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This post is adapted from my teaching at Patmos on Ephesians 1:1–23.
Whenever I introduce a new book to my students at church, I love starting with a visual. So before diving into Ephesians, watch the BibleProject overview video. As it plays,notice the major themes of the letter: What is Paul trying to show us? Why does this letter matter?
The BibleProject makes it clear: Ephesians is about the spiritual realm, the unity of the Church, and the lordship of Christ.
Those three emphases saturate this entire letter.
And as we read our passage, Ephesians 1:1–23, pay attention to what it reveals about the gospel around four anchor points: Father, Son, Spirit, and prayer.
There’s also a refrain that occurs three times in this passage:“to the praise of His glorious grace.”In the live teaching, every time we hit that line, we read it aloud together.
As you read it you might read that part out loud too.
Reading of Scripture: Ephesians 1:1–23
Introduction (vv. 1–2)
Paul opens this letter in a very intentional way. He could have begun with any number of greetings or personal notes, but instead he starts like this:
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God… to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus.”
Paul identifies himself first: an apostle: literally, a sent one, an ambassador, an official representative of Jesus Christ, by the will of God.
Right from the start Paul frames reality through the activity of the Triune God. His identity and calling are rooted in what God has done, not what he has chosen.
And that’s not just true for Paul…
“My hope is that each of you could say something similar: Zach, called to Patmos by the will of God… Justin, called to this job or that by the will of God.”
Where you are is not random.Your life is shaped by God’s initiative.
Then Paul identifies his audience:
“The saints in Ephesus, faithful in Christ Jesus.”
He could’ve described them in a dozen ways whether economically, culturally, morally but he chooses this: holy ones.Set-apart people.
Despite their struggles, failures, background, and environment, Paul declares their truest identity: holy people, faithful in Christ.
It’s both a proclamation and a gentle challenge:“You are this; so live like this.”
Knowing the story of the Ephesian church in Acts 19, it’s no surprise Paul begins with identity. He reminds them who they already are:a people set apart for God’s redemptive purposes in the world, in a particular place, at a particular time.
Just like them, you are a people in a place, set apart for God’s purposes.That’s the foundation.
After this opening, Paul launches into one of the most remarkable sentences in Scripture.In Greek, verses 3–14 are one single, rolling, cascading sentence as if Paul cannot contain the overflow of praise in his heart.
Before he even gets to his usual thanksgiving and prayer, he erupts with worship.
Why?
Because when Paul considers what God has done—Father, Son, and Spirit moving with unified purpose toward salvation—he sees the entire universe folding into this reality.This is ground zero for understanding everything else.
This entire opening is structured with a repeated refrain:
“to the praise of His glorious grace.”A refrain signaling transitions from the Father’s work, to the Son’s, to the Spirit’s, and ultimately into Paul’s prayer.
Let’s walk through each movement.
The Reality of the Purposes of the Father (vv. 3–6)
Paul begins:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
In Scripture, blessing always begins with God.He is the source of life, goodness, and abundance.When God blesses someone, whether Adam and Eve, Abraham, David, His words accomplish what they declare.
When humans bless God, we’re simply acknowledging who He already is.
And Paul does something remarkable here.He doesn’t say, “Blessed be the God of Abraham” or “the God of Moses,” the traditional Jewish formulas.Instead he blesses “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul, steeped his whole life in a Jewish worldview, has had his imagination so reshaped by Jesus that he cannot speak of God without speaking of Him as the Father of Jesus.
Why this blessing?
Paul continues:
“…who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
Again, God is always the initiator.As 1 John says,
“We love because He first loved us.”
Likewise, Paul blesses because God first blessed.
Here’s where many of us stumble:When Western Christians hear “in the heavenly places,” we picture clouds, harps, and a distant future location.
But Paul isn’t talking about some far-off realm.In Ephesians, the heavenly places is the unseen spiritual dimension that overlaps our physical reality, God’s space is present and active right now.
This isn’t “future pie in the sky.”It’s the truest layer of reality.
Paul then goes all the way back to the origin of this blessing:
“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world… in love He predestined us for adoption…”
This isn’t cold calculation.It flows from “the good pleasure of His will.”From love.From grace.
