Ephesians 1 | The Power of Unity in Christ

What is the meaning of predestination in Ephesians 1?
How does Ephesians 1 emphasize unity in the church?
What is the mystery mentioned in Ephesians 1?

The introduction to Ephesians sets the tone for the entire letter, highlighting Paul's focus on unity in the body of Christ. Unlike some of his earlier letters, Ephesians carries a more uplifting tone, offering believers practical wisdom and spiritual insights. Chapter one emphasizes God's blessings and the believers' identity in Christ, touching on predestination, adoption, and the unity that comes from being in Christ. Paul encourages the Ephesians by reminding them of their spiritual inheritance and the Holy Spirit's role as the guarantee of their faith.

The topic of predestination is broached early, reflecting Paul's teaching on how believers were chosen by God before the world's creation. While the concept of predestination is often debated, this passage emphasizes God's sovereignty and the purpose He has laid out for those in Christ. Paul balances this by focusing on the unity believers share, urging them to prioritize their identity in Christ over cultural or societal divisions. This call to unity is reinforced by the idea that all things are brought together under Christ's authority.

Another key theme is the revelation of the "mystery" of God's will, which has been fully unveiled in Christ. This mystery, which was hidden for ages, is the plan to unite all things—both in heaven and on earth—through Jesus. The letter underscores that Christ's work creates harmony among diverse groups, particularly between Jews and Gentiles. Paul’s message is that the barriers that once divided people have been broken, enabling all believers to be united under one head, Jesus Christ.

The chapter also offers powerful imagery about believers' spiritual inheritance and the immeasurable power available to those who trust in Christ. Paul's prayer for the Ephesians includes a desire for them to fully grasp the hope, riches, and power found in their relationship with God. He underscores Christ's authority over all things, both now and in the age to come, positioning Christ as the head of the Church.

Ephesians chapter one is a profound introduction to a letter that encourages believers to live out their faith in unity and love. The themes of predestination, unity in Christ, and the revelation of God's mysterious plan continue to resonate as core elements of Christian teaching. By setting the stage for a deeper exploration of the Christian life, this cha

Transcript

 Ephesians 1

Ephesians 1

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to God's plan, your part year two, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire new Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's plan and your part in it. Today, we are starting our journey through the book of Ephesians with Ephesians chapter one, uh, just on the surface of this book.

I feel like we wrapped up Corinthians, which was a little bit of a correction, kind of a letter. Then we went into Galatians, which again felt like a correction, kind of a letter, uh, Ephesians feels a little bit less confrontational, I think, and one of the things we're going to see in it is that Paul is very concerned about unity.

Within the body. Uh, he's going to mention unity a lot, and he's going to kind of draw attention to what a church should be doing, how a church should function. And then even on top of that, like how a family within that church should be functioning and conducting themselves. Uh, it's worth noting that [00:01:00] Ephesians was written toward the end of Paul's life while he was in prison.

So we kind of, um, the, the letters we just dealt with were written, Earlier, this is a later letter from Paul. And it's, it's fair to assume that Christians have been present in Ephesus for some time, a little bit longer than some of the other books that we've been dealing with. Um, so as we jump into Ephesians one, there's, there's plenty that we can unpack from chapter one.

Uh, but just keep in mind that this is a, a little bit of a nicer letter. Uh, and it's a little bit more encouraging, a little bit less confronting, um, because Paul's just trying to bring. Useful instruction, uh, to new believers about how to live lives that honor Christ. Yeah, it seems like, well, first of all, the first chapter, it opens up with like a lot of niceties and like, thankful for you, all the things, um, but it does feel like it gives a lot more reminders, I guess, not [00:02:00] necessarily correction.

Um, as I was, you were, as you were opening this episode, I was kind of just leafing through the, the other, what, five chapters of this book. And it does seem like this. This book is much more dedicated to, like I was saying. Just little reminders and I guess like polite nudges to say, Hey, uh, this is what the body looks like.

This is how we show it to the world. Not necessarily like, Hey, I'm calling you out because of this very obvious sin going on in your church. Right. So I guess go Ephesians. They did something right. It's a little bit different in its intent and you, you can, I would say you can feel it. feel that like Paul's not trying to defend his apostleship.

We've, we've dealt with that. Um, Paul's not trying to confront specific known sin in specific people's lives. We've seen that, um, this is just more general instructions for Christians, Christian households, Christian churches. Um, the, [00:03:00] I would say like two things you're going to notice if you pay attention to them, uh, he talks about unity.

