Ephesians Chapter 1

Verses 1–3 — Our Riches in Christ

The book of Ephesians has rightly been called the Believer’s Spiritual Bank Book. Written by the Apostle Paul during his Roman imprisonment (c. A.D. 60–62), it was sent to the church he had established in Ephesus and circulated to surrounding congregations throughout Asia Minor. Ephesus itself was known as the “Bank of Asia”—a wealthy, yet spiritually bankrupt city given over to idolatry. Into that darkness, Paul wrote to remind believers of the incomprehensible riches they already possessed in Christ Jesus. The theme threading through every verse is fullness—who we are in Christ and everything available to us as His children.

Verse 1 — The Author and the Assembly

Ephesians 1:1

THE AUTHOR: PAUL

Paul’s original name was Saul—a self-righteous Pharisee and ringleader of anti-Christian persecution. On the road to Damascus (Acts 9), Christ apprehended him, and his name was changed to Paul, meaning small. The man who thought himself everything became nothing—and in that nothingness, everything of Christ. By declaring his apostleship, Paul does three things: he affirms he belongs to Christ, he declares he is sent as a divine ambassador, and he establishes that he speaks with Christ’s authority, not his own. His apostleship was genuine in the fullest sense: Jesus appeared to him personally, commissioned him personally, and through him wrote revelatory Scripture.

THE ASSEMBLY: THE SAINTS

The word “saint” (Gk. hagios) means one who is set apart, sanctified, separated. These are not canonized dead people but very much alive believers—those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ and are thereby separated from the world and set apart for God. Every Christian is a saint. Paul further characterizes them as faithful—the quality God looks for above all others in His stewards (1 Corinthians 4:2).

Verse 2 — The Affirmation: Grace and Peace

Ephesians 1:2

GRACE

The Greek word charis (grace) means gift—something freely received. It is God’s undeserved favor bestowed upon undeserving sinners. As one has rightly said, “God in His mercy doesn’t give me what I deserve; in His grace, He gives me what I don’t deserve.” Paul’s greeting here is a prayer: may the divine grace that has saved us rest upon you. Used twelve times in this letter, grace is the atmosphere in which the entire book breathes.

PEACE

The Greek eirene speaks of a peace independent of circumstances. Before faith in Christ, we are at enmity with God (James 4:4)—at war with our Creator. Through Christ, the wall is torn down. Romans 5:1 declares, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And once we have peace with God, we can experience the peace of God—the supernatural stability Jesus promised His disciples: “My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27).

FROM GOD OUR FATHER

Old Testament saints would never have dared address God as “Father.” Yet Jesus revolutionized prayer by teaching His disciples to say “Our Father” (Luke 11:2)—using the Aramaic Abba, meaning “Daddy.” This is the intimacy that the New Covenant makes possible. Through faith in Christ, we receive a spirit of adoption by which we cry out, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).

Verse 3 — The Abundant Blessing

Ephesians 1:3

This verse launches the longest sentence in the Bible—a single unbroken Greek sentence running from verse 3 through verse 14 (203 words), a torrent of praise that the Holy Spirit poured through Paul without pause. It is both a doxology and a declaration. Three elements define this abundant blessing:

THE SOURCE: GOD THE FATHER

The word “blessed” (eulogetos) means to eulogize, to speak well of. Paul begins not with what we receive but with worship of the Giver. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights (James 1:17). The source of all spiritual wealth is God Himself, who in Christ has deposited into the believer’s account riches beyond measure: riches of His grace (v. 7), riches of His glory (v. 18), riches of His mercy (2:4), and the unsearchable riches of Christ (3:8).

THE SCOPE: EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING

Not some, not many, not most—but every spiritual blessing. The word “spiritual” (pneumatikos) is consistently associated in Scripture with the work of the Holy Spirit. Through Christ, God has given us all blessings of the Spirit. Need wisdom? James 1:5 says God grants it. Need provision? Philippians 4:19: He will supply all your need. Need strength? Philippians 4:13: you can do all things through Christ. Notice also the tense: “has blessed”—past tense. This is not something awaiting us only in heaven. It is a settled, completed act. The moment you placed your faith in Christ, God gave you everything you need for this life and the life to come (2 Peter 1:3).

THE SPHERE: IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST

These blessings reside in the divine realm of God. Because our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), we are constantly drawing on His supernatural resources. Our name is there (Luke 10:20), our Father is there (Luke 11:2), our Savior is there (Hebrews 1:3), and our eternal rewards are there (1 Peter 1:4). The key phrase “in Christ,” used fifty times in this letter, is the sphere and the secret of all blessing. Everything we have, everything we are, flows from our position in Him.

