Home -- English -- Ephesians -- 002 (Letterhead)
Previous Lesson -- Next Lesson
The Letterhead According to then Existent Tradition (Ephesians 1:1-2)
Ephesians 1:1-2
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul did not actually begin the letter to the churches in Ephesus and in the Roman Province of Asia with his true Semitic name. His parents had named him Saul, following the name of their early tribal leader, who also became the first king of Israel and who was handsomer and a head taller than all the other men of his tribe (1 Samuel 9:2).
When the risen Christ, in His glorious radiance, appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, the fanatical persecutor of the followers of Jesus fell in horror to the ground and stammered: “Lord, who are you?” The Risen One did not, however, kill His enemy, but rather revealed to him His holy name: “Jesus”! The one who lay on the ground immediately understood: The Crucified One, who was condemned to death by the High Council, lives! His body did not decay. He rose and dwells in glory! I, however, am lost! I totally erred with my radical religious piety, just as did innumerable Jews with me who persecuted those who believed in Jesus of Nazareth!
Saul´s view of life, along with his longed for righteousness from keeping the law, fell completely apart. In the resurrected and glorious Jesus, he had found a new and certain measure for his life. A few years later Saul let himself be known by the Greek name of “Paul”, which means, the small, lowest or the least one! He no longer wanted to appear great, honoured or significant, but recognized himself as one who had been spiritually broken. He wrote to Timothy that he, Paul, had been a blasphemer, a persecutor and the chief of all sinners. At the same time, he recognized that the resurrected Lord Jesus had shown him mercy, since he had acted in ignorance and unbelief (1 Tim. 1:12-17).
An Apostle of Jesus Christ
With amazement Paul understood that His Lord had pardoned him without any achievement on his own part. The humbled one repented, fasted for three days and let himself be baptized with water. He received forgiveness for all his sins and the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39; 9:17-18). Paul testified before King Herod Agrippa in Caesarea of his unique sending to be the apostle to the non-Jewish nations: “…I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me (Acts 26:15-18).
With this confession Paul also described the Greek word “Apostle”, which means a sent one or messenger. He did not appoint himself to this office and neither was he called by other apostles or the High Council to be their envoy. Much more, his living Lord appeared to him personally and gave him his commission. Paul was directly accountable to the risen Jesus, under whose continuous leading and certain protection he stood. The missionary sent to the nations received no political office from any earthly lord. Rather, he was entrusted with a worldwide spiritual commission, which he fulfilled with authority, love and wisdom. Above all he was to open the eyes of the non-Jews, so that they might recognize their sinful lostness. They were to have the chance to wilfully turn from the darkness of Satan to the liberating light of God, that they might receive forgiveness of their sins and be spiritually renewed.
Who is the Christ?
Paul described himself in the letter to the Ephesians as a messenger of Christ. With this title he testified to the Jews of the provincial capitol that Jesus of Nazareth was the longed-for Messiah they were awaiting. Both words, the Hebrew “Messiah” and the Greek title “Christ” mean the same thing – that is, “the Anointed One”. Jesus Himself had, in the synagogue of Nazareth, claimed to be the fulfilment of the central promise of the Old Testament (Is. 61:1-2) regarding the coming of the Messiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And they eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-21).
With this Old Testament promise, the Lord Jesus indirectly testified to the indissolubility of the Holy Trinity, whereby Yahweh (the Lord), His Spirit and the coming Messiah constitute and remain a continuous unity (John 10:30). Although Jesus was begotten of the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary, He received His equipping for office in His anointing with the Holy Spirit following His baptism in our stead by John the Baptist in the River Jordan (Matt. 3:13-17). The special charge upon the Messiah was and remained the proclamation of the gospel to the poor and desperate. Most of the rich and beautiful, strong and clever, as well as a good number of the pious, believe they have no need of Him. The Son of Man, however, has come to seek and to save that which was lost (Matt. 18:11; Luke 19:10).
Peter was the first of the twelve disciples to recognize this faculty of Christ, when he said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Jesus answered and said to him: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:16-17).
This confirmation by Christ shows that the recognition of Jesus as the promised Messiah does not simply result because of an intellectual understanding on the part of man. Much more, it requires a direct revelation of the living God. The Lord Jesus further confirmed that He would build His church upon this confession of Peter, and not upon political, social or philosophic ideas and programs of the different peoples of this world (John 18:36).
