Before we progress into Ephesians please allow me to share what Clements said in chapter 22 of his writings written during the first 100 years of church history and I quote: These Exhortations Are Confirmed by the Christian Faith, Which Proclaims the Misery of Sinful Conduct.
"Now the faith which is in Christ confirms all these [admonitions]. For He Himself by the Holy Ghost thus addresses us: “Come, children, hearken to Me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desires life, and loves to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are [open] to their prayers. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cried, and the Lord heard him, and delivered him out of all his troubles.” (Psalm 34:11-17) “Many are the stripes [appointed for] the wicked; but mercy shall compass those about who hope in the Lord.” (Psalm 32:10)"
Now for those who have a good Hebrew concordance I'm going to put the Old Testament herein quoted with the Strong's Hebrew numbering system for reference sake:
Psa 34:11-17 Come,H1980 ye children,H1121 hearkenH8085 unto me: I will teachH3925 you the fearH3374 of the LORD.H3068
Psa 34:12 WhatH4310 manH376 is he that desirethH2655 life,H2416 and lovethH157 many days,H3117 that he may seeH7200 good?H2896
Psa 34:13 KeepH5341 thy tongueH3956 from evil,H4480 H7451 and thy lipsH8193 from speakingH4480 H1696 guile.H4820
Psa 34:14 DepartH5493 from evil,H4480 H7451 and doH6213 good;H2896 seekH1245 peace,H7965 and pursueH7291 it.
Psa 34:15 The eyesH5869 of the LORDH3068 are uponH413 the righteous,H6662 and his earsH241 are open untoH413 their cry.H7775
Psa 34:16 The faceH6440 of the LORDH3068 is against them that doH6213 evil,H7451 to cut offH3772 the remembranceH2143 of them from the earth.H4480 H776
Psa 34:17 The righteous cry,H6817 and the LORDH3068 heareth,H8085 and deliverethH5337 them out of allH4480 H3605 their troubles.H6869
Now for the second reference quoted:
Psa 32:10 ManyH7227 sorrowsH4341 shall be to the wicked:H7563 but he that trustethH982 in the LORD,H3068 mercyH2617 shall compass him about.H5437
If you have available a Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible and can do a word search using it you'll gain a wealth of understanding if you have spiritual eyes and ears. Or are willing to sit under God to listen to Him He'll speak to your heart of the secret things here hidden from view, but remember that as long as we look for the earthy, practical or worldly things that is all that we'll get from Him. In other words our desires have to change to the spiritual.
Now let's get right into the meat of the Book of Ephesians.
Ephesians 1:1
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:”
Ephesians 1:1a
"Paul, and apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,..."
Paul didn't just one day say, "Hmm, I think I'll just become an apostle. I like the way people look up to Peter, James, and John. I just think I'll become an apostle." No that's not the way it was. We want to remember he was the one who hated Jesus of Nazareth. He hated anything associated with this Jesus Christ of Nazareth or Calvary. He thought Jesus was destroying his pet religion, "Judaism". But God in His Grace saved him on the road to Damascus, and immediately gave instructions that, "This man would be going to the non-Jew, the Gentiles with a whole new format," This format was not based on Judaism or the Law, not based on the Old Testament - but a whole New revelation of New Truths that had never been revealed before. Though they are buried within the language of the old by means of parables, metaphors and allegories which require our having become born again in order to hear and see these things.
He sent him out among those pagan Gentiles, and how the man was constantly confronted with the abject immorality of his day. By both sides the Religious of Judaism and the paganism of the gentiles. It was unbelievable, and yet out of that wickedness and out gross pagan immorality the man turned the Roman empire upside down by simply preaching the Gospel of Christ. The Grace of God given those in Christ, that Paul was given to preach to us. Paul wasn't a crusader, he wasn't a great politician, he wasn't a great moralist, but he preached the Gospel of the Grace of God. Now then as he ends up in prison because of his Apostleship, he's going to be writing these next three letters from prison. So he's an Apostle not of his own will, but by the Will of God. And those who find their way to God through the blood of Christ are to behave likewise as living witnesses of His divine resurrection within themselves to bear witness of this Truth to the lost of the world, both Jew and Gentile and those caught in the worlds false Religion.
Now then this Apostle is writing this particular letter to the saints there in Ephesus. And how many times have we heard it said over the years, "to whom does Paul always write?" The Believer. The Christian. He doesn't write to the unsaved world. Not that he didn't have a heart for them, but Paul knew that which too many people today don't understand, "You don't just simply win the lost by screaming at them, and preaching at them, but rather you win the lost by disciplining the receptive believer." And when that receiving believer is disciplined by the Holy Spirit. He can go out there among the ungodly world, the wicked religionists and reflect the righteousness of Christ, he's going to have an impact on lost people because the Holy Spirit's going to gush out of his inner parts as a river of Living Water. And then the unsaved is going to say, "Hey what must I do to have what you've got?" And then there's our opportunity. "Oh you believe that Christ died for you. You believe with all your heart that He rose from the dead for you, and you will be saved. (Reference I Corinthians 15:1-4)" The Book declares it, and it cannot lie.
Now we have to be careful because we had someone else question this. "Well Bill, what do you mean when you say `only believe?'" Well we don't mean just a superficial mental assent to these things, we mean that when we honestly with all our being, say, "I believe this with all my heart without a doubt, I believe from cover to cover, I believe especially that when Christ died He died for me, and I believe that He arose from the dead, He rose to give me that same resurrection Life." And that of course is what we call faith, and it's by that and that alone that we enter in to this relationship that Paul is always expounding on. So he writes to the saints. And now looking at verse 1 again we find.
Ephesians 1:1
"Paul, and apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful (now the last three words in this verse are the key to the whole letter) in Christ Jesus:"
Now what kind of phrase is that? It's a prepositional phrase. Now I think there are 93 prepositional phrases in the six chapters of Ephesians that always denote our position. Such as "In Christ, In whom, In Him," or in similar fashion. The whole six chapters are constantly driving that home that we are now in a peculiar position as a receptive believer. We see back there in Romans the whole idea of the letter of Romans was to show that we were nothing but hell-bound, filthy, wicked sinners. Every one of us were capable of going to the very depth of sin, now that's what Romans shows us and it makes no difference whether we're a Hebrew or a Gentile. Then the remedy for it is this Gospel, that Christ has already forgiven us. He's already died for us, His blood has already paid the ransom payment, when we've passed through His blood it strengthens us (the meaning of H4820, guile), He arose from the dead, and all we have to do to appropriate it by believing it, that is to say receive Him, now that's the Book of Romans.
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