Ephesians Chapter 3

Ephesians 3:1-7 “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— ² if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, ³ how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, ⁴ by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), ⁵ which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: ⁶ that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, ⁷ of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.”

Paul describes the mystery of God, which is Christ within us, in the terms of adoption in this chapter.  The kingdom of God is God living within us.  That is the mystery that Jesus described in the parable of the sower and the seed.  God revealed this mystery to Paul by the Holy Spirit.  A mystery is an idea that was hidden in the Old Testament but revealed in the New Testament. Notice the language of adoption, when he says that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs.  The Gentiles are grafted in with the Jewish believers in Jesus and we are of the same body.  We are all partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.  The Holy Spirit of promise has come to dwell within us. Paul was placed into the ministry according to the gift of grace that was given to him, and it was demonstrated by the effective working of His power through the ministry of Paul. 

   

Ephesians 3:8-13 “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; ¹⁰ to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, ¹¹ according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹² in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. ¹³ Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.”

Paul was placed into the ministry by the grace of God.  Paul was called to preach primarily to the Gentiles.  He preached the gospel of Christ and taught people to see what their part is in this mystery.  First we are to receive the gospel, hearing the Good News that Christ died for our sins and receiving Jesus into our hearts.  Then we grow in our understanding of the mystery of God, which is Christ living within us.  As we mature in Christ and share the gospel with our world, we set others free from the bondage of Satan.  Remember that Ephesians 2:2 says that Satan is at work in the sons of disobedience or unbelievers.  As we preach the gospel, we are demonstrating the manifold wisdom of God through us to the principalities and powers, setting the people free from Satan’s oppression.  This is the warfare that Paul will describe in Ephesians chapter 6.  It is not praying down principalities and powers who are somehow hovering over the earth.  It is preaching the gospel to the world. Satan is driven out of their lives as they receive the Holy Spirit in their hearts.  Prayer is vital and important in the life of the believer.  But people will not hear the gospel and receive Christ only through prayer. Paul was suffering much tribulation as he went forth preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 3:14-21 “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— ¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

The key to understanding this prayer is to understand what constitutes the inner man and the heart.  This prayer used to confuse me.  I knew that Christ came to live in me when I received Him.  So why is Paul saying that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith?

The inner man is made up of the spirit and soul; so is the heart.  Many Bible teachers teach that the heart is the spirit.  Yet in 1 Peter 3:4, Peter said that the spirit is the hidden person of the heart.  The visible person of the heart is the soul.  The soul is your mind, emotions, will and conscience.  The inner man or heart contains both the spirit and soul.  

Now we can understand Paul’s prayer more clearly.  Christ has come to live within us when we received Him.  For His life and nature to be expressed through us, we must be strengthened with might through His Spirit in our soul.  Paul said in Romans 12 that we are transformed by the renewing of our mind.  Paul said that we are to be rooted and grounded in love.  That is speaking of the love of God for us.  That is our foundation below the surface that no one can see.  Then he prays that we may be able to comprehend the width and length and depth and height of the love of God.  That will cause the growth above the ground that people can see.  How are we going to be filled with all the fullness of God? We come to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.  This is describing His love which we have experienced for ourselves, not just head knowledge.  God is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think according to the power of Christ that is at work within us. 

Paul has been describing our inheritance we received when we accepted Jesus into our hearts.  The foundation of our inheritance is His free gift of righteousness.  Jesus has paid the penalty for the sins of our entire lifetime and put them away.  We are in right-standing with God by His free gift of grace, not by our performance.  Our right-standing with God is assured and never changes, even when we fail.  Having this confidence, we can begin to grow up and put away sin and walk in love and holiness.  We can begin to partake of our inheritance as a member of the household of God.  We begin to share the gospel with confidence and help to set others free. Paul will discuss the hope of our calling in Ephesians chapters 4-6.   

Keith Oliver    

Ephesians Chapter 2

In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul describes the greatness of His power that was exercised in each of us when we were born again.  Remember, the theme of Ephesians is adoption.  Paul is describing our birth into the family of God. 

Ephesians 2:1-7 “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.  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.”

In the first verse of chapter 2, Paul compares our new birth to the raising of Jesus from the dead.  Jesus died spiritually on the cross and became separated from God.  Jesus said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” At that point, Jesus had become sin for us and became separated from God.  He went to hell for us so that we could receive His new life and be born again.  We were dead in trespasses and sins and separated from God.  We walked according to the course of this world.  Satan worked within us just as he now works in the children of disobedience or non-Christians.  

