Day 2 - Change Your Life!

Day 2 - Change Your Life with Ephesians - God Has Blessed Us





Did you take that 30 minutes yesterday and read Ephesians? Can you feel the Holy Spirit guiding you? Do you identify with Jesus' sacrifice as His obedience to the Father? Do you grasp the power of God the Father?





Here is our study for today:

• Pray, Read the entire book of Ephesians, Thank God.

Let's examine verses 1-6:

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ
Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
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 us for adoption 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

STUDY QUESTIONS:





Open your Bible and highlight all the good things that God has given you.





1. What did God give us?





2. When did God bless us?





3. How are we to act as Christians?





4. What is the only way we can receive all God has given to us?





5. What did we do to deserve his grace? How do you know the answer based on the scriptures above?





6. Can you see the triune God in these verses? If so, which verses confirm the Trinity?





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The commentary below should help you dig deeper and put God's letter to the Ephesians into context (underlines and bold are my emphasis).





Scripture Notes from the ESV (English Standard Version) Bible:





Eph. 1:3–14 Spiritual Blessings in Christ. In the original Greek, this section is one long, elegant sentence. Paul shows that the triune God initiated and accomplished cosmic reconciliation and redemption for the praise of his glory.



Eph. 1:3 Blessed be. The blessing that opens Paul's prayer is similar to those that began first-century Jewish prayers that were commonly recited throughout the day (cf. 2 Cor. 1:3; 1 Pet. 1:3). in Christ.





Paul's praise emphasizes the mediation of Christ for all God's blessings by repeating that these good things are ours “in Christ” (Eph. 1:3, 9), “in the Beloved” (v. 6), or “in him” (vv. 4, 7, 11, 13).





Spiritual (Gk. pneumatikos) here communicates that the saving gifts of God are conveyed by the Holy Spirit (Gk. Pneuma), whose personal presence throughout this age is the guarantee of future heavenly blessings (see “spiritual songs” in 5:19; Col. 3:16).





Hence, these blessings are in heavenly places, since that is the Christian's future abode in imperishable glory when he is resurrected in a spiritual body through the “last Adam,” the “life-giving spirit” (1 Cor. 15:40, 44–50).





Eph. 1:4 He chose us in him means that the Father chose Christians in the Son (Christ), and this took place in eternity past, before the foundation of the world. This indicates that for all eternity the Father has had the role of leading and directing among the persons of the Trinity, even though Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal in deity and attributes.





God's initiative in redeeming the believer from sin and death was not an arbitrary or whimsical decision but something God had planned all along “in Christ.” Since God chose his people in his love, they can take no credit for their salvation. God was determined to have them as his own, holy.





God chose them with the goal that they be holy and blameless before him. This goal is not optional for Christians—it is the purpose of election. Holiness here expresses moral purity, while blamelessness expresses freedom from the guilt of trespasses and sins in which the Christian formerly walked (1:7; 2:1, 5).





Previously ordained or appointed to some position. God's election of Christians (v. 4) entails his predestining them to something—in this case to adoption as sons (see also v. 11; Rom. 8:29–30).





Hence, election and predestination in this context refer to God's decision to save someone. All Christians, male and female, are “sons” in the sense of being heirs who will inherit blessings from their Father in heaven.





Paul qualifies and stresses God's plan and initiation of redemption with the phrase according to the purpose of his will here and elsewhere in the passage (Eph. 1:9, 11). God cannot be constrained by any outside force, and his inexorable will for believers is to pour out his grace and goodness on them in Christ Jesus.



Eph. 1:6 God's ultimate purpose is not redemption as such but the praise of his glorious name through redemption. This theme is repeated at key junctures in the argument (see vv. 12, 14).


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





This study is for your edification and encouragement, I am merely a moderator so there isn't an answer "key" for the questions. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the answers; use a concordance, Bible dictionary, commentary notes and resources on the web if you want further direction!





May God bless you, may He keep you, may His Light shine upon your face. Praise Him, Behold Him, Worship Him, Trust Him. Until tomorrow, Sister Lisa