When Jesus stood bound before the judicial High Council of His people, the ruling high priest said to Him: “I adjure You by the living God that You tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “It is as you said, Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?” They answered and said, “He is deserving of death.” Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands” (Matt. 26:63-67).
Jesus had never visited or evangelized a member of the high priest family. Only one of the 71 deputy members of the high council (Sanhedrin) came to Him, and that by night (John 3:1-2). When Jesus stood before His judges, charged with sedition of the people, He remained silent until the ruling high priest, Caiaphas, placed Him under oath in the name of God (Elohim) to confess if He was the Messiah and Son of God. Jesus had waited for this unique opportunity and went on to indirectly confirm the leading judge: you have spoken truly, yet you do not believe what you know and said. I confess that I am the “Son of Man”, who, in accordance with Daniel 7:13-14 has been given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. You will kill Me bodily, but from hell you will see how I will sit at the right hand of the power, for David prophesied of Me: “The Lord said to my Lord, `Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool`” (Ps. 110:1). You do not allow Me, as an accused, to speak out a name of God. But I will reveal to you who He is: He is the Power, the Elementary Power and the Omnipotent One, who created and maintains all things. Without Him there is no foundational power. He will honour Me and seat Me at His right hand, because I reconciled the corrupt world to Him through My solitary sacrifice of atonement. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me (Matt. 11:27; 28:18), and I will come with the clouds of heaven to judge the living and the dead, just as Daniel prophesied to you.
The representatives of the people and the judges of the Sanhedrin understood immediately this revelation of Jesus. They grasped that the one standing shackled before them was laying the claim to be their judge. Indirectly He was summoning them to fall down before Him, worship Him and plead for mercy. Therefore, with an absolute majority they joined together in condemning Him to death, spat upon Him and struck Him in the face. Jesus, however, who was the true High Priest, prayed for them while hanging on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do!” (Luke 23:34).
Paul had seen the risen Christ on the road to Damascus when He appeared to him in His sublime majesty. In his thirteen letters he testified more than forty times of His soon return (Rom. 13:11-12; Phil. 4:5 etc.). Through His power and authority the dead will be raised and the final judgment carried through under His supreme sovereignty (1 Cor. 3:13; 4:5; 2 Cor. 5:10 etc.). Christ is our Lord and our Judge. He has already revealed the verdict and what He will speak to those at His right hand: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!” (Matt. 25:34). But to those at His left hand He will have to say: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels!” (Matt. 25:41).
Paul was the ambassador and the envoy of Christ to all the non-Jewish nations. In his service as an evangelist, he proclaimed with absolute precision the will of his risen Lord, as well as the message of His grace and His peace. As a result, scores of people were brought to salvation. The ministry of reconciliation of God´s apostle to the nations is unceasingly continuing on today with great power! (2 Cor. 5:20).
In the 27 letters of the New Testament, we find the word “Christ” five hundred and sixty-nine times as the official title for Jesus. Blessed is the one who reads these words, considers, and then translates them into believing prayer.
Do we really know Jesus?
This name, which shoves all other names on earth far into the background, was dictated through the Angel Gabriel to Joseph, the adopted-father of the newborn child: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:20-21). Translated literally, Jesus means: “Yahweh helps and saves”. The linguistic root of this name is contained in hundreds of verbs and nouns of the Old Testament.
As the Lamb of God, Jesus took the sins of the entire world population throughout all ages upon Himself. He substitutionally bore man´s punishment. In so doing, He also atoned for every sin of His own people. He need not once again die for the Jews to redeem them from their transgressions. He completed salvation for His own people. Yet the overwhelming majority of His people close themselves to His salvation and either willingly or indifferently rejects His forgiveness. Jesus freed His people from all their sin and thus fulfilled the meaning in His unique name.
Paul expressly wrote about those who belong to the people of Jesus: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God” (Rom. 2:28-29). Does that mean that only born-again Jews belong to the people of God? Peter, the speaker for the twelve disciples of Jesus, testified to his churches with authority and power who it is that constitute God´s people today: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light; who were once not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Pet. 2:9-10). The Apostle Paul was also personally called by Jesus to be His ambassador, to proclaim and cause to be realized such a sensational truth.
