Letters from Prison - Ephesians 1:1-14
Background
As Paul traveled about the Roman empire, he came to colonies and to cities where people were spiritually and materially impoverished -- they were poverty-stricken people. Many of them were slaves. They had nothing of this world's goods. They were depressed, discouraged, beset with fears and anxieties, jealousies, and hostilities. They were under the grip of superstition and filled with the dread of the future. They had no hope of life beyond death. And it was the apostle's great joy to unfold to them the riches available to them in Jesus Christ -- riches which, if accepted as facts, would free them, would transform them and make them over into wholly different people, would bring them into a sense of joy and love and faith and radiant experience. That happened again and again. So the apostle gloried in these exceeding great riches in Jesus Christ. You have these same riches.
The first three chapters of Ephesians deal with doctrine (teaching), and the last three with practice (application). In the first three chapters, he tells you what your riches are; and in the last three he tells you how to use them, in key areas such as sex, marriage and alcohol. Of course, there is some doctrine in the last three chapters and some application in the first three, but generally this is how Paul organized his material.
The first 3 chapters are filled with truth about who God is and what he’s done in the gospel; the last 3 chapters offer some of the most practical instruction you’ll find anywhere in the Bible— on marriage, forgiveness, conflict management, family, workplace relationships and a host of other day-to-day issues. Some say that you could do all your biblical counselling from Ephesians alone. This is said because Paul, in Ephesians, places so much emphasis on our identity being in Christ alone. As Christians, we live from our identity, not for it. We are defined by who we are in Christ. That’s why Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians the way he does; he defines himself, and he defines his listeners, both in relation to Jesus.
