** The sooner you are able to find God in your life the closer your soul will be to the Kingdom of Heaven! - “The Epistle to the Ephesians is a complete Body of Divinity. In the first chapter you have the doctrines of the gospel; in the next, you have the experience of the Christians; and before the Epistle is finished, you have the precepts of the Christian faith. Whosoever would see Christianity in one treatise, let him ‘read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest’ the Epistle to the Ephesians.” **

Date:   12/5/2013 9:05:43 PM ( 11 y ago)

- We discuss in more detail here; so that you will understand that Hell is not the real purpose or destination of your existence! Rather the actual purpose of your existence is your eternal Soul! This may be news to many therefore we will be looking at what comprises your soul!

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Your soul consists of your mind and is the seat of all emotions, thoughts, and reason as well as your personal will! This is you folks...

** Many people live in a dream world, devoid of real facts which is like sleeping their way through life!

Sleep is the period when a person's perception of the sighted - real world fades and moves into another realm! This state of semi-conscienceless can have periods where there are visions, dreams or other abrasions... These periods may last from brief seconds to very extended times! There have been people in a comma for years...

Yet the mind is always active! The soul resides in your brain while in the living body! Your soul is the source of your dreams & thoughts...

One of the most important considerations is that your soul; needs to be controlled so that you do not wonder through life... Because if you do not gain control of your soul it will be lost in the eternity to come!

** One of the things that every person should do is learn to connect with God! Once a person comes to know and then accept the Lord Jesus; His mission of redemption converts your life forever!

Because as mere mortals, our vision for the future, like ourlives here on earth, is limited... God's vision is not burdened by such limitations; since His plans extend throughout all Eternity!

Yet through prayer you can come into the Blessed State of Salvation which is explained in Ephesians 1:3-14....

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From: David Guzik's Commentary on the Bible

Ephesians 1: Verses 3-14
- GOD’S ULTIMATE PLAN


1) Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is different compared to many of the other New Testament letters he wrote. Like Romans, Ephesians was not written so much to address problems in a particular church as many of the other episiles were; it was written to explain some of the great themes and doctrines of Christianity.

2) “If the book of Romans is the purest expression of the gospel" (as Luther said),
"then Ephesians is the most sublime and majestic expression of the gospel.” (Lloyd-Jones)

- Lloyd-Jones also said of Ephesians: “It is difficult to speak of it in a controlled manner because of its greatness and because of its sublimity.”

3) - “The Epistle to the Ephesians is a complete Body of Divinity. In the first chapter you have the doctrines of the gospel; in the next, you have the experience of the Christians; and before the Epistle is finished, you have the precepts of the Christian faith. Whosoever would see Christianity in one treatise, let him ‘read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest’ the Epistle to the Ephesians.” **

4) If the Letter to the Romans focuses more on God’s work in the individual Christian, - Then Ephesians includes the great themes of God’s work in the church, which is the community of believers.

5) Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 : But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. - Ephesians is the fulfillment of this. It reveals the things God has prepared for those who love Him.

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** (Ephesians 1:1-2) Paul’s greeting to the Ephesians.

- a. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ: The opening of the letter is brief, without the more detailed greetings from Paul often found in his other letters.
- b. To the saints who are in Ephesus: In a few ancient manuscripts there is a blank space instead of the words in Ephesus. Based partly on this, some believe that this letter was actually a circular letter written not to any one congregation, but meant to be passed on to many different congregations in different cities.
- c. At the same time, we can gather that the letter was also intended in a more general sense - to circulate among Christians as a great statement of God’s eternal plan, worked out in the church and in individual Christian lives. If there is a blank space in a manuscript where others read in Ephesus, it is certainly because we are to put our city in that blank space.
- d. Grace to you and peace from God our Father: This greeting is typical of Paul. The apostle knew the essential place of grace and peace from God in the life of the believer, and He knew that receiving God’s grace comes before a walk in peace with Him.

