Ephesians Archives - Redeeming God

Do you understand what is going on in the world? You would, if you understand the real problem with humanity. Ephesians 2:2 begins to show us what this problem is. The verse contains three phrases that point to one single reality as the identity of our problem. Before we get to our study of Ephesians 2:2, however, we will be answering a question from a reader about hell and ultimate reconciliation.

Ultimate Reconciliation?

Do you think the ultimate restoration of all things (not the same thing as universalism though people could get nervous and think so) is possible?

I address this question in my book, What is Hell?, but let me briefly summarize what I write in the book.

First, let me state the 3 basic views on what happens to unregenerate people after they die.

The first view is Eternal Conscious torment. This it the view that unregenerate people go to a place of suffering where they spend eternity in pain and agony.

The second view is Universalism, which is the view that there is no hell of any kind, and all people go to spend eternity with God after they die.

The third main view is Annihilationism. This is the view that there is no afterlife at all for unregenerate people. When unregenerate people die, they simply cease to exist.

Now, there are shades and variations on all these views. For example, some people believe that unregenerate people will go to a place of suffering and torment, but they won’t spend eternity there. Instead, they will eventually be annihilated. So this view is sort of a cross between Eternal Conscious torment and Annihilationism.

There is another view that is a cross between Eternal Conscious torment and Universalism. This view is often rereferred to as Ultimate Reconciliation. In it, unregenerate people who die will begin eternity separated from God in some form, but over time, they will see that they were wrong, and will repent and believe in Jesus and so will eventually and ultimately be reconciled to God. Over millions and billions of years (if such a term even applies to eternity), hell will be slowly emptied as more and more people are reconciled to God.

It is this last view that the reader is asking about. She wants to know if Ultimate Reconciliation is possible. In my book on hell, I state that while I think it is possible, I do not think it is likely. This is not because God doesn’t allow it, but because human and stubborn and rebellious creatures. I believe that God will hold out the option for anyone who begins eternity separated from Him to be reconciled to Him if they so desire, I believe that while many may accept this gracious offer, there will be many other people who will eternally refuse the offer.

I would love to be wrong on this. I hope I am wrong.

But here’s the thing with humans. We make our decisions, and then our decisions make us. The longer a person remains in rebellion against God, the more likely they are to remain in that rebellion. This applies, I believe, not just for this life, but for eternity as well.

So do I believe in ultimate reconciliation? I do believe that God will extend such an offer to all of unredeemed humanity, but I do not believe that all of humanity will respond positively to that offer, so no, I do not think that ultimate reconciliation will ever occur.

By the way, this doesn’t mean that I believe that these unregenerate people will spend eternity suffering in the flames of hell. I don’t believe that the afterlife for the unregenerate will be a place of torment and torture at all. They will be in a place where they are allowed to be who they want to be, which for the unredeemed, will be an eternity of selfish, loveless, graceless, merciless living. As Scripture describes it, such an existence will be an eternal death. It will be sort of like this present life, but amplified in all the negative ways.

To learn more about what the Bible really teaches about hell, check out my book, What is Hell?

Ephesians 2:2 is a text that sort of speaks to this issue. It is the verse we are looking at today in this Podcast study. It doesn’t talk about what happens to unregenerate people after they die, but is instead describing what happens to unregenerate people while they live on this earth. I believe that the way people live now is a bit of a foreshadowing of how they will exist in eternity as well. So let us look at Ephesians 2:2.

We were Subjects to Satan (Ephesians 2:2)

In our study of Ephesians 2:1, we summarized the entire message of Ephesians 2, and saw that it was divided into three sections. The problem (Ephesians 2:1-3), the Solution (Ephesians 2:4-10), and the Application (Ephesians 2:11-22). By reverse engineering the chapter, we discover that in Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul is describing the real problem with humanity, and this problem is far different and far worse than anything we thought or imagined or than what we hear in most of our churches and Christian books.

Ephesians 2:1 began to talk about this problem by saying that we were dead in trespasses and sins. This meant that we did not function the way God intended humans to function, but were instead dominated by sin, which is primarily defined in the Bible as violence against other human beings.

Ephesians 2:2 continues this train of thought. Paul writes:

Ephesians 2:2. … in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

Paul says here that we used to live in transgressions and sins. The actual term here is peripateo – to walk about. So rather than “used to live” we should read it “used to walk.”

Our former way of life was a death walk. We were on a walk – but not the kind of walk most of us go on during the warm summer evenings. This walk – in the words of John Stott – “was no pleasant promenade in the countryside.” It was a death walk; a walk of slavery to trespasses and sins. We were walking the plank, and didn’t even know it. We were walking the road to destruction, and didn’t know anything different.

In a way, we were a bit like lemmings. Lemmings blindly follow the crowd until they fall off a cliff or drown in the ocean. Like them, we were headed for destruction and didn’t even know it. It was who we were and what we did.

In the rest of Ephesians 2:2, Paul uses three phrases to describe the way we used to walk. But all three terms point to the same reality. Let’s discuss the three terms and then I will identify the single reality that Paul has in view.

The ways of this world

So the first is the ways of this world. This terms refers to how the world operates. It is a reference to the world domination system. How people seek to dominate, rule, and control other people through violence and threats of violence. It consists of the rules, both spoken and unspoken, which guide how all entities of this world work, including governments, militaries, institutions, and business.

As Hoehner writes “This world is the satanically organized system that hates and opposes all that is godly (John 15:18, 23)” (Hoehner, BKC, 622).

I will eventually have an entry on “world” in my Gospel Dictionary online course.

