Home -- English -- Ephesians -- 004 (Apostolic Blessing)
Previous Lesson -- Next Lesson
The Apostolic Blessing of Paul (Ephesians 01:02)
Ephesians 1:2
1:2 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul began most of his letters with such an apostolic greeting. He consolidated the apostolic message into a few words. In this way he had made clear from the very beginning the theme and content of his letters. He testified to every recipient just what a spiritual message he desired to give.
Grace to you!
Whoever reads the creation accounts (Gen. 1:1-2, 7; 15-25; 3:1-19) can recognize that God created man and woman in His own likeness and that His creation was very good. He forbid them, however, to experiment with evil, commanding them not to take it into themselves, else they become infected by it. Yet when they disobeyed His command, He drove them out of Paradise. They became godless, and one even went on to kill his own brother (Gen. 4:1-12). The misery of ice-cold egoism spread out to the whole world, reaching into our very own day.
Yet God sent His own beloved Son into the world to save corrupt mankind (John 3:16), who took the sin of vile man upon Himself and suffered their punishment on the cross. Reprobates were justified with no compensatory merit of their own, whether they knew and recognized it or not. The abounding grace of God became freely available to all sinners. It became their one-time-only great chance, for all men had become evil. Yet by grace they were all justified! Sadly, this exciting fact is believed by only a few. Nevertheless, whoever grasps this mystery and believes on the grace extended to him receives the full cleansing of his conscience. Furthermore, he comes to experience the consolation and power of the Holy Spirit. Today we can speak to each one we meet on the street or in the home and assure him or her: God loves you! He has opened to you the righteousness of grace through Jesus Christ. Receive what belongs to you. Thereby you will become a happy person, eternally secure in the love of your God.
On several occasions Paul described this mystery. He informed the Romans: “For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24).
He assured the believers in Corinth: “that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ´s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (I Cor. 5:19-21).
Whoever comprehends and believes these facts has the free justification of faith realized in him. He has been justified for all eternity for the sake of the love of God and His Son. From the very beginning Paul personally assured the recipients of His letter in Ephesus of this, and went on to encourage them to further proclaim this “right of justification” to those around them.
The Peace of God our Father is yours!
Jesus gave a fundamental promise to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). Christ bequeathed the peace and rest of His own heart to His disciples. Following the cleansing from all their sins, they were to receive the power of the Holy Spirit. A part of His eternal fruit they were to receive is the very peace that is present in heaven (Gal. 5:22).
To that end, Paul confessed: “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Gal. 5:22).
There remains a present for the followers of Christ that far surpasses their understanding. The peace that rests in the Creator of all things enters them when they remain in the spiritual realm of the Messiah. The unrest of our day and age and the unconscious fear of death and final judgment need be taken from them, not because they are good or perfect in themselves, but because they have accepted the forgiveness of their sins through the grace and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Through faith in their Savior Jesus, they, beginning here on earth, start to live in the peace of heaven.
On the evening of Easter Sunday, following His resurrection from the dead, when Jesus suddenly appeared in a closed room to His disciples, He greeted them with the words: “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). He did not scold them because of their lack of faith or their flight on Friday evening. H had atoned for their guilt on the cross and encouraged them to believe in their peace with God. The great atonement with the almighty Creator was already completed. The peace of God began to flow into Jesus´ believers. Yet the disciples were not too quick to understand what they saw and heard. Therefore the One who had risen from the dead repeated His greeting: “Peace to you!” (John 20:21) He this time added, however, an exciting sentence to it: “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). Each one of His followers should resemble a truck fully loaded with peace, not only for them to enjoy, but also to pass on to others who long for it.
This greeting from the One resurrected from the dead also amounted to a summons to his disciples: they were not to be obstinate in forcing their own stubborn will through. Much more, they were to forgive others and live together with them in humility and meekness. This constitutes the central command in the Law of Christ: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
There is no lasting peace without complete forgiveness of the mistakes of others. This only can happen when the power of the Holy Spirit drives us to humble petition and apology. Jesus did not say in vain: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9).
The Almighty God is our Father
The apostolic blessing continues and illuminates for us both the causes and conditions for the reception of this eternally valid grace and lasting peace.
Who is God? In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word “Theos” is used to translate the Hebrew word “Elohim”. Elohim is plural in form, and represents not a name for God but rather a general reference to the existence of God and His deity. So too, the Greek word “Theos” does not testify to any definite God, but refers only to the existence of an unfathomable Creator.
This is the distress and sickness of modern syncretism in which most religions speak of the existence of a higher being, while indirectly admitting they do not truly know the Exalted and Eternal One, but only surmise about Him (John 1:18). Some idealists go further and try to bring these religions nearer to one another or even to unite them – all in the interest of securing peace in the world. This, however, just serves as a preparation for the rule of the coming antichrist (Rev. 13:3b-8).
Paul was both enraged and saddened in Athens by the presence of the many gods and idols of the Greeks. He even tried, using a reference to an altar for an “Unknown God”, to make their philosophers aware of who had, in reality, created and redeemed the world and all existence (Acts 17:23). The Apostle to the Gentiles went on in the letter to the Ephesians to try and fill the empty concept of the title “Theos” with the name of the true God. He called Him “our Father”, in the sense and teaching of Christ and in the “Lord´s Prayer”.
