This is my 365 day daily journaling commentary. It covers the entire 6 chapters, 155 verses, 3,016 words over the course of 12 months. Feel free to read, copy, & utilize the material in your own personal bible study. Throughout, the English Standard Version is used. If you are following along in 2026, come back each day for the next entry. I look forward to sharing this study with you and hope you are blessed as you read my thoughts and ponder the great truths of Scripture.
INTRODUCTION
The Book of Ephesians, written by the Apostle Paul, explains God’s grand plan to unite all people (Jews and Gentiles) into one new family—the Church—through Jesus Christ, emphasizing believers’ incredible blessings and calling them to live out their new identity as a unified, holy, and mature people of God, equipped to walk in love and spiritual strength against evil. It’s structured doctrinally (Chapters 1-3) on who believers are in Christ and practically (Chapters 4-6) on how they should live, highlighting unity, spiritual armor, and household conduct.
January
January 1
Chapter 1, Verse 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:”
Παῦλος ἀπόστολος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ διὰ θελήματος Θεοῦ, Paulos apostolos Christou Iēsou dia thelēmatos Theou, “Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by [the] will of God,” Paul the apostle, originally Saul of Tarsus, was a Jewish Pharisee and Roman citizen who, in his early life, persecuted Christians and was involved in imprisoning believers that ultimately led to their deaths–including the martyrdom of Stephen. On the road to Damascus, on his way to seek the arrest of even more followers of the Way (the Way was one means of referring to those in Christ by faith) [Acts 9], he experienced a blinding vision of Jesus, leading to his conversion, baptism, and adoption of the name Paul. He became Christianity’s most influential missionary, fiercest theologian, and most prolific writer, shaping the early church through his extensive letters (Epistles) and spreading the gospel among Gentiles across the Roman Empire. The good news about the Good News (the gospel of Christ) is that God can reach the most vile sinner and save them if they recognize him as God and accept his Son as Savior and Lord. As Paul would write later in this letter, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
January 2
Chapter 1, Verse 1, con’t, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:”
The noun ἀπόστολος, apostolos, combines apo = from, and stello = send forth, meaning one sent from another with credentials for a specific purpose. It was commonly used in secular Greek to describe a messenger or delegate. In English, apostle would be equivalent to ambassador, one who is a diplomat assigned to represent their country to a foreign government. Paul was an ambassador for Christ and so are all believers. We are all assigned the task of representing the kingdom of God with the gospel of Christ to the world. This is the most general meaning of apostle. More particularly, though, Paul used the term to describe himself in the manner of Peter in Acts 1:21-26. In verses 21-22, Peter said, “So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection,” and in verse 26, “And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” Here, Peter was defining the office of the apostle of Christ, one who had seen Jesus before and after the resurrection, had spent time with him, and was sent forth by him. Paul’s calling was extra special because it was a face-to-face encounter with Jesus after he had ascended back to heaven. For all the apostles, their mission included preaching the gospel, teaching and praying, working miracles, strengthening other church leaders, and writing down the Word. The official office was only for that small group of early church leaders, but every believer is called, empowered, and gifted by God to minister to the world as an ambassador of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:16-21).
January 3
Chapter 1, Verse 1, con’t, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:”
διὰ θελήματος Θεοῦ, dia thelēmatos Theou, “by [the] will of God.” “Will,” θέλημα, thelema, from thelo = to desire or wish, with the ma ending, indicates result or “the thing willed,” referring to the result of what one has decided. God’s call on Paul, previously Saul the persecutor, was a radical, direct commission by the risen Christ on the Damascus road to be an apostle, set apart from birth to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, a mission that transformed him from enemy to fervent messenger of Jesus, demanding immense suffering and unwavering service for the “high calling” (Philippians 3:14) of God’s redemptive work. This direct commission, Jesus himself appearing to Paul and directly appointing him, bypassed human intermediaries as was the case with Judas’s replacement in Acts 1:23-26. Paul’s mandate was defined by revelation from Christ emphasizing the divine origin of his message and authority (Galatians 1:1). When the Lord sent Ananias to Paul, he told him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:15-16). His life, in Christ, was to be one of hardship and endurance. And Paul knew that Sovereign God planned all of this because he wrote in Galatians 1:15-16, “But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.” When the will of God calls us to a task, he prepares us, empowers us, and sends us out to face whatever is in store. With Paul, we should say, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13).