Followed the Ruler of the Kingdom of the Air

So we followed the ways of this world, and second, we followed the ruler of the kingdom of the air. Who is this ruler or prince? We saw this ruler mentioned in Ephesians 1:21 when Paul mentioned that Christ is above all rule, authority, power, dominion and title. In that list of five spiritual beings, the term rule (or ruler) comes first.

So the kingdom of the air can be none other than the demonic realm, which means that the ruler must be Satan (cf. 1 John 5:19; 2 Cor 4:4; Rev 12:9). We will discuss satan more in a bit.

What about this kingdom of the air? The kingdom of the air refers to the invisible and unseen forces that guide our thoughts and movements in this world. Since it is of the “air,” this means this kingdom surrounds us all the time, even though we don’t see it, can’t hear it, and don’t even know it is there.

I know … this is sounding a bit like Morpheus trying to describe The Matrix to Neo. But the analogy is actually a very good one. The kingdom of the air is like the Matrix. It enslaves us in ways that we cannot break free from on our own, and so that we don’t even know we are enslaved. It is around us all the time like the very air we breathe. We live by it, operate by it, and are governed by it, even though we don’t know it exists.

I will talk more about this kingdom next time when we look at Ephesians 2:3.

The spirit at work in the disobedient

The third thing we followed which resulted in transgression and sin is the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. This is the impersonal and immaterial force or nature or characterization that is present within this world which leads us into disobedience.

This spirit of disobedience is set in contrast to the spirit of wisdom and revelation in Ephesians 1:17. The spirit of wisdom and revelation guides us into the way God wants us to live, while the spirit at work in the disobedient guides people to live in ways that are contrary to God.

So we have three terms that Paul uses here.

But what is the single reality these terms point to?

Could it be … SATAN?

It’s not really a joking matter, but it is indeed Satan that Paul is describing here.

The Saturday Night Live sketch with the Church Lady was funny though, because many Christians do indeed see Satan around every corner and under every rock and bush, but the sad reality, is that far too few Christians really understand what Satan is and how Satan works.

Ironically, when most Christians blame the problems of the world on Satan, they are actually behaving in a satanic way. To see Satan under every rock and bush is to behave satanically.

Shocking statement, I know. Let me unpack it.

The word “satan” comes from the Hebrew term ha satan. It means, “the accuser.” The spirit of accusation. I will eventually have an entry on the word satan in my Gospel Dictionary online course. It’s not there yet.

The word does not refer to a being or entity that dresses in red and has a pointy tale and horns on his head. It also does not refer to an evil being who goes around trying to tempt people to sin. Oh yes, the spirit of satan brings temptation, but not exactly in the way we think.

The word satan is the single word which Paul has in view here. The three phrases in Ephesians 2:2 describe satan. “Satan” refers to the course of this world … the way the world runs. It refers to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, which means that this way of ruling the world is around us all the time like the very air we breathe. It is the spirit at work in the disobedient. The spirit of the accuser leads people to be disobedient, to do the things that God does not want us to do.

So satan is spirit of this age, the spirit of accusation and blame. We all think everyone else is guilty and we ourselves are innocent. The spirit that leads us to condemn others in God’s name and to call for violence and bloodshed against others in God’s name.

And sadly, religious people are guilty of living by the spirit of this age just as much – if not more – than non-religious people. Religious people are adept at using our Scriptures and our rules to condemn and accuse others and to call for “holy war” against our enemies. We view our enemies as the enemies of God, and so we use our religious zeal for God to call for the death of our enemies.

This the same concern Jesus had. This is why Jesus instructed us to love our enemies. Paul is concerned here with the same thing that Jesus was most concerned with, which is the religious sins which people commit in God’s name. Rather than hate and accuse our enemies, we need to turn away from the spirit of accusation and turn instead to the Holy Spirit of love and acceptance. Paul is not just pointing out how unbelievers live, but how we believers live as well.

This is why, when Paul uses the term “disobedient” there at the end of Ephesians 2:2, he didn’t use some other term like “unbelievers” or “unregernate.” Why not? Because followers of Jesus can be disobedient also. We too can fall prey to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit of accusation that dominates this world. And we often do.

When we Christians engage in accusation and condemnation, when we call for the death of enemies, when we encourage violence in the name of God, it is then that we are not following the Holy Spirit, but rather the spirit of this age, the satanic spirit of blame and accusation. It is then that Christians are in fact satanic.

Strong words. I know.

But are you seeing why Paul’s description of the problem in Ephesians 2:1-3 is so important to properly understand? This is not just a description of what “they” do, but is also a description of what we do. Yes, Paul says that this is the way in which we used to walk, but sadly, far too many Christians (myself included) still walk in the old ways. So Paul is going to eventually show what Jesus did to call us to a different way of living, and then also show us how we can do that practically in our world today.

But before we can get to the solution and the application, there is one more verse to go in the description of our problem. This is found in Ephesians 2:3, which we will consider next time.

You have the Power! (Ephesians 1:20-23)

By Jeremy Myers

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Do you feel exhausted and overwhelmed by life? Is sin and temptation beating you at every turn? Do you feel defeated and ineffective in your attempts to follow Jesus in discipleship? If so, then the truths of Ephesians 1:20-23 are for you! These verses reveal that you have all the power of God at your disposal. Therefore, you can be victorious in your Christian life! This podcast study on Ephesians 1:20-23 also includes a discussion about crusade evangelism like those put on by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Greg Laurie.

Are Evangelism Crusades Effective?

Here is a question from a listener:

What do you think of crusade revivals like Billy Graham or Greg Laurie outreaches? Don’t you think there are many ways to evangelize?

Yes, there are many, many ways to evangelize. Evangelism crusades like those of Billy Graham and Greg Laurie are only one way … and in my personal opinion, maybe the least effective form of evangelism.

