INTRODUCTION TO EPHESIANS

The Epistle to the Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul during his imprisonment in Rome (60-61 A.D.). Ephesus was an important trade center and the leading city of Asia Minor. Paul had spent three years of his third missionary journey there, and from this ministry, not only the church in Ephesus, but also the seven churches of Asia Minor took root and grew. It was here that Paul caught the vision for reaching the whole Gentile world through Rome, the center of the Empire (Acts 19:10,21).

In this Epistle Paul does not deal with the kind of practical problems of faith and life that he addresses in 1 Corinthians. Rather, he writes about Jesus Christ and about the 'mystery of the gospel'--God's great purpose of world redemption through Jesus. The mystery of the gospel is that God loves the whole world, and Jesus died to save Gentiles as well as Jews. So the church must be a missionary community, always reaching out to the non-Christian world to bring all kinds of people to a saving knowledge of Christ and into true unity in the body of Christ. We must welcome one another in love, maintain spiritual order in our fellowship, and be fully equipped with spiritual armor and weapons to do battle with our adversary, the devil. Paul calls himself an ambassador in chains, imprisoned because of his declaration of this mystery of the gospel, and he asks for prayer that he may fearlessly proclaim the gospel.

1. Spiritual blessings in Christ (1-8)

Paul was an apostle-missionary by the will of God. God also chose the Ephesian saints and us in Christ to be holy and blameless in his sight. He redeemed us by the blood of Jesus and forgave our sins by his free grace. We don't deserve to be called children of God, but by grace he adopted us as his children. Now, we no longer have to live self-centered, meaningless lives. We can live for God's glory as God's own children.

2. The mystery of his will (9-10)

God has a great plan for his world. He created a beautiful, good world for his own glory. But because of man's sin, the blessed world became a cursed world. God's plan for the fullness of time is to restore all creation. So he sent Christ to die for the sins of all mankind. When men believe the gospel, their sins are forgiven and God's kingdom comes into their hearts. Someday Christ will come again; he will restore creation order, and God's kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.

Application: Father, your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
One Word: All things united in Christ