January 4
Chapter 1, Verse 1, con’t, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:”
τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, tois hagiois tois ousin en Ephesō, “to the saints being in Ephesus.” “Saints,” (holy ones) ἅγιος, hagios, are those who are set apart for a specific purpose, or, people possessed of holiness and separated from sin unto God. Originally, hagios was a term used by cults to describe the quality of a person who was capable of approaching any deity. Paul was saying that those in Ephesus who had trust Christ belonged to God in special relationship. There were in Ephesus, but equally so, they were in Christ. The word saint refers to a believers standing rather than his location or circumstance. All believers are saints. It has to do with our positional relationship with God (saved) rather than our progress in that relationship (sanctification). Paul was, at least at some level, reminding the Ephesian believers that they should live right because they had been made right by the Spirit of God. In other words, if we say we have been saved, if we claim Jesus as Savior and Lord, then we ought to live like it. Hagios includes the idea of taking away the filth of sin by washing it away and setting apart the new, clean vessel for a new purpose. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul wrote, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God has always had a plan for his children. It is up to us to discover the plan and execute it for his glory.
January 5
Chapter 1, Verse 1, con’t, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:”
καὶ πιστοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, kai pistois en Christō Iēsou, “and faithful in Christ Jesus.” If saints is who they were — and it was, just as all of us who believe and are alive are saints as well, the faithful is what they were. Being a saint, a holy one is “positional;” we have been adopted into the family of God (Romans 8:15, 23), we have been covered by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7), and the result is, of course, we are saved. Our response is to be faithful — that is our “practice.” πιστός, pistos, is an adjective, so it is descriptive. It means trustworthy, dependable, reliable, and in a practical sense means “one who stays.” 1 John 2:18-19 addresses those who are faithful and stay, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” The very old hymn, “I have decided to follow Jesus,” ends each verse with “no turning back, no turning back.” Pistos was used one other time in Ephesians, in 6:21, near the end of the letter, to describe a close friend of Paul, Tychicus, “a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant of the Lord.” Tychicus and all his friends turned their backs on the world, moved away from a life of sin and confusion, and moved into a life faith and service. They did so because they were in Christ.
January 6
Chapter 1, Verse 1, con’t, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:”
EXCURSUS: What does it mean to be “In Christ?”
The term Christian is used 3 times in the New Testament. The phrase in Christ (sometimes expressed as “in Him” or “in the Lord”) appears more than 200 times, 160 times in the writing of Paul, alone. In our vernacular, we might say, “I know a Christian guy. . .” Paul would say, “I know a man in Christ.” Why is this important? When a person becomes a Christian, by faith alone in Christ alone, they are not just joining an institution; they are being added to Christ, adopted into the family, becoming an integral part of God’s kingdom. As a blood-bought member of that kingdom, today and in the future, there are at least 6 outcomes that should constantly be a part of your awareness.
1 – In Christ, you were afforded grace before the creation of the world. 2 Timothy 1:8-9, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”
2 – In Christ, you were favored by God before creation. Ephesians 1:4, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”
3 – In Christ, you possess the never-ending love of God. Romans 8:38-39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
4 – In Christ, you have been redeemed and forgiven. Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”
5 – In Christ, you are justified before God. 2 Corinthians 5:19-21, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
6 – In Christ, you have been made new. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
For a true believer, this ever present reality becomes more clear the longer we walk with God. As we invest ourselves in Scripture, lock arms with other believers in church, and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, maturity in Christ will follow and then we will be better able to share this great truth with others.