This is the master plan plotted out, rehearsed, perfectly executed. Better than any heist or movie ever.” The Father’s plan is first, ultimate, and overflowing with delight.
And Paul responds with the only fitting refrain:
“…to the praise of His glorious grace.”
This leads naturally to how Jesus Himself lived.Jesus said:
“I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me… I always do what pleases Him.” (John 8:28–29)
Jesus lived entirely from the Father’s purposes.And by His Spirit, He gives us the means to do the same.
The Reality of Being in the Son (vv. 7–12)
Paul shifts seamlessly from the Father’s eternal purposes to the Son’s redemptive work. He writes:
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins…”
Notice the phrase “in Him.”Not because of Him.Not as a result of something He once did.But in Him.
Paul is talking about locationm, spiritual reality, and identity.
We think we’re “in El Salvador,” or “in this classroom,” or “in our hometown.” And those things are true.But even more true, at the deepest level of reality, we are in Christ.
There is a dimension of our existence that is unseen but more real than what we touch and feel.Paul keeps lifting the veil so we can see it.
Redemption (v. 7)
In Scripture, redemption always involves two things:
* A price being paid
* A person being set free
In Jesus, both are accomplished. His blood was the price. Our liberation is the result.
Redemption isn’t abstract. It’s bodily, costly, historical. Jesus’ physical life laid down on a cross.
Ryken puts it this way (paraphrased):
In the Exodus, salvation was from Egypt into the promised land.In Christ, salvation is from sin into glory.
It’s always a two-step movement:
Out of bondage and into fullness.
God never simply rescues from.He always rescues into.
This theme frames all of Scripture and Paul sees that movement unfolding in the Ephesians’ own story.
Forgiveness (v. 7)
Forgiveness means release, letting go, cancellation of debt.No longer do we carry the weight of our offenses.No longer do our trespasses define us.
Why?Because of the “riches of His grace.”Grace that overflows, abounds, pours out like a river that cannot be turned off.
Revealed Mystery (vv. 8–10)
Paul says God has:
“made known to us the mystery of His will.”
God wants us on the inside. He wants His people to understand the story they are living in.
In Christ, the divine plan, once hidden, is now revealed:
“…the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.”
All of history, all of creation, all spiritual powers, all human destiny —Everything is headed toward unity in Christ.
Inheritance (vv. 11–12)
Paul writes:
“In Him we have obtained an inheritance…”
But the language is intentionally ambiguous.Are we receiving the inheritance?Or are we God’s inheritance?
The answer seems to be:Yes.We get God.And in His love, He desires us.
Then Paul adds:
“He works all things according to the counsel of His will.”
Not that God causes all things, but He controls the outcome of all things.Christ fills the Church, and the Church is filled with Christ.
I put it this way in the teaching:
“When you’re in the house, you can’t also be outside the house. When you’re in Christ, you are in Christ. You can’t simultaneously be outside of Him.”
This leads to one of my favorite quotes from Klyne Snodgrass:
“People sin because they forget God.How strange that we forget the very place we live.”
We live in Christ; in the life of the Trinity.From that place, we learn how to live for Him.
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The Reality of Being Sealed by the Spirit (vv. 13–14)
Paul brings the movement full-circle:
“In Him you also, after hearing the word of truth… having believed, were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
The order matters:
* You heard.
* You believed.
* You were sealed.
The image Paul uses is that of a royal seal a governor pressing his signet ring into wax to mark ownership.
God marks His people.He declares, “This one belongs to Me.”
The Spirit of Promise (v. 13)
This isn’t a new idea.The Spirit was promised long before Jesus:
Ezekiel 36:26–27
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you… I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees…”
Ezekiel 37:14
“I will put my Spirit in you and you will live…”
Isaiah 32:15
“…till the Spirit is poured on us from on high…”
This was always part of the plan when from eternity, the Father purposed to give His people His very own Spirit.
Down Payment (v. 14)
Paul describes the Spirit as:
“…the guarantee of our inheritance…”
In modern language:The non-refundable deposit.The first installment.Proof that God is not backing out.
God has invested Himself in His people.