I have a large section devoted to evangelism in my giant book (1275 pages!!!), Close Your Church for Good, and in it, I argue that while crusade evangelism has indeed done a lot to help spread the gospel and bring people into the family of God, crusade evangelism does a terrible job of follow-up discipleship and helping make long-term, faithful, and committed followers of Jesus Christ.

Crusade evangelism gets a lot of media attention and glory because of the crowds it attracts, but relational evangelism is far more effective because it builds an actual, loving, and ongoing relationship with someone so that you can be there for them in the trials and problems that come with following Jesus.

When you develop a long-term friendship with someone, they see the struggles and challenges you face. They watch you deal with lost jobs, broken marriages, and moral failures. But through it all, they also observe your faith and commitment to following Jesus and serving others.

It’s not perfect. It’s not glorious. But it’s real. There are no jumbotrons and spotlights, but there are small acts of love. There are no news headlines, but there are daily commitments to faith and hope in God, even when God doesn’t act like we think He should.

God brings people into His family in all sorts of ways, and Crusade Evangelism is one of them. But it is not the only way of evangelism, nor (in my opinion) is it even the best.

You can read a bit more about crusade evangelism in these two posts:

Better yet, just get my giant book, Close Your Church for Good, to get pretty much everything I have written about evangelism.

You have the Power! (Ephesians 1:20-23)

Everybody wants power. Kids want power. Adults want power.

Some seek it through getting lots of money. Some people seek power through political office. Many presidents, senators, congressman are where they are simply because they have a lust for power.

Of course, power is not a bad thing. Power is not evil. It is like food or money or possessions. These are not bad things, but if they become our obsession, they become idols. If we want too much of these things, they become perverted from what they were designed for. Power is not a bad thing, as long as it comes from the right source, and is used correctly.

In fact, what the world longs for—ultimate and all-consuming power—guess what?—Christians already have.

It is interesting, is it not, that most of the things the world longs for—never-ending life, overwhelming joy, unconditional love, satisfaction, power—all of these things are already found … and only found … in the Christian life.

Today we are just looking at the power that we have as Christians.

We briefly talked about power already in Ephesians 1:19, but Paul spends the next four verses (Ephesians 1:20-23) explaining more about the power we have as Christians. Let’s look briefly at the end of Ephesians 1:19 as a way of introducing this power.

Ephesians 1:19. …That power is like the working of his mighty strength,

Paul uses three terms for power here. The first term in the Greek is working. It is the Greek word energion. It is from this that we get the English word energy. Energion is supernatural energy. It is the powerful working of God.

The second word is kratos. It means power. This word is used 12 times in the New Testament and in eleven of those it refers to power that belongs to God alone. The twelfth time, found in Hebrews 2:14 shows that Satan has a similar kind of power—but it is only the power of death. Satan gained this power by rebelling against God, but at the end of time, the power of death will be destroyed.

The third word in this verse is iskus. It means might or strength.

Now, why have I gone into so much detail about this power? I went into detail because Paul used three different words to describe God’s power, and whenever Scripture says something three times in a row, it is worth noting. Scripture says elsewhere that God is “Holy, Holy, Holy” (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8), which means that He is perfectly holy. It is one of His supreme attributes.

So here, when the Bible says (cf. also Ephesians 6:10) that God is powerful, powerful, powerful, we know that He is completely powerful. It also is one of His primary characteristics. In theological terms, we say that God is omnipotent – all powerful.

But what does that mean? Power is a little abstract, right? It’s hard to get a grasp on how powerful God is. So Paul gives us in the next four verses some concrete examples of how great this power is. Let us begin with Ephesians 1:20.

Ephesians 1:20. … which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

How great is this power of God? Well, first of all, God used it when He raised Jesus from the dead. Do you know any power of this world that can do that? There are many powers in the world that can take life. In fact, as I just mentioned, that is the kind of power Satan has.

But God has the kind of power that gives life. The power that raised Jesus from the dead, as the verse says. But Ephesians 1:20 says even more than that.

It also says that Jesus Christ was given a seat at the right hand of God in the heavenly realms. He was not just raised from the dead; He was also given the right to rule at God’s right hand!

Remember when we looked at Ephesians 1:3, we learned that the phrase “in heavenly places” does not refer to some otherworldly location where only God and the angels dwell, but instead refers to this present earthly location.

As stated in that study, while the phrase “in the heavenlies” does refer to a spiritual reality, it refers to the spiritual reality as it is carried out in the physical realm, here on this earth, during our lives now.

So when Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God, what this really means is that He ascended to His throne to rule and reign over this earth, so that He could bring the reality of heaven down to this earth. The rest of the letter of Ephesians explain exactly how Jesus does this … but Paul gives a foreshadowing of how this occurs right here in Ephesians 1:21-23.

In Ephesians 1:21, we see the beginning of what it means for Jesus to rule over the earth.

Ephesians 1:21. [Jesus is seated] … far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

In Paul’s day, these five words—rule, authority, power, dominion and title—described different levels of spiritual beings. It is kind of like a spiritual hierarchy. But guess what? It is not just a spiritual reality. The Bible reveals that the terms Paul uses here refers to spiritual realities that govern, guide, and direct the earthly rulers, governments, and political leaders of our world.

The terms “rule, authority, power, and dominion” refer to earthly rulers, nations, institutions, and powers that dominate this world (cf. Dan 4:35, 10:13). Walter Wink’s book, Naming the Powers, is the best available study on this subject if you want to learn more. (His “Powers Trilogy” should be required reading for all Christians, so also get Unmasking the Powers and Engaging the Powers.)

A proper understanding of these terms is critically important for understanding spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6:10-20, and so we will discuss the terms more when we get there.

