“Ephesians 3”

Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Verses 1-13 serve to show us how the Bible, the revealed will of God, fits into the big picture we have referred to as God’s scheme of redemption.

Previously a mystery (that which is unknown, but knowable), it was revealed piece by piece through God’s Holy Spirit. In some ways, it is like a jigsaw puzzle that comes together one puzzle piece at a time until eventually you can make out the entire picture.

Paul says that as he and other inspired writers received the message from God, they wrote it down and when we read it, we have the ability to understand it. He makes the same point in Ephesians 5:17 where he plainly says that we can understand the will of God. It was written for the common person, just like you and me. He calls this process, revelation, which means to uncover or explain something that had not been known up to that time.

So in the Bible, we have the mind of God made known to mankind. The Scriptures are inspired, breathed out by God for our eternal salvation.

“For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words” (1 Corinthians 2:11-13, NASV, updated).

In verses 14-21, Paul begins to remind these first century disciples of the love of Christ for the world. Those who are His can comprehend its “width and length and depth and height.”

Being a Christian means being more like Christ. The real qualities of personal, spiritual strength are inner, not outer. Having Christ to live in us helps us to be more patient, gentle, kind, humble, pure and loving. People around us should be able to see the difference that Jesus makes in our lives. He makes us better, stronger, more faithful. God is able to use us to accomplish great things in His kingdom, more than we ask or can even imagine. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

The chapter concludes with a forceful statement about God’s power working in His people to accomplish more than we can ask or even imagine. This power, He says, is released when His church does all things to His glory.

--Roger Hillis

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