01.01. ESSAY NO. 1

ESSAY NO. 1

After Jerusalem first and Antioch second, Ephe­sus became the third center of Christianity. Read Acts 19:1-41, which is the best account, probably, of Sa­tan’s resistance (superhuman from beneath) to Christ’s invasion (superhuman from above) of his usurped earthly domain, to learn about the founding of the church in Ephesus; next, read Paul’s address to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:18-35), a few years later, with its prophetic warning of danger to the church from without and from within after his death, and its tearful appeal to them “to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood”; then, read Christ’s own letter to Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) some third of a century after the church was planted, in which he is already grieved because despite their loyalty to doctrine, their good works, and their hatred of evil, their personal love for him was waned. His faithful warning that unless they repent of this in­sidious sin of ingratitude (which was to beset his church till he comes again), they will cease to be his church at all is cause for deep searching of motive by all who would be genuine Christians. These readings are good preparation for the study of Ephesians.

Salutation The salutation comprising the first two verses, as if to make things doubly sure if possible, contains four sets of doubles. “An apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God” names God and Christ as the double source of authority; in “to the saints that are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus” is found a duplicate designation for Christians; “grace to you and peace” is double, colossal blessing; and “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” names the double source of this twofold blessing. The salutation, being especially full and rich even for Paul, is in keeping with the marvelous reach, com­prehensiveness, and “unsearchable riches” of the en­tire book. The Calling of the Church The second paragraph of Ephesians is one long, massive sentence on the subject of God’s redeeming grace. It teaches that God in eternity, before he made the world and time, purposed “in the fullness of the times” to demonstrate his grace through his Son. It seems that God brought time, spanning the interval between eternity past and eternity future, into exist­ence for a theater in which to work out his grace. The drama of God’s grace is not limited to earth. Inasmuch as discord and rebellion began with angels in heaven and later spread to earth, God’s purpose is to restore harmony in both heaven and earth before time ends. Does not “To sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth” (Ephesians 1:10) involve this? Certainly, it is God’s eternal purpose through Christ “to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heaven” (Colossians 1:20). There­fore, when Christ overcomes all angelic and human hostility, and when universal peace is restored in heav­en and on earth, time with Christ’s remedial kingdom having served its purpose may end. Then eternity may go on again as it was before time began. “Then com­eth the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God . . . that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

Everything pertaining to the church lay in the mind of God “before the foundation of the world” as an unborn forest lies in the cup of an acorn. Noth­ing was left to chance. What long, large thoughts here, mind-stretching and heart-captivating! And is it not thrilling to know that God depends on his grace to “create a soul under the ribs of death” and to at­tain such glorious ends? Christianity has intellectual and emotional “length and height and depth” human­ly inscrutable. No wonder Paul exalts, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).