For now, just understand that Paul’s words here can be understood this way: Paul is saying, “Hey, I know that you have concerns about your government and what they are doing, your local and national leaders and how they seem to only make policies and laws that benefit themselves, the police and how they abuse their power, the financial institutions and how they steal from the poor, the power structures at your job and how they endanger your income, and the social and cultural issues of racism, sexism, and inequality … but all these powers, rulers, and authorities are under Jesus Christ. He has dominion and power over them. So don’t worry about them too much. Jesus is in control.”

Paul’s point here is that we don’t have to worry about these things. He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. Christ is far above all rule, authority, power, dominion and title.

This is exactly what Paul says in Ephesians 1:22…

Ephesians 1:22. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything

God took all the things that are wrong about this world, and placed them under the feet of Jesus. That is, Jesus was given authority over them. Jesus, as Paul writes, was appointed to be the head over everything.

But this leads to a problem, doesn’t it?

As we look around at the world, does it look like Jesus is in control of everything?

Are governments, and politicians, and banks, and leaders, and educational institutions, and all the other power structures of our world doing things in the way Jesus would do them?

Hardly!

So how is it that all such things have been placed under the authority of Jesus? How can all such things be brought under the control of Jesus so that they do what Jesus wants done in this world?

The answer is found in Ephesians 1:23.

Ephesians 1:23. … which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

What is Paul referring to here? What is the body to which Paul refers?

It is the church.

Though Jesus is the answer to the problems of the world, the church is the solution. The church is how Jesus accomplishes changes in the world.

Jesus is in control of the power structures of this world by calling and leading the church to make the changes in this world that Jesus wants.

In other words, to the same extent that the church steps up and does what we are called to do, to that same extent Jesus exerts authority over the world.

Alternately, when the power structures of this world are doing things contrary to the ways of Jesus, this only means that the church is failing in our task to show the world and lead the world into the change Jesus wants to bring into the world.

Let me put it bluntly … all the failures in the world are due to a failure by the church to step up with the power of Christ and lead the world the way Jesus wants.

Sadly, the church often follows the world into the satanic ways of power and greed, when in reality, the church should be leading the world into the ways of Jesus Christ. As goes the church, so goes the world.

When the church steps up as the body of Christ, we, as the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus Christ, will fill everything in every way, and the power of God will flow through us to transform this world in ways that Jesus wants and desires.

Jesus is the head of the world and the head of the church, and as such, the church fills the world and transforms it into the ways of the Kingdom of God.

Pretty exciting concept, right? The rest of the book of Ephesians goes on to explain how exactly the church can step up and be the church in this world that Jesus calls us to be. We will begin looking next time in Ephesians 2:1 about one of the primary power structures of this world and what God has done in Jesus Christ to defeat this power structure, and how we Christians, as members of the body of Christ, can work to achieve this important change in the world.

And by the way, just as one last plug for my book, I have written extensively about all my views about the church in my giant book, Close Your Church for Good. The book is almost 1,300 pages, so it is not a quick read. But in it, I explain what the church is and how the church is supposed to function in this world. If that is something you want to learn more about, get your copy today and start wading through it.

Join me again next week when we pick up in Ephesians 2 with one of the most important truths about how God wants to powerfully work in the church to change one of the greatest problems in this world.

You are in Heavenly Places RIGHT NOW (Ephesians 1:3)

By Jeremy Myers

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Does God forgive suicide? Spoiler alert: YES! And what is Paul referring to in Ephesians 1:3 when he writes about heavenly places? Is that heaven or something else? These are a few of the questions that get addressed in this episode of the Redeeming God Podcast.

Will God Forgive Suicide?

I received a tragic email from a reader recently. Here is what she wrote:

My brother recently took his own life due to depression. The last sentence of his letter that he left behind, he stated that he hopes to see us in God’s kingdom if it is in God’s will. As I’m reflecting back, my brother believes in God and believes in Heaven. He knows that what he is doing isn’t the right way to escape his emotions, but he’s going to do it anyways. While at the same time, he’s hoping that God will have mercy on his soul.

I’m writing to seek answers to help bring closure. I’ve listened to your podcast on Hades in YouTube. My first question is, will my brother’s soul exist in a conscience state in Hades? When I die, will my brother and I still exist in a conscience state of mind where I can ask him why he did what he did? I know that the Bible teaches that our bodies will be resurrected, but before then, will I see my brother?

Lastly, those who commit suicide, do they get to go to heaven?

I have addressed similar questions about suicide and the unforgivable sin elsewhere, but here is what I wrote in reply to this woman:

I am so sorry this happened. What a terrible tragedy. Depression is such a terrible thing, and it takes so many lives. I am so sorry for your loss.

There is no reason to assume that your brother will not spend eternity with God. If he said that he hopes God has mercy on his soul, this seems to me to be an indication that he looked to God as the only source of hope and eternal life for himself. If that is what he did at any time during his life, even if it was in his last seconds, then he is already with God in eternity.

And yes, suicide is completely forgivable. God always forgives us for all our sins. I have done a lot of study and teaching on forgiveness in Scripture, and the forgiveness of God is complete and universal. So do not worry that your brother’s suicide kept him out of heaven. It didn’t.

I believe that you will see your brother again.

I hope you find comfort and hope in your time of loss.

What does the phrase “In Heavenly Places” mean? (Ephesians 1:3)

Ephesians 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

The following teachings are drawn from my study on Ephesians 1:3-4 and my Gospel Dictionary entry on Heaven.

Ephesians 1:3 is a summary of chapters 1, 2 and 3. It is kind of the thesis sentence. Paul begins with praise to God for these spiritual blessings. And Paul tells us where these blessings are from, heavenly places, and that all such blessings belong to us in Christ.