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** Now to the key part of Ephesians.

- The work of the Triune God on behalf of the believer.
In ancient Greek (the language Paul originally wrote in), Ephesians 1:3 through 1:14 tend to form one long sentence. As an opera has an overture, setting the tone for all the melodies that will follow...

* so Ephesians 1:3-14 sets the tone for the rest of Ephesians.

* (Ephesians 1:3-6) The work of God the Father.
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, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.

- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: Paul called for a blessing upon the Father (in the sense of recognizing His glory and honor and goodness), because the Father has already blessed the believer with every spiritual blessing (who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing).

- Moule wrote that the idea behind blessed is, “Praised with worshiping love.” - " Who has blessed us: This blessing is ours. God’s resources are there for us always. This speaks of an attitude of certainty and assurance. "

- “We are not sitting here, and groaning, and crying, and fretting, and worrying, and questioning our own salvation. He has blessed us; and therefore we will bless him. If you think little of what God has done for you, you will do very little for him; but if you have a great notion of his great mercy to you, you will be greatly grateful to you gracious God.” (Spurgeon)

- The “us” includes both Jews and Gentiles in the church at Ephesus and beyond. It was important to point out that these blessings are for both Jewish and Gentile believers. First century Jews had a strong sense of being blessed, called and predestined - Paul shows that these things are now given to Christians, be they Jew or Gentile.

- With every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: This describes both the kind of blessings and the location of those blessings. These are spiritual blessings, which are far better than material blessings. These blessings are ours in the heavenly places in Christ, they are higher, better, and more secure than earthly blessings.

- ** “Our thanks are due to God for all temporal blessings; they are more than we deserve. But our thanks ought to go to God in thunders of hallelujahs for spiritual blessings. A new heart is better than a new coat. To feed on Christ is better than to have the best earthly food. To be an heir of God is better than being the heir of the greatest nobleman. To have God for our portion is blessed, infinitely more blessed than to own broad acres of land. God hath blessed us with spiritual blessings. These are the rarest, the richest, the most enduring of all blessings; they are priceless in value.” (Spurgeon)

- If we have no appreciation for spiritual blessing, then we live at the level of animals. Animals live only to eat, sleep, entertain themselves, and to reproduce. We are made in the image of God and He has something much higher for us, yet many choose to live at the level of animals. God wants us know every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

* We also note that this includes every spiritual blessing.
- This means that every blessing we receive, we receive in Christ.
- This means that God wants to bless us with every blessing available to us.

Just as He chose us in Him: Our possession of every spiritual blessing is as certain as our being chosen by Him, and chosen before the foundation of the world.

We dare not diminish what Paul writes here. Believers are chosen by God, and they are chosen before they have done anything or have been anything for God.
“It is the infinite Free-Will of God, (even more sacred than the free-will of man;) a purpose and a plan older than the oceans and the skies.” (Moule)

The great light of this truth casts some shadows - namely, in trying to reconcile human responsibility with divine sovereignty.

But the purpose of light is not to cast shadows but to guide our steps. The light of God’s selection gives us assurance to the permanence of His plan and His love towards us.

****

- The reasons for God’s choosing are not capricious, nor are they random. Though they are past our finding out, we know that they are altogether wise and good, but the reasons are all in Him, not in us. His choosing is according to the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1:5).

- We are chosen in Him. “For if we are chosen in Christ, it is outside ourselves. It is not from the sight of our deserving, but because our heavenly Father has engrafted us, through the blessing of adoption, into the Body of Christ. In short, the name of Christ excludes all merit, and everything which men have of themselves.” (Calvin)

- That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: We are chosen not only for salvation, but also for holiness. Any understanding of God’s sovereign choosing that diminishes our personal responsibility for personal holiness and sanctification falls far short of the whole counsel of God.

