BOOK 49 OF 66 · PAULINE EPISTLES · KING JAMES BIBLE

Ephesians 1

Ephesians book home•Chapter 1 of 6•23 verses

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Ephesians 1 Overview

Paul blesses God for every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, including election, adoption, redemption through Christ’s blood, forgiveness, and the revealed mystery of God’s purpose. Believers who heard and believed the gospel are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the earnest of their inheritance, and Paul prays that they will understand their hope and Christ’s exalted authority.

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Before you read Ephesians 1

Coming from

Galatians 6 closes by rejecting circumcision boasting and glorying only in the cross of Christ.

In this chapter

Leads into

Paul describes believers’ former condition as dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the world, flesh, and the prince of the power of the air. But God, rich in mercy, made them alive with Christ. Salvation is by grace through faith, God’s gift, not of works. The chapter then explains how Christ made Jewish and Gentile believers one new man and one household/temple.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The chapter repeatedly locates blessing ‘in Christ.’ Election and predestination are presented in union with Christ and aim toward adoption, holiness, inheritance, and praise of God’s grace.

The sequence in verse 13 is especially clear: hearing the word of truth, believing, then being sealed with the Holy Spirit. The seal is God’s mark and earnest, not a temporary trial period.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Salvation originates in God’s gracious purpose

Every major blessing is traced to God’s will and grace in Christ.

Redemption and forgiveness rest on Christ’s blood

The chapter does not ground them in human merit.

Believers are sealed with the Spirit upon believing

The Spirit is the earnest of the inheritance until redemption of the purchased possession.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

John 5:24

Jesus says the believer has everlasting life and has passed from death unto life.

Romans 8:29–30

Paul also speaks of foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification within God’s saving purpose.

2 Corinthians 1:21–22

Believers are likewise described as sealed and given the earnest of the Spirit.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not detach election language from its repeated ‘in Christ’ setting

Union with Christ structures the chapter.

Do not make sealing dependent on later works

Verse 13 places sealing after hearing and believing the gospel.

Do not turn predestination into fatalism that makes prayer or Christian growth meaningless

Paul immediately prays for believers’ understanding and maturity.

Read Ephesians 1 watching for…

Every occurrence of ‘in Christ’ or similar union language.

The blessings listed before Paul’s prayer.

Redemption through blood.

The hearing-believing-sealing sequence.

Christ’s exaltation above all principality and power.

Chapter outline3 sections

1-2Paul greets the saints at Ephesus 3-14Paul praises God for spiritual blessings, redemption, forgiveness, inheritance, and sealing in Christ 15-23Paul prays that believers will know God better, understand their hope and inheritance, and see Christ’s exalted power

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

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Ephesians 1:9

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