Every Spiritual Blessings

The first thing to note is that God has given us every spiritual blessing. God has not given you some spiritual blessings, but every spiritual blessing. There is not a blessing which God could give you that He has not given you. If there is a spiritual blessing God can give you, He has already given it to you.

A couple things should be said about this. First, these are spiritual blessings. Paul is not saying here that we have in our possession every possible blessing, but that we have every spiritual blessing. I think that all of us can think of some physical blessings that we do not have. Better health. A better marriage. Or maybe a relationship. More money. A job. Such things are blessings as well, but they might not be ours.

This is one of the great misunderstandings in the health-and-wealth-prosperity-gospel-name-it-and-claim-it teachings that you hear in some churches. They use texts like Ephesians 1:3 to say that God has given you every possible blessing, including all physical blessings, and that if you just have enough faith, if you just claim what is already yours in Jesus Christ, then you will get it. Even if it’s a nice car, or a perfect health, or a great marriage.

But that is not what Ephesians 1:3 teaches. These are spiritual blessings. These include things like grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness from God. They include election, calling, and purpose for this life. They include hope, joy, peace about the future. One great spiritual blessing, of course, is eternal life. All such things have already been given to you. They are yours.

So in the case of spiritual blessings, you don’t need to pray or ask for God to give them to you. You just need to recognize that you already have them, and then live in light of the fact that you have these spiritual blessings.

When you sin, you don’t need to ask God for forgiveness, because He has already forgiven you for all your sins, past, present, and future. Instead, you can simply thank Him for the forgiveness have been given.

When you struggle with a joyful outlook on life, you don’t need to ask God to give you hope and joy. Instead, you can ask God to give you a proper perspective on life so that you can see the truth about what is going on in this world and in your life, and thus, experience the hope and joy God has already given to you.

When it comes to what you are supposed to be doing in this world, what your purpose is, you don’t need to ask God to give you a purpose. Instead, you can thank God for the goals, purpose, and tasks He has already assigned to you, and then ask Him for wisdom and insight to help understand what these tasks and purposes are. It might help to know the spiritual gifts you have already been given as well. I have an online course to help you know your spiritual gifts.

Do you see? So in your life, when it comes to spiritual blessings, you don’t need to feel left out, forgotten, or neglected by God. He has already given you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). You just need to recognize what these blessings are, and then learn how to benefit from them and use them in your life. Ephesians 1-3 will be explaining a lot more about how to do this.

In Christ

Notice at the end of Ephesians 1:3, it says that these spiritual blessings are “in Christ.” We are blessed because we are in Christ.

Only believers are “in Christ.” If you have believed in Jesus for eternal life, then you are in Christ. This means that only believers have every spiritual blessing. Unbelievers don’t have every spiritual blessing because they are in Christ.

It is important to recognize that our spiritual blessings are not in ourselves. They are not from ourselves. When life gets us down and we become discouraged, this is often because we are looking to ourselves for joy, hope, and fulfillment. But we will always let ourselves down. Jesus, however, will never disappoint us, and when we keep our eyes on Him, when we follow Him, when we look only to Him for joy and satisfaction, it is then that we are able to see and utilize the spiritual blessings that God has given to us in Jesus Christ.

This is also important to remember because we sometimes make the mistake of comparing our spiritual blessings with worldly physical blessings. We see people who are not in Christ, and yet they have riches and fame, and we sometimes get jealous of that. We want a life of luxury and ease as well.

But from an eternal perspective, the blessings we have in Christ far exceed and are of much greater value than any amount of physical blessings that this world can offer. So keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

In Heavenly Places

The final thing I want to point out from Ephesians 1:3 is this concept of our spiritual blessings being in heavenly places. This is a recurring theme in Ephesians. Along with being here in Ephesians 1:3, it is also found in Ephesians 2:6 and Ephesians 6:12.

Many assume that the phrase “in the heavenly places” refers to “being in heaven with God.” That is, not being on earth, but in some other place. And this does indeed seem to fit with how the term is used in Ephesians 1:3 and Ephesians 2:6. Our spiritual blessings are in heavenly places with Christ, who is in heaven, and we are seated with Christ, who is at the right hand of God in heaven (Acts 7:55-56).

But does this mean we have to wait until heaven to gain these spiritual blessings? In other words, if God has given us every spiritual blessing, but we have to wait until heaven to receive, enjoy, or experience these blessings, then what good are they now?

Well, Ephesians 6:12 helps us understand what Paul means when he refers to heavenly places.

In Ephesians 6:12, the phrase “in heavenly places” is used in reference to spiritual hosts of wickedness that are here on this earth now, and how we are to struggle against them here and now during our earthly lives. Therefore, the phrase “in the heavenlies” does not refer to an otherworldly place in which God dwells, and where evil forces battle against God. Rather, the phrase refers to a spiritual reality that is present here and now on this earth. The phrase does not refer to some future existence after we die, or even to what occurs in some heavenly location far away from earth. The phrase has in mind the words of Jesus from Matthew 6:10, where He prayed that God’s will would be done on earth, as it is done in heaven. So the phrase “in the heavenlies” means “in the spiritual realm here on earth, during our lives now.”

When this usage is understood from Ephesians 6:12, the other references to “in the heavenlies” make sense in similar ways. Our task as followers of Jesus is to help make heaven an earthly reality. We do this by recognizing that we have already been given innumerable spiritual blessings and riches in Jesus Christ (Eph 1:3-14), and that since we are seated with Christ (Eph 2:6), we have the authority on this earth to carry out God’s will.

So while the phrase “in the heavenlies” does refer to a spiritual reality, it refers to the spiritual reality as it is carried out in the physical realm, here on this earth, during our lives now.

Far too often, Christians focus so much on eternity and the afterlife, that they neglect the work that God has called us to do here and now in our lives. As someone once said, “Some Christians are so heavenly minded, they are no earthly good.” When this happens, we allow the spiritual hosts of wickedness to have their way on their earth.