In a questionnaire that asked about the most beloved words of Jesus, the following verse was named by both young and old as the most helpful : “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). Far more people than we realize suffer under external or internal temptation, burdens and sins. To them Jesus offers a solution: His yoke! Together with His heavenly Father, He went under the same yoke. He renounced having His own will prevail and walked fully in the step and unison of His Father. Together, both redeem and save the world even today. Whoever wants to have true peace rule in his heart must accept and practice the meekness and humility of heart of Jesus. When it came to solving a difficult problem, the leader of a house for deaconesses is reported to have said to her younger and older sisters: “The door at the bottom is always open”. Whoever is ready to serve with Jesus under His yoke need be ready to adapt himself to the tempo, pace and direction of Jesus. Otherwise he will wind up breaking his own neck. For His part, Jesus is ready to bear not only the entire yoke but the person under it as well, just as if an elephant and an ant were made to go together under the same yoke.
Paul completely gave up his way, along with his methods and idealistic inclinations, when he accepted the yoke of Jesus. Because of that he was able to live meekly and humbly of heart even while he was undergoing long house arrest while waiting trial. By way of his faithful obedience, he became the ambassador of Jesus among all peoples of earth. How clearly Paul understood the way of his Lord can be seen in his letter to the church in Philippi: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:5-11).
We were asked by Muslims in a seminar in Chad whether the Christians were better than the Muslims. Under the leading of Jesus, we answered them that in both cultures the fathers made an effort to raise their children so that they would come to a good position in life. But what were they to do when suddenly enemies appeared intent on harming them? The Koran commands them: “Kill them wherever you find them” (Sura Al-Baqara 2:191). Jesus said, however: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:44-45). Our God is a humble God. His meekness and humility are brilliant rays of His unending great love.
Whoever follows Jesus will be transformed into His likeness. The name “Jesus” is found nine hundred and seventy-five times in the New Testament. Professor Adolf Schlatter, who had memorized the entire New Testament in Greek, including its footnotes, wrote near the end of his life a book with the title “Do we know Jesus?” (Kennen wir Jesus). He wanted to make it apparent to the Christians of his country that they should not just profess to know Jesus, but rather, they should grow deeper into His character, His words and His deeds. We truly only know Jesus to the extent that we live out what He said.
The students in a grade school received an assignment in their religion class to write a short composition on the subject: “Who is Jesus?” All were sweating and writing whatever came to their minds from the gospel. One young girl, however, wrote only a short sentence and then laid her pen down. The surprised teacher asked her whether she did not know more about the Son of Mary. She replied, however: “What I have written is enough for me!” What was it she wrote down in her exercise book? “Jesus is my Savior!” (Matt. 11:25-26).
Through the Will of God
In the church circles in and around Ephesus, there were surprisingly many Jews and Jewish Christians who were liberal and critical. Since the time of the conquest of Jerusalem by Pompey in 63 B.C., they had come to take full advantage of the economic and geographic opportunities available in the Roman Empire. They were not satisfied with the confession of Paul, that he was an ambassador of the Messiah Jesus. Rather, they demanded from him a confirmation that the Lord of the Old Covenant Himself would be the One sending Paul. In the event he could not provide this proof, there would be lacking in both him and in his service divine authority.
Paul answered this question by referring to the will of God, which was also the will of the Messiah Jesus, as well as of he himself. Christ had testified to His disciples in Samaria: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). In His words to Philip just before He departed He said: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:10).
Between God and Christ there was always a complete unity of will, as well as complete harmony present in intentions, commands and miracles. That became especially apparent in the prayers of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He unconditionally submitted Himself to the will of His Father (Matt. 26:39-44). Yet if the will of Christ and the will of God constitute an absolute unity, then the sending of Paul through the Messiah was also a sending of the living God.
In referring to the will of God in his letterhead, Paul made it known that his words and deeds did not arise from his own human will, and that he was not merely advancing his own personal wishes and hopes. Rather, he was loyally submitted to the Creator of all the worlds and to the Covenant God Yahweh. Even his confinement under house arrest was nothing more than the realization of the will of God for him as the envoy of his Messiah. His divine plans often look different than our appointment calendar suggests. Blessed is the one who has unconditionally entrusted himself to the leading of God and His Christ.
Prayer: Father in heaven, we thank You from our hearts that Your Son Jesus stopped the fanatical Saul on the road to Damascus, pardoned him, and then sent him as Paul to the non-Jewish nations. We entreat You, call also today many servants and handmaids and send them to those without hope - wherever You desire! Amen.
Questions:
- Why did Saul call himself “Paul” in his missionary service for Jesus Christ?
- What does the word “apostle” mean?
- What does the title “Christ” mean in the New Testament?
- How do you describe “Jesus” to your friends?
- What is the will of God in your life?