January 7
Chapter 1, Verse 2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη, Charis hymin kai eirēnē, “Grace to you and peace.” All 13 New Testament letters directly attributed to Paul begin with some variation of this greeting, adding mercy in his letters to Timothy. Before digging into the essential nature of the terms, it is important to note that grace always precedes peace, the reason being simple. Without grace, there can be no true and lasting peace. True peace is not the absence of something, like war, conflict, or chaos. Real, lasting peace is totally dependent upon the presence of something extraordinary, the grace of God. “Grace,” Χάρις, charis, is the completely undeserved and unmerited favor of God which he freely gives without any expectation of response in kind. It describes his generosity toward humankind, showing benevolence when none is due. It is God’s ultimate goodness aimed squarely towards the lives of humanity, found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, designed to deliver us from sin into his glorious kingdom. The supreme presentation of God’s love is grace coming down to us in Christ, with the offer of eternal salvation and that it will never be taken away. As Paul said goodbye to the elders and headed toward Jerusalem, he said, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). It is always grace, and grace alone, that meets our every need.
January 8
Chapter 1, Verse 2, con’t, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
As already noted, real peace cannot exist without grace. The two always go together like train tracks going off in the distance. They are forever joined into one great ideal because you cannot have one without the other. Peace, εἰρήνη, eirēnē, in the New Testament, is שָׁלוֹם, shalowm in the Old Testament. The presence of peace, and the substance of it is much more than just the absence of conflict. It mean wholeness, completeness, well-being, harmony, and right relationship with God, oneself, and others. It is a state of mind and being that was lost in the Garden of Eden when sin entered into the world, but is restored through faith in Jesus. The peace of God, in Christ, supplies deep inner tranquility even in the face of outer turmoil. Chaos cannot defeat real peace. It is a multifaceted gift from God, encompassing spiritual reconciliation, inner calm and flourishing life in community, and is often described as the opposite of brokenness and the presence of divine blessing. Paul focused on living a life of peace in Philippians 4:4-9, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
January 9
Chapter 1, Verse 2, con’t, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
ἀπὸ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, apo Theou Patros hēmōn kai Kyriou Iēsou Christou, “from God [the] Father and [the] Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul wasted no time connecting Father and Son (he did so similarly in 12 of his letters), clarifying the nascency of grace and peace and punctuating the divinity of Jesus. The preposition apo, “from,” functions to indicate the source, cause, or basis of something, here, grace and peace. Grammatically, it governs both God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ. Together, they are one, co-equal in the Godhead, making it perfectly clear that Jesus the man, is also fully God. Πατρὸς, patros, “father,” a form of πατήρ, patér, is one who imparts life and is committed to it. In the New Testament, it is used figuratively of our heavenly Father, who imparts both physical life and the gift of eternal life. Κυρίου, Kyriou, “Lord,” a form of κύριος, kurios, is from kuros = might or power, in turn from kuroo = to give authority. It refers to the One, Jesus, who has absolute power and sovereign authority over all creation. Paul addressed what the Father and Son did for humanity to bring grace and peace to the world in Romans 8:1-4, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
January 10
Chapter 1, Verse 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.”
From this verse, to should be easy to understand that God is a God of blessing and he wants to be that for us. James 1:17-18, immediately comes to mind, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word.” The greatest and primary blessing is that God, of his own will, saved us through his word, by faith in Christ. Here, in order, “blessing” is an adjective, verb, and noun. The root of all three is the verb εὐλογέω, eulogeó, combining eu = good or well, and logos = word, something said, a verbal appraisal; here to speak well of and/or to confer a benefit upon. Paul began by essentially speaking a doxology, a blessing toward God. Why? When a person discovers, as much as one can, who God is — especially in personal relationship — they want to speak glory to his name. Or, as the old song says, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” This sentence makes no sense to the world nor the casual so-called Christian. But to a real, blood-bought, born-again believer, it is an overwhelming truth that fosters holy adoration, hushed reverence, and profound gratitude to the One who has saved us and is preparing us for our seat in heaven (Ephesians 2:6).
January 11
Chapter 1, Verse 3, con’t, “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.”
