Ephesians 1:1-3

Wednesday, September 25, 2013         Ephesians 1:1-3

The Letter to the Ephesians has been rightly called the Queen of the Epistles. With flowing prose, Paul worships and glorifies Jesus. He presents the core doctrines of what it means to be a Christian, and what it means for Christians to come together as the church. This letter is some of Paul’s last correspondence, and was written while Paul was a prisoner in Rome. (The prison letters are: Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon.)

The letter is deep theologically, and it will seem overwhelming at times. To help us grasp the wonder of Paul’s teaching about God in Ephesians, I have divided the six chapters into twenty-one meditations.

The opening lines are fairly typical of Paul’s correspondence by stating by whom the letter is written and to whom it is addressed, and then pronouncing a blessing on the people. From there Paul immediately jumps into the deep end of the pool with a brief summary statement of our right standing with God: “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). In the next passage he elaborates on the wonder of our being in Christ.

This is a good place to pause and ask yourself how your life reflects the truth Paul just affirmed. Do you truly have a sense that God has blessed you with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms? If so, how does this truth shape your life and your interactions with other people each day? If not, then focus only on the last words in that statement: because we are united with Christ. Our blessings from God are a gift of His amazing grace. We are not blessed because we’re smarter and work harder than others. We’re blessed because God has united us with Christ through grace, by faith in our resurrected Lord. Reach out and lay hold of that for which you were laid hold of by Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12), and allow Paul’s letter to the Ephesians to baptize you in every spiritual blessing God has prepared for you.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.