Ephesians 1:15-23

Here’s another journal entry! I hope it’s encouraging. Forgive the repetition of INTO… It’s just that way because sometimes passages change (the author might change, audience might change, or purpose might change – obviously in a letter this is not the case, but we are still required to do this section just for it’s own sake).

INTO
The book of Ephesians was most definitely written by the apostle Paul. The intended recipient is in question, though, as some scholars believe it might have just been written to the entire church is Asia Minor, being sent to the capital first, which just so happened to be Ephesus. This, of course, is of no consequence. Currently Paul is the focus of Paul’s letter is theological doctrine.

THROUGH
Paul in this section, tells us that he is so encouraged by the faithfulness of the Ephesians (v.15) that, since he heard, he has continually prayed for them (v.16) to receive many spiritual gifts. In order as he lists them, these are wisdom, revelation, knowledge, understanding, hope, the riches of God’s glory, and power (vv.17-19). He then extrapolates on what he means by power, telling us that it came from Christ in being resurrected and glorified (v.20). Then he expounds on what he means when he says Christ was glorified, stating that no name is above Him, no matter what position or time it comes from (vv.21, 22). Christ is especially in authority over the church: “His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (v.23).

BEYOND
Paul has quite a lot to say about God and his goodness, gifts, power, methods, and purpose. I noticed that the first seven verses of this passage are all one sentence! He has a lot to say about every aspect of his statements about God, and leaves nothing (from what I can see) to question. All the content aside, this is deeply inspiring to me, because it leads me to believe that Paul was extremely excited about God, and every facet of His truth was fascinating to Paul. It should be so with me as well!

The next inspiring aspect of this portion of Paul’s letter is his love and commitment to those who love the saints. He says he prayed continually for them that they would receive from God all the spiritual blessings that he goes on to list. I know I don’t do that for my friends very often, let alone ceaselessly. If I had this goal on my mind for my friends all the time, my attitude towards their spiritual growth would be dramatically different, not to mention I’m sure my self-centeredness would melt away, and my prayer life would be enhanced. That is an attainable goal I can set for myself. I’m excited already.

The third intriguing aspect of this section of Paul’s letter is his method of expression, using phrases such as “riches of His glory” (v.18), “exceeding greatness of His power,” “mighty power” (v.19), “far above principality” (v.21) and “all things” (v. 22). This communicates to me how high God is and how low I am. Paul uses diction like this often. It communicates the awesomeness of God, yet still not fully. However mighty we think God is, He is twice as mighty; however loving, twice as loving; and however glorious, twice as glorious. God is absolute control all the time without fail, and I love Him for that. He gives me something sure and worthy of being leaned on. It’s freeing.

P.S. Bobby, I love "Call." For those unaware, check it out via the Godsongmusic link in my "links" section to the right!