Ephesians: Session 1 – The Amazing Plan God has for Us

Notes:

The Amazing Plan God Has For Us – Ephesians 1:1-6

Eph. 1:1-3. Living from the riches of God’s grace. The unsaved is concerned with earthly riches because that’s where he lives. Our interest is with heavenly riches because we are seated in heavenly places. Every Christian has a human address and a divine address. Our earthly address could be in prison, a Third World country, or a modern city. But the spiritual address of all Christians is “in the heavenly places in Christ”.

The work of our salvation involves the three Persons of the Trinity:

The Father planned it –  Eph. 1:4-6. The Son purchased it – Eph. 1:7-12. The Spirit applies it – Eph. 1:13-14.

Note that each section ends with: “to the praise of the glory of His grace” or something similar.

The Father Planned Our Salvation From Eternity…

  • Eph. 1:3. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing, beginning with His choosing us and ending with being filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19).
  • All that we have as believers comes through Him who is in the heavenly places. Christ is seated there in His glorified body (Eph. 1:20). By the new birth we are joined to Him, sharing in His life. What is true of Him is true of us spiritually. As He is, so are we in this world.
  • Eph. 1:4-5. Chosen and predestined. Election refers to people; predestination to purposes. To predestine means to determine beforehand. Before the foundation of the world, God’s plan and purpose was to have a people who would be redeemed and become His sons.
  • We don’t get into God’s family by adoption but by regeneration. At regeneration we receive the nature of children of God. Adoption is the granting of God’s children the status of sons.
  • We are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world to be “holy and without blame before Him in love”. Holy = set apart. Blameless = not sinless, but handling our sin the correct way. In Christ we are blameless. In love = True holiness is characterised by love. The greatest evidence of redemption in a person is that all hostility, fear and enmity towards God is removed and replaced with love. We are now lovers of God, and we delight in Him.
  • Eph. 1:6 – We are “accepted” in the Beloved. This is the same word as in Lk. 1:28. “And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” He has highly favoured us.
  • Not only as He placed us in Him, but He has come into us. As He entered Mary physically, so He has entered us spiritually. Our bodies have become the temple of the Holy Spirit.
  • The beloved, i.e. His only begotten Son. This is God’s eternal Son, whom He loved from eternity. There never was a beginning for the Father’s love for the Son. He has always enjoyed the whole of the Father’s love (Matt.3:17; 17:5). The Son was in the bosom of the Father eternally. This One came into the world to save us, Rom.8:32.
  • We are now God’s beloved (John 17:23; Col.3:12;  2 Thes.2:13).
  • God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts? Why? So that we would feel like Jesus in the presence of the Father (see Gal.4:4-6).

Summary: Drink all of the riches of God’s grace. The early church majored on majors. This is obvious when we read the epistles of the Paul. The great doctrines we have looked at here were their majors. Although Paul addressed specific issues within certain churches, the majority of his time was spent teaching and reminding believers of the eternal love that God has for them through Christ, and their identity in Him. He understood that right believing produces right living (see Galatians 6:14;  1 Corinthians 2:2).


  # Answers to this quiz are found in the notes above. Click on quiz to commence. Only correct spelling is recognised. A minimum 70%  correct is required to advance to the next session.