Verses 4–6 — Our Sovereign Salvation in Christ

Continuing the great benedictory sentence, Paul now unfolds four doctrinal pillars of our salvation: election, predestination, adoption, and acceptance. These verses constitute some of the most profound and exalted theology in all of Scripture—truths that go beyond human capacity to fully comprehend, yet are given precisely so that we may worship God for what He alone has done.

Verse 4 — Election: Chosen in Christ

Ephesians 1:4

THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION

Before God spoke the first atom into existence, He set His love upon us. This is the doctrine of election—God’s sovereign choice of His people unto salvation from eternity past. Man in his sinfulness does not seek God (Romans 3:11); God seeks man (Luke 19:10). Jesus confirmed this with His disciples: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you” (John 15:16).

ELECTION AND FREE WILL

This truth creates an apparent paradox: if God chose us, what of human free will? Romans 10:9 is equally clear—a person must “confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart.” Both are taught in the same verses of Scripture (John 6:37; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). These are what theologians call an antinomy—two irreconcilable truths from our finite perspective that coexist perfectly in the mind of God. Deuteronomy 29:29 reminds us that “the secret things belong to the Lord.” The best response is not to dilute either truth, but to hold both humbly.

HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME

God chose us to a purpose: that we should be holy and blameless before Him. Positionally—through faith in Christ—this is already true. God sees the believer through Christ: the unworthy are declared worthy, the unrighteous declared righteous, the unholy made holy (Colossians 2:10). Practically, we are still under construction—but the Christian life is simply living out on earth who we already are in heaven.

Verse 5 — Predestination and Adoption

Ephesians 1:5

PREDESTINATION

In every New Testament occurrence, predestination refers not to who is saved, but to what God has planned for those who are. It is always associated with the purposes of God for His elect. We are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29), predestined to an inheritance (Ephesians 1:18), and here, predestined to adoption. God does not predestine anyone to hell; men of their own free will reject Christ (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4). But those who accept the invitation discover upon entering that God had chosen them before the foundation of the world.

ADOPTION

God could have predestined us to be servants—more than we deserve. He could have called us friends—even better. But His love goes beyond: He predestines us to be sons and daughters, heirs of all He possesses. In first-century Rome, adoption was a legal ceremony by which a father appeared before civic authorities and declared specific children as his heirs—regardless of their birth status. So it is with us: born into the family of God through regeneration (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23), and adopted as heirs, secured in our inheritance by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:14). One speaks of our position; the other of our inheritance.

Verse 6 — Acceptance: Graced in the Beloved

Ephesians 1:6

ALL OF GRACE

Every facet of salvation—election, predestination, adoption—is wholly of God, to the praise of His glory. There is no room for human credit. God did not look down the corridors of time, see that we would be good people, and elect us on that basis. Such thinking makes God a victim of our choices and gives man a portion of the glory. It was all “according to the good pleasure of His will” (v. 5), done not because of us but in spite of us.

ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED

The word translated “made us accepted” (echaritoo) is literally engraced—He has showered us with grace. We cannot make ourselves acceptable to God; He makes us acceptable through Christ. In John 17:24, Jesus prays that the Father’s love for the disciples would be the same love the Father has for the Son. Radical: you are loved by God exactly as the Father loves the Second Person of the Godhead. That is what it means to be accepted in the Beloved.

Verses 7–10 — Our Redemption in Christ

We are, as the old story goes, twice Christ’s: once because He created us, and again because He bought us back. This section unfolds the magnificent doctrine of redemption—its principles, its price, its provision, and the ultimate plan it serves.

Verse 7 — The Principles and Price of Redemption

Ephesians 1:7

THE PRINCIPLES OF REDEMPTION

The Greek word apolutrosis (redemption) means “to be loosed from bondage by the payment of a price.” In first-century Rome, where approximately six million slaves populated the empire, this term was immediately understood: a slave purchased and then set free. Every human being is born into the slave market of sin (Romans 5:12; Romans 3:10). Sin is man’s captor—as Jesus declared, “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). The penalty for this slavery is death (Romans 6:23)—not merely physical, but eternal separation from God.

