Studies In Ephesians:

by T. M. Hyland | Category: Studies In Ephesians: | Jan 1950

The letters of the apostle Paul occupy a unique place in the New Testament. Among those letters, each having its own peculiar beauty, this one " to the Ephesians " shines with a heavenly radiance. It has been appropriately called "The grand canyon of Scripture." The epistle is rich in teaching. This brief survey is designed to provoke thought, and encourage research into its sublime message. As extensive quotation is not desirable, it is suggested that the reader should follow these studies with Bible in hand. The Revised Version is used throughout.

It is always helpful to the understanding of the epistles of the New Testament to learn what we can of those to whom they were primarily addressed, as well as what were the immediate circumstances of the writers.

There is considerable information to be gathered concerning the planting and progress of the Ephesian church from the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles. This can be supplemented by the further allusions to Ephesus in some of Paul's other epistles. Then there is the solemn and pregnant passage in Revelation 2. 1-7,-the last words addressed to the church in Ephesus in the sacred canon. All these, carefully read, will assist the reader to visualise the kind of people who were the first readers of this wonderful letter which is now available for us to read in our own mother tongue.

It will be noted that in the Opening verse those addressed are said to be " saints . - . . and faithful in Christ Jesus." This twofold designation is applied to the same company of peopl~men and women in flesh and blood who walked the streets and lived in the houses of this ancient city of Ephesus. Some were husbands and fathers, some wives and mothers, some children. Some were masters and some were slaves. Diverse in station and temperament, in race and vocation, they had this in common: they were "saints and faithful in Christ Jesus."

The word "saints " (Greek h~ioi, holy ones) is used here, as~o frequently in the writings of Paul, to designate all the believers and not merely those of exceptional piety, or those who, hav.ing departed to be with the Lord, were characterised as such. "Faithful" (Greek pistoi) is used in the sense of "believers," the cognate verb pistetw~ is translated "believed" later in the chapter (verse 18). Of this designation "saints . . . - and faithful in Christ Jesus," it has been well said, "it denotes their spiritual life from its two sides,that of God who calls and sanctifies-that of themselves who believe " (Alford).

The writer of the epistle describes himself as, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus" (1.1), "the prisoner of Christ Jesus" (3. 1), "the prisoner in the Lord" (4.1), "an ambassador in chains" (6.20). He is the veteran of many campaigns. Behind him lay a life of spiritual conflict and physical suffering which must surely be unparalleled in human experience. Detained now in Rome at the behest of a Roman Emperor, he is, nevertheless, the envoy of the King of kings. Yet, with no mock humility, he describes himself as "less than the least of all saints" (3.8). Strange paradox! Such is the man, and such are his credentials to be heard by "the saints which are at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus."

We turn now from the wonder of the chosen vessel to the greater wonder of his message-a message which, although emanating from a Roman prison, had an anterior source in the court of Heaven. This is a message to the saints of the twentieth century no less than to those of the first. Here are revealed "through the Spirit," "things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, and which entered not into the heart of man" (1 Corinthians 2.9). How far removed from current notions of "Christianity" is this wonderful revelation of God's purposes! No mere fancy of an enthusiastic visionary, this is a letter about the glory of Christ from the man chosen and fitted for the task-an apostle of Christ Jesus. Let us read and wonder! Let us go round about it, and walk up and down in it; let us consider it in its parts and reverently examine its words, and, with the Holy Spirit's light, we shall see "the unseen" and we shall discover those divine secrets which have "now been revealed to His Holy apostles and p;ophets in the Spirit" (3.4).

An examination of the structure of the epistle reveals a wonderful design. There are two main parts : the first is chiefly doctrinal, the second chiefly hortatory. In the first part (chapters 1. to 3.) there is an assessment of the believer's spiritual wealth-what he is and what he has "in Christ." In the second part (chapters 4. to 6.) there is an appeal for a manner of life consistent with that high calling, followed by the disclosure that such a manner of life will involve the believer in unrelenting conflict with the powers of darkness. There are various subdivisions of the two main parts. Each part must be carefully considered in its context if the design of the whole is to be grasped.

CHAPTER 1. 1-14.

Paul has many practical things to say to the Ephesian saints; things bearing on "the trivial round, the common task" of their daily life in Ephesus. But before dealing with the stern realities of the believer's walk and warfare in this sinful world, he ascends in spirit into the heavens to trace the stream of divine grace back to its source, and to view the course by which~ it flows in ever increasing fulness right down to these very Ephesians-" by grace have YE been saved" (2.4).

After the opening salutation there is a remarkable outbjirst of praise. With the thoughts he is about to express surging through his mind, the apostle is impelled to preface them with words of eulogy to "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (verse 3). Here we view the highest peak of the revelation of the divine Being. God has revealed Himself in various ways in past ages; as the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, as the Lord Almighty, as Jehovah, the I AM. But all previous revelation is eclipsed by thi~He is "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." "OUR Lord Jesus Christ "-the One lately come to be known and loved by us, has ever been known and loved by One who is here revealed to be His "God and Father," One who is above and beyond all time, inhabiting eternity, dwelling in light unapproachable; yet "no stranger God" to us, for is He not "the God and Father of ottr Lord Jesus Chriet" ~

In this spirit of worship the apostle begins to write his sublime message. We should begin to read in the same spirit. Let us then at the very threshold of the epistle take the shoes from our feet and bow in silent worship for a while. Then when words seem fitting, let these words be the~xpression of our adoring hearts:

"BLESSED BE the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who kath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."

