Anyone who reads St. Paul’s epistles knows he had a rare gift for crowding a huge number of thoughts into a remarkably few number of words. Perhaps this is nowhere more evident than in this opening chapter of the Book of Ephesians. Paul grapples with limits of human language as he seeks to convey the immensity of God’s work in, and purposes for us, and indeed in all creation. It’s important that we recognize that Paul’s teaching is rooted in and leads to worship (Eph.1:3 & 6). Things go awry quickly when we don’t see the connection between doctrine and devotion.
It's such an important passage in the midst of a series such as the one we are doing in the run up to Easter. We have been reflecting on different dynamics in God’s work at the cross, this creation-defining moment when the Son offers Himself unblemished, by the Spirit, to the Father (Heb.9:14). We have a fatal propensity to reduce everything – even something as vast as the death of Christ – to the confines and limits of our own experience of life. What does this mean for me? … or perhaps what does it mean for my Church? Paul won’t let us be so minimalistic. It isn’t that the Cross has nothing to say to our personal experience. Rather, the problem is that if we confine our thinking, worship and vision to that we end up with a truncated and disfigured idea of what is going on. And that will hinder our whole discipleship project. We end up seeing things like ‘adoption’ (Eph.1:5), ‘forgiveness’ (Eph.1:7), and ‘redemption’ (Eph.1:7) as ends in themselves. We even end up thinking that ‘grace’ itself finds its terminus in me.
Paul refuses to let us be so parochial. He puts the Cross, the shedding of Christ’s blood, in the context of God’s purposes for the whole of creation. Purposes that stretch back before its beginning and that will continue into the everlasting ages of its renewal. Purposes that cannot be derailed or disrupted. When we become Christians, we don’t invite the Living God in our lives and plans, as if we fit Him into what we already have going on. We are invited and included in His life and His plans and purposes for all of creation. And grasping that give us a very different perspective on what is happening when we are ‘included in Christ’ (Eph.1:13), and what inevitably follows.
Questions:
How does words like ‘chosen’ (1:4 & 11) and ‘predestined’ (1:5 & 11) make you feel as a Christian? Do they connect with worship (1:3 & 6), and your sense of God’s love (1:5) in the way we see in Paul, or does it cause you anxiety and concern?
What is the Father’s purpose in choosing us from before the creation of the world (1:4)? What do you think Paul envisages in that? How is it reflected in your own life as a Christian, and in your involvement in MIE?
How many ‘spiritual blessings in Christ’ (1:3) can you identify in this passage? How would you explain them to someone who wasn’t a Christian?
What is God’s will and purpose for creation? How should that shape the way we engage with Church life?
How are people included in God’s purposes for creation? How does that affect our idea about what it means to be a Christian… or to be part of a Church?
How does the Cross fit into those purposes?
Why is the Holy Spirit described as ‘a seal’ (1:13), and a deposit (1:14)? How does that shape our expectations of our experiencing His presence? What would someone be like if they really understood these elements of the Spirit’s ministry amongst His people?
What is ‘our inheritance’ (1:14) that the Spirit guarantees? Why does Paul talk about those who will inherit as ‘those who are God’s possession’ (1:14)? How do you feel about that?