THE PRICE: HIS BLOOD

No ordinary ransom would suffice. Since “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11), atonement required the pouring out of life. The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were symbols pointing forward—they could cover sin but never remove it (Hebrews 10:4). Only the sinless Son of God, “a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19), could shed blood sufficient to purchase our permanent freedom. On the cross, the transaction was completed. Hebrews 9:12 declares that “with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” The certificate was signed, sealed, and delivered. “In Him we have redemption”—present tense, settled issue.

THE PROVISION: FORGIVENESS

The primary provision of redemption is forgiveness. The Greek aphiemi means “to send away, never to return.” Where the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement only symbolized the removal of sin, Christ actually accomplished it. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). God forgives according to the riches of His grace—not merely out of His riches (a small portion), but according to His riches, which are infinite. There are two aspects of forgiveness: positional (all sins past, present, and future are eternally forgiven the moment we come to Christ—Colossians 2:13) and relational (as believers we must still confess daily sin to restore fellowship—1 John 1:9).

Verses 8–10 — Wisdom, Prudence, and the Ultimate Plan

Ephesians 1:8–10

WISDOM AND PRUDENCE

Alongside forgiveness, redemption also provides wisdom (sophia)—understanding of the eternal things of God—and prudence (phronesis)—practical spiritual insight for the daily affairs of life. Together, these gifts give the redeemed believer the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), equipping them to understand God and walk in fellowship with Him day by day.

THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL

In Scripture, “mystery” does not mean unsolvable puzzle but “something previously hidden, now revealed.” The mystery of God’s will is His ultimate plan for all of history: “that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ.” A “dispensation” is an economy or age—one of many through which God has related to mankind (the garden, the law, the age of grace, the millennial reign). In the fullness of time, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10). The ungodly will face judgment; the redeemed will be gathered into Christ’s presence forever. Adam lost paradise; Christ came to reclaim it. This is the ultimate plan of redemption.

Verses 11–14 — Our Divine Inheritance in Christ

Still within the longest sentence in Scripture, Paul now turns to our inheritance in Christ—its ground and its guarantee. The section reveals both the divine side (what God has done) and the human side (how we receive it), before unveiling the Holy Spirit as the seal and earnest of all that is promised.

Verses 11–13 — The Ground of Our Inheritance

Ephesians 1:11–13

THE INHERITANCE OBTAINED

The verb “obtained” is in the passive voice and can be rendered two ways—both theologically true. Either we have received Christ as our inheritance (2 Peter 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:20), or we have been made Christ’s inheritance (John 6:37; Malachi 3:17). Both are correct: “I am Christ’s, and Christ is mine” (1 Corinthians 6:17). The emphasis of the passage, however, is the latter: we are the ones who have benefited. We have received all that Christ is—every promise of God, which “in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

PREDESTINED, ENERGIZED, FOR HIS PRAISE

Three key words ground this inheritance on the divine side. First, predestined—God marked us out beforehand, choosing us in our sinful state before the world began. Second, works (Gk. energeo)—when God formed His plan, the energy to complete it was inherent within it. He did not predestine us and then leave us to manage on our own; He also supplies the power to see His plan to completion. This is why Paul could write with such confidence: “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Third, praise—the purpose of it all is not human glory but that we “should be to the praise of His glory.”

THE HUMAN SIDE: TRUSTING AND BELIEVING

Verses 11–12 speak of Him and His; verse 13 shifts to you and yours. On the human side, the inheritance is received through faith: “you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17), and salvation comes by confessing and believing (Romans 10:9). Both the divine and human sides coexist—not contradicting but completing one another in the perfect economy of God.

Verses 13b–14 — The Guarantee of Our Inheritance

Ephesians 1:13b–14

THE SEAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Because we live in a world of broken promises, God in His grace provides a guarantee. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within the believer (1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 8:9). This indwelling is described as a seal—an official mark of ownership used on legal documents in the ancient world. In Scripture, a seal accomplished four things: it declared authenticity (God marks you as His child), authority (we speak with God’s authority in His name), security (as Daniel’s den was sealed by the king and only greater power could break it, so our salvation is secured by God Himself—and no power exceeds His), and finality (the transaction is complete—as Jesus declared on the cross, “It is finished”).

THE GUARANTEE: THE HOLY SPIRIT AS EARNEST

The Greek word arrabon (guarantee) means a down payment or earnest—pledge money given to secure a future transaction. It was also used as a term for an engagement ring. The Holy Spirit is God’s “engagement ring” to the Church, His bride. The Church is betrothed to Christ, and one day the marriage supper of the Lamb will be celebrated (Revelation 19). Until then, the indwelling Spirit is God’s pledge—His assurance that He is “good for” all He has promised. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16), assuring us of an inheritance that is “incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4).