In the Greek text, “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” is in the middle of “who has blessed us in Christ.” It begins with ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς, ho eulogēsas hēmas, “the [One] having blessed us,” referring to sovereign God, the Father. And it ends with ἐν Χριστῷ, en Christō, “in Christ” which is italicized everywhere I write because of its monumental, eternal significance. So all the blessings of God are “sandwiched” between the Father and the Son. In John 10:27-30, referring to believers, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” That tells us we are completely secure in the grip of grace. God wants us to live knowing that so we can boldly take the gospel to the world. Here, in verse 3, “having blessed us” is an aorist verb, not future tense but past, telling us of an effective, already completed action. Romans 8:29-30 says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” We who are saved by grace and kept by the power of God are “those” he foreknew, predestined, called, justified, and glorified — all past tense, already done in Christ. Certainly, the blessings of God are for the here and now, but there is more, ““What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (2 Corinthians 2:9). Thank God for his blessings, everyday and all the time.
January 12
Chapter 1, Verse 3, con’t, “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.”
ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, en pasē eulogia pneumatikē en tois epouraniois, “with every blessing spiritual in the heavenly realm.” All our blessings are from the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Spirit. It is all from God and for our good. Is there a difference between temporal blessings and spiritual blessings? Yes. . .and no. Yes, in that all blessings comes from God. In Matthew 5:44-45, Jesus said, “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Temporal blessings are those related to the physical world and mortal life. God blesses his whole creation. For example, physical health, prosperity, success, worldly possessions, and comfort, like everything else, come from God but they only concern us while we live. Spiritual blessings, also from God, are in the heavenly realm. The adjective, ἐπουράνιος, epouranios, “heavenly,” combines epi = above, about, among, and ouranios, the sky; hence, above the sky, or heavenly. What are the spiritual blessings that come from God to believers untouched by the sin of the temporal world? There are at least 10, and they include: 1) Forgiveness — our sins are erased. 2) Reconciliation — we can talk with God. 3) Adoption — we are redeemed into the family of God. 4) Sanctification — we are being conformed to the image of Christ. 5) Fellowship — we can spend time with God (prayer, praise, & worship) 6) Strength — we are overcomers able to defeat Satan 7) Peace — we are whole and at ease in our relationship with God 8) Joy — the joy of the Lord is our strength 9) Comfort — the most vile affliction cannot overcome us. 10) Filled — God in us is greater than the world.
All of these spiritual blessings are to be borne out in our lives by the fruit of the Spirit, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). No law, no government, no power can take this away from the child of God (Romans 8:37-39).
January 13
Chapter 1, Verse 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”
καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ, kathōs exelexato hēmas en autō, “just as he chose us in him.” Of first importance is “he” is God the Father, “us” is all believers of all time,” and “him” is the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). The adverb καθὼς, kathos, “according to” links verse 3 to verse 4. We are blessed not just “because” God chose us, but as part of that choosing — it is altogether part of his eternal plan. The verb ἐκλέγω, eklego’, combines ek = “out” or “out of,” and lego = “to select” as in moving to a conclusion; hence, to choose some from a large group. Here, in this statement, Paul began to present the doctrines of election and sovereignty. Essentially, God chooses (chose) because he is God. Being human, we cannot begin to think like God, who has no beginning, no end, and therefore does not experience past, present, and future as we do, but “sees” everything in an eternal now. Because of that, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile human responsibility and divine sovereignty. And yet, they are both true. In John 6:44, Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” In John 1:11-13, John said about Jesus, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” The most significant thing to remember is that when God calls, answer in faith. Do not turn away from God in disbelief. He calls out to us because he care with perfect love.
January 14
Chapter 1, Verse 4, con’t, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love”
In verse 3, blessings abound and, in verse 4, a 3-part “blessing clause” follows. That “he chose us” tells us what he did, “before the foundation of the world” tells us when he did it, and “that we should be holy and blameless” reveals why he did it. πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, pro katabolēs kosmou, ” before [the] foundation of [the] world,” is short and to the point. The preposition pro is primarily used to mean “in front of” or “prior to,” hence, before. The noun καταβολή, katabole’, from kata = down, and ballo = throw, is literally “throwing down” and is used here with the idea of before a finished plan was set in motion. So, before everything with see, both with the naked eye and powerful telescopes, and camera on spacecraft billions of miles away from earth, was made (created) [John 1:1-3], God picked us out (those who trust Christ as Savior and Lord) to be in Christ. This choosing beforehand is clearly divine election. The term kosmos, English cosmos, can represent the earth itself or the whole of creation, Since it all happened simultaneously and instantly, either use is correct. The point is God does everything perfectly and in order, or with perfect order. There is no happenchance, there are no accidents, and with God there is no chaos. The chaos we experience is the result of sin. It is good to know that long before chaos entered the world God’s eternal plan was settled, redemption was planned and executed, and the gospel was offered freely to everyone. In Christ we are a different people, chosen for God’s purpose, blessed beyond measure, and called to tell the world about him.
