Ephesians 1 - Introduction

Outline:

Salutation: Ephesians 1:1-2

All spiritual blessings in Christ: Ephesians 1:3-14

Chosen in Christ: 1”4

Adopted through Christ: Ephesians 1:5

Abundant grace in Christ: Ephesians 1:6

Redemption and forgiveness in Christ: Ephesians 1:7

Knowledge and Wisdom in Christ: Ephesians 1:8-9

God's heritage our inheritance in Christ: Ephesians 1:11-14

Prayer for the Church in Ephesus:

The constant object of Paul's prayers: Ephesians 1:15-16

Prayer for enlightenment: Ephesians 1:17-19

The exaltation of Christ: Ephesians 1:20-23

“After Paul explained the spiritual blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14), he expressed his earnest desire that Christians realize the extent of God's power and grace exercised on our behalf (Ephesians 1:15-23). These statements are made in grand, lengthy sentences. The first contains two hundred and two words in the original Greek (Ephesians 1:3-14) and the second contains one hundred and sixty-nine words (Ephesians 1:15-23)” (Caldwell p. 47). “Like the doxology (Ephesians 1:3-14), the prayer is but one sentence” (Lenski p. 387). “First, he blesses God for having blessed us in Christ; then he prays that God will open our eyes to grasp to fullness of this blessing. For. healthy Christian life today it is of the utmost importance to follow Paul's example and keep Christian praise and Christian prayer together. Some Christians seem to do little but pray for new spiritual blessings. apparently oblivious of the fact that God has already blessed them in Christ, that they become complacent and appear to have no appetite to know or experience their Christian privileges more deeply. If we keep together praise and prayer we are unlikely to lose our spiritual equilibrium” (Stott pp. 51-52).

“As the apostle proclaimed God's order to the post-Augustan Roman era which was marked by ‘a process of social disintegration', so Ephesians is today ‘the most contemporary book in the Bible', since it promises community in. world of disunity, reconciliation in place of alienation and peace instead of war” (Stott p. 16).