Short Summaries of

Sermons on Ephesians

Thank God For His Grace

(Eph. 1:3a)

Unlike most of Paul's epistles, Ephesians contains no personal greeting to the local church. Nor does Paul express thanksgiving for them as he does for the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:4), the Philippians (Phil. 1:3), the Colossians (Col. 1:3), and the Thessalonians (1 Thes. 1:2; 2 The. 1:3). It is not, however, because Paul is angry with them, as is the case with the Galations, but rather that this letter is more formal. As a formal letter of instruction, it is not designed only for the Ephesians. It is for them and other churches, especially those composed largely or entirely of Gentile members.

To say that the letter is less personal is not, however, to say that it is coldly expounding theology. In place of the usual thanksgiving for the church, Paul substitutes praise to God. The sentence beginning in verse 3 continues to verse 14 and is over 200 words long. It is a doxology that expounds the grace of God in saving us from our sins. Paul not only teaches us here the most profound truths of Christian theology, but he also teaches us how we ought to study them--on our knees, giving praise to God.

By repeating three times the phrase "to the praise of," Paul seems to be specifically calling attention to the Trinity. He speaks in verse six of "the praise of the glory of his grace," and in verses twelve and fourteen of "the praise of his glory." From verse three to verse six Paul is speaking primarily of the Father's plan for our salvation, from verses seven through twelve of the Son's work for our salvation, and from verse thirteen to fourteen of the gift of the Spirit as the crown of our salvation. Blessed be the Triune God!

Blessed be God

We bless God by giving Him thanks for the blessings He bestows upon us. There have been thinkers in the West, influenced by Greek philosophy, who disdain the idea of praising God because He blesses us. They think that we should praise Him for who He is in Himself apart from the benefits that He provides. It is mercenary, they say, to give God thanks for His gifts. We should not think upon the gifts, but only upon the pure, holy greatness of His nature. This kind of thinking may sound spiritual, but it is perverse.

It reflects the Greek philosophical spirit that attempts to penetrate the very mind of God. Abstract contemplation of God's essence was considered by many in the middles Ages to be the hight of Christian spirituality. Modern pagans reflect the same attitude. Hegel, for example, in the introduction to his work on logic, wrote of his work that it was "the account of God as He is in His eternal essence before the creation of nature and any finite spirit." The outrageous pride expressed here is not peculiar to Hegel, it is, rather, typical of non-Christians philosophy.

This does not mean, by the way, that we ought to imitate a different kind of paganism and only thank God when He does what we wish. We are to thank Him always in all circumstances (1 Thes. 5:18; Col. 3:17). But we must also praise Him for His attributes and character. For us, His nature and His works can never be separated because His works are revelation. David, for example, frequently praises God for His nature, but it is always His nature as revealed in His works. The two are inseparable. Neither David or any other man, however, can do what Hegel claimed to do--know God as He is in Himself, before the creation of the world.

There are two basic problems with the kind of thinking that says "not for His blessings, but for His nature we praise Him." First, it is an implicit denial of our dependence upon Him. Sinful men do not want to admit that they must rely upon God for the very air they breathe, for their talents and abilities, for their health and success in this world. The idea that man should praise God for His attributes not His favors is a veiled rejection of God and His favors. Sinners will accept God as an equal who is worthy to be honored for His greatness, only so long as He will also acknowledge the sinner's autonomy.

The Christian, like a child relying on his father, trusts in God as the absolute Creator and Lord of all. We rejoice to confess that we are dependent on Him for our very existence. Every blessing that we enjoy in this life comes from Him alone, from the smallest, unnoticed, daily benefits to the blessings of salvation that Paul speaks of here. We, therefore, ought always to thank Him for everything He gives us. It is righteousness in a creature to joyfully acknowledge the gifts provided by the Creator. Men scorn the idea of continually thanking God for His blessings because they loathe to confess the absolute dependence of being a mere creature in His hands. Even more, men despise the idea of thanking God in our trials, for that requires the unquestioning faith of a little child who knows his Father and trusts that He always does good.

Second, men also revolt against His election. I am not speaking now of election to salvation, which is most offensive to the sinful rebel, but of the fact that God distributes gifts according to His will. We are born with different abilities and aptitudes. We did not chose our parents, our genes, our childhood environment. God made us what we are. All of our complaints about our natural endowments are a condemnation of God for having made us so. To be required to thank and praise Him for His benefits to us is to be obligated to confess that we must be satisfied with His gifts and that we have no claim on Him for something more. We have no right to compare ourselves with others to despise His goodness either to us or them.

True faith is distinguished by humble thanksgiving. In particular we should be daily filled with thanksgiving for the great blessing of salvation. To praise Him continually for the blessings He has given us in Christ is only to confess that He is our Creator and Saviour. It is a testimony to the weakness of our faith if our prayers are primarily requests for more blessings, with very little in the way of gratitude expressed. We Christians often act as if we thought the blessing of salvation were a very small gift not deserving of daily thanksgiving.

Paul's doxology here reveals the heart of Christian worship. We come together each Sunday primarily to thank God for saving us. That is the meaning of the Eucharist--"the thanksgiving." The Lord's Supper is more than our thanking God to be sure. But it cannot be less than that. We thank God before each of the elements of the Supper because we acknowledge that God has given us His Son to save us from our sins. Sunday worship is covenant renewal and covenant renewal is thanksgiving for covenant grace.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

Paul speaks of God as "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." He uses this language for the blessing because it is only as God and Father of Christ that God is our Savior. God is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus is a perfect man. He called upon God in prayer like all other men. He trusted in the Father and obeyed His commandments perfectly. Paul blesses God as the God of our Lord, because it is not as God in the abstract, but as God of our Lord that He saves us. The God we praise is the God who sent His Son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins.

God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ both in reference to our Lord's divine and human natures. The Father and the Son have a personal relationship that is analogous to the relationship of father and son in the creatures that He designed to reflect His glory. He is also Father of our Lord in the same way that God is the Father of all men, especially those who are His covenant people. Here again the relation of God to Christ is relevant to our salvation. For Jesus is the man who had the right to call God, Father. Jesus was the kind of son that Adam should have been, but wasn't. As such, Jesus is our covenant representative before God the Father.

The title of God at the beginning of the doxology, then, says something like "the God who sent the Second Person of the Trinity to earth to become a man like us so that He could bear our sins and become our Messiah." "Our Lord Jesus Christ" is the fullest form of the Saviour's name. It is used about 50 times in the New Testament, including the very last verse in the Bible. "Jesus" is the name of His humanity. "Christ" refers to Him as Messiah. "Lord" presupposes His divinity. "Our" reminds us that He is given to us. We possess Him. He is not "ours" as a possession that we control, but as a possession that controls us. Thanks be to God!