January 15
Chapter 1, Verse 4, con’t, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love”
He chose us, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit” (John 15:16ip). He chose us to be something, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12). And he chose us to do something, “that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation” (Philippians 2:15). In the NASB and Amplified versions, this is rendered, “that you may prove yourselves to be. . .” The logical, reasonable, and natural (maybe it is better said, “supernatural”) result of divine election and predestination is holy living. Among believers, holiness is often a scary idea because they know it cannot be conjured. It cannot put on. God did not choose us to make ourselves holy, but to be made holy. The moment we are converted, when the Holy Spirit makes us alive in Christ, our soul and spirit are made perfect. But we know that living a holy life seems difficult and in our minds, unobtainable. That is where sanctification comes into play. Constitutionally, we are holy, that is positional. Practically speaking, being holy is a pursuit. Being saved causes us to want to be more like Christ. The phrase ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους, hagious kai amōmous, “holy and blameless,” begins with hagios, “holy,” which is the same word that elsewhere is translated “saint.” The truth is you cannot separate what the bible calls a believer from how they are supposed to live. The word amomous, “blameless,” put together a = without, and momos = spot. It means free from blemish. The idea portrayed is from the spotless lamb offering in the Old Testament. While we will never be completely without blemish in the world, it behooves us to be the best we can, so that the unbelieving world has no reason for finger pointing. Living for Jesus is hard work, but the result is peace in our hearts because we have peace with God — and peace with many who are around us.
January 16
Chapter 1, Verse 4, con’t, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love“
If you look closely at the punctuation, you will notice a period before “in love,” and the preposition “In” capitalized. There is not period in the 3 major Greek texts, only a comma after “love.” So the question arises, does in love look back to “he chose us” in verse 4, or forward to “he predestined us” in verse 5? The answer is yes to both. God did not choose us in order that he may love; he chose because he already loved. Love is inherent to his nature. The “kind” of love, ἀγάπῃ, agapē, is unconditional, meaning our performance has no influence upon it. It is sacrificial, meaning it was and is given from God to us as a matter of will in spite of its great cost. And it is eternal, meaning nothing can change it. Thinking about God’s particular love for the saints always draws me to the end of Romans 8, where Paul wrote that nothing can separate a believer from the love of God in Christ. That word “separate,” χωρίζω, chorizo’, means to put space between. There is no space between God and his family. He is, and always will be with us, in us, before us, after us and around us. His love in choosing is incomprehensible and yet, there it is . . .forever.
January 17
Chapter 1, Verse 5, “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”
Once again, we must remember that the punctuation (period before “in love”, or comma after) grammatically rules which direction love points, but practically and theologically, it is both/and. God loved us so he chose us and he predestined us. In the Greek text, προορίζω, proorizo’, (here προορίσας), is an aorist active participle, so it should be translated “having predestined” which would justify the comma after “in love.” Regardless of how you look at it, this is something God did long before any of us were born. Aorist tells us it was a completed action in the past. The active voice (participle ending in “ing”) indicates the action was of God’s own will. The focus is on the what more than on the who. The verb proorizo’, combines pro = before, and horizo’ = to determine boundaries. So it means to establish or mark boundaries in advance. Very simply, before creation, God predetermined to do something and he did it. What is so interesting about this is that the action of predetermination/predestination occurred in the past, the who it affects — us –occurs in the present when we accept Jesus as Savior and Lord, and the final outcome of the action controls our future, living eternally with God. The part of this that causes difficulty in the minds of people is that God chose us in advance, but we must choose in real time. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Regardless of how you view the language, be sure you are saved by accepting Christ into your life.
