Ephesians 5: 1-2  (Imitating Christ)

            Summary:  Paul is returning to providing the Ephesians with directly applicable things to do in order to become more like Christ.  He now urges the church to be imitators of God just like favored children.  He also continues in urging the church to walk in love furthermore following the example of Christ because this pleases the Father.

Note: Beloved is translated from agapetos which literally means “to be worthy of love, or favorite”

            Timeless Principle:  The first command issued by Paul in this text is that of a calling to be imitators of God, following after Him as beloved children.  We are to imitate God.  Is that even possible?  It may not possible to the furthest degree at least not until the time of the returning of “our blessed hope, savior Jesus Christ.”  However this gives us no excuse to become, through the power of the Spirit that lives within us, more and more like Christ.  We are to cut our losses upon becoming a Christian and toil with all our might counting everything as loss such that in the end we may gain Christ.  This, at least when looking at the lives of those who have done this in the past, implies one thing.  It is not easy to count all as loss, to give up relationships, to willingly die, and to suffer seemingly in vain (but in fact with a divine cause).  All of these things have one huge thing in common being that they all directly relate to the life of Christ, and it is this life for which we focus all our efforts.  How then should we approach this obvious pain might be one question that presents itself?  We should be as beloved children. The word for beloved here literally means as “favored” children.  What then does this imply?  When a child is favored that means that he/she is obedient to the father in all things doing them eagerly and without complaint.  So despite the obvious result, meaning obvious pain, it should be our joy to go follow Christ even unto death so that as favored child also receiving our allotted inheritance.  This is not be confused with the idea works earn God’s favor but rather simply highlights a truly Christ-centered life that has committed all to the name that is above all names.  We should go there for as children who are striving with all strength to progress in God’s will.

            The second brought out is that we should walk in love as Christ did.  What does this mean? Perhaps an example of this in Christ’s life should be looked at so that we can see can get a better grasp on what this implies.  In Matthew 9 a beautiful picture of Christ’s love is painted.  Christ comes into Capernaum and begins doing miraculous things, as was his style.  He healed, cast out demons, performed miracles, and turned the town upside down so much so that the locals were talking about Him regularly, proclaiming, “Never [has there been seen] anything like this in Israel.”  He continued this until he had healed every disease and affliction in the area.  But despite this physical miracle something troubled Him and caused Him great sorrow.  He looked out unto the crowds and then turns to His disciples and says the something that echoes through time.  He perceived that the crowds on which he stared were harassed and helpless as sheep without a shepherd.   He had just healed every disease and affliction and still he was driven to sorrow for the spiritual bankruptcy of the crowds.  He loved them so much that he cared for every need they had and then labored diligently for them and even was driven to sorrow for them.  It was for them that he willingly drank a cup filled with the wrath, fury, and sulfur on the cross for their (and our) sake.  So should we weep for the souls of men and walk in this making it our goal to stand out of this world not in a way that is prideful but in a way that offers "a pleasing aroma to God."

Ephesians 4: 30-32 (Paul summarizes chapter 4)

            Summary:  Paul now reminds the church here to not grieve the Holy Spirit but continue to put the things he has just come off pronouncing into practice.  He then gives a short summary of what he has just said before he continues in the next chapter of adding more instant application.

Note:  The Greek word for grieve is lupeo which literally means “to make sorrowful, to offend.”

            Timeless Principle:  Paul is giving another command to the church in Ephesus that echoes to us now.  He commands them not to grieve the Holy Spirit.  It is important that we not offend the Holy Spirit.  This leads to one question, what offends the Holy Spirit? A simple question answered by the obvious answer of sin.  Sin causes the Holy Spirit to literally become sorrowful. This deserves some attention.  In this context the specific sin being referred to is anger and malice caused by bitterness in the church which disrupts unity.  So in not forgiving and forgetting (to forgive means to not ever be brought up again, as not to even be mentioned again) we cause the Holy Spirit to become sorrowful.  This is the same Spirit that has sealed us to “the day of redemption” and we cause Him great distress in the futility of our fleshly desires and actions in reverting to how we were before Christ. In this sin against the Spirit we sin against a triune God, this is sickening in itself and must be dealt with.

