St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians

Introduction• Author: St Paul the Apostle• One of the “Prison Epistles”• Recipient:

–This epistle seems was not intended for just one congregation, but intended to be passed around to several churches in the area surrounding Ephesus.

Purpose of Ephesians

• Unlike other epistles written to specific churches, this epistle does not deal with specific problems in a local congregation.

• Instead, St. Paul addressed great themes that relate to the Christian's position in Christ, as a member of the body of Christ, the church.

Divisions of the Epistle

• 1) In the first three chapters St Paul reminds Christians of their spiritual blessings in Christ

• 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 (1:3)

• In the last three chapters, he focus on the conduct (or "walk”) expected of those so richly blessed children of God

• I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called

(4:1)

Chapter 1

Important Questions

• What is our purpose in life?

• What is our identity in Christ?

• What does it mean to be chosen by God?

Ephesians 1•  1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus

Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1

• 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,

• What are some of those blessings?(4-14)

Ephesians 1

• 1) He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, (4)

• 2) He adopted us as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (5)

• 3) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (7)

Ephesians 1

• 4) In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. (11)

• 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory

Ephesians 1•  St. Paul then moves on to report the

content of his continual prayer for the Ephesians (vv. 15–22).

• His deep desire for these Christians, and God’s desire for us today, is that we know Him better, grasp and experience His “Exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe,” and find fullness in Jesus, whom God has exalted over all things as head of the church(His body).

Chapter 2

Ephesians 2• God determined to form the church of flawed

material because of His great love for sinners (2:1–4).

• He took those who were dead in sin and made us alive in Christ, literally recreating us to make us suitable for the good works which He also prepared for us to do (vv. 5–10).

• This process of recreation in Christ also closed the gap between the Jew, who had enjoyed a covenant relationship with God, and the Gentile, who was locked out of that relationship (vv. 11–13).

Ephesians 2• By bringing both Jew and Gentile to God

through the Cross Jesus settled the long-standing hostility between the races, removing its cause (vv. 14– 18).

• As a result Jew and Gentile are now “fellow citizens,” members of God’s great household (2:19– 22).

Ephesians 2• 1 And you He made alive, who were dead in

trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

Ephesians 2• 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His

great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus

Ephesians 2• . 8 For by grace you have been saved through

faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

• 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.   

• Everyone has a mission in life prepared by God

Ephesians 2• The Paralytic man:• See, you have been made well. Sin no more,

lest a worse thing come upon you" ( John 5:14)

• The woman who were caught in adultery (John 8)

• “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more”. (john 8:11)

Ephesians 2• 11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles

in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2• 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both

one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 2• 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers

and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.