And what is Paul’s response?Praise.Deep, theological, meaningful praise.The more he understands the work of the Father, Son, and Spirit — the more he worships.
Jesus Himself said:
“It is for your good that I go away… if I go, I will send the Helper to you.”(John 16:7)
Jesus lived a Spirit-empowered life.Then He shed His blood so we could be sealed with that same Spirit, knowing God, hope, and power.
And that leads Paul straight into prayer.
Prayer for the Revealing of Reality (vv. 15–23)
Paul begins:
“For this reason…”
For what reason?
Everything he just said.The Father’s purposes.The Son’s redemption.The Spirit’s seal.This entire Trinity-shaped reality.
Paul can’t move on without praying that the Ephesians would actually experience the truth of what God has done.
Paul opens his prayer with gratitude:
“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”
This is Paul’s pattern.Before he asks for anything, he thanks God for what He has already done.
Then he prays from a deeply Trinitarian perspective:
“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him…”
Paul isn’t praying for new information.He’s praying for revelation, apokalypsis, which is a pulling back of the curtain so they can see what is already true.
He wants them to know God more deeply, personally, experientially.
1. Know Your True Hope (v. 18)
Paul prays:
“…that you may know what is the hope of His calling…”
As one commentator put it, “What you hope for is what you live for.”
Christian hope is not merely about “going to heaven when we die.”It is far bigger: A renewed creation, a renewed humanity, a renewed world under the reign of Christ. This is the future God is pulling us toward.
2. Know His Inheritance (v. 18)
Paul continues:
“…what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints…”
Not our inheritance. His.
God counts His people as His treasure.His “riches.”His delight.
It is staggering to Paul, and he wants the Ephesians to feel that weight.
3. Know the Power Available to You (vv. 19–20)
Then Paul prays that they would understand:
“…the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe…”
He stacks up four different Greek words for power: power, working, strength, might all to make one point clear:
This power is not something you can earn, grow, or develop.It is a gift of the Spirit.
And what is the measure of this power?
“…the same power He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead…”
Resurrection power.Enthroning power.Cosmic, universe-reshaping power.
And Paul says this power is toward us. It is available, present, active.
Christ Above All (vv. 20–23)
God raised Jesus:
“…and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion…”
In the Ephesian worldview, “rule,” “authority,” “power,” and “dominion” referred to spiritual beings, cosmic forces, cultural powers or everything that influenced the unseen realm.
Paul says Christ is above all of them.
And then:
“He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church…”
Which is His body.His fullness.The community He fills with His presence.
It’s like having the keys to the car but not realizing it. So you’re not driving it. The power is in the garage, available to you.
Paul wants believers to know what they already have.
Paul’s final movement pushes us toward response:
* Be holy. Live set-apart lives because God has already set you apart.
* Hope, riches, and power which are the very things the world chases are already yours in Christ.
* Does your life reflect the power of Christ?
* Does your weakness become a place where His strength shows?
For Paul, power is perfected in weakness.Patmos is a powerful example of this. A place where your weakness is unavoidable and Christ’s strength becomes unmistakable.
This entire chapter is good news:
* The Father purposed and planned our redemption before the foundation of the world.
* The Son accomplished it in His blood and draws us into union with Himself.
* The Spirit seals, indwells, guarantees, empowers, and reveals.
When Paul considers all this, he erupts in praise and prayer.A worldview shaped by the character and activity of the Triune God overwhelms him with joy, gratitude, and worship.
Conclusion
Ephesians 1:1–23 reveals the gospel through four lenses:
1. The purposes of the Father2. The reality of being in the Son3. The certainty of being sealed by the Spirit4. The prayer that we would see and live into this reality
This is the story truer than any other story in the world.
And Paul’s longing, and mine, is that you would not only know this story,but actually experience it:
* to know the hope of His calling
* to know the riches of His inheritance
* to know the immeasurable power available to you
* to live in the fullness of what the Triune God has done
May this reality shape how you see yourself, your world, and your God.
Amen.
Recommended Resource:
BibleProject has free seminary level classes and they did one through the letter to the Ephesians that I have thoroughly benefited from which you can check out here!
