Ephesians 1: power, richness and glory

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. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1:3-23

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Paul's letter to the Ephesians, like all his letters, is so rich with content that whole books can be written about it.  It would therefore be impossible to go through chapter 1 line by line within the confines of one blog post.  Therefore, I intend to pull out just a few of the wonderful themes that are woven through the first paragraphs.

Transcendence and intimacy

One of the absolutely mind-bending and beautiful things about our God is the fact that we are part of this incomprehensible bigger picture, in which God plans to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (v10).   God is so much outside of our own time and space that he knows us and assigns us a place in his kingdom before we even come to exist (v5, v11).  It's above our understanding, above what we can ever know.

And yet, whilst majesty, glory and transcendence seep from every sentence, so does the personal.  The individual calling to repentance, and turning to believe in him, each person individually marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our inheritance - that is, life with him (v 13-14).  What's more, the unknowable God makes himself knowable.  He make[s] known to us the mystery of his will (v9), and Paul prays that God may give the Ephesians a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (v17-18).  We are reminded of Paul's words to the Philippians: I want to know him (Philippians 3:10), and indeed, Jesus' own words:  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15).   And we can pray to know him more - as we read his word, live life in community with our brothers and sisters and watch him work in the world.  We can cast our anxieties on the creator of the universe.

A power like no other

Variations on the word 'glory' occur 5 times in the passages I've set out, and that is only the the beginning.  Glory in the original Greek gives connotations of weight and substance, but also of splendour and brightness and purity.  We've already covered how this translates into a plan that goes far beyond us as individuals, but in his prayer for the Ephesians Paul goes on to talk about the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (v19-21).  This is power over death, above all authority - it not only moves mountains but moves the universe.  And we, as individual believers, get to partake in that same power - the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe  - as he works in us to produce his fruit and grow his kingdom.

Rich and lavish love

Finally, there is a rich and extravagant love that oozes from these passages.  There are the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us (v7-8), and the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (v18).  This is not just a dry legal exchange: whilst the legal metaphor is one used by Bible writers (e.g. Colossians 2:14), we would be wrong to limit our understanding to just that.  We have passed from death to life, but that life is multicoloured, overflowing with the riches of God's grace, and we cannot even beginning to imagine the glory of our inheritance - eternal life with him.