January 18
Chapter 1, Verse 5, con’t, “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”
εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, eis huiothesian dia Iēsou Christou,”for divine adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.” When I was very young, some neighborhood kids mocked me for being a “foster child.” I was devastated even though I had no real understanding of what that meant. I remember my mother calming my tears and telling me, “Those kids were just born into their families; we chose you to be part of ours.” From then on, even as a seven year old with little knowledge, I wore adoption as a badge of honor. Little did I know that God chose me, as well, to be adopted into his eternal family. The Greek noun υἱοθεσία, huoithesia, combines huios = son, and tithemi = place. It literally means “to place one as a son.” Originally, ti was used as a legal term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance (during a time when only male children could inherit an estate). In Paul’s writing (all 5 New Testament occurrences are in his letters, (Romans 8:15,23, 9:4, Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:5) it speaks of being placed in the position of a son or daughter who now possesses the same rights as the parent’s natural children. That is why Paul wrote, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:12-17). Believers are not just an heir of God, which would be more than sufficient, we are “joint-heirs with Christ” [KJV]. That means as adopted children of God through faith, believers share the same divine inheritance as Jesus, gaining equal rights to God’s promises, including eternal life, glory, spiritual power, and ruling with Christ in his kingdom, effectively becoming part of God’s royal family with all of its privileges. It signifies a profound spiritual union where everything God has for Christ, he also has for believers, staring now in our life of faith and culminating in eternity, making them heirs to God’s very nature and kingdom.
January 19
Chapter 1, Verse 5, con’t, “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will“
κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, kata tēn eudokian tou thelēmatos auto, “according to the good pleasure of the will of him.” The noun εὐδοκία, eudokia, is a compound of eu =will, and dokeo’ = think; properly, what seems good or beneficial to someone, hence, “good pleasure” (only ESV = purpose). This kind intention, as it were, is the condition of being positively disposed towards another, so from God it is perfect benevolence. This phrase begins with kata, which is generally “according to,” and here it means in proportion to and not simply out of. “Out of” would just mean “a part of,” a small portion of what is available, while “in proportion to” refers to “from the wealth of.” In other words, the blessings of verse 3 reflect God’s sovereign intention to choose and predestine believers to be adopted as children of God. And all of this is the pleasure of his will. The noun θέλημα, thelema, “will,” is what one has decided. In particular, the will of God refers to his divine purpose, intentions, and desires, which include his overarching plan for creation (sovereign will), that which is God’s unchangeable plan for all things — his decrees — and his specific commands for human behavior (moral will), including seeking personal holiness, loving him and others, and doing good works. His hearts desire for humanity’s salvation (redemptive will) is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his allowing all people to make their own choices in matters of faith and practice (permissive will) includes both good decisions and bad ones. Because it pleased God to choose us according to his good pleasure, we should respond by being living sacrifices which pleases him (Romans 12:1-2).
January 20
Chapter 1, Verse 6, “to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ, eis epainon doxēs tēs charitos, “to [the] praise of [the] glory of the grace of him,” The language here is beautifully organized. The preposition epi means “direction toward.” Three three nouns order the movement. ἔπαινος, epainos, “praise” is from epi = “upon,” and ainos = “praise,” hence, a commendation, approval, applause. It points to something worthy of recognition. δόξα, doxa, rightly translated glory, can also be dignity, majesty, or honor. It carries the idea of “weightiness,” something significant about a person that has impact on others. χάρις, charis, “grace,” is, of course, divine favor directed toward everyone, and especially God’s children who are his eternal family by faith in Christ. So, how do we (how did Paul) respond to God’s love that chose us and predestined us for adoption into the divine family? we offer glad approval, excited celebration, continuous acclaim to the brilliant, magnificent, and majestic scale of the splendid treasure of his favor toward us. As the old, old hymn says, “Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all our sin.” Ultimately, why do we praise the Lord? Psalm 40:1-3, “I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.”
larrywaynesykes.com 