Ephesians 1:13 to Ephesians 2:1. THE MARKS OF THE CHURCH (Ephesians 1:15-23). Paul's mind goes on and on, not because he is thinking in logical stages, but because gift after gift and wonder after wonder from God pass before his eyes. If ever that is to happen, certain things are necessary. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord — Imprisoned for his sake and for yours; for the sake of the gospel which he had preached to them and other Gentiles: see note on Ephesians 3:1: this was therefore a powerful motive to them to comfort him under his sufferings by their obedience; beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation, &c. (ii) Paul goes on to say that he is an apostle through the will of God. Now Paul, in one sentence, drops his great thought. Here is Paul's first example of the new unity which Christ brings. If the Christian message is true, the world is on the way not to dissolution but to consummation. It means nothing less than that God's plan for one world is in the hands of the Church. And it is so with us and God. I wish that we did business with God in some such fashion as that, but our prayers are shadowy, unreal. Today the Church of God is separated — disfigured and weakened by divers sects and parties, but it shall not be always so. That is true; but so often we would not think so. There is music for you: “accepted in the Beloved.” Are there grander words in any language than those four? Cicero defined it as knowledge of the things which are to be sought and the things which are to be avoided. Paul never thought of himself as having chosen to do God's work. It is one of the strange facts of Church life that in Church courts, such as sessions and presbyteries, and even General Assemblies, a score of hours might be given to the discussion of mundane problems of administration for every one given to the discussion of the eternal verities of God. Ephesians 1:4. It describes a man who is sent out with some special task to do. Haven't you made any other plans?" And so the Holy Ghost is a part of him. ", PAUL'S PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH (Ephesians 1:15-23 continued). Some of them splendid and some of them blighted." Ephesians 1:4 - just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before... - Verse-by-Verse Commentary Here precisely lies the wonder. More than that, he knows that he cannot show his love to Christ in any other way than by showing his love to his fellow men. It can be used, for instance, of a naval squadron sent out on an expedition; it can be used of an ambassador sent out by his native country. Men wiser and more learned than I have discovered in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. To the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: The saints in Ephesus, the saints where they cried, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians,” had to bear an earnest witness against idolatry. Ephesians 1:9-10. There is a loyalty to Christ which does not issue in love to men. However orthodox a Church is, however pure its theology, and however noble its worship and its liturgy, it is not a true Church in the real sense of the term unless it is characterized by love for its fellow men. And Tess' answer is: "A blighted one." We are free. Christian peace is something quite independent of outward circumstances. Then comes the question: "On which kind do we live--a splendid one or a blighted one?" It is a part of his wage. He could sell his child as a slave or even kill him. 1:7-8 For it is in him that we have a deliverance which cost his life; in him we have received the forgiveness of sins, which only the wealth of his grace could give, a grace which he gave us in abundant supply, and which conferred on us all wisdom and all sound sense. I am going out to take a good sniff of it, for I shall know that the game is up." All the plays of Aeschylus are founded on one text--"The doer shall suffer." “Through his blood.” What is the result? In the early Church the Christian never had any doubt that he must be different from the world; he, in fact, knew that he must be so different that the probability was that the world would kill him and the certainty was that the world would hate him. God adopted us as sons into his family. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Never do the saints seem to delight so much in God as when they behold him in the person of Jesus Christ. What if the people who come after them forget? It thinks of taking every part of our life, work, pleasure, sport, home life, personal relationships, and making them all such that they can be offered to God. Blameless is the Greek word amomos (Greek #299). As Shakespeare had it in Richard the Third. The arrabon was a regular feature of the Greek business world. G. N. Clark, in his inaugural lecture at Cambridge, said: "There is no secret and no plan in history to be discovered. Ephesians 1:18-21. And tonight every believer here is accepted before God, but it is through Jesus Christ. I think that he told me that there is a name down there of a person for whom he has prayed, and that he is not converted yet. This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. EXPOSITION. Grace and peace are both to be had by believing in Jesus. Men were conscious of their own guilt and stood in terror of their god or gods. Ephesians 1:13. Here there is set out before us in a perfect summary the characteristics of a true Church. Some people are dreadfully frightened at that word “predestination.” I am always astonished when members of the Church of England are so, for if they will turn to their own articles, they will find that the high end comfortable doctrine of predestination is there taught. Copyright StatementThese files are public domain.Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. When such an apostolos (Greek #652) went out, behind him and in him lay the authority of the Sanhedrin, whose representative he was. Our tragedy is that it is so often true, as Swift once said: "We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. Paul begins with his usual greeting. Jesus Christ was above all things God's instrument of reconciliation. A Christian workman is out to satisfy the regulations not of a Trades Union but of Jesus Christ; and that will certainly make him a very different kind of workman, which may well end in him being so different that he is expelled from his union. Before Jesus came the Pharisees had a loyalty to God which made them contemptuous of those whom they thought less loyal than themselves. We have got the inheritance. And, dear friends, today saints in London will not have a very easy time of it if they are faithful to their Lord, for there is much to protest against in this evil generation; but as there were holy ones in Ephesus, God grant that there may be many such in London. “Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”. Gabriel looked very doubtful, for he knew well what poor stuff men were made of. When we think of the word peace In connection with the Christian life we must be careful. And every tongue brings in a several tale, And every tale condemns me for a villain.". We would do well to remember every now and then that love of Christ and love of our fellow men cannot exist without each other. In ancient Greek (the language Paul originally wrote in), Ephesians 1:3 through Ephesians 1:14 form one long sentence. He is saying that there is not a being in heaven or on earth to whom Jesus Christ is not superior. 1:1-2 This is a letter from Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, to God's consecrated people who live in Ephesus and who are faithful in Jesus Christ. In this section Paul is thinking of the Christians as the chosen people of God, and his mind runs along three lines. 1:9-10 This happened because he made known to us the once hidden but now revealed secret of his will, for so it was his good pleasure to do. It is the simple fact of the matter that if enough Christians became hagios (Greek #40), different, they would revolutionize society. Only after all this had been gone through was the adoption complete.
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