Ephesians Overview | God’s Glorious Church
The book of Ephesians is all about God’s glorious church! All that God has done for the church and all that God calls the church to be, and not just the church of Ephesus but the universal church. Paul the Apostle uses the word ‘church’ 9 times throughout this letter, way more than any other letter of a similar length.
I would split the letter into 2 main sections: ‘The Truth of the Church‘ and ‘The Calling of the Church‘, separated by Paul’s ‘Prayer for the Church‘. I think the idea and prayer being, that if we fully embrace the truth of the church we might be filled with his fullness and live out the calling he desires.
The Truth of the Church
- The church is Spiritually Blessed for God’s Glory
- The church is God’s Glorious Inheritance
- The church is Alive in Christ
- The church is Near to God
- The church is Revealing God’s Wisdom
The Prayer for the Church
- The church are to Know God’s Love
The Calling of the Church
- The church are to be United, Diverse and Mature
- The church are to be Imitators of God
- The church are to be Children of Light
- The church are to have Christ Shaped Relationships
- The church are to Stand Firm
The Truth of the Church
Ephesians 1:1-14 – Spiritually Blessed for God’s Glory
The church is spiritually blessed in Christ by being chosen, adopted, forgiven, knowing God’s will, bought as a possession and sealed by the Spirit. Ultimately, whatever spiritual blessings we have in Christ are for the praise of God’s glory. We are his possession, predestined for his good pleasure.
Ephesians 1:15-23 – God’s Glorious Inheritance
The church is God’s glorious inheritance and God desires that the eyes of our hearts may be opened through wisdom and revelation to this reality and that we might fully embrace and claim all the spiritual blessings we have in Christ.
Ephesians 2:1-10 – Alive in Christ
The church has been made alive in Christ because God is rich in mercy, even though we were dead in our sin and transgression and lost to our own desires. Not only did he make us alive, but also seated us in the heavenly realms alongside Christ to reveal to the incomparable riches of his grace, which he gifted to us.
Ephesians 2:11-22 – Brought Near to God
The church (Gentiles) were far away from God and had no hope or part in his promises, but God has brought us near through Jesus Christ. We are being built with Israel into a building with Christ as the cornerstone, in which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 3:1-13 – Revealing God’s Wisdom
The church reveals the wisdom of God in the gospel to the heavenly realms, as he has had now unveiled this gospel mystery which was kept hidden for ages past.
The Prayer for the Church
Ephesians 3:14-21 – Grasping God’s Love
The church needs to grasp the full extent of God’s love, in how we have been saved from the depth of our sin and the width of our farness, the length to which he has invested in us and the height to which he has raised us.
The Calling of the Church
Ephesians 4:1-16 – Unity & Diversity for Maturity
The church is to make every effort to pursue unity just as God has called us to be one united body. We are also a diverse church too in that God has given gifts and offices for the building up and maturity of the church. We are to pursue unity, through diversity, for maturity.
Ephesians 4:17-5:2 – Be Imitators of God
The church are to be imitators of God, in the putting off of our sinful selves which are corrupted by deceitful desires and to put on the new self created to be like Christ and pursuing truthfulness, forgiveness, integrity and wholesomeness.
Ephesians 5:3-20 – Living as Children of Light
The church are to live as children of light in this dark world, having nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather exposing them by the light of God’s goodness and encouraging each other with songs of light.
Ephesians 5:21-6:9 – Christ Shaped Relationships
The church is to have Christ shaped relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and employees whereby there is sacrificial love, servant-hearted humility, and reverent submission to act as a living symbol of Christ and his church.
Ephesians 6:10-24 – Stand Firm
The church is to take its stand in this dark world and remain faithful by putting on the full armour of God, being strengthened by him through truth, righteousness, peace, faith and the word of God.