            Paul gives a synopsis here of what he has spent chapter four trying to get across.  That of course being fellowship and unity between believers and what that entails as well as calls for.  Step one for good unity as described here, is a putting away of contempt and malice and any other conflict between believers and forgiving simply because you were counted worthy to be forgiven by God therefore giving you no excuse to hold anything against anyone for any reason.  Step two consists of treating one another with tenderness and love.  This is hard for a sinner to do and on this earth we will never fully achieve this perfect unity but that is no reason at all not to aspire for it out of a resilience to see God’s will done out of a love for Him.

Ephesians 4: 28-29 (Being made new in all things including speech)

            Summary:  Paul is furthermore exhorting of practicing life at a higher standard of holiness.  He urges thieves to no longer steal for their living but rather work honestly for their wages.  He then urges the believer’s in Ephesus to talk in a manner that is helpful to building up the body.                   

            Note: Paul illustrates what a changed life looks like in the life of a thief.

            Note: The word used for labor here literally means “to grow weary.”

Timeless Principle:  Paul uses this passage to illustrate what a truly changed life looks like.  A thief should so be changed that his thievery is thrown away such that he might willingly trade his easy (lazy) lifestyle for a lifestyle of work that drives him to grow weary in intense labor so much so that he is giving a portion away.  A giving thief is not something we here very often.  Christ does not halfway change people, he does not leave things incomplete. A true sign of repentance is like that which Paul personifies with a thief here. 

This also may be interpreted not only from another perspective other than a thief.  Paul often accentuates that a man should be a man and work hard to earn his keep (see 2 Thess. 3).  Paul was not content to live off of those whom he stayed with on his journeys but rather he toiled for all that he got becoming like those he was staying with.  Everything he did bore a purpose and was driven by the Gospel.  This is how we should be, constantly earning our own such that we might earn respect from the world thereby allowing us to share the Gospel without getting cross looks like a Donald Trump in a trailer park.  May the world never look at us and scoff at the truth of the Gospel simply because we are not living a life that is marked by It.  But rather let them only have reason to hate it because it is deadly to them.

Paul also comments here about the daily communion between believers.  He is transcribing that we should behave towards one another in a way that builds each other up.  It is critical for stabilizing the body and holding unity.  To often we are content to chop down our brothers and sisters for our own selfish gain, to make us look of feel good.  In doing so we essentially mock Christ’s prayer in John 14 and perform the opposite of bearing with one another in love.  We create a barrier of hostility between each other despite the fact that Christ died to tear it down.  May all our speech be edifying and soft towards one another, encouraging one another such that we may be united in a single cause of becoming more like Christ.  Failure to practice this essential will result in pain for those who are involved and hurt the church’s ministry.

Ephesians 4: 25-27 (Righteous Anger)

            Summary:  This passage is the natural follow up of what Paul has just tried to get across in the previous passage.  That message being a passionate out crying and commission of living holy lifestyles.  Paul now dives into what that looks like in the life of the believer, an instant application.  Paul warns against the threat of how the devil can use unrighteous anger to his advantage. 

            Note:  Paul is commanding “be angry”

                        Timeless Principle:  Paul raises a very interesting fact that often evades our normal perceptions when he commands the church to “be angry.”  It implies something that we have always been taught against.  The restriction on this command, “but do not sin,” adds extra confusion to the matter.  One can conclude from this restriction that there is a right and wrong kind of anger.  Bob Deffinbaugh puts it this way:

“The command, “Be angry!” just doesn’t sound right, does it? We are uncomfortable with a command like this. We find ourselves trying to avoid or explain this command away, because anger does not sound godly. But we must remember that there are two kinds of anger. There is the “anger of man” which “does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:20), and the anger which is an expression of God’s righteousness. We are commanded in our text to be angry in a way that is righteous, that is a reflection of God.”

