Daily Devotional Tuesday 1st September 2020
by William MoodyEphesians 1:1–6
Greeting
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful1 in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us2 for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Footnotes
[1] 1:1
Some manuscripts saints who are also faithful (omitting in Ephesus)
[2] 1:5Or before him in love, 5 having predestined us(ESV)
When Paul begins his letters in his introduction he normally gives some hint as to what the letter will be about. In introducing himself as an apostle Paul says it is ‘by the will of God’ (v1). This will be one of the great themes of Ephesians. What happens in this world is according to the will of God. People are saved, they are transformed by the will of God.
Paul describes these Christians who he is writing to as ‘saints’ which means holy ones or ‘set apart ones’. In the bible saints were not considered in how they often are today, as some sort super Christian with special powers. All Christians are saints, a people set apart to be different and faithful to Christ. Ephesians tells the story how God does this in His people.
After sharing his normal benediction (v2) Paul further emphasis that all blessing comes from God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ (v3).
This is something we always need to be reminded of, all true and lasting blessing comes through Jesus. Prayerfully and faith the chief passion of life has to be about seeking Christ and His blessing, not just once but on an ongoing basis. Is this your passion?
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.