Verse 2 helped me to understand chapter 6 of Ephesians more clearly.  It speaks of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience or unbelievers.  This explains the warfare analogy in chapter 6.  We are not battling demonic powers that are reigning in the outer atmosphere or heavenly places.  Satan is working in unbelievers.  Our warfare is to preach the gospel to unbelievers and to set them free from demonic powers.  Our warfare is not to spend our time praying and casting down demonic powers as some have supposed.  The gospel is the power of God.  When we preach the gospel and unbelievers receive it and believe, they are set free and transferred out of Satan’s realm into the kingdom of God.  That is spiritual warfare.

We lived our lives in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath.  This describes the three-fold nature of man: the flesh or body, the mind, and the spirit or inward nature.  Before we are born again, all three parts of man are corrupted by sin and separated from God. 

God is rich in mercy toward us.  He sent Jesus to bear the penalty for sin.  When we believe in Jesus, God makes us alive together with Christ.  We are born again into the family of God.  God raises us up together with Christ and makes us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  Notice that God is saying we are joint-heirs or fellow-heirs with Christ.  This is our inheritance.

Notice that God’s rich mercy is what caused us to be born again.  In contrast, Paul said that in the ages to come, God will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  This exceeding riches will begin with the redemption of our physical bodies.    

Ephesians 2:8-10 “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.”

We are saved by grace through faith.  We are not saved by our works.  We do not maintain our salvation after we are born again by our works either.  Even the faith that saves us is a gift of His grace to us.  We are His workmanship.  He created our spirit in His image when we were born again.  We are created in Christ Jesus for good works.  These good works do not save us or maintain our salvation.  Our good works reveal the nature and character of God through us.  God wants to reveal Himself through us to others as we allow His love and holiness to be expressed in us.  This takes place in us as we renew our minds to God's Word.

Ephesians 2:11-18 “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.  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.”

God has reconciled both Jews and Gentiles to Himself through the blood of Christ.  There is not a separate plan for salvation for the Jews.  Both Jews and Gentiles are saved by grace through faith.  We all must hear the gospel and believe in Jesus.  Jesus broke down the middle wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles.  This is a reference to the wall of separation in the Jewish temple.  Both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit to the Father through our Lord Jesus.

On the cross, Jesus abolished the Ten Commandments in the lives of Christians.  He removed the barrier between Jews and Gentiles.  The Old Testament law was given to show God’s perfect standard and convict us all of sin.  None of us can keep the Law perfectly.  When we see that we are sinners and have a problem with sin and need a Savior, the Law has done its job.  When we accept Jesus, we are no longer under the Law but under grace.

Jesus Himself is our peace with God.  It is a permanent peace; we do not lose our fellowship nor reconciliation to God when we sin.  Jesus bore the penalty for our sins.  God is not counting our sins against us.  If we have trusted in Jesus, we will never face punishment for our sins.    

Ephesians 2:19-22 “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.”

Paul described the church as the temple of the Lord.  We are a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.  Jesus Himself is the chief cornerstone of the temple.  The apostles and prophets make up the foundation.  We as Christians are part of this temple which is continuing to grow and enlarge as more people come to the Lord.

Notice the language of adoption in verse 19.  We are fellow citizens with the saints.  We are members of the household of God.  In Ephesians chapter 3, we will look at the inheritance that we have received in the Lord.

Keith Oliver

Ephesians Chapter 1

The theme of the book of Ephesians is adoption.  The word adoption is used in Ephesians 1:5.  The word is also used in the books of Romans and Galatians.  Adoption in the Greek culture was different than the western idea of adoption.  When a child was born into a family, he was an heir of the family.  But the child was put under the guidance of a tutor, sometimes a slave.  The tutor would teach and educate the child until the child reached an age of maturity.  In the Greek culture, this was around age 13 or 14.  At that time, the teen went through the rite of passage known as adoption.  From that point on, the son was recognized as an adult with full rights and responsibilities with the other adult members of the family.  The son was then considered a fellow-heir.  

We will see the theme of adoption throughout the book of Ephesians.  In chapter 1, Paul discussed our birth into the family of God.  We are then put under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Who is our tutor.  Paul describes our birth and our inheritance as children of God in chapters 2 and 3.  In Ephesians chapters 4 and 5, Paul taught us about growing up and walking worthy of our calling in the family of God.  In chapter 6, we are taught to take our responsibility of winning others to Christ by sharing the Gospel of Jesus.  That is walking in the power of His might.  The gospel is the power of God. 

Ephesians 1:1-6 “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.  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, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵ having predestined us to adoption 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.”

Notice that Paul began the book of Ephesians with the same greeting as he wrote in the other epistles: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  When we understand the grace of God in Jesus, we will have a lasting peace.  If we are struggling with peace, it may mean that we don’t clearly understand grace.  We may be mixing grace with our performance; that will lead to confusion.

God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.  That has already been given to us.  That is our inheritance as being a part of the family of God.  God is infinitely wealthy in all respects, and He has given us an incredible inheritance.  It is ours now.