As Christians, we are seated with Christ in heavenly places so that we can rule and reign with Christ here on earth, not only in the future, but also (primarily!) during our lives now. The battle is a spiritual battle, but it has far-reaching ramifications and consequences in the physical world. One of the primary ways we do battle in the spiritual world by seeking to help people in the physical world.

These spiritual hosts of wickedness are seeking to destroy people’s lives, inhibit the truth of the gospel from spreading upon the earth, and hinder the effectiveness of the church. We struggle against these forces with all our might so that lives can be saved, the gospel can spread, and the church can serve others in this world. The struggle is spiritual in nature, but physical in how it manifests in this world.

All of this then means that the spiritual blessings which God has given to us in Jesus Christ are not for some future experience after we die and are resurrected to spend eternity with God and the saints. No, the spiritual blessings God has given to us in Jesus Christ are for this life here and now. You can draw on these blessings and experience these heavenly, spiritual blessings right now.

If this excites you, and you want to know how to start experiencing some of these spiritual blessings right now, well, Paul begins to write about this exact thing in Ephesians 1:4, which we will look at in our next study.

The Two Greatest Blessings (Ephesians 1:2)

By Jeremy Myers

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In this podcast episode about Ephesians 1:2, we discuss the gun violence and the shooting in Boulder, CO this week, answer a question from a reader about the warning passages of Hebrews, and take a detailed look at Ephesians 1:2, in which we discover two of the greatest blessings we have from God. Take a listen!

Gun Violence in the USA

A short plea for clear thinking and fact-based conversations about gun violence in the United States. Don’t listen to the lies from the news about this. They have an agenda and will not give you the facts.

Question from a Reader about the Warning Passages of Hebrews

When I was 7 I “accepted Jesus”. I grew up in a pastor’s home but was never discipled. When I hit my college years, I became involved in sexual sin and alcohol. Unfortunately I was unfaithful to my wife and had bad language. I taught Sunday School and was a deacon. 9 years ago I had a severe breakdown. Then I read that people who only profess Christ and then fall away, according to Hebrews, were never really saved and now cannot be. I believed everything I taught, I loved the church and everything involved. It wasn’t until after the breakdown that I found the Hebrews passages and the teaching on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. I was mortified. I tried to repent but felt no relief. I believe I am forever lost because, according to Hebrews I spurned God’s grace and trampled. This crushed my heart because, even in sin, I was sharing the Gospel with relatives. I have never wanted others to go to hell, I have kids and grandkids. I want them to know Christ. I am 69 and terrified that I am now forever lost.

Here are few links from my website for further reading:

Grace and Peace from God our Father (Ephesians 1:2)

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:2)

This podcast episode is drawn from my notes on Ephesians 1:1-2 here.

The text contains two blessings and two sources for these blessings.

A. Two Blessings in Ephesians 1:2

First, he gives two blessings for believers. Grace and peace. This is the typical way that Paul starts almost all of his letters, but should not be ignored. Paul understood grace (Acts 9:1-18; 1 Tim 1:15-16). Paul, the chief of sinners, was chosen by God to share God’s grace to the Gentiles. Paul was the apostle of grace. He was the most qualified person to speak on grace.

So what is grace? What made Paul so excited to share about grace? Grace is God’s unmerited favor. It is the blessings of God poured out upon those who do not deserve it. To better help you remember what grace means, you can use the acrostic: G-R-A-C-E – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Grace does not cost us anything. Grace is another favorite theme of Paul’s, and so he starts with grace.

Grace is the beginning and end of our life with Jesus Christ. Without grace we have nothing, and it is only by grace that we continue to live and walk with Jesus. This means that if you don’t understand grace, or have a weak view of grace (as most Christians do), you will never truly advance in your life as a disciple of Jesus. A proper understanding of grace is step one in the life of a disciple.

In my Gospel Dictionary entry on Grace, I taught this:

Grace is the key to every aspect of the gospel. Not the week-kneed, limp, powerless, feeble grace that you find in most Christian theology today, but the shocking, outrageous, scandalous, indiscriminate, senseless, irrational, unfair, irreligious, ridiculous, absurd, offensive, infinite grace which Jesus exhibited during His life and which is found everywhere in God’s activity toward humans. Biblical grace is so shocking, the only people who ever object to it are religious people who think that their behavior merits them some sort of special privilege or position with God. Such people are offended that the so-called “sinners” are put on equal footing. But this is exactly what God’s grace does, which is why the good news of grace is central to the gospel.

By grace, God loves all, forgives all, and accepts all, with no strings attached, no fine print, no qualifications, no limits, and no ongoing requirements. There is no amount of sin that can restrict the flow or find the limit of God’s grace.

The grace of God is so outlandish and foreign to every human way of thinking and living, it is absolutely impossible for any human being to place too much emphasis on grace. If I was required to preach and teach about only once concept for the rest of my life, I would choose the topic of grace. Of all the words in this Gospel Dictionary, grace is the most important, for without grace, there is no gospel. And while the same thing could be said about Jesus, grace existed before Jesus ever lived and died. Jesus came to reveal God’s grace to us, which means that when it comes to the gospel, grace preceded, spans, and follows the life of Jesus. The message of grace is the overarching theme of the gospel. It underscores every truth and ties every element together.

As I look at Christianity and see some of the problems that many people have with understanding Scripture, understanding God, understanding current events, or even in understanding and interacting with other humans beings, the one consistent truth I have found is that where there are the greatest problems with such things in Christianity, there is also the greatest failure to understand grace.

Once you understand grace, everything else falls into place.

