Ephesians: Part 1 - Ch. 1-2

Jesse Wyld
May 15
4 min read

The Blessings of Salvation

As we move on to the second half of the month of May, we will now be looking at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. We recently wrapped up the book of Galatians during the first few weeks of this month by breaking down the short yet powerful 6-chapter letter that Paul wrote them. His letter to the Ephesians is very similar in length as well. This letter to the Ephesians is also 6 chapters long and discusses some very strong and well-known ideas. As Got Questions accurately puts it, “Ephesians will help to fortify and to establish the believer so he can fulfill the purpose and calling God has given. The aim of this epistle is to confirm and to equip a maturing church.” As you may have noticed, Paul is building off of his ideas he gave to the Galatians and is diving deeper into how we as believers should live out our lives now that we have been transformed by the gospel. Besides this post, which tackles the intro to the letter, we will be looking at one chapter per post to see what Paul really wants to highlight here when it comes to Christian living. Despite how repetitive Paul may sound at certain points, there are a few things we must keep in mind; first, when we see ideas repeated, we should understand it’s because of how important our Lord views this topic and we should avoid glossing over it, and second, Paul was writing to multiple churches not just one, so ideas needed to be shared multiple times. When we understand this, we can truly open our eyes to how God views our lives instead of glossing over a chapter or two simply because we think we already know what it says. As we tackle this letter, may we humbly come before God’s word, eager to learn whatever He has for us. With this in mind, let’s dive in.

Every Spiritual Blessing

To start, Paul opens up his letter to the Ephesians by discussing the spiritual blessings that they all have in Christ. This first chapter is a powerful one when you realize what Paul is saying here. Look at what Paul says in Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” Right here, Paul tells the Ephesians that believers in Christ are blessed with every spiritual blessing. Now, immediately your mind goes to, ‘What is every spiritual blessing?’ And that is answered for us if we keep reading. As you go through the rest of this chapter, you will see multiple statements about how we are blessed by God. In fact, this opening chapter has 3 statements alone that begin with ‘In Him’. These verses are phrased this way because when we read them, we understand that what follows is a blessing that can only be obtained by living in Christ. While this chapter is only 23 verses long, I encourage every believer to read through it and understand the blessings that God has made available to us. This chapter is a very encouraging one for all Christ-followers to read and understand, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Grace Through Faith

Paul then dives into what I consider to be one of the most famous chapters in all of the New Testament. Why? Because Paul beautifully lays out what salvation looks like and how we achieve it in such a simple and practical manner. The first 3 verses of chapter 2 discuss how we are all dead apart from God, with no hope of finding a savior to free us from our sin. Why does Paul hit on this so harshly? He wants us to understand that if we are saved today, the only reason we are is because of Him and Him alone. After discussing how we are dead in our sins, look at what Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-6 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” It is God who has made us alive in Christ, not us who just decided to wake up and choose Him one day. Our flesh is no match for this world that we live in or the sin that surrounds us, it is only by the grace of God that we are even able to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ in the first place.

This is why Paul follows this up with the passage that explains the process of salvation in such a simple and practical way. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” If you have ever heard that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, this is where that phrase comes from. I love this passage because it breaks down salvation so clearly and yet so simply. Do you notice what is not required to be saved? Works. There is nothing here that requires mankind’s efforts in order to achieve salvation. That’s why it is even included at the end of this passage. This salvation that we have received is not of ourselves; it is from God, so that no one may boast. It is that simple. Paul then concludes this chapter by talking about how Gentiles have been grafted into God’s salvation plan and reminds the Galatians that they are no longer strangers to the gospel but rather have become citizens of Christ and can be saved like anyone else. This is a beautiful opening that Paul has to this letter, and I hope that it fills you with encouragement and humility. May you walk away from this reading understanding that you are blessed beyond measure because of how gracious your heavenly Father is, and may you live a humble life understanding that it is God who has indeed saved you by His grace through faith in Christ.