God in his nature cannot sin and if he is repeatedly driven to anger then it must follow that there is Godly anger.  So what exactly is a good definition of anger that is godly?  Godly anger is God-like anger.  God gets angry, believe it.  Sin infuriates him.  In one recorded instance of this anger, Jesus gets heated towards the Pharisees due to the hardness of their hearts (Mark 3).  Another case of this anger is clearly demonstrated by the Father in Deuteronomy upon the Isrealites molding of a golden calf to become a false God.  Any common man upon picking up the Bible for the first time would agree in minutes that God is often driven to anger.  It only takes three chapters into the Bible to find God’s first display of anger towards man because of man’s innate hatred of Him.  So God, in his nature cannot sin, this must mean that these instances of anger are not sin.  What makes them not sin then?  These displays of righteous anger are not unprovoked but are results of actions that show a disregard for God.  We have been called to mimic God and God gets infuriated by sin because he hates it therefore we should hate sin and get angry with Him at it.  (For more on Godly anger go to http://bible.org/seriespage/righteous-anger-ephesians-426-27)

            There is yet one more restriction on this anger.  That is “do not let the sun go down” on it.  Unresolved conflict leads only to separation of the body that Christ died to bring together for his glory.   Therefore we must never allow any chance for Satan to tear apart our unity.  God’s anger was satisfied by the death of His Son which he used as the vessel to forgive the sinner so we must never hesitate to offer forgiveness to one another.

Ephesians 4: 20-24 (An exclamation of first importance)

            Summary:  Paul is coming off telling the Ephesians not to walk in their former ways of living.  Now his tone is even more intense as he is passionate in saying that to live in the flesh is not how the Ephesians learned Christ. But rather that surely they had been taught to put off the old self and live self-controlled and godly lives in the present age.

            Note:  There is an exclamation and break in thought after verse 20.

Timeless Principle:  It is high importance to identify just how passionate Paul is about this whole putting off the old and putting on the new stuff.  Paul exclaims this is not how you learned Christ.  He wants to make sure that this is not how Paul had taught them in his stays in Ephesus and he is passionate that they know it.  He has taught them to lead a life “worthy of the calling they have received.”  They are no longer alienated from the commonwealth of Israel thanks to the death of Christ.  To walk back into our former lives is to belittle His death.  This demands action.  Paul exhorts the church to put off their former selves and put on the newness of Christ. 

We are to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds,” this is not something we do is something Christ does within us through the Spirit.  We are to chase this maturity in Christ and fight our childish ambitions along with the desires of our youth that lead only to death and separation from God.  

Ephesians 4: 17-19 (Don’t live in your former ways!!!)

            Summary:  Paul now gives his reason why the church in Ephesus, as well as all people, should push onward to growing in unity and holiness.  He is passionate that the Ephesians not fall back into their old ways and live as though they were still in ignorance, partaking in all acts of the flesh.

            Note: The word for ignorance means lack of knowledge.

Timeless Principle:  Paul is now essentially commanding the Ephesians to stop being who they used to be.  Paul is intense about this, he means no games.  He is demanding an action of following hard after Christ, not a petty lounging causing a hard falling away from Christ which is the opposite of our goal as Christians. 

Here we see that we should never submit to our former ways.  It is of the upmost importance.  Our accent towards holiness is marked by a hard fought effort to furthermore become like Christ, because this is what Christ desires.  He gave himself so that he might purify for himself a people for his own possession that is zealous for good works (Titus 2).  Paul exhorts these things in the very name that is above all names.  His tone here suggests an intense declaration of war against us.  Never shall we submit to glorifying ourselves, furthermore robbing God of His rightfully deserved glory in direct opposition of the purpose he set forth for mankind in love. 

Paul is careful to note a wide category of the things that we should put off here as he does throughout his letters.  He accuses, and rightfully so, those who are outside of the covenant of promise given by the blood of Christ of “giving themselves to every kind of impurity.”  Though this statement is amazing on its own, the accusation extends even further than this.  Paul says that they have given themselves over to their passions and they are “greedy” continue to practice and even seek out all kinds of impurity.  This is how we were before a divine heart transplant occurred.  Now because God revealed himself to us we look at these impurities as dirty and detestable but yet in the darkness we hastily retreat to take refuge in them instead of intensifying our efforts of all-out war against them.  The games that the Ephesians might have been playing here, much like the ones we play when no one is watching us are sickening and demand an action of death.  Paul warns of their consequences in Romans 1 in mentioning that those who repeatedly practice these things with blatant disregard have an action waiting for them, “they will be given over” to their desires by God.  This is a scary thought.  God has not called fence riders or fair-weather Christians.  He has called a people for his own possession.  So stop bickering and pursue hard after God being built into a “holy temple of the Lord.”