Verses 15–23 — Our Identity in Christ

With the great doctrinal foundation of verses 3–14 laid—election, predestination, adoption, redemption, inheritance, sealing—Paul now transitions to prayer. It is not enough to declare who we are in Christ; we must understand it and live it. A believer who does not know their position in Christ will never be able to walk it out. This passage contains three movements: the mark of the church, the prayer for the church, and the work of the church.

Verse 15 — The Mark of the Church

Ephesians 1:15

FAITH AND LOVE

Paul identifies two marks of every genuine believer: faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9; Ephesians 2:8) and love for Christ’s people. John makes the second mark a test of salvation itself: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). True Christian love is indiscriminate—it does not pick favorites among the family of God. As Jesus declared, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). However orthodox a church’s theology, it is not a true church in the deepest sense unless it is characterized by love.

Verses 16–21 — Paul’s Four Petitions

Ephesians 1:16–21

PETITION 1: KNOW GOD

Paul prays for a “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” This “spirit” refers not to the Holy Spirit directly nor the human spirit, but to an attitude or disposition—a posture of wisdom and openness to revelation. Wisdom (sophia) is applied knowledge—not merely information about God but the ability to put it into practice. Revelation does not mean new mystical disclosure (the canon of Scripture is closed; “if it’s new, it’s not true”), but a growing ability to understand what God has already revealed. He prays that “the eyes of your understanding” (literally, the heart—the seat of thought in ancient culture) would be enlightened. Growth in wisdom comes through the Word of God and prayer (James 1:5; 2 Peter 3:18).

PETITION 2: KNOW HIS CALLING

Paul prays that believers would understand “the hope of His calling”—the full weight of what it means to be called by God. We are called to glory (2 Peter 1:3), called out of darkness into light (1 Peter 2:9), and given a living hope through regeneration (1 Peter 1:3). Before Christ, we had no hope (Ephesians 2:12). In Christ, that has been utterly reversed.

PETITION 3: KNOW OUR FUTURE

Paul prays that we might know “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Our inheritance is infinite, and we cannot fully grasp it while finite—even Paul, who was taken to the third heaven, said he “heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:4). Yet Paul prays that, as D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones beautifully put it, “by faith we may have an occasional glimpse of the inheritance itself and stand as it were with Moses on top of Mount Nebo and look into the promised land.” In the age to come, there will be no sun, no moon—for the Lamb Himself is the light (Revelation 21:23).

PETITION 4: KNOW GOD’S POWER

Paul uses four Greek words for power in a single verse—an extraordinary stacking of synonyms to emphasize the incomprehensible power available to believers: dunamis (inherent power), energeo (operative power), kratos (ultimate power), and ischus (endued power). We do not need to pray for more power; we possess it all in Christ. Our problem is appropriation, not possession. This power is for encouragement that God will complete what He started (Philippians 1:6), for evangelism (Acts 1:8; Romans 1:16), for service (1 Corinthians 12:4–6), for doing God’s will (Philippians 2:13), and for victory over sin (Galatians 5:16). Moreover, it is the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead (v. 20)—a power that stands “far above all principality and power and might and dominion.” We are, as Romans 8:37 declares in one glorious compound word, hupernikao—super-conquerors, surpassing victors.

Verses 22–23 — The Work of the Church

Ephesians 1:22–23

CHRIST THE HEAD; THE CHURCH HIS BODY

The chapter closes with one of the New Testament’s most stunning metaphors. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church. The Church is His body. The lifeblood is the Holy Spirit. In order to accomplish His purposes on earth, the Head works through a body. Christ has chosen to use us—ordinary, broken people—as His hands, His feet, His mouth. A legend tells of angels asking the risen Christ how all mankind would hear of His sacrifice. He replied: “I have asked Peter, and James, and John, and some others to make it their life’s business to tell others—and they in turn to tell others.” When asked if He had a backup plan, He said simply: “No. I am counting on them.” That is the honor and the weight of being His body. We have not been left to do this in our own strength—we have been given His resurrection power, born again by the Spirit, and equipped as conduits of His grace.

A bombed church in Strasbourg after World War II found their beloved statue of Christ still standing amid the rubble—but with both hands sheared off by a fallen beam. When asked to repair it, the congregation declined. They placed a sign at the base instead: We have no hands but yours. It is true. Since His ascension, the Church is Christ’s body on earth. God help us to understand who we are in Christ—to walk in the Spirit, and to be His hands, His feet, His voice to a needy world.