That’s why it’s the first blessing Paul mentions, and why he always focuses so much on grace in his letters. Grace will be discussed in greater detail as we work our way through Ephesians.

The second blessing is peace. It is only because of God’s grace that we can have peace. Peace with God and peace with ourselves, and peace with others. Grace is the fountain from which the river of peace flows. In a world like ours, peace is a wonderful blessing for the saint of God.

Now peace is the great longing of this world. Everybody longs for peace, but nobody seems to know how to achieve peace. Most countries of the world think that peace comes through war. Isn’t that odd? It’s called the myth of redemptive violence. We think that if we can just kill enough of the bad people, then the good people will be able to live in peace with each other. So governments spend exorbitant amounts of time and money killing others in the name of peace. Of course, our enemies do the same toward us, and so the cycle of violence never ends.

But Jesus showed us a different way to achieve peace. And His way actually works. Paul will explain more of this as well in this letter to the Ephesians, especially in Ephesians 2. Just recognize for now that peace is also a rich blessing from God, and it is available to you and to the world through Jesus Christ.

This brings us to the two sources for these blessings. Grace and peace come to us from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note that these two sources of Christian blessing are also the two sources for Paul’s authority: he is an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and our blessing comes from God and Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:1).

Let’s talk about God the Father first. We take it for granted that we can talk to God as our Father. We take it for granted that we can pray directly to God without the help of a sacrifice of or a human, priestly mediator. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He invited them to pray to God as Father, and at that time, this was a shocking and revolutionary idea. Most people believed that in order to talk to God, you had to go to the temple, offer a sacrifice, and then communicate to God through a priest.

But Jesus showed us that we can pray directly to God, and we can talk to Him as our Father. Paul is hinting at the same thing here. God is our Father, and as our Father, He loves us and cares for us, and only gives good gifts to us.

This tell us, by the way, that if something bad happens in your life, it did not come from God. God only gives good gifts to His children. Bad things happen to us because we live in a sinful world. God our Father helps us get through these difficult and painful experiences, but He does not send these experiences upon us to punish us or hurt us. Get that idea out of your mind.

Here God our Father has given us grace and peace. There are many other blessings God has given to us, and some of these will be explained in more detail in the rest of Ephesians.

The second source of blessings, then, is our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes people are confused when our Savior is addressed this way. Why are three names used? What do they mean? Briefly, the term Lord is a title—like King or President. The term Jesus is His actual name, and the term Christ is why He came—it reveals His mission to be the Messiah—the Savior of the world. Technically, Christ (or Messiah) is also a title, but it is used in a way to describe the mission of Jesus. I do have a lesson on the word “Christ” in my Gospel Dictionary as well.

While all of God’s blessings come from Him, they come through Jesus Christ. We are blessed with every spiritual blessings because Jesus brought them to us from God. Again, all of this will be explained in more detail through the rest of Ephesians, so we will leave further discussion for other texts.

We pick up next time with Ephesians 1:3 where Paul begins to explain further blessings and riches that are ours in Jesus Christ.

Who is a saint? YOU are! (Ephesians 1:1)

By Jeremy Myers

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I am returning to verse-by-verse studies through books of the Bible. We begin in this podcast episode with Ephesians 1:1. The episode also contains a brief discussion of the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, and also a question from a reader about how to understand the violence of God in various biblical passages. Listen to the podcast for these two sections.

Here are some brief notes on what I explain from Ephesians 1:1

The text says this:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1:1)

The author of the letter, of course, is Paul.

First, he is an apostle of Christ Jesus. An apostle is one who is sent by God with a message to those who have not yet heard the good news. It should be noted that there are no more apostles today. We have all probably heard of apostolic churches, and men or women claiming to be apostles of Christ. The Catholic Church claims that the authority of the Pope is based on apostolic succession.

But all of these teaching are wrong. Let me show you why. One of the requirements to be an apostle is to have personally seen and heard Christ (1 John 1:1-3), and to have witnessed His resurrection (Matt 28; Luke 24; Acts 1:22; 10:41; 1 Cor 9:1; 15:4) and ascension (Acts 1:9-13). An apostle was one who was hand-picked by Jesus for this office. Paul was an apostle, but as one abnormally born (1 Cor 15:8-9). He was the last apostle chosen by Jesus for this office.

Since all of these events are not repeatable—someone alive today was not present when Jesus was alive, or saw Jesus after He rose from the dead, or watched Him rise into heaven—then there are no apostles today. They are irreplaceable by any subsequent generation.

Scripture bears this out as well. There are almost eighty references to apostles in Scripture, and nearly all of them refer to either the Twelve Apostles, or to Paul. All of the other leaders in Scripture are known as ministers and fellow laborers, but not apostles.

We’re going to see later in the book that there might still be the spiritual gift of apostleship, but this gift is not to be confused with the office of apostle. Those with the gift of apostleship today we most often know as missionaries to unreached people groups. To clear up confusion, we don’t call them apostles. Instead, we call them missionaries. But more on that later.

So Paul’s first source of authority is that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was set apart, chosen by God, to be sent with the message of the gospel to the Gentiles. This is what God called him to do. Secondly, he was an apostle by the will of God. This is not something he took upon himself. This is not something Paul earned. It is something God called him to be and do.

Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus. And here we have two characteristics for the believers in Ephesus.

He first calls them saints. The word “saints” in the Greek is hagios. It literally means “holy ones.” Saints, or holy ones, are those who are set apart for God’s use. When we think of saints, we often picture statues in cathedrals, stained glass, miraculous appearances, and mystical encounters.

We get most of these ideas from the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has a practice of “sainting” dead people who obtained a certain level of holiness during their life and who have at least two verifiable miracles to their credit. So in the Catholic Church, very few become saints.