Ephesians 4: 14-16 (warning of immaturity, Christ holds the body together)

            Summary:  Paul has just come off of giving grounds for why spiritual gifts are given, being to equip the body for maturity.  Now, he gives the reason why maturity is so important.  His reason is that believers would not be tossed back and forth but would remain on their journey for holiness.  He then goes on to state why holiness is important.  It is because we should be pushing onward to grow together as a body up into the head which is Christ. 

            Note: The Greek word for children here can literally be translated little child.

            Note:  All mentioning of maturation is to be done in love.

Timeless Principle:  The first notable point made in this text by Paul is one concerns immaturity and what it causes.  Earlier he mentions maturity and now he gives grounds as to why it is so important.  Its importance is seen here by a description of what lack of maturity causes.  A lack in maturity causes corrupt and fickle members of the body who are tossed back and forth from the lightest breeze of gust of wind.  The believer who is tossed by mere gusts will never be able to withstand the intense storms described by Christ in Matthew.  They are not only easily knocked of the narrow path but they aid in leading other believers astray and bring about disease in the body of Christ.  Therefore, we must strive to give sound teaching to one another in love as well as building our faith on the firm foundation such that we might not be shaken. 

I love the Paul is always giving Christ all glory.  It is Him who is the head of the church and Paul realizes it.  He mentions how we should be mature, ever-growing into our Savior.  He then goes on to say that it is Christ who holds it all together.  It is him who is the fullness of all things, Him being the glue of the body, and Him being the one who is over all.  We should never steal any credit.  Any boasting done should be that of boasting in the cross and only the cross.  It is only by and through that cross that we have any of this grace or any of our gifts, be it whatever those gifts may be. 

The idea of building one another in love is also mentioned in this text.  We as a body are called to discipline one another.  All discipline is to be done in love as with the love of Christ.  

Ephesians 4: 11-13  (Gifts given by Christ and their purpose)

        Summary:  Paul is coming off of an interruption in his original thought so that we might understand that in saying Christ ascended then he must have also descended in human form first.  Now he returns to his original point of what gifts specifically did Christ dive to men.  Paul names off some of these explicitly “the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and the teachers.”  He then reasons that these gifts have followed so that we might be equipped and therefore build up the body of Christ.  That this building up might continue until unity in Christ is established and the saints are mature in like stature with and through Christ.

Note:  The literal translation for the word for mature is to be “complete, reaching its end.”

Note:  The Greek word for evangelist comes from the Greek word for Gospel weaning “one who brings good tidings.”

Timeless principle: Paul is returning to the Gifts that have been given initially.  These gifts are played out in and through the church, being what we would refer to as “spiritual gifts” (e.g. teaching, evangelism, prophetic, etc.).  What is significant about these gifts?  This, as described by Paul, has a unique answer. These gifts have been given as instruments to equip the church.  Each one of us maintains the central cause of bringing about a better union of the church to both to one another and to Christ.  We are the hands and feet of Christ, different but perfectly designed to make up a single unified body whose head is Christ. 

An idea is mentioned here about reaching maturity in Christ.  This is why we dedicate ourselves to pursuing hard after God.  This is why we toil for His sake.  We do it so that we might be built into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.  The idea of burying ourselves so that Christ might live in us should consume us.  All our efforts should be localized around the Gospel and its deadly results.  Our goal is to reach maturity in Christ.  The word for mature Paul uses here can literally be translated “complete, or reaching its end.”  We are striving so that we might be made complete and reach our end.  I want with all my passion to be able to say at the end of my life what Paul says in his last letter.  That being “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race.”  God let me finish my race for your glory, make me complete, provide me with strength to persevere.

Ephesians 4: 7-10 (The gifts of grace by humble death and resurrection of Christ)

            Summary: Paul is starting off saying how we should be united in Christ.  Now he turns his attention to making another point before returning to unity in the church only a little later in this chapter.  Beginning in verse 7 with a “but” is indicating some kind of change or turning from the thought of unity.  Paul says that we have, on an individual basis, received grace “according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”  He then quotes David (Psalm 68:18) to give evidence of the gifts given to men.  Paul then elaborates of the first part of the quote before making his point in verse 11.  He stakes a claim that when David claims that he [Christ] ascended into Heaven, it must follow that he had to descend out of Heaven first.  He descended and then ascended far above all the heavens (physical heavens e.g. the sky) so that he might be first in all things.

