Tag Archives: New Testament

Ephesians 1:17

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that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

Paul’s prayer is going to encompass several spiritual requests for the people of Ephesus. But first, we need to notice the source of these spiritual benefits. He speaks of God in two ways. First, he calls Him the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I mentioned at the beginning, but it continues to amaze me that Paul, the Jewish scholar and pharisee, and persecutor of all those identified with Jesus Christ, would say God is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is clearly identifying himself with Jesus Christ here. He says our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s acknowledging the lordship of Jesus, and he is referring to Him as the Messiah. This is the God he is asking to provide certain spiritual blessings to them.

The second way he refers to God is as the Father of glory. God is the glorious God who created all things and to whom all glory should be rendered. He is the God of might and dominion, but He is also Abba Father.

What is he asking this God to give them? First, he is asking for God to give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Some translations capitalize Spirit for us to understand that this is the Holy Spirit. The original language didn’t use capital letters and so we don’t know if this was the intention of not. But in any case he is asking that God would give them a wise spirit. A spirit that would be discerning, able to sort out truth from error and apply it to the various situations they faced as individuals and as a church.

He also prays for a spirit of revelation. In the days of the New Testament, the scripture was not completed and God revealed His truth to the apostles in order for the truth to be confirmed. I’m not sure if this is what Paul is referring to here. But the challenge to me is that when we pray for others, we should pray for spiritual things such as a spiritual wisdom from God to be given to others in our family and church fellowship.

This wisdom and revelation should be in the knowledge of God. God has revealed himself in His Word and He wants us to get to know Him in that way. We need to pray for one another that our wisdom and understanding in life would grow according to our knowledge of God. There are all kinds of philosophies swirling around. We need to make sure that what we latch onto is consistent with who God has revealed himself to be, and not just some whim or feeling that happens to be sweeping through at the moment.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 12:09 PM October 5, 2020.

God’s Curse or Blessing? – Part 2

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Continued from Part 1

Galatians 3:10 reads: , “For as many as are of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” Notice that it is necessary to continue in all things in order to avoid the curse. The problem is that many Christians are viewing life as a law-based scheme. They are attempting to please God, be acceptable to God, and grow in their Christian life by keeping the law. This approach is doomed to failure as we shall see.

Please stay with this. Things that are worth knowing and understanding are worth a little effort of thinking and studying. 

Paul begins his thought in Galatians 3:1. The first thing we read is that Paul appears somewhat frustrated by the fact that the Galatian Christians have been turned away from the truth of the gospel. We need to read carefully so that we can discern whether we too have missed the gospel. He appeals to the fact that the crucifixion of Christ had been clearly portrayed for them so that they would know what His death had accomplished. So he begins his detailed instruction with this question, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?” The answer to the question should be obvious – by the hearing of faith. Salvation comes by faith alone — trusting only in the promises God has made, which tell us that those who receive and trust Christ will be eternally forgiven and saved.

In verse 3 he asks another question. “Having begun in the Spirit are you now made perfect by the flesh?” The answer should obviously be “No.” So the teaching here is that we begin the Christian life by faith. It cannot be earned. It must simply be believed. Similarly, maturing in the faith is achieved the same way — by faith. It is not accomplished by the keeping of rules. Growth in the Christian life and growing in Christ-likeness are accomplished by faith and not by submitting to the law. In order to illustrate this point, Paul brings up Abraham in verse 6. He explains that Abraham believed God, and it was counted as righteousness for him. God had just showed up at Abraham’s door one day and promised him some things, and Abraham took God at His word. God counted this faith, this believing, as righteousness for Abraham. That means, God declared Abraham perfectly righteous. These promises were made by God unconditionally. That means nothing was required of Abraham except to believe and receive those promises as a gracious gift from God. Because Abraham believed God, God declared him righteous.

In verse 7, Paul tells us, then, that those who are of faith (like Abraham was) are the sons of Abraham. God had promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him and verse 9 tells us the conclusion of this section: “Those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” That means that if you have placed your faith in the promises of God given through His Son, Jesus Christ, you are one of those who are blessed along with Abraham. There you have one of the key words of this study: “blessed.” You see, we began this study with the concept of the blessings and the curses of God. This then sets up the basis for the argument Paul is going to use in the rest of the chapter and it is an extremely crucial argument if you want to understand your relationship to the blessings and curses of God.

According to verse 10, what is the standard for avoiding the curse? If we’re under the law, the standard is that we must continue in all of the things written in the book of the Law. We’re not allowed to deviate from it to either side. We must hit the nail on the head every time. This is exactly the point in Deuteronomy 26:

“‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ ” “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:” (Deuteronomy 27:26–28:2, NKJV)

That leaves us in a precarious situation, doesn’t it? Not fulfilling every command leaves us under a curse. The blessing is for those who “observe carefully all His commands.” But carefully obeying every single command in both deed and attitude is not possible!  That’s why God’s promise of blessing through believing is so important. Believing takes us out from under God’s curse and places us under God’s blessing, just as it did for Abraham. We are blessed because we believe, and the requirement of law-keeping in order to satisfy God has been removed. Being obedient is important for us as children of God, but not for merit, not for scoring points with God. Believing God’s promise credits us with Jesus’ righteousness. He is the one who scored all the points and merited all the blessing for us.

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.

Are You Under God’s Curse or Blessing? – Part 1

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The Bible says we are cursed if we do not perfectly keep all of the Law’s demands. How does this work and what hope is there for us to escape this curse? Paul’s teachings in Galatians 3 is very important for Christians to understand. Often we just read these passages and don’t really think through what God would have us to know and believe.

