the creation of the world (verse 4) right up until the fulfillment of the times. Everything in heaven and on earth is included in Paul’s vision. Yet when Paul wrote this letter he was sitting in a jail cell. With his physical eyes he could see only the four walls of his cell. With his spiritual eyes, however, he could see the entire will and purpose of God!

Sometimes our lives become like the inside of a jail. We need to open our spiritual eyes and see the mystery of [God’s] will. The mystery is this: God sent His only Son Jesus Christ into the world that we might receive redemption and forgiveness of sins and become holy and blameless adopted children of God. That such weak and sinful people as we should receive these glorious blessings is a mystery indeed!

11-12 In these two verses Paul speaks about the Jews.⁵ Paul was himself a Jew. Paul says in verse 11: In him (Christ) we (the Jews) were also chosen.⁶ Then in verse 12, Paul explains that the Jews were chosen in order that they … might be for the praise of his glory. From long before Christ’s time, the Jews had been waiting for a Savior to come; the coming of a Savior had been foretold by the Jewish prophets of the Old Testament. This is why Paul says in verse 12 that the Jews were the first to hope in Christ.

13 Now Paul turns his attention to the Ephesians, who were not Jews. Paul writes: And you also were included in Christ. That is, the Ephesians also had been given the chance to receive salvation through faith in Christ. The Ephesian believers had been included in Christ because they had heard the word of truth, the GOSPEL of [their] SALVATION, and had believed it.

The proof that the Ephesians had been included in Christ is that they had been marked in him (Christ) with a seal. That “seal” is the promised HOLY SPIRIT. Paul says the Spirit is promised, because Jesus had promised His disciples that the Spirit would be sent from God (see John 14:26).

What, then, is the seal of the Holy Spirit? In New Testament times, a king would stamp his seal on his letters, so that a person receiving the letter would know without doubt that it was indeed the king’s letter. Any letter stamped with the king’s seal had the king’s authority. In the same way, when any person has been “stamped with the seal” of the Holy Spirit, we can know that that person belongs to Christ and has Christ’s authority.

Also notice here that in order to be a Christian and to receive the Holy Spirit (to be “stamped with the seal” of the Spirit), two things are necessary. First, we must have heard the Gospel. Second, we must have believed in Christ.

14 The Holy Spirit is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. It can be said (in simple terms) that the Holy Spirit is one of God’s forms.⁷ It is in the “form” of the Holy Spirit that God enters our hearts and changes our lives. Through the Holy Spirit we can experience a foretaste of heaven; that is, the Holy Spirit is like a deposit, or advance, on the full inheritance that awaits us in heaven. In this world we do not receive our full heavenly inheritance; but we do receive an advance on it, a deposit guaranteeing that we shall receive the rest of it in heaven. Having received the deposit—the Holy Spirit—we can know without doubt that we shall one day receive our full inheritance (see Romans 8:16-17; 2 Corinthians 1:22).

As Paul speaks about our heavenly inheritance, he once again reminds us that the blessings we have already received and the blessings we will yet receive in heaven are to the praise of his (God’s) glory. Paul has repeated this expression three times in this chapter (verses 6,12,14). Paul has also repeated three times the expression “according to His (God’s) pleasure, will, or plan” (verses 5,9,11). In emphasizing these points, Paul shows us that everything begins with God’s pleasure and will, and everything ends in God’s glory. Here, too, we can see the entire meaning and purpose of our lives. According to God’s pleasure and will, we have believed in Christ and have been brought into God’s family. And now, therefore, we must live to the praise of his glory.

Worldly men⁸ say: “I will live my life according to my own will and for my own glory.” But believers in Christ say: “I will live my life according to God’s will and for His glory.” How different is the mind of the worldly man and the mind of the Christian!

15-16 Even though Paul has written this letter to the Ephesians almost two thousand years ago, it is also written for us today. Here Paul’s prayer is not only for the Ephesians; it is for us too.

If Paul were alive today, what would he have heard about our faith and about our love for all the saints? Would he be able to give thanks for our faith and love?

17 In this prayer for the Ephesians (and for us), what does Paul pray for? He prays that we and the Ephesians might be given the Spirit⁹ of wisdom and revelation. This wisdom is needed so that we might know God better. Spiritual wisdom and revelation always come from God, not from man.

Paul further prays that through this wisdom, we and the Ephesians might know three things: first, the hope to which God has called us (verse 18); second, the riches of his glorious inheritance (verse 18); and third, his incomparably great power (verse 19).

18 What is the hope to which we have been called? Our hope is in the things which Paul has already mentioned in this chapter. We hope to be free of sin; we hope to be children of God; we hope to be holy and to remain in Christ. We have been called to all of these things, and thus we can place our hope in them.

What is the glorious inheritance which God has promised us? We have already received the deposit of this inheritance—that is, the Holy Spirit (verse 14). The remainder of our inheritance is waiting for us in heaven. The most wonderful part of our heavenly inheritance will be living forever with God and Christ. In addition to that, we will be like Christ (1 John 3:2), and we shall reign with Christ (2 Timothy 2:12).

19 At the beginning of our Christian lives, we were called. At the end of our Christian lives, we shall receive a glorious inheritance. And between the beginning and end of our lives, we are sustained by God’s incomparably great power … his mighty strength. God’s power has no limit, and this power is available to us throughout our Christian lives.

20-21 How great is that power! By that power God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. By that power Jesus reigns in heaven over all rule and authority, power and dominion (verse 21). He reigns over Satan, and all his spirits and demons. He reigns over evil and over death. He reigns over all things, both of heaven and of earth, both present and future. He is reigning today, and He will reign forever—all through the power of God.

Can any human power bring a dead person to life? No. But God’s power can. For God, nothing is impossible (Mark 10:27). And that same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to us who believe. Through that same power, we who were once dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1) have now been made alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5) and have been seated with Him in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6). And that power is available to us day by day through the Holy Spirit; therefore, let us not fail to ask for it.

22-23 All things have been placed under his (Christ’s) feet—that is, under His authority (verse 22). When we feel overwhelmed by sin, by weakness, by fear and anxiety, let us remember that all these things have already been put under Christ’s feet. And if they are under Christ’s feet, they are under our feet too!

Paul says here that Christ is the head over everything for the CHURCH. In Ephesians 5:23, Paul calls Christ simply the head of the church. If Christ is the head, then the church is His body (verse 23). And if the church is Christ’s body, then we believers are members of His body (see Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12,27 and comments).

The church is Christ’s fullness. Just as a kingdom can be called the “fullness” of a king, so the church is the “fullness” of Christ. But it is not the church that does the “filling”; it is Christ Himself who fills everything in every way (verse 23). From the fullness of his (Christ’s) grace we have all received one blessing after another (John 1:16). This should not surprise us, because Christ is God Himself (see John 10:30; Colossians 1:15-20; General Article: Jesus Christ).