Here, at once, the apostle locates the believer's blessings. They are "in the heavenly places," and they are embodied "in Christ." The term "in the heavenly places "-(literally, in the heavenlies), is peculiar to the Ephesian epistle, occurring five times. It describes the place where Christ is now enthroned (i. 20). In that sphere the believer is identified with Christ in God's purposes (2.6). Principalities and powers have their place and rank there (3. 10); and it is the locality in which the believer wages warfare against his spiritual foes (6.12).

There is a spiritual realm, unseen and unknown by natural men, where great battles are fought and issues decided. In that sphere the believer can prevail only as he recognises and uses the resources which are his in Christ. While Satan is powerless to affect the eternal purposes of God in Christ, he is revealed in the Ephesian epistle as the one who would hinder the believer from living in that heavenly sphere and thereby experiencing in his present life the fulness of blessing and power available to him in Christ.

The term "in Christ" is a key to the first part of the epistle. It is emphasized and underlined by constant repetition. In some of Paul's other epistles (e.g., the epistle to the Romans), emphasis is laid on what God has done "for" the believer. Here he stresses what God has done "with" the believer. He has placed him "in Christ." Christ is the central Sun of all God's purposes. Angels and principalities and powers all have their place in relation to Him but, wonder of wonders! we unworthy sinners have been placed "in Christ." This crowning act of divine grace will be the cause of eternal

wonder in the ages to come.

"So nigh, so very nigh to God,

I ean'io~ nearer be:

For in the person of His Son,

I am as near as He."

From verse 4 onwards there is a rapid recital of the means by which divine grace has reached down ~from "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" to "the saints which are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus." Words and phrases flow in swift succession. There is no full-stop until verse 14. The very words seem to tremble under the weight of the transcendent truths they convey. Here indeed are "waters to swim in,"-truths unfathomable even to "an apostle of Christ Jesus."

Let us notice, reverently, in this opening paragraph of the epistle, the harmonious working of the Trinity in regard to our salvation. We see THE FATHER "choosing," "foreordaining," "bestowing"; and doing so in a way so characteristically divine, so worthy of Himself-the "good pleasure of His will" being the sole cause of the whole glorious work. Nevertheless, those purposes of grace, conceived before the foundation of the world, "willed" by the Father, must operate consistently with eternal principles of holiness and righteousness and truth. So, in a moment, the apostle eonducts us from "before the foundation of world," from the Heaven of Heavens, to a point in time-to a cross. For those who were to be the objects of divine grace were in bondage, "sold under sin." Now we see THE SON, the Beloved, coming forth, pursuing the road of His Father's will with steadfast purpose, and bowing to death"yea, the death of the cross." The full price is paid! "~We have redemption, through His blood," a divine liberation, all-embracing in its terms, securing for us "the forgiveness of our trespasses" with a divine generosity, not of necessity, but "according to "-on the scale of-" the riches of His grace."

Thus far the apostle has been using the pronouns "us" and "we" of the redeemed in general, and he sweeps on from the eternal purpose "before the foundation of the world" to its completion, when the saints shall be "unto the praise of His glory." The words "we who had before hoped in Christ" (verse 12) may view the saints as looking back from the glory of which he has just spoken, or, as many suggest, they may be limited to Jewish believers. Be this as it may, in verse 18 he addresses himself to "ye also "-the Ephesians in particular, reminding them of the work of THE HOLY SPIRIT, the final link by which divine grace became operative in their. case:

"having heard the word of the ~uth, the gospel of your salvation,in whon'., having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of pron'ise."

� "Having believed, ye were sealed . . . ," both verbs are in the aorist tense, referring to past events in the experience of these Ephesian saints. Upon belief all the wealth of divine grace within the scope of "the gospel of your salvation" had become theirs. And there had been a divine ratification of their faith. The Holy Spirit of promise, according to the pledge given by the Lord on the mght of the betrayal, had been bestowed upon them. This was the divine seal, marking them out irrevocably as a divine purchase"God's own possession."

"Then on each He setteth His own secret sign,

� They that have My Spirit, these saith He, 'are mine.'

his In due time the believer will enter into complete possession of eternal inheritance. Meanwhile he need be troubled by no lingering

doubt, for there will be no deflection of the divine purpose. The Spirit of God has begnn a work which He will carry to its final completion. His very presence in the believer constitutes a pledge, a part payment given as the gnarantee of the whole, "an earnest (Greek arrabon) of our inheritance" (verse 14). (In modern Greek arrabona is an engagement ring.)

"Chosen," redeemed," "sealed" ! Such are the terms used of the wondrous working of the Triune God for our salvation. They describe the unfolding of divine grace from its conception to its contact with each believing recipient. But the complete pattern of the purposes of God has yet to be unfolded. We are given a glimpse of it here in these opening verses of Ephesians A glorious consummation is contemplated, when all the seasons during which God's purposes have been maturing, will reach their climax, their fulness or completion, "To sttm ~p all things in Christ." That is the larger purpose of God to which all His dealings with us are related, that we shall appear with Him in glory, and we shall be "unto the praise of His glory."

T. M. Hyland | Jan 1950
Studies In Ephesians: