3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, 8 which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. Introduction As I begin this lesson, I am reminded of the words spoken by our Lord concerning marriage: “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate” (Matthew 19:6). Of course, Jesus was speaking of marriage, not biblical exposition here. Nevertheless, I take His words seriously. The fact is that God has “joined together” verses 3-14 of Ephesians chapter 1 into but one sentence in the original text. It is with some reservation that I teach these verses in parts, rather than as a whole. Perhaps the problem is not entirely mine, however, for I doubt that many Christians are willing to sit through a sermon which is several hours in length. The entire sentence/paragraph lays the foundation for Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians. It sums up the blessings of God to the saints, in a span of time which begins before the creation (eternity past), includes all of human history, and eternity future. It is a very brief summary of the blessings of God which are the basis for our worship, praise, and obedience. These blessings are spiritual blessings, brought about in Christ, but involving the activity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The work of the Son is the emphasis of verses 6b-10, although the entire text deals with God’s blessings “in Christ.” In these verses Paul concentrates on two major dimensions of the work of Christ. The first is the work of Christ in relation to the salvation of lost sinners—the redemption which He accomplished through the shedding of His blood at Calvary. The second is the work of Christ in relation to the eternal purpose of God, that is the “summing up of all things in Christ.” The second of these two themes is the most prominent. This is because God’s glory is the dominant theme of Ephesians. It is also because the “summing up of all things in Christ” is the main topic in chapters 2 and 3, which is first introduced in our text. While the work of Christ in saving lost sinners has been thoroughly expounded by Paul and the other apostles in other epistles, the theme of God’s summing up all things in Christ is expounded more fully here (and in Colossians) than anywhere else in the Bible. The work of Christ, then, is described in verses 6b-10 as having two major roles: (1) accomplishing the redemption of lost sinners, and (2) accomplishing the purpose of God in “summing up all things in Christ.” In this lesson we will consider Christ’s word of redeeming lost sinners, and in the next we will pursue this great mystery of the “summing up of all things in Christ.” Since we will be separating these two dimensions of Christ’s work, let us begin by taking note of the fact that God joined them together. All too often, we think of the work of our Lord at Calvary as only for us, for our salvation. It is more than this, much more. Christ’s death at Calvary encompasses far more than just our salvation, as important as our salvation is too us. The danger is that we will look upon Calvary in a self-centered way. In this text, Paul informs us that Christ’s work at Calvary accomplished our salvation, and that it achieved a purpose much greater in scope. Let us not let the eternal purposes of God revolve around the “earth” of our salvation. Rather, let our salvation revolve around the “solar system” of God’s eternal, cosmic plan, which includes our salvation as just one small part of a much greater plan.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 13:55:32 +0000
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