Quite a bit, and he talks about mystery quite a bit. Um, it was very common in these early churches, um, for unity to be like a huge issue, because if you think about what's happening in the world at this time, um, Christianity comes on the scene and is wildly accepting of anybody that's willing to commit their lives to Christ.

So it, it, it required a lot. Like you had to actually believe in Christ and commit to following him and submit to the doctrines of the church. But you didn't have this group of people with like this guaranteed common background and guaranteed common upbringing. So. So Jews would be sitting with Gentiles worshiping together.

They most likely have done nothing together before. Um, one of the really common, like serious problems [00:04:00] in the early church was that slaves would be worshiping with their masters, uh, in the early church in a setting where they would have never been like equals before, but now everyone is equals before Christ.

So unity was a challenge. Uh, at best it was a challenge and at worst it was like a flat out serious problem. And so Paul's going to do what he can, uh, uh, several times in Ephesians to remind the church that the primary identity that they all have is, is, In Christ, you're going to notice that he mentions in Christ several times because he wants the church to recognize and relate to each other as though they are in Christ first and foremost, what do we have in common or in Christ, even though you have a different background than I do, even though you have different opinions from where you came from than I do.

We are in Christ. We serve his mission together. We want to faithfully care for each other and build up the body at the same [00:05:00] time. So unity is a huge piece in Christ is a huge piece. Um, maybe we can talk about mystery here in just a second. Yeah. So I guess you're giving like a pretty strong overview of like the entire book.

Uh, I don't know how much you want to dig into. Chapter one, if there's anything that like really stood out to you, honestly, I feel like this is just a very much opening. Hi, how are you? Wonderful. Pray for you often. Awesome. This is hilarious. Cause we had a pretty jam packed night and we're recording this episode kind of late and Jenny is very tired.

Third trimester is no joke. We have a baby coming very soon. Uh, we're experiencing all the things. Um, so I, I guess, um, There's a lot of theology in this book that is valuable. Um, one of the things you're going to hear a decent amount of, uh, decent amount of in Ephesians is this idea of predestination. And it's a very hot topic.

Um, but if you look at verse five, and, um, I would say [00:06:00] actually I would pick that up in, I'll just start at verse three, 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. A side note, he's just essentially using like broad sweeping language to say, like, we've been blessed in every part of blessing.

Like we are blessed on earth. We are blessed in heaven because of this unique identity that we have. Even as he who chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

Um, it. This idea of predestination is, is difficult to deal with sometimes. Um, but it is clear that the Bible teaches that predestination is a thing. Like there are people who have been chosen to be servants of Christ before the foundations of the world. That means that before God even created the world, he knew that [00:07:00] you would be chosen if, if you're one of those folks.

That like for his will and his purposes in chapter two, he's going to talk about walking in those purposes in, in the things that, uh, have been planned out for you beforehand, so you can't in good conscience pretend like predestination is not a thing. Um, what, what is less clear in the Bible is if there are also people chosen to not serve Christ.

I don't think the Bible teaches that. I think the, the, the Bible clearly teaches that. Everybody has an opportunity to accept Christ and, and come to a place where they have salvation. I also teaches that, that people are chosen before the foundations of the world. Um, the more and more time I've spent with this idea, uh, this, the more secure I become in my.

In my own faith. Um, and I honestly, like I really appreciate the security that I have in knowing that God is sovereign over all creation and he has chosen people for himself. It does not cause me to, to be scared or to be tense or anything like that. I think you're going to get a [00:08:00] lot of interesting comments on this.

We have gotten pushback on this before. Please, please hear me. A lot of times the pushback I get is that. Strong proponents of predestination sometimes will go to very far extremes to say, you don't even need to do evangelism. You don't, you don't even need to preach the gospel because God has already decided who he has.

Uh, the problem is Jesus clearly commanded us to preach the gospel and we are supposed to be striving to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth. We are supposed to be striving to baptize people in the name of the father, the son, the Holy spirit. So the weird thing about predestination is sometimes like the, the people that give it like the worst representation are the.

The ones that just assume they are clearly predestined and they don't need to do anything. And that gets ugly. That gets ugly. That gets twisted. That gets weird. Um, yes. And, and that is a problem. That is a problem. Um, that if, if people pridefully and arrogantly claim their own predestination, I would say it's a red flag.

Um, but the, the Bible [00:09:00] does teach that it's a thing. God is sovereign over all creation. And again, it is important. And I'll, I'll. Repeat this so that you guys understand where I'm coming from. The Bible does not appear to teach that there are people chosen for damnation. Um, so there is not like there is not those predestined for heaven and those predestined for hell.