Note: The Psalm Paul quotes from is pertaining to a disarming and “scattering” of God’s adversaries.  This defeat of sin, death, and “rulers and authorities from the heavenly places” became reality in Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension. 

Timeless Principle:  The first notable point Paul makes here is that we have received grace on an individual basis.  Christ’s grace is personal.  Paul also uses the quote from David to provide emphasis on the depth and measure of this grace.  It is extensive, providing gifts “for men.”  All gifts are from and only from the above.  “Every good and every perfect gift, is coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1: 17). 

This irresistible grace is intoxicating but is not to be looked at, at any time for any reason, as deserved.  Everything gift is undeserved, yet we get mad when we do not get our way or when we lose something.  This thought must come from one common thought.  It is inevitably traced back to one central defining lie that we tell ourselves.  A couple of ways this lie show itself in our life are simply in thoughts such as “I deserve to be confortable, or I cannot believe God would allow this to happen.”  In fact we do not deserve anything besides death. Everything besides that death, be it comfort, relationships, air to breathe, light to see, or even trials that come our way are all gifts.

Paul also uses the quote from David to provide further insight into the mystery of the Gospel.  The question that Paul poses in this text is in light of the fact that Christ ascended.  “What does it mean that he ascended? Or maybe better, what does the fact that he ascended inherently imply.  Paul answers this rather illusive question in simply saying that if he ascended then he had to of descended first.  This point only makes sense.  This, in turn, implies another question.  Why does Paul interrupt his point, the flow of this chapter to make sure that the readers know Christ had to descend to ascend?  The answer is that it displays the single greatest act of humility in history.  Paul realizes this in his letter to the church in Philipi saying that Christ “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  Christ, who was with God in creation and was before all things, came not in the form of full deity but rather in the form of an infant child.  His display of lowness did not end merely with this.  He continued to make himself less as he was ridiculed, mocked, beaten, spit on, and hated.  Never once did he complain.  “Like a sheep led to the slaughter” he went as was massacred, naked on a cross, on which the full terrifying wrath of a mighty and incomprehensible God fell.  This is the uncontested reality that anyone who studies the life, death, and resurrection must get.  The fullness of God descended.  This is why Paul interrupts this passage because it could not be overlooked but rather had to be magnified.  But as Christ descended so he ascended on clouds with all majesty to be seated at the right hand of God.  Paul continued in his message to the Philippians to say this, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  He ascended on high past the “heavenly” places to take up His rightful place as King. 

One more point that needs to be mentioned is the simple fact that in his divine resurrection and ascension Christ “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them.”  Christ has done the impossible in bridging a infinite gap and destroying the chains that sin and death have held on us.  It is for this freedom that he has set us free.

Ephesians 4: 4-6 (unity in an all-powerful triune Godhead)

            Summary: Paul is giving grounds for this call to unity.  His evidence are the oneness that had already been seen in the form of the “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.”  Paul is saying that it only makes sense that the body should be united. 

            Note:  Verses 5 and 6 suggest God’s triune attribute.

Note:  “One hope” hope in Christ Jesus is the one and only hope for a deprived sinner.

Timeless Principle: Paul is simply restating unity here as he will continue do for the rest of the chapter.  He proclaims that the church is one body and one Spirit.  We have been brought together in the Spirit.  This kind of divine union can clearly be personified in the when the early church was said to be of “one heart and soul, and no one said that any of these things that belonged to him was his own.”  The church was being the hands and feet of Christ, longing to sell everything they owned in order to provide for the rest of the body.  They exemplified what it meant to bear one another’s burdens.  In the passage above the word for one is mia which literally means “only one.”  We are of only one heart and Spirit, united only but wholly through the blood of Christ. 

The idea of a triune Godhead is brought up in verse 5, referring to God as one Lord, one Spirit, and one Father.  The three though different and unique are completely one.  Neither is separate from another and can never be considered independent. 

