Chapter 1
Chapter 1:1-14
A1
Scripture
Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints
who are in Ephesus, and faithful
in Christ Jesus:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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 made us
accepted in the
Beloved. 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, 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, (Ephesians 1:1-11 NKJV)
A2
Outline
B1
Intro
C1
Author: Holy Spirit
C2
Writer: Paul
B2
Addressees
C1
God's people in Ephesus
C2
The faithful in Christ Jesus (the rest of us)
A3
Notes: Dealings with God and His people (Christians)
B1
Who has blessed us .
C1 When the lesser blesses, he
thanks and praises the greater.
C2 When the greater blesses,
it is gifts of many types.
D1 Spiritual blessings
E1 Fruit of the Spirit: But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control–against such
things there is no law.
(Galatians 5:22-23, WPNT)
E2 Some blessing listed here
F1 Adoption
F2 Forgiveness of sins
F3 Knowledge of the mystery
(The Gospel)
F4 Our gathering together
(Unity—God's unity not the worldly unity that is currently preached
uniting believers with heretics and apostates).
F5 An inheritance (Heaven and
especially fellowship with God).
E3 God himself. (Jesus Christ
is the ultimate blessing in this life, because of all He is and is,
has, and will do).
D2
Heavenly blessings
B2
He has chosen us.
C1
Meaning of the word
D1
A choosing for Himself.
D2
To pick out as in upon seeing a number of choices, one is picked out.
If I went with a brother to a cafe, and he said, "Pick out
something on the menu; I'll pay for it," and I picked out the
fried ehis word means.
C2
He chose us.
D1
This decision, the plan, was made before the creation of the world.
D2
This decision is God's plan.
D3
This does not seem to involve individuals as much as the group/set
consisting of Christians. (Consider corporate
election).
D4
Election is different than unconditional election.
E1 Unconditional election, in
its various versions, is where God makes His choice of who goes to
heaven and who goes to hell. The elect for heaven have no choice in
the matter, nor those who are the elect for hell. God does the
choosing. (See, Election
is, therefore, that decree of God which He eternally makes, by which,
with sovereign freedom, He chooses to Himself a people, upon whom He
determines to set His love, whom He rescues from sin and death
through Jesus Christ, unto Himself in everlasting glory.
This election is sovereign
- God's sovereign and free choice. This election is eternal even as
God's counsel is eternal. This election is unchangeable even as God's
counsel is unchangeable. This election is efficacious so that the
decree of election itself is, through Christ, the power by which the
elect are actually saved.
Source).
E2 Conditional election is,
Therefore, election
is corporate and embraces individual persons only as they identify
and associate themselves with the body of Christ, the true church
(Ephesians 1:22-23 and source).
C3
Chose for a purpose.
D1
For us to be holy
D2
And blameless
D3
To be adopted
E1
Sons and daughters of God
E2
Privileges of the family
E3
Possible because of the atoning death of Jesus Christ
E4 2 Corinthians 6:18 WPNT
And, “I will be a
Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says the
LORD Almighty.”
B3 He predestined us.
C1
Meaning of the word
D1
Plan, though, because of theology it has picked up the meaning of
exhaustively determined.
D2
Predetermine in the sense of a decision was determined before the
situation that demanded it. So, it is a plan, a decision, that
occurred in the past before creation.
D3
It does not mean to pick out an individual and determine him/her to
heaven or hell.
D4
I would never chose him for I was dead and could not, but the Holy
Spirit opened my eyes and heart to the Gospel and offered me
salvation. I could resist or not resist. If God had not predestined
me, I would never have believed.
C2
Predestination was done "in love," though "in love"
might refer to verse 4 in which it would refer to our love to Him.
C3
Predestination is for adoption not salvation. It was God’s plan.
C4
The good pleasure of His will, that is, this was a happy decision.
C5
It is of grace, which is receiving what we do not deserve.
B4
He has made us accepted in the beloved.
C1
Grace has made us accepted.
C2
Grace is getting what we do not deserve.
C3
We deserve hell, but instead, because of His grace we are accepted,
not rejected.
C4
Those who are rejected are those who resisted God's gracious call.
D1 Luke 13:34 EMTV "O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those
who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children
together, like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were
not willing!
D2
John 5:40 EMTV But
you are unwilling to come to Me, so that you may have life.
B5
We have redemption.
C1
Meaning of the word
D1
Freedom because of something paid.
D2
Deliverance
D3
Jesus suffered and died to pay the penalty of sin.
C2
How
D1
Through His blood. No blood shed, no salvation.
D2
Because of His shed blood, we have forgiveness of sins.
C3
Some cross references
D1
Galatians 3:13-14 EMTV Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for
us, for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,"
14 so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in
Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith.
D2
Colossians 1:13-14 WPNT who
delivered us out of the dominion of the darkness and transferred us
into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have the
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins.
D3
Romans 5:6 EMTV For
while we were still weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
D4
Hebrews 13:12 EMTV Therefore
Jesus also, so that He might sanctify the people through His own
blood, suffered outside the gate.
D5
John 19:30 EMTV Therefore
when Jesus received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!"
And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
B6
His grace is abounded.
C1
Not just a little grace but lots of grace.
C2
Wisdom
D1
Wisdom deals with decision making.
D2
God shows His wisdom in salvation and the plan of salvation.
C3
Prudence
D1
Making a choice with moral insight
D2
Deals with the practical details of how to carry this plan/decision
out.
B7
He made known to us the mystery of His will.
C1
The mystery of His will is the Gospel.
D1
1 Timothy 3:16 EMTV And
confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in
the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among
[the] Gentiles, believed on in the world, [and] was received up in
glory.
D2
t2 Timothy 1:10 EMTV but
has now been revealed through the appearance of our Savior Jesus
Christ, having abolished death on the one hand, [and] having brought
to life immortality through the gospel on the other.
D3
A mystery: what was hidden is now known
C2
He knew the plan but did not reveal it until the time of Jesus on
this earth.
D1
This plan was done in
E1
Accordance with His good pleasure (satisfaction, delight)
E2
His plan not a plan put together by others
E3
Psalms 33:11 GNB92 But
his plans endure forever; his purposes last eternally.
D2
A plan hatched in justice and love
B8
He will gather us together.
C1
The true unity of believers is not the forced, and we are still a
family in the 21st century.
C2
God does this gathering, not some pastor, church, or group of people.
B9
We have an inheritance.
C1
Our main inheritance is God himself.
C2
Jesus shares His inheritance with us (Romans 8:17 CSB - and if
children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if
indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him).
C3
Includes
D1
Forgiveness of sins
D2
Heaven
D3
Fellowship with God, holy angels, and God's people
D4
Relief from the sufferings caused by sin.
B10
Applications
C1
God made a plan. He followed that plan.
C2
Jesus always was, is, and will be Messiah.
C3
God’s plan, through Abraham, was to have a physical nation, Israel,
and a spiritual nation, the church. When one is born again, they
enter the spiritual nation, the church, which is Christ’s body.
C4
We are a family of believers.
C5
We have an inheritance.
C6
We need to preach the Gospel.