In the Scriptures of the New Testament dealing with the words of Christ, we find about 200 verses that testify that the Holy Creator and the Lord of the Old Testament Covenant is “the Father of Jesus Christ” and “our Father”. The expression “our Father” appears only one time, and that in the primary prayer of Christians (Matt. 6:9a cf. Luke 11:2). By birth Jesus had the privilege and right to address the Creator and Lord of the Universe as His Father. He shared this, His right and privilege, with His followers and commanded them to also address the almighty God as their Father. This is a breathtaking invitation that shatters every conceivable form of earthly liturgy. Who are we to be able to say “our Father” to God?
Since receiving forgiveness and justification from our sins through the blood of Christ, there remains no sin to separate us from the thrice Holy One. In that He gave His Holy Spirit to indwell us, He not only adopted us legally, but also gave us the spiritual substance needed to address Him directly as “our Father”. In numerous verses the New Testament directs us to this epoch-making event.
Paul confessed:“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, `Abba, Father`. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:14-16).
With fascination, the Apostle John testified: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:1-2)
Furthermore, Jesus Christ commanded His followers: “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; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust… Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:44-45, 48).
Whoever carefully reads and contemplates this last verse can have a real shock. Who wants to say or even think that he is complete, just as God is complete? It does not say that we should be complete like God is, but be complete as our Father in heaven is. All that have a father have also received hereditary factors from him. In and of ourselves we cannot become complete or even dare to think so. Rather, the merciful gifts of the Father, His forgiveness, His justification for us and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, lead us down the straight path for “His name´s sake”. His fullness and completion is given to us by grace.
Happy is the person who knows that God is his Father. This believing one knows that the Almighty knows and loves him, cares for him and is always there for him. Such a person is never alone and never without hope. Even death has been overcome for him, for our Father is immortal and gives His eternal life to His children.
Paul testified in his apostolic blessing that this forgiving and justifying grace and divine peace from our Father in heaven had come to us. This recognition awakens in us a desire to continually give thanks and brings about worship in our hearts. Yet Paul went on to add that this fullness of blessing comes, in exactly the same way, from Jesus Christ, the Son of our heavenly Father.
Why do we confess that Jesus Christ is “the Lord”?
The angel who appeared by night to the shepherds, above the hills of Bethlehem, said to them: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the lord” (Luke 2:10-11). Even before His birth Jesus was the Lord of all lords, regardless of the fact that He was born in a cave used as a stable and laid in a manger for animals. In Him Yahweh, the Lord of the Old Covenant, became man in order to save us sinners from our impurity and distress.
The glory of Jesus remained hidden for most people of His day. Only His followers sensed and felt the majesty of their Lord, when He cast out demons of those possessed (Matt. 15:21-28; Mark 5:1-20), stilled the storm with His command (Matt. 8:18, 23-27), walked on the water of the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 14:23-33), healed all the sick who came to Him (Matt. 4:23-25; Mark 3:7-12; Luke 6:17-19), multiplied out of five breads and two fish with His prayer of thanksgiving enough food to feed 5,000 (Matt. 14:13-21) and raised three people from the dead (Mark 5:21-24; 35-43; Luke 7:11-15; John 11:32-45). His omnipotence and His love severely shook and awakened the hearts of those who came to believe in Him. They began to comprehend: Jesus is Lord!
Following His death on the cross, which reconciled us with the Holy God, He appeared to the penitent Peter. The other disciples shockingly confessed: “The Lord is risen indeed! (Luke 24:34). He appeared several times to His disciples and in the end testified to them: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth!” (Matt. 28:18).
From then on it was clear in the church of those who had been born-again: “Jesus is Lord!” Thomas, the sceptical disciple, after his doubt was removed, went even further and addressed Jesus as: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
When the risen Jesus appeared to Saul, the persecutor of His church, in blazing glory on the road to Damascus, he fell to the ground and heard a voice that spoke to him: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:4-5). At that time Saul had not yet believed in the Crucified One who had risen. Yet when he saw Him in His glory, it became crystal clear to him who it was standing before him: “The Lord” Himself!
After the disciple John had been deported to the barren island of Patmos, the Lord appeared to Him in His glory: John testified: Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death” (Rev. 1:12-18). This unique testimony of the patriarch John describes for us how today Jesus is Lord. Whoever trusts Him remains sheltered in His love for all eternity.
For two to three years Paul preached, answered questions, disarmed critics and explained the gospel every evening in the rented school hall of Tyrannus. In his more than 700 lectures to his interested listeners from the provincial capital and surroundings, he shared more than we could hope to discuss in this introduction. In his departing letter to them from prison, probably from Rome, he summarized all of his lectures in his one apostolic blessing. Thus there remains nothing left for us than to confess: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2:7 ).
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we worship You through Jesus Christ Your Son, for You revealed to the Apostle Paul the apostolic blessing, so that he could promise us perfect grace and eternal peace from You and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Please let this privilege also become a reality in many seeking men, women and young people around about us. Amen.
Questions:
- What does the grace of Jesus Christ mean to you?
- Why does the peace of God surpass all understanding?
- How is it that we possess the privilege to address the Almighty God as “our Father”
- What qualifies us to confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord”