Category Archives: Commentary

Ephesians 2:1

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And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

Now Paul turns his attention to us. He says, “And you.” Who is he talking to? He says you who were dead in the trespasses and sins. That includes all of us, doesn’t it?

He uses the past tense of dead, which means we were dead, but are no longer dead. According to the Bible, we are born dead, spiritually dead.

Trespasses have to do with moral failures great or small. We are sinners. We fail to live up to the holy standards of our creator and so we are dead in them.

Sins has to do with our offenses against God and the resulting guilt. To what degree were we involved in trespasses and sins? How bad were are moral failures and offenses against a holy, righteous, and loving God? For that, we need to go on to verse 2 next time.

But in the middle of this verse is the phrase “He made alive.” Some translations don’t include this phrase but the meaning is still there when we get to verse 5. We’ll deal more with it when we get there, but for now the truth is stated that even though we were dead, God made us alive. He is the life-giving God.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 5:03 PM October 18, 2020.

Ephesians 1:23

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And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Christ is the head of the church, which is His body. The church is an organism and not an organization. The life of the church is the Spirit of God at work through the various members functioning according to the gifts God has given them. Jesus is the head, the director, the mind behind all that takes place.

The next phrase is astounding to me. The church, the body of Christ, is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. That means that, in some sense, the church is the fullness of God! That means that if you are a Christian, you are a member of the body of Christ, and, as such, you are part of the fullness of God, because God, through His Spirit, indwells everyone of us. Amazing, isn’t it?

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 4:33 PM October 18, 2020.

Ephesians 1:18

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having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Paul’s prayer continues in verse 18. This verse begins with the participle phrase “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.” Being enlightened is a passive verb. Our hearts are enlightened from the outside. Somebody enlightened them. Someone opened our eyes and turned the lights on for us. It is obviously God that has done this.

This enlightening has occurred so that we might know the hope to which God has called us. When our physical eyes are opened to something, we can see objects, examine them and, not just know that they are there, but become acquainted and understand their characteristics. It is the same way here. Paul is not saying that we just know that we have hope. We can see it, feel it, and appreciate it.

Hope in this sense is not “hope so” hope. It is a future promise that we are looking forward to with anticipation. So, God has opened the eyes of our hearts so that we would know that future which God has promised to us. He has called us to have that hope.

The second thing in this verse that He wants us to know is the riches of the glorious inheritance in the saints. The inheritance is described as His inheritance. What I think that means is that we are Jesus’ inheritance. Hebrews 7:13 quotes Jesus as saying “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” And in John 17:6, Jesus speaks of the men God has given Him. So, we Christians have been given to Christ by God, and I think that is the glorious inheritance which Jesus is receiving.

What does that do to our appreciation for the work of God when we consider the fact that Jesus wants us to know that He considers the inheritance He is receiving glorious?

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:19 AM October 12, 2020.

Ephesians 1:16

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I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

Because of what he has heard, Paul tells them that he does not cease giving thanks for them. The faith and love he has heard about ignites a spirit of thankfulness for what God is doing in and through these people. When we hear of faith and love among the people of another church, do these qualities generate a genuine spirit of thankfulness in us?

This thankfulness results in the remembering and mentioning of them in prayer. I don’t know about you, but prayer is hard for me. I don’t like it really, because it demonstrates our total inability and inadequacy to accomplish things in our own strength. But God calls us to pray for ourselves, our family, and our church ministries. In this case, Paul prayed for a church where he had been ministering, and, having heard of their faith and love, he prays for them that God will accomplish many spiritual things in their lives.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:56 AM October 5, 2020.

Ephesians 1:15

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For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,

In the next few verses, Paul is going to tell the Ephesian Christians what he is praying for them. He begins, though, by giving them the reason and motivation for his praying. This explanation takes us through both verses 15 and 16.

The first reason he gives is that he has heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus. My immediate thought is, “Has anyone heard of my faith in the Lord Jesus?” The Ephesian Christian’s faith must have been strong enough and evident enough that someone told Paul about them. Their faith must have stood out to this person in such a strong way that it had an impact on whoever it was that told Paul about it.

The second thing he mentions is that he has also heard of their love toward all the saints. How would that love have manifested itself? Love produces action and so there must have been an abundant demonstration, within the church and toward saints in other places, of love. It would have consisted of sacrificial sharing of resources, kindness, a forgiving spirit, gentleness, humility, and any number of other things that demonstrated that love. The point is that it was evident. Love is evident not through the absence of arguing and bickering, but through the positive demonstration of love.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:36 AM October 5, 2020.

Ephesians 1:12

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So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

Verse 12 finishes the thought from verse 11. So that… We learned in verse 11 that God works everything according to the counsel of his will. But in this predestinating work, the question is why? What is he trying to accomplish? Verse 12 gives the answer to that question. So that we who hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. There you have what is basically the answer to the greatest philosophical question of the universe. Why am I here and why is God doing what He is doing? The answer is so that those who place their hope in Christ would be to the praise of the glory of God. Do you see your life that way? That the reason you go to work, mow your lawn, vacuum your house, are all done for the glory of God? Whether you eat or drink or in whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 1:18 PM September 28, 2020.