That does not seem to be the case. Um, it seems to be very likely that everybody gets a chance and an opportunity to recognize Christ and we ultimately are held accountable. And under judgment for our own decisions. So it's important to recognize, and I'm literally just representing what's being taught, um, by Paul here to the church at Ephesus.

Yeah. It's important that, um, if you do stick around for the reading, this is not just a meant, uh, Jenny and Ryan made up, not making this situation here. It is in the decks. So, um, the other thing that gets attention sometimes in Ephesians is this idea of mystery. So if you look at verse eight, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of [00:10:00] his will, according to his purpose, sometimes people really latch onto that mystery thing and they're like, wow, like what is the mystical, um, hidden thing that's being revealed that you can only, you know, like, this is not a Bible code.

This is not like figure out this, the secret that's being revealed. Like Paul literally explains what the secret is, uh, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Well, it's Jesus. And it's the idea that we are all united in Christ under Jesus.

I would say a lot of commentators point to the fact that the mystery being revealed is that there is no longer any separation between Jews and Gentiles. And that Story has been unfolding since the beginning of time. And that is the thing that is the mystery that is now being revealed. Um, so it's like this unity that we have in Christ, which again, supports the case that he's trying to make across the letter.

Well, it's something in there. Study Bible says in scripture, [00:11:00] mystery refers to the revealing of something previously hidden. Uh, but the mystery of God's will now revealed in Christ is to unite all things under him. So I think that's really a cool thing to think about because prior to Jesus. He kind of was, in, in a way, like, you don't know what's, like, when Jesus is gonna hit the scene, but when he does, it's like, oh, that's so, that's amazing, and he does unite what was once felt as divided.

Yeah, and, and these would have been significant divisions, like, like very big dividing lines. Um, that would have seemed like they could not be crossed, even though God from the very beginning of time has always accepted those who are faithful to him, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, there's, there's plenty of stories of that happening.

Um, but Paul's explaining like the mystery that is unfolding is that there is now unity between all these different diverse groups of people because we are all united in Christ. And he's clear about that. What that is. So, um, I would say that this is a, this is a great book. I'm [00:12:00] excited to dive into this book.

There's a ton of theology to unpack. Um, but to me, one of the things that's most useful about it is that Paul's trying to achieve like this unified identity. And I think that unified identity is still really valuable to us today because we are not necessarily, I mean, some people are. Dealing with this Jews and Gentiles issue.

Many of us are not, but many of us have our own diverse backgrounds and opinions and upbringings and like all the stuff cultures. Um, it's helpful to be reminded that the most important thing to all of us is Christ and how we honor him and serve him and how we're unified as one body. Under Christ, uh, or as Paul would say in Christ.

So that's the big point that I want everybody to pick up from Ephesians chapter one, Paul is really setting up this idea of unity across the board, which I think we will see and continue to see more and more throughout these chapters. So, um, prepare yourself. Buckle in for some more Ephesians, some [00:13:00] more unity.

Um, some, I guess maybe some welcome, nice letters, less confrontation. So, uh, thanks for joining us for today's episode. We'll be back again tomorrow as we continue to explore this unity piece in the book of Ephesians in chapter two. See you then. Hey, before we get into the reading, we want to tell you quickly about Logos Bible software.

It's very helpful to us as we prep for the podcast. And we can offer it to you at a discounted rate. There's two links in our description. One will get you the logos, uh, fundamentals pack for 50 bucks, which is a great price. The other one will get you a percentage off any package that you want. We use it often.

We think it will be useful to you. And if you use that link, you'll be helping out the podcast. So go check that out with that in mind. Here's today's reading Ephesians chapter one. Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the Saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:14:00] 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, even as he chose us in him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him.

Things in heaven and things on earth in him. We haven't obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will [00:15:00] so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory in him. You also when you heard the word of truth.

The gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.

Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which you have been called. What are the riches in His glorious inheritance in the saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might? That He worked in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the [00:16:00] heavenly places.

Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet, and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part.

Don't forget you can find us on just about every social media platform on the internet. Let us know what you thought of today's episode. And if you have any questions, go ahead and post them there. You can also reach out to us directly at godsplanyourpartatgmail. com. As always, if you don't have a Bible or if you'd like to use the one that we use, reach out to us via email and we'll be happy to send one to you.

Thanks again for listening. We'll see you again [00:17:00] tomorrow.