* “The words [holy and without blame] are a metaphor taken from the perfect and immaculate sacrifices which the law required the people to bring to the altar of God.” (Clarke)

* We cannot forget the words in love. Holiness and blamelessness are nothing without love. “But as love is the fulfilling of the law, and love the fountain whence their salvation flowed, therefore love must fill their hearts towards God and each other.” (Clarke)

* Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself: This is the Father’s destiny for His chosen - that they would enjoy adoption as sons. God’s unfolding plan for us not only includes salvation and personal transformation, but also a warm, confident relationship with the Father.

- In Roman law, “When the adoption was complete it was complete indeed. The person who had been adopted had all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family and completely lost all rights in his old family. In the eyes of the law he was a new person. So new was he that even all debts and obligations connected with his previous family were abolished as if they had never existed.” (Barclay)

** - Gaebelein takes the thought even further:
“Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not adopted into the family of God; they are born into the family. The Greek has only one word ‘Sonplace.’ We are placed into the position of Sons.”

- This high position in the family of God gives us something in Jesus that Adam never had.
“When people ask us the speculative question why God went ahead with the creation when he knew that it would be followed by the fall, one answer we can tentatively give is that he destined us for a higher dignity than even creation would bestow on us.” (Stott)

- To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved:
The relational aspect is emphasized again as Paul describes the status of accepted (charito, “highly favored” or “full of grace” as in Luke 1:28) that is granted to every believer because of God’s grace.

- Jesus was completely accepted by the Father. All His character, all His words, all His work was acceptable to God the Father. And now we are accepted in the Beloved.

- Paul realized this plan gave glory to the grace of God. “By the giving of the LAW, God’s justice and holiness were rendered most glorious; by the giving of the GOSPEL, his grace and mercy are made equally glorious.” (Clarke) God’s plan in the gospel is often rejected because it glorifies God and His grace, not the effort or achievement of man.

- “So that He may receive from His adoring creatures the ‘praise’ due to His ‘glory,’ His own manifested CHARACTER, manifested in this form of entrancing beauty, His ‘grace.’” (Moule)

- Bruce on the idea of being accepted by God on the standing of grace: “God’s grace has extended to his people and enfolded them: he has ‘be-graced’ them, says Paul (using a verb derived from the Greek word for ‘grace’).”
v. Chrysostom, speaking of the work by which God makes us accepted in the Beloved: “It is as if one were to take a leper and change him into a lovely youth.”

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(Ephesians 1:7-8) The work of God the Son.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
a. In Him we have redemption through His blood: The Him is the Beloved of Ephesians 1:6. In Him we have redemption and nowhere else. There is no possible redemption outside of Jesus and His redeeming blood.

- Redemption always implies a price being paid for the freedom that is purchased. It uses the ancient Greek word lootruo, which means, “to liberate on the receipt of a ransom.” (Gaebelein)
Here the price is His blood, showing that the blessing from the Father and the Son comes not only from a divine decree, but it also comes according to His righteousness and holiness. He cannot bless in opposition to His righteousness and holiness.

- Jesus does not redeem us by His sinless life or His moral example, but only by His death in our place - by His blood. “Observe, it is not redemption through his power, it is through his blood. It is not redemption through his love, it is through his blood.” (Spurgeon)

- We should not take a superstitious or mystical view of “the blood.” It was not Jesus’ physical blood that saved anyone, but His real and total payment for the sins of man in His whole person on the cross. This is what the New Testament means when it talks about “the blood.”

- According to the riches of His grace: The redemption and forgiveness given to us comes according to the measure of the riches of His grace. It is not a “small” redemption or forgiveness won by Jesus on the cross. It is immense.

Which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence: Many think it is unwise of God to lavish such redemption and forgiveness on guilty sinners. But it is in all wisdom and prudence that He has given this to us.

* (Ephesians 1:9-12) The mystery of His will.
Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; in Him.
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

a. Having made known to us the mystery of His will: Part of what belongs to us under the riches of His grace is the knowledge of the mystery of His will, God’s great plan and purpose which was once hidden but is now revealed to us in Jesus. Through the Apostle Paul, God calls us to consider the greatness of God’s great plan for the ages and our place in that plan.