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.  Before God formed the world and put man and woman in it, He knew that we would need to be redeemed.  When we accept Jesus into our hearts, we are holy and without blame before Him in love.  This position is a gift; we do not earn our position of being holy and without blame before Him.  It is part of our inheritance when we accept Christ.  Jesus gives us His free gift of righteousness or right-standing with God.  Since Jesus bore the penalty for the sins of our entire lifetime, He makes us holy and without blame.  Do we always act holy?  No.  But it is a free gift in Jesus Christ. 

God predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself.  This does not mean that we are predestined to be saved or lost.  It means that God’s plan for each of us is to receive Christ and to grow up into the fullness of what God has for us.  God did this according the good pleasure of His will.  His will for us is good.  He did it solely because He is love and He loves us.  We should just praise Him for the glory or wonder of His grace to us.  Purely by His grace, He has made us accepted in the Beloved, Who is Jesus.  Jesus bore our penalty for our sins on the cross.  When the full penalty was paid, Jesus arose from the dead.  When we accept Jesus, we receive His free gift of righteousness or right-standing with God.  That is the gospel.        

Ephesians 1:7-10 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace ⁸ which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, ⁹ having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, ¹⁰ that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.”

Paul defined redemption as the forgiveness of sins through His blood.  Paul did not qualify this as just our past sins; that is the way most preachers interpret it.  We are redeemed from the sins of our entire lifetime through the shed blood of Jesus.  We have this redemption through the riches of His grace, not according to our works.  God made known the mystery of His will to us.  Paul referred to the things which are in heaven, which is God.  He referred to the things which are on earth, which are people.  God is joined or united to people in the person of Jesus Christ.   When we accept Jesus into our hearts, God comes to dwell within us through the Holy Spirit.  That is the new birth into the family of God.  

Ephesians 1:11-14 “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.  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.”

Notice that Paul said that we have obtained an inheritance.  This is another reference to adoption.  God’s predestined plan for us is that we accept Jesus Christ, be born into the family of God, and grow up into maturity and receive our inheritance.  When we hear the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation in Jesus, we are to believe it.  We are then sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.  In other words, God sends the Holy Spirit to live within us.  He sets His seal upon us.  This is a reference to the seal or stamp of ownership that was used in the ancient world.  God has purchased us back from the devil.  The Holy Spirit within us is the guarantee or down payment of our salvation until the redemption of our bodies.  

When we are born again, our spirit within us is made new.  We are made to be one with God in our spirit.  Our minds must be renewed to God’s ideas about us.  Our body has been purchased but is not yet redeemed.  It will be redeemed in the future when Christ returns.  We will receive a body that is not subject to disease or death.  

Ephesians 1:15-23 “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶ do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, ¹⁸ the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ²⁰ which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.  ²² And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus after they had received Christ and were born into the family of God.  The same prayer applies to us today.  He prayed that God would give to us a spirit or attitude to receive wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ.  This is a reference to our tutor, the Holy Spirit, teaching us and educating us about our inheritance in the family of God and helping us to grow and mature.  Paul prayed that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened.  This is a reference to our mind being enlightened to the truth of God about us.  What did Paul pray that we would understand? 

We are to understand three things mainly.  We should understand what the hope of our calling is.  Paul will deal with this in chapter 4 of the book of Ephesians.  In Ephesians 4:1, Paul tells us to walk worthy of the calling with which we are called.  In Ephesians 4:4, Paul said you were called in one hope of your calling.  God has called us to grow up and allow the life and nature of God to be revealed in us.  We are to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ and be a fellow-heir with Him in the family of God.  This is our hope, our picture that we should seek to follow.

The second thing that Paul wanted us to understand was the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.  This is the inheritance that we have already received when we are born into the family of God.  Paul described our inheritance in Ephesians chapter 3.

The third thing that Paul wanted us to understand was the exceeding greatness of the power that took place in Christ when God raised Him from the dead.  That same power was manifested in us when we accepted Jesus and were born again.  When Jesus was raised from the dead, His spirit was made new.  Colossians said He was the first born from the dead.  Other people had been raised from the dead physically in the Old Testament.  This is saying that Jesus was the first person to be born again spiritually.  On the cross, He became sin for us and became separated from God and died spiritually.  Then He died physically.  When He arose from the dead, His spirit was made new and He also received His body raised to life again.  Jesus sat down at the right hand of God, far above Satan and any demonic powers.  He defeated them and put them under His feet.  God gave Jesus to be the head of the church.  We are His body, the fullness of Christ here on the earth.  Jesus lives and rules and reigns on the earth now through the church. Paul will describe all of this more extensively in chapter 2 of Ephesians.  

Keith Oliver