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:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. – Ephesians 1:1-4 ESV
It is thought that Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was written between A.D. 60 and 62 while he was under house arrest in Rome. The book of Acts records that Paul had been to Ephesus and spent at least three years there ministering and spreading the gospel throughout Asia Minor. It was while Paul was in Ephesus that his presence caused great concern among the silversmiths who made their living by fashioning idols for the worship of Artemis, their goddess.
It seems that Paul’s success in sharing the gospel had caused a dip in sales and put a dent in the local silversmiths' income. Demetrius decided to do something about Paul and his message. He gathered all the tradesmen and delivered an inflammatory speech designed to turn them against Paul.
“Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” – Acts 19:25-27 ESV
Demetrius’ words whipped the crowd into a frenzy and nearly sparked a riot. But the authorities managed to calm the crowd, and Paul left the town safely. However, he never lost his love for the people of Ephesus or his concern for the local congregation there. So, while under house arrest in Rome, he composed this letter to encourage them to continue in their love for God and one another. He seemed most concerned about the unity of the church.
Like most of the newly formed congregations during that day, the church in Ephesus enjoyed a unique blend of converted Jews and Gentiles, slaves and freemen, wealthy and poor, and educated and uneducated. This strange amalgam of individuals from all walks of life put a tremendous strain on the church's harmony. Paul was writing to call them to live in unity and to display holiness in their individual and corporate lives.
Paul describes himself as an apostle, literally, a “sent one.” He had been sent by Jesus Himself to share the good news of salvation with the Gentiles. What he had done in Ephesus had been based on his commission from Jesus and according to the will of God. Paul was simply the messenger.
He addressed his audience as saints and wanted them to remember that they had been consecrated or set apart by God for His service. By placing their faith in Jesus as their Savior, they had become God's possession; they belonged to Him and were to live their lives in submission to His will and in accordance with His Spirit, whom He had placed within them.
Paul reminds them that God had blessed them “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3 ESV). Paul’s emphasis in this verse is extremely important to understand. He states that God had already blessed them, referring to this act of blessing in the past tense. God had already blessed them with every spiritual blessing, and the important thing to note is that those blessings find their source “in the heavenly places.” Paul is going to expand on that thought in the following verses, but it would appear that he is attempting to get his audience to understand that they had already been blessed beyond measure, and the greatest aspect of their blessing from God was the salvation and justification they received as a result of their faith in Jesus Christ.
To drive home his emphasis on the past, Paul reminds them that God had chosen them “before the foundation of the world,” with the intent that they “should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4 ESV). Their salvation was not happenstance or blind luck; it was not even their decision. Paul tells them that God elected them for salvation long before He created the universe and everything in it. And Paul will expand on that thought in the verses to come.
Salvation was God’s idea, not man’s. The thought that sinful men would choose to have a relationship with a holy God goes against the teachings of the Scriptures. Ever since the fall, mankind has been on a trajectory away from God, not toward Him. The farther man got from the garden, the more hazy his memory of God became. Men stopped seeking the one true God and began replacing Him with gods of their own making. Paul describes this downward trajectory quite well in his letter to the Romans:
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. – Romans 1:22-23 ESV
To make his point, Paul paraphrases Psalm 53:1.
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. – Romans 3:10-12 ESV
Paul wants his readers to comprehend the profound significance of God's choice of them. He made their salvation possible and was the one who justified them through His Son’s death on the cross. His choice of them was not just so that they might escape death and eternal condemnation, but that they might live holy lives. Paul drives home the point that “he chose us in him … that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4 ESV).
God has an unwavering expectation that every believer live holy and blameless because He has equipped them to do so. Our holiness and blamelessness don’t start when we get to heaven; they begin here and now as we live as followers of Christ in this fallen world. We are saints, set-apart ones, who belong to God and are empowered by the Spirit of God to live as lights in a sin-darkened world. We have been chosen by God to reflect His glory and to share His message of grace to all those we meet. As Paul told the Philippian believers: “Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people” (Philippians 2:15 NLT).
Father, our salvation, sanctification, and ultimate glorification were all Your idea, not ours. The magnitude of Your marvelous grace should never cease to amaze us as we consider the hopelessness of our condition without it. We didn’t deserve Your mercy, but You poured it out anyway. We couldn’t earn Your forgiveness, so You provided Your Son as the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world. It was all Your doing and, as a result, we are blessed in every conceivable way. We enjoy a restored relationship with You. We are filled with Your Spirit and have access to His life-transforming power every minute of every day. You have given us Your Word to guide and direct our lives. And You have placed us within the body of Christ, where we experience community and unity as we live together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank You for all the blessings we have already received and all those yet to come. Amen
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22