The last and final thought of v.6 is the thought that God is above all things and works in and through all.  Paul always comes back to the overpowering sovereignty of a mighty Godhead.  Every time he mentions any application of the Gospel in the lives of men he must give all glory to the one who is above all.  This relapse into a reverent love for God is seen at least eight times (by my count, possibly more) just in the three chapters leading up to this).  This constant reminder of a mighty God should be seen in our lives in a joyful willingness to embrace death (of the flesh) and humble ourselves to the point of picking up our crosses to continue our ascent know a God whose hand we are already held in.

Ephesians 4: 1-3 (Unity in the Body [part 1])

            Summary:  Paul has just finished praying for strength to grow closer to the Father.  He has spent the last three chapters preparing the stage for action.  He has just revealed the mystery of the Gospel and prayed for the church in Ephesus to be strengthened and encouraged by the Spirit that lives so mightily within them.  He is now beginning to shed light on what’s the next step, or how this applies to the church’s practice.  He begins this explanation of instant application by urging the Ephesians to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which [they] have been called.”  He then reminds them to live upright lives together bearing with each other in love.  Then he once again asks that the church might rest in this “new covenant” which has brought peace to believers.

            Note: Paul mentions his imprisonment in Rome in v.1

Note: Alternate translation: “I THEREFORE, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God's service, Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another. Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace. “  [Eph 4:1-3] [Amplified Bible]

Timeless Principle: Paul is hammering unity once again.  He first reminds them that it is this mystery that he so passionate about that he is currently imprisoned for it.  He then hints at the mystery that he has already revealed in chapter 3, being that there is no more dividing wall of hostility between people groups because Christ has brought them all near to himself for the purpose of reconciliation.

We have been called to be patient with one another, all the while being humble.  Humility is not refined to boasting but is furthermore a state of lowness of mind.  To be humble is to count oneself as nothing furthermore allowing God to work in and through us.  We are also to “bear” with one another.  This is not held to merely putting up with one another when someone is getting on our nerves but literally means to carry one another’s burdens.  Sharing all things in common as the saints in the early church has done in Acts 2.  Exploiting the truth behind the word koinonia, is essential to the prosperity to the church.  Paul writes to the church in Colossae the same thing saying that the church should bear “with one another… forgiving each another; as the Lord has forgiven… [putting] on love, which binds everything together (Col. 3:13-14).  We are to bear one another’s burdens as is essential for unity in the body. 

We must be “eager to maintain the bond of peace.”  In the flesh of Christ all separation has been removed.  We must work to be in peace with one another.  Though this peace in Christ is explicit in most of Paul’s letters, we try to rebuild it in our anger, malice, and deceitfulness.  We go off and talk about people behind their backs and separate the body which cannot happen.  There is a reason Jesus prays so fervently for the unity of believers in John 17.  He cried out to the Father that we might be one as he was/ is one with the Father so that what?  The Gospel might be advanced and his love might be known to the world through its manifestation in the church.  This is important for us to understand as it is the single, most evident point of all Ephesians, that being reconciliation (us to the father (2:1-13), gentile to Jew (2:14-22), and us to one another (4)).

Ephesians 3: 20-21 (superabundance of God)

            Summary:  Paul continues in his prayer here by proclaiming that God is able to more than we can “ask” or even more than we can “think”.  It is important that Paul gives all glory back to the father before concluding this prayer.

Note: The church, as referred to in v.21, pertains to a unified body, not separate beings.

Note: The word Paul uses for abundantly in v.20 is huper-ek-perrisou, the first part of the word, huper, maintains the idea of over or beyond, ek denotes origin (whence proceeds an action), perrisou is translated over abundant, so all together this word can be translated ‘superabundant’.

Timeless Principle: This two verse masterpiece as written by Paul should be noted by every laborer.  Paul is claiming something big.  He is claiming that God is big enough to do all that we could ever ask.  But God’s endless power doesn’t end there.  In fact, not only is He able to do more than we can ask, He also is able to do more than we can think about or imagine; an incomprehensible God doing incomprehensibly more than this restricted human mind can grasp.  This is evident and has been evident since the creation “of the Earth and the things that have been made, so we are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20).  God has clearly shown us his majesty from the beginning of time, this evidence can easily be examined when one looks out into the night sky only be humbled by the depth of the universe. 

