MARCH 30, 2014
AN INTRODUCTION TO EPHESIANS
INTRODUCTION:
1. The epistle to the Ephesians has been called “the most authoritative and most consummate compendium of the Christian faith,” “the distilled essence of the Christian religion,” “full to the brim with thoughts and doctrines sublime and momentous.” It has made that impression on believers, both professional scholars and laymen throughout the history of the church. (William Hendriksen New Testament Commentary on Ephesians p. 32)
2. That this epistle was written by the Apostle Paul is so well attested that we need not take time to refute other suggestions. The notion that it was simply an amplification of the Colossian epistle by someone other than Paul is handily refuted by William Hendriksen in his New Testament Commentary on Ephesians, pp. 5-33, where he does a side-by-side comparison of the two texts.
3. The city of Ephesus under the Romans eventually became capital of Proconsular Asia. After the province of Asia was formed by Rome in 129 B.C. Its first capital was Pergamos, the old capital of Mysia, but in the time of Augustus, when Asia had become the most wealthy province in the Empire, the seat of the government was transferred to Ephesus. This great city was principally celebrated for its temple of Dianna. From its earliest history it was regarded as sacred to that goddess. Restoration of the temple, after its destruction in 356 B.C., was contributed to by all Greece and Western Asia. Its vast dimensions, costly materials, extended colonnades, numerous statues and paintings made it one of the wonders of the world. It was this temple that gave unity to the city and its inhabitants. The worship of Dianna was connected from the earliest times with sorcery and witchcraft. Ephesus was therefore the chief seat of necromancy, exorcism and all forms of magic arts.
4. In this city Paul labored for nearly three years. The effects of Paul’s preaching in Ephesus are recorded by Luke in the Book of Acts. See Ch. 19 particularly.
a) The conversion of a great number of the Jews and Greeks.
b) The spread of the knowledge of the gospel throughout Proconsular Asia.
c) So powerful was the effect on the thinking of the people that certain exorcists attempted to work miracles in the name of Jesus. Others burned their books of divinations and mystic arts.
d) Worshippers of Dianna were so diminished in number that great alarm resulted which was variously demonstrated.
e) A large and flourishing church was there established.
5. Ephesians is one of Paul’s four prison epistles. By comparing the four epistles; Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, there is sufficient internal evidence to show that all were likely written during the same period when Paul was a prisoner at Rome, probably about A.D. 60.
6. The object of this epistle was, first, to bring these believers to a true appreciation of the plan of redemption, as having been devised form eternity by God, for the manifestation of the glory of His grace; secondly, to make them sensible of the greatness of the blessing which was theirs in being partakers of its benefits; thirdly, to lead them to enter into the spirit of the Gospel as a system which ignored the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, and united all believers together in one living body destined to be brought into full conformity to the image of Christ; and fourthly, to encourage them to live as it became such as had been delivered from the degradations of paganism, and exalted to the dignity of sons of God.
7. The body of the letter will begin therefore with the principle fountain of all spiritual blessings, from which flowed their actual redemption by the blood of Christ, and the revelation of the divine purpose of their redemption. But, first, and for this present lesson, let us consider the Apostle’s Greeting.
I. THE OPENING SALUTATION AND INSCRIPTION. (VERSE 1)
A. THE TITLE PAUL TAKES TO HIMSELF AS THE PERSON WRITING THIS LETTER. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.”
1. He counted it a great honor to be employed by Christ as a minister of the Gospel. (I Tim. 1:12)
2. He, as an apostle of Jesus Christ, had an extraordinary calling. The word apostle, which means a sent one, is used in three senses in the New Testament.
a) In its primary sense of “messenger.” (John 13:16; Phil. 2:25; II Cor. 8:23)
b) In the sense of missionaries; men sent by the church to preach the Gospel. In this sense, Barnabas is called an apostle along with Paul. (Acts 4:14)
c) In the sense of being agents of Christ invested with power and authority to act and speak in His stead. (Matt. 10:1, 2)
3. The apostles were prime officers in the church, being extraordinary ministers, having extraordinary gifts, and the immediate assistance of the Holy Spirit that they might be fitted for publishing and spreading the Gospel and for governing the church in its infant state.
B. THE COMFORT THAT PAUL TAKES IN THE FACT THAT HIS APOSTLESHIP WAS BY DIVINE CHOICE AND APPOINTMENT. “…by the will of God.”
1. He did not aspire to become an apostle; neither was he an apostle by the will of man. (Gal. 1:15-17)
2. That he was an apostle by the will of God very expressly and plainly intimates that he was immediately called (as the other apostles were) by Christ Himself to the work.
3. Certain special qualifications for apostleship render it impossible that any should hold that office in the church today. One had to be a witness to Christ’s miracles and His resurrection, having seen the risen Christ. (Acts 1:21, 22)
4. Every faithful minister of Christ, though his call and office be not so exclusive, can, with Paul, reflect on it as an honor and comfort to himself that he is what he is by the will of God.
C. THE PERSONS TO WHOM THIS EPISTLE IS ADDRESSED AND SENT. “…to the saints who are at Ephesus.”
1. He addresses all of the true Christians who made up the church at Ephesus.
a) He called them saints, for such they were in profession, and therefore such they were bound to be in truth and reality.
b) All Christians are saints if they be Christians indeed. If they come not under that character on earth, they shall never be saints in glory.
2. He calls them the faithful in Christ Jesus.
a) It is the honor not only of ministers, but to all believers to be faithful.
b) The faithful are only so in Christ Jesus. From Him they derive all their grace and spiritual strength, and in Him is what they perform accepted.
II. THE OPENING APOSTOLIC BENEDICTION. (VERSE 2)
A. THE APOSTLE EXPRESSES TO THEM HIS GOOD WILL AND DESIRE FOR THEIR WELFARE. “Grace be unto you and peace…”
1. By “grace” we are to understand the free and undeserved love and favor of God, and those graces of the Spirit which proceed from it.
2. By “peace” we may understand all other blessings, spiritual and temporal, the fruit and product of the former.
3. There can be no peace without grace, but where there is grace, there is also peace.
B. THESE PECULIAR BLESSINGS FLOW FORM GOD OUR FATHER. “…from God the Father.”
1. These blessings come not from God as Creator, though He is merciful to all men generally.
2. These blessings are “children’s bread,” and are the peculiar blessings of God’s children.
C. THESE SPECIAL BLESSINGS COME ALSO FROM THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO PURCHASED THEM FOR US. “…and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
1. Grace and peace have been purchased for us by our Lord Jesus Christ, and He therefore has the right to bestow these gifts upon His chosen ones.
2. The saints and the faithful in Christ Jesus have already received grace and peace, but the increase of these is very desirable. Let us seek to improve and grow in all of the graces of the Spirit.
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