Let’s begin, though, in Joshua 8:30. In this passage, Joshua split the people up and sent half to Mount Ebal and the other half to Mount Gerizim. I know that’s not the most interesting beginning, and you may be tempted to tune me out, but please stay with me on this and follow the logic that God has laid out for us.

In Deuteronomy 27-28, Moses had commanded this event to take place when the people reached the Promised Land. The people on Mount Gerizim were to read the blessings that you will find recorded in Chapter 28. The people on Mount Ebal were to read the curses. You’ll notice that God’s blessing included every facet of life:

Deuteronomy 28:3-6 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”

Similarly the curses were declared. There are curses to match each blessing:

“Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out…”  (Deut 28:16-19).

Notice the summary curse in verse 27:26: “Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by doing them.” So the point is that in order to be blessed, one must keep all of the commandments perfectly. If you look at Deut. 28:47-48 you will see that not only the deeds must be done, but the attitude must also be perfect:

“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you” (Emphasis mine).

Paul picks up this theme in Galatians 3:10 where he writes, “For as many as are of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” Notice that it is necessary to continue to obey all the law in order to avoid the curse. The problem is that many Christians are viewing life as a law-based scheme. They are attempting to please God, be acceptable to God, and grow in their Christian life by keeping the law. This approach is doomed to failure, and since it is not possible to keep every single requirement of God’s law, you find yourself cursed. 

God doesn’t want you to be living this way. All false religions put an emphasis on keeping the rules and being rewarded for success and being judged for failure. Even as Christians, many of us struggle with a cycle of trying and failing, and wondering if what we are doing is going to be accepted by God. In His Word, God reveals a different way of living that avoids the impossible task of being perfect, and still puts us in the place of blessing.

To be continued…

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 1:13

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In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Not only those who were the first to hope in Christ, as verse 12 says, but also the Ephesian believers, and, I believe, we as well, have the blessings of the promises of God.

Here we see some of the process. First, they heard the word of truth, the gospel. How can they believe on Him of whom they have not heard? So hearing is the first step.

What was heard? The gospel, which Paul says in Romans 1, is the power of God unto salvation.

Second, they believed in Him. Believing in Christ is what saves us. Believing, trusting, entrusting ourselves to Him is saving faith. Saying you believe isn’t the same as believing. Saying a prayer to accept Christ is not the same thing as believing. Going to church is not the same thing as believing.

The result of this believing as explained in verse 13 is that we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. The next verse is going to tell us that He is our guarantee, the down payment of our eternal inheritance.

The Holy Spirit is the one Christ promised to us before He left. He told us that He would not leave us comfortless, but would send the Holy Spirit to teach, guide and convict us, and be the one who encourages us as we travel through life.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 1:23 PM September 28, 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 1:7

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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.

Ephesians 1:1

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A while back I decided that in order to keep my focus on the study of the Bible and not just the reading, I would write my thoughts on the book of Ephesians verse by verse. It will be sort of a simplified commentary.

Ephesians 1:1

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

Paul declares himself to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. An apostle is one who is sent as an emissary to give out the message that the sender wants people to hear, in this case, to the holy, set apart people in Ephesus.

This is the same Paul who persecuted the church and threw people in jail and even approved of their murder. This is the person who Christ sent to be a messenger.
Paul told the Galatian Christians that God had set him apart for this responsibility while in his mother’s womb. (Galatians 1:15) But, when the time was right, God revealed Christ to him on the road to Damascus.

Paul calls the people in Ephesus saints and faithful. Perhaps he means people who are believers i.e. full of faith. But saints? Holy ones. These are just ordinary people that he addresses as saints. All of those who trust Christ and have faith in Him are saints. Have you trusted Christ? Then you, too, are a saint. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Finally, note here as well that they are in Christ Jesus. This theme is found throughout Ephesians. They are in Christ. That is the only safe place to be. How do we get “in Christ”? By the work of the Holy Spirit when we believe on Christ. He places us into the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:13)

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:55 AM August 29, 2020.

A Model Prayer

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2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 (ESV)

11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul’s prayers for the people of God should help us know how we should pray for others. Prayer is a difficult thing, and if you are anything like me, you tend to pray the same things over and over for the people in your life.

Let’s take a look at this prayer from 2 Thessalonians 1.

First, we notice that there is a purpose to his praying: “To this end we pray.” What is this end or purpose? He explains it after the word “that.” So I conclude that it is important to have a purpose in our praying. It should not merely be out of duty or habit, although both motivations are good. But there should be consciousness of who we are talking to, and the reason we are making the request.

Paul’s first purpose is that “God may make you worthy of his calling.” Sometimes we think that we need to be worthy in order for god to call us. But the reverse is true. No one is worthy to be called by God. God calls us, we receive that calling by faith in Him, and then He begins to make us worthy of that calling. In Ephesians 4:1, Paul urges us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that we’ve been given. We live under the umbrella of the grace of God. There is no condemnation for the Christian (Romans 8:1), and therefore we have space and freedom to grow in our way of living so that we become more worthy of the calling that we already have.

The second aim Paul has is that God “may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power.” We all know that our aspirations for living a godly life out pace our ability and resolve to actually live that life. Paul is praying that God would fulfill those resolves. It is God who strengthens the resolve and fulfills those desires for good that we have. And it is also His power that results in the outcomes that we may see coming from our faith.

And what is the actual purpose of these goals? That the Lord Jesus may be glorified in us and ultimately we will be glorified in Him when, at the end of time, all in the universe will be able to see the results of the multifaceted grace of God.

What if we could all pray like this for ourselves, our family members, and our brothers and sisters in Christ. What a powerful effect it would produce in our homes, churches, and country.