** “In the New Testament sense a mystery is something which is hidden to the heathen but clear to the Christian.” (Barclay)

- The idea behind the word dispensation also reflects a plan or a strategy. “The plan which the master of a family, or his steward, has established for the management of the family . . . it signifies, also, a plan for the management of any sort of business.” (Clarke)

- That . . . He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; in Him: God’s ultimate plan is to bring together - to ultimately resolve - all things in Christ, either through Jesus as a Savior or Jesus as a Judge; this will happen in the fullness of the times.

- The word for gather together has the idea of “to unite” or “to sum up.” It was used for the process of adding up a column of figures and putting the sum up at the top. Paul’s idea is that God will make all things “add up” at the end, and right now He is in the process of coming to that final sum.

- This shows that God wants to unify all things in our lives under Him. “It is a heresy of our times to divide life into sacred and secular.” (Foulkes)

- This is the great resolution and deliverance that even the creation groans for (Romans 8:18-22), the day when every wrong will be righted and every matter resolved according to God’s holy love and justice.

* Bruce on the fullness of the times: “When the time is ripe for the consummation of his purpose, in his providential overruling of the course of the world, that consummation will be realized.”

- In Him also we have obtained an inheritance: For believers, Jesus is not a judge, but the One in whom we have an inheritance. Believers are predestined for this according to the counsel of His will - again, the reasons for His choosing reside in Him, not in us.

- Being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will: We see three aspects of God’s plan working together. It begins with His purpose, then the counsel of His will, and finally results in His work. God makes His plan carefully according to an eternal purpose, taking counsel within the Godhead, and then He works with all wisdom.

- “Our God is a God who not only wills; He works; and He works according to His will . . . The word counsel stands for deliberate planning and arranging, in which the ways and means of carrying out the will are considered and provided for.” (Morgan)

- By the counsel of His will: “God doth all by counsel, and ever hath a reason of his will, which though we see not for present, we shall at last day. Meanwhile submit.” (Trapp)

- That we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory: God’s purpose in all this is so that those who have trusted Christ will exist to the praise of His glory. The goal of God’s ultimate plan is to glorify Him.

- We who first trusted in Christ: This speaks of Jewish believers. The words you also in Ephesians 1:13 speak of Gentile believers. God’s great plan has a place for both Jew and Gentile, and brings them both together in Jesus.

* (Ephesians 1:13-14) The work of the Holy Spirit.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

- In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth: God’s sovereign choice works, but it does not exclude human cooperation. These ones who were so sovereignly chosen were also the ones who trusted, heard the word of truth, and believed.

- You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise: Also essential in God’s work is the sealing work of the Holy Spirit. His presence in our lives acts as a seal which indicates ownership, and which is a guarantee of our inheritance.

- “The seal is therefore the Holy Spirit Himself, and His presence in the believer denotes ownership and security. The sealing with the Spirit is not an emotional feeling or some mysterious inward experience.” (Gaebelein)

- The word guarantee (“down payment”) is used only in the New Testament of the Holy Spirit. He is our only down payment of coming glory; nothing else is provided - or needed.

- Having believed, you were sealed: The sealing does not come before we believe, and those who demand some assurance from God before they will believe treat God as if His word could not be trusted.
- “For sealing there are needed the softened wax; the imprint of the beloved face; the steady pressure. Would that the Spirit might impress the face of our dear Lord on our softened hearts, that they may keep it for evermore!” (Meyer)
- Until the redemption of the purchased possession: We have this guarantee until we are “completely purchased” by God through resurrection and glorification - again, all to the praise of His glory.

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" Teach us to set our hopes upon Heaven, to hold firmly to the promise of eternal life; so that we can withstand the struggles and storms of this world! " Max Lucado

** This redemption comes at a cost = which was paid for by the death, and reserection of Christ...

 

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