Ephesians 1:11

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In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

In him we have obtained an inheritance. In other words, when we receive Christ, we enter into a relationship with God that makes us joint-heirs with Christ. That means we will receive the same inheritance that Christ receives. Ultimately we will rule and reign with Him. We are brothers and sisters to the Son of God.
Verse 11 repeats the fact that we have been predestined. God has planned and ordained the destiny of every one of his children. In verse 5 we are told that we have been predestined for adoption as his children. In this verse we learn that this predestination accords with God’s will. God never does anything outside of his own will. Everything he does aligns with His will. And remember, His will and plan have been the same forever. God never changes. So our predestination to be adopted as sons is in line with God’s eternal purposes.

Verse 11 goes on to tell us the character of God that this is all based on. God works all things according to the counsel of his will. Another way to put this is that God works everything according to the decisions that result from his will. We often will to do something, and then begin to put our will into effect. But many times, we fail to accomplish what we willed to do. God doesn’t have that problem. Everything He does is an out-working of His will.

And notice one other thing before we go on to the next verse. How many things does God work according to the counsel of his will? All things! There is not one thing going on in the universe that He has lost control of.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:47 PM September 24, 2020.

Ephesians 1:9-10

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Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

I think it will work best if we put verses 9 and 10 together. God, in revealing his message of grace and salvation, is making known to us the mystery of His will. A mystery, the way Paul uses the term, is something that God has kept unrevealed until a particular time in history. When that time arrives, He makes known that mystery to His prophets and apostles, who then incorporated the truth in the Scriptures.


Paul writes in Colossians 1:25 “I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.”
The God of the universe has a plan which He is gradually putting into play. And He, the God of the universe, has chosen to reveal that mystery to human beings. That is an amazing thing to contemplate.

Paul goes on to tell us in Ephesians 1:9 , that He is making this mystery known according to His purpose. So even the revealing is according to a purpose. And remember, God doesn’t change his plans. If He does something according to His purpose, it is a purpose He has always had in mind for the zillions of years of eternity past.

This purpose is set forth in Christ or displayed or revealed in Christ. Further, it is a plan for the fullness of time. When everything surges toward the conclusion, what is that plan, Paul? That purpose is to unite everything in heaven and on earth in Christ. Everything will be brought together in Christ. Remember that the word “Christ” means Messiah and that is none other than Jesus. And John told us that Jesus is the Word, the logos of God.
Logos means more than “word.” Logos, the way it was used in the Greek culture at Jesus time, meant the wisdom, logic, thought, and, yes, word, behind all of creation. John told us that this logos became a man and lived here on earth among us.

So in the end, everything will be brought together in Christ.
This is the mystery that had been hidden for thousands of years, but which God revealed to His apostles 2000 years ago.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:47 AM September 22, 2020.

Ephesians 1:8

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Which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.

Last time we spoke of the forgiveness we have because of the riches of God’s grace. In this verse, we learn that God has lavished this grace upon us. The word has to do with the abundance and overflowing nature of God’s gift. God is not miserly when it comes to His grace. He pours it out lavishly.


And the verse goes on to tell us that He did this with wisdom and insight. God is all-wise. He knows everything and he knows all of the possible choices, and he knows all the possible consequences of potential decisions. Having considered all of what He knows, and with perfect wisdom, He lavished grace upon us — enough grace to provide pardon for every moral failure and to buy us back from the bondage to sin and Satan.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:31 AM September 21, 2020.

Ephesians 1:7

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In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Ephesians

Ephesians 1:7

“In Him” There we have it again. All that we have, we have in Christ. We have redemption. We have been bought back from bondage to sin and Satan, and we have our paperwork. Redemption isn’t something we need to seek. We have it when we have Christ.
Redemption came through Jesus’ blood. It was the shedding of His blood on the cross that paid the price for our freedom. We didn’t have enough money to buy our own freedom, even at the cost of our lives. But Christ the Messiah paid the price for us.


We have forgiveness of our trespasses. The Greek word behind trespasses is that of a general moral failure, rather than violation of a particular law. In Christ we have forgiveness of every conceivable moral failure, any fall from the position of perfection.
Forgiveness here means pardon, or the removal of an obligation or the ignoring of that obligation by someone with whom we have a relationship.

So, when we are in Christ, we received the complete removal of obligation to fulfill or live up to particular standards of obedience in order to maintain the relationship.
In Colossians 2:13-13, Paul writes, “having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”


It’s important that we get a grip on these truths and embrace them because this is the gospel we are to believe in order to be saved.
And all of this is according to the riches of his grace. God is full of grace. The reason God is doing what He is doing is so that all may see the multifaceted grandeur of His character, especially His grace.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:28 AM September 14, 2020.