A while back as they were considering sainting Mother Theresa, I read this about her:

All of India, and much of the Catholic world, has been buzzing about the presentation to the Vatican this week of the case of an Indian woman said to be the recipient of Mother Theresa’s first miracle—a significant step toward Theresa’s canonization. Monica Besra, a mother of five, tells TIME that on September 5, 1998—a year to the day after Theresa died—she was writhing in pain from an abdominal tumor at a home, run by the Missionaries of Charity. ‘There was no way any doctor would have operated on me at that hour,’ she says. ‘So the nuns just started praying and kept a Mother Theresa medallion on my stomach. The pain subsided, and the tumor vanished.’ Episcopal Bishop Salvatore Lobo, head of the team that will deliver 35,000 pages of Theresa’s good deeds to the Vatican, says, ‘This miracle meets the requirements. It is organic, permanent, immediate and intercessory in nature.’ A second miracle is still required for sainthood.

Is this the way it works? To become a saint, do you not only have to have an impressive list of good deeds—35,000 pages worth in this case—but also at least two miracles to your name? No, Scripture everywhere tells us differently. And right here in verse one is one of these places. These saints in Ephesus were alive, not dead, and it is clear that they had never performed any miracles.

Paul shows us here and elsewhere (Col 1:2; Php 4:21; 1 Cor 1:2) that all believers are saints. He is not writing to a few of the spiritual elite within the congregation. To Paul, a saint was anyone who had believed in Jesus.

So he is writing to all Christians—and here he calls them saints. In fact, this will be a favorite theme of his in Ephesians. He refers to “saints” nine times in this letter (NASB: 1:1, 15, 18; 2:19; 3:8, 18; 4:12; 5:3; 6:18). All Christians are saints—even if we don’t act like saints, even if we don’t perform miracles.

So when Paul shows that he writing to the saints in Ephesus, he is right away showing them one of the blessings they have in Jesus. Paul is writing to the saints of God in Ephesus. And I, in turn, am sharing this letter with all the saints that are here today. If you have believed in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life, you are saints!

How do you think of yourself? We should see ourselves as sinners and in need of constant grace and mercy of God, but over and above this, we need to see ourselves as saints. When we all begin to see that in Jesus Christ, we are saints, I believe we will begin to act like it.

Paul was an apostle, set apart, chosen by God for a task. Saints are also set apart, chosen by God for a task. What task? As we study through Ephesians, we will find out. So Paul is first of all writing to the saints in Ephesus.

But also, Paul is writing to the faithful in Christ Jesus. This is the second characteristic of the believers in Ephesus. The church in Ephesus, as we have seen, was one of the strongest and most mature churches that existed at that time. So Paul is praising them here for that. He is saying, not only are you saints because you have believed in Jesus Christ, but even better, you are faithful saints. You have placed faith in Jesus, and you are standing firm in the faith.

So, let me ask a question. Does this mean that there can be unfaithful saints? Can there be saints who do not act like saints? Can there be “sinning saints”? Saints who fail to live in obedience to God—but who are nevertheless still saints?

Of course! The church is full of them, and so is Scripture. To find examples of unfaithful saints in Scripture, one just has to read some of Paul’s other letters. Almost all the believers in Corinth were not living faithfully. In 1 Timothy, Paul mentions two unfaithful saints by name: Hymenaeus and Alexander (1:20). And in 2 Timothy 2:13, Paul tells us to be careful lest we become faithless.

But the saints in Ephesus were not like this. There were faithful saints in Christ Jesus. How did they become this way? Not by accident. Becoming a faithful saint is not something that just happens to you. You will not become a faithful saint simply by attending church on Sunday. No, faithful saints are made by discipline and hard work. Discipline in knowing who you are in Christ and what you are to do. Discipline in reading, studying and applying God’s Word to your live. Through discipline of prayer, of witnessing to others, and in living a holy life.

Becoming a saint is easy—all you have to do is believe in Jesus for eternal life. Becoming a faithful saint, however, is the most challenging but also the most rewarding, enjoyable and exciting thing you will ever do in life. There’s never a dull moment for the man or woman who is trying to become a faithful saint.

Notice also that Paul says they were faithful in Christ Jesus. This is a favorite term of Paul’s. Paul uses this term or one similar (in Christ; in Him) 164 times in the New Testament—and 36 of those (22%) are found in Ephesians. The term is rich with meaning and significance, and is a main theme in this letter.

As we continue to study Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we will continue to learn what blessings and riches you have been given as a saint in Jesus Christ so that you can learn to live as faithful follower of Jesus in this world. You will learn of your riches in Christ so that you can better fulfil your responsibilities in Christ.

Join us as we continue!

See a more detailed explanation of this text in the sermon on Ephesians 1:1-2 here.

The Subjects of Satan (Ephesians 2:2)

Ultimate Reconciliation?

We were Subjects to Satan (Ephesians 2:2)

The ways of this world

Followed the Ruler of the Kingdom of the Air

The spirit at work in the disobedient

Could it be … SATAN?

You have the Power! (Ephesians 1:20-23)

Are Evangelism Crusades Effective?

You have the Power! (Ephesians 1:20-23)

You are in Heavenly Places RIGHT NOW (Ephesians 1:3)

Will God Forgive Suicide?

What does the phrase “In Heavenly Places” mean? (Ephesians 1:3)

Every Spiritual Blessings

In Christ

In Heavenly Places

The Two Greatest Blessings (Ephesians 1:2)

Gun Violence in the USA

Question from a Reader about the Warning Passages of Hebrews

Grace and Peace from God our Father (Ephesians 1:2)

A. Two Blessings in Ephesians 1:2

Who is a saint? YOU are! (Ephesians 1:1)

Here are some brief notes on what I explain from Ephesians 1:1

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