The word Paul uses in this text for abundantly is especially intriguing; it’s almost as if he could not think of a word to describe the abundance of God.  He takes a word that means overly abundant and slaps a couple prefixes on it to help his dilemma of trying to describe a self-existing authority with words that are only appropriate for a fleeting human being.  The word he uses literally means superabundant, or overly-exceedingly-abundant. Paul had an idea of what God can do without having an idea of what God can do.  This paradox is how we should perceive the perplexing reality of God’s power.  We, like Paul, should remember the one who can do abundantly more despite our inability to grasp what more is. 

            Perhaps even more perplexing to us than God’s ability to do more is what Paul claims next.  He states that God does all these wondrous things according to what?  Answer: “the Power at work within” who?  Answer: “us”.  Paul is referring to the saints in Jesus Christ here as the “us”.  Rewind: so if Jesus Christ has changed your heart for his glory and made in your place a new man to replace the old, then you are included in the “us”.  This might lead you to essentially one question.  What does that mean for the saints in Christ?  It means, to be put mildly, that the power that created it all is the same power that works in the believer.  This is an astonishing fact.  The greatest power ever conceived (known to us only because God has made it known to us) lives and works within us, those called out of darkness by God himself through his son’s bloodshed.  May we never belittle the Spirit which we have been given because it can and, take careful note of this, will do superabundantly more than we can imagine.   

Ephesians 3: 16-19 (Paul prays that the church in Ephesus might know God)

            Summary: Paul prays that the church in Ephesus might be strengthened with the Spirit that dwelt powerfully within them.  He continues to pray that Christ may dwell in them through faith, it by faith in Christ that we are sealed with the Spirit as Paul mentioned earlier in this letter.  Paul is referring here to strength to comprehend the entirety of the Gospel, mentioning its entire breadth, width, and length.  He then continues to pray that they may know the love that surpasses normal knowledge so that they may be filled with the full Spirit of God. 

            Note:  The word for “know” in verse 19 literally maintains the idea of knowing God just as        one would know any other person.

            Note:  Comprehend in verse 18 of this text is an action verb partitioning a “seizure or apprehending” of God.

            Timeless Principle: This is a prayer of Paul regarding depth of the Ephesian’s understanding of Christ’s love.  Paul longs for the church here to be strengthened by the Spirit that dwells strongly and powerfully within them.  He prays that Christ might dwell within them [wholly] through faith.  It is by faith in Him who paid our debt, and by that faith alone, can any man come to receive Christ’s Spirit in their “inner beings”. 

            Perhaps the most compelling two words in this text for us are the words “comprehend” and ”know”.  These words indicate an action.  Paul was praying that the Spirit that was within them (who is in all the saints today) would grant them strength to literally apprehend or seize the glory of the father just as the elder saints had been doing with all “breadth and length and height” of understanding.  This is an astonishing confidence that Paul is referring to.  He is literally calling people to know God in full personhood through the strength of the Spirit within them.  The question that this presents is that of how? How can a finite person gain understanding of an infinitely Holy and large god?  Is it even possible?  The answer to most of our surprise is spelled out here when Paul mentions the depth of the saints understanding (v.18).  So we are led to one central conclusion, man can know God.  In fact this is what God desires.  He longs for us to aspire to know and grow in personal relationship with him.  His son was crushed so that we, sinners, might be reconciled to him.  How one comes to such immeasurable knowledge of Him is described in verse 19.  We can know God by (through the strength of the Spirit who lives within) experiencing his love.  We come to him through experience and this not to be mistaken with useless knowledge.   It is this experience of God’s majestic love that “surpasses knowledge”.  May we reckon upon what is real and fight to apprehend and seize a greater understanding of God by setting our aim on the immeasurable riches of his grace and not on useless knowledge stored up without the slightest experience of God in his majesty.

Ephesians 3:14-15 (The Father of all)

            Summary: Paul begins here by stating that because of the confidence that comes through Christ, he bows before the Father and eventually (in verses 16) beg him to grant the church in Ephesus strength in Christ.  His grounds, as revealed in v.11-13, is the fact that we can have confidence before the Father who is above every family on heaven and earth or that is named. 

Note:  It should be noted that this is Paul returning to the same thought that he began in v.1.

            Note:  The Greek word patria in verse 15 has the idea of being a lineage

Note:  Another translation of v.14 is “from whom every family in heaven on earth derives its name” (NASB)

Note: The Greek word for Father as used in v.14 is pater which literally means “male ancestor, generator, father”

Timeless Principle: Paul’s response to the Picture of the mystery of the Gospel that he has painted in the previous verses causes us to bow his knee to the Father once more.   This is really the only response to any picture of God in any of his attributes, being an out falling in reverence to the father.

Paul, in v.14, adores the Father of everyone who is named.  In Greek this is that he is the Pater and we are his Patria. Literally this means that he is our Father and we are his children as Paul describes in chapter one, calling us sons and daughters who are loved by a Holy God, whom through His plan of redemption destined us to be his adopted people.  This is amazing.  Think about it, the Creator that drives the greatest men of the Bible and history alike cannot do anything but hit their faces before Him.  Any description of God and his attributes should drive us to the point of the people that are described anytime heaven or physical manifestation of God in His full glory is mentioned, being a people who cannot help but scream that god is “Holy, Holy, Holy.”  A title that can only be held by him who is the “Author of life” (Acts 3:15).

Our number one application from this text should simply be simply to adore the Godhead and his triune glory and be reminded of our wickedness and His love for us.  May we never forget that God is before all things and is both the beginning and the end, the “firstborn of the dead so, that in everything he might be preeminent.” (Col. 1: 18).  Christ was first and remains there still and in our filth we attempt to remove him from his throne and try to make ourselves the Father of all instead of glorifying the Father of lights above.  Give him the glory.

Ephesians 3: 11-13 (Encouragement by the boldness provided through the cross)

            Summary: Paul starts by giving further insight into the mystery which had been set forth so that we might follow the Father’s perfect righteous plan.  This mystery had been made known through Christ, in whom we are bold and have access, not only to the rulers and authorities as mentioned earlier in the passage but also to God the father himself.  Paul then asks the church in Ephesus not to lose heart over his struggles but rather to rest in Christ and rejoice for his suffering.

                        Note: realized (v.11) can be translated “carried out”

Note: The Greek word parrhesia has the idea of boldness specifically in speech or freedom in speech.

Timeless Principle: The act of spreading God’s word to all walks of life, including all the rulers and authorities of the heavenly places (as mentioned in v.10), as well as uniting his people through Christ was and is still the will of God.  God caused these things, the crushing of his son for redemption, “according to the eternal purpose” of his perfect will.  We should be reminded of his glorious purpose for the reconciliation of all people, whom he shall call to himself, through Christ’s payment. 

The mystery that so entranced Paul just a few verses earlier in Ephesians three was simply the uniting off all people through the precious blood of Christ.  It was on behalf of this blood that Paul was imprisoned as he wrote this letter to the Ephesians. Paul encourages the church here to not lose heart because of the things he is enduring but rather to rejoice all the more because the Spirit that worked within them has brought them “boldness and confidence in access.” 

The word for bold in this text literally has the idea of boldness or freedom in speech, this in itself is amazing simply because before the redeeming death of Christ we were separated and “alienated from the commonwealth” of Israel.  No one could stand before God because of our central corruption that has plagued humanity since the beginning of time.  A vivid picture of this alienation could clearly be seen in the veil that once stood as a separator of man from the Holy of Holies.  For one day a year only the high priest could step into the presence of God and stare at the immeasurable glory of God in full manifestation and power. It must be noted that this veil which shrouded us from God’s presence was torn on the day of Christ’s redeeming death granting free access for a sinner to stand blameless before God by and only through the blood of Christ.  We can stand with boldness like Peter and Paul and the other saints before anyone with full confidence in Christ, be it ruler or authority or any power on this earth or beyond.  We should stand firm on the Gospel because it is the central focus of all of history As Spurgeon so eloquently mentions, “To it [the Cross] everything looks forward or backward.”  This boldness is not limited to simply confidence in standing before earthly rulers or authorities but it extends much farther than this.  We can have boldness to enter the presence of the Father, despite our follies and reckless abandonment of his glory, wholly because of the desired crushing of his son on a tree two thousand years ago (Heb. 10: 19).  May we rejoice and believe these things and not let our fears stop us from giving praise to God after all we do not have a spirit of fear but a spirit of power (2 Tim. 1: 7).