Ephesians 2-3

Notes compiled from my BSF group


http://aletheia-seekers.blogspot.com/2011/11/revelation-letter-to-church-of-ephesus.html


Ephesians 2:1-3
A person who is not born again is someone who is still dead in his/her transgressions and sins. He/she follows the ways of this world and belongs to Satan, who is the ruler of the world. Satan is able to manipulate and work in such a person because he/she does not belong to God. Thus, a person who is not born again lives according to his/her own will, doing whatever pleasures them, not knowing this is the result of Satan pulling them further and further away from God.


When I place my faith in God, that is the beginning of me being born again. Through an open heart, I begin my relationship with Jesus. Through prayers, I can develop that relationship with God. During this process, He will guide me in my growth as a Christian, pruning away my worldly bad habits and helping me to adopt a heart of Christ. Ultimately, I will be mature enough in my walk with God that I will learn how to listen to Him through the Holy Spirit and accomplish His Will for the benefit of the body of Christ.




Ephesians 2:4–9
Because we are sin, we face death (Romans 6:23). However, because God loves us, He sacrificed His only Son to wash away our sins, so that we can be made alive eternally through Jesus and the Grace of God (John 3:16). By being born again, we will inherit the world with Christ and be seated in Heaven.


Paul stresses, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-10)


In other words, it is prideful for us to think we can achieve salvation on our own, that by “being good” is good enough. It’s not. We are not perfect, and we sin in our thoughts and actions. God is perfect, so unless we can also be perfect, NOTHING we do can ever be good enough. This is why Paul stressed that our salvation is a GIFT of God. It is something we receive, not something we achieve through our works.


God made us alive in Christ by His great mercy and grace (Ephesians 2:4-5).


God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).




Romans 10:17
We don’t “get” faith. We CULTURE faith.


Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.


Paul tells us that faith comes with ACCEPTING the Good News, and he used Israelites as failed examples (Romans 10:16-18). The Israelites heard the message, but they remained disobedient and obstinate and refused to accept the Good News. They never had faith, because they did not hear the Good News with their heart.


Our faith in God only BEGINS with us accepting the Good News that Jesus died for our sins. To solidify our faith in God, we each need to build a PERSONAL relationship with God. As we see and experience God’s love in each of our own personal lives, we become men/women of unshakable faith. Our faith becomes unshakable because we have and will continue to build our own PERSONAL evidence that God works in our lives.


Good Works
We live in a world where Satan is trying to win the war against God. Satan believes he is better than God, and he has been trying to conquer God since the beginning.


We, as humans, are unfortunately fallen and live in a fallen world, because Satan successfully manipulated Adam and Eve to rebel against God. However, God loved us so much, He knew the ONLY way to save us is through the blood of a PERFECT human. This is why He sent His Son, Jesus, to save us. This mission to save His children is NOT over yet. This is why once we are saved, our goal is to continue to push this mission forward. As Jesus instructed the disciples before Jesus was taken up into Heaven, we are to carry out that mission, to spread the Gospel and preach about repentance of sins and salvation.


When we talk about “work of God,” that’s what we’re talking about. Spreading the Gospel to the best of our abilities is doing the work of God. That is good works. As long as we are guided by the Holy Spirit, going where He leads us, doing the things He instructs us to do, we are doing good works.


As defined by Paul, the good works have been prepared by God in advance for believers to do (Ephesians 2:10).


Good works revolve around spreading the Gospel, preaching repentance of sins and salvation. Anything, anywhere, God is always working through us to achieve this.




Ephesians 2:11–12
The Ephesians were told to remember their past, a time when the Israelites excluded them from being a part of the body of Christ based on physical circumcision. They were told to remember the time when they have not been grafted into the body of Christ, a time without hope, without knowing God. But, because of Jesus’ blood, they were grafted into the body of Christ. Jesus broke the barrier, not just between the Israelites and the Gentiles, but, more importantly, between God and man's sin! Because of Jesus, man (both Israelites and Gentiles) are children of God, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20).


Remembering Jesus’ sacrifice reminds me that the freedom I have, the love I feel are not from me. Without Jesus, I would have no freedom, and I would have no love. But because God is love, I can love. God is therefore my first love and will always be my first love because I remember.


World Peace vs. God's Peace
The world uses force to maintain peace, because it hasn't found any other way.


Jesus, on the other hand, brings peace with love.


Now, before we scoff at what sounds like a cliche, think about it. For the Christians, I'm sure you know what I mean. For the non-believers, I bring up the following points:


1. Jesus told us the most important commandment is to love God. And the next, to love others as ourselves. Bottom line, LOVE.


2. The life of Jesus exemplified love. Everything He did, He did because He loved us. He forgave our sins with love, He taught with love, He rebuked with love, He died with love.


3. But His death was not futile. With His death, Jesus defeated death. With His death, Jesus defeated sin for us. If not out of love, Jesus really had no other reason to do it, especially after how we treated Him!


4. The bigger picture is not about peace. The bigger picture is God's plan.


Using man's mentality, God could easily be a tyrant, given the amount of "power" He possesses. But He is not. God is HOLY. Biblical scholars comment we may never understand the scope of God's holiness, and I can see why.


As we get to know God by studying the Bible, we learn that God never changes. He keeps His promises, even when man cannot uphold his end of the deal. He is perfect and cannot condone sin. When man fell from sin, God didn't turn His back on us. Instead, He saved us from our sins. God wants us to know His heart, and He wants us to go back to Him, not out of force, but on our own terms, out of our love for Him.


With God's power, the meaning of "peace" takes on a whole different meaning. He could use force, but He doesn't. Love can't be forced. If our heart does not wish to remain with Him, He will not keep us. And this is why God's peace is maintained with love: We follow Him because we choose to. We follow Him because we trust Him. We follow Him because we know He loves us and will do anything to protect us. There is no power struggle. There is no conquering of the weak. In fact, it's about God, the all powerful, lovingly provide for the weak.


True peace cannot be achieved with one party forcing the other into submission. We do this in the world all the time, and we see how much it fails.




Ephesians 2:14-20
- We obtain peace.
- We are reconciled to God through the cross
- We have access to the Father by one Spirit.
- We are fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household.


Social and racial barriers should NOT exist for Christians. We simply see everyone as brothers and sisters, all equally loved by God as His beloved children. Jesus saves people of any social status, of any education background, of any race, etc.




Ephesians 3:1-13
Jesus is the Messiah. Through the sacrificial death of Christ, God reconciled people to Him by grace. God also unites everyone as one, the church.


This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:6).


Zondervan NIV footnote:


* Eph 3:1-13 Having saved people individually by his grace (2:1-10), and having reconciled them to each other as well as to himself through the sacrificial death of Christ (2:11-22), God also now unites them on an equal basis in one body, the church. This step in God's eternal plan was not fully revealed in previous times. Paul calls it a "mystery."




Ephesians 1:10; 2:18; 3:6; 10-12
God wants to restore us all in Him, bringing unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.


His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. (Ephesians 3:10-12).


God wants us to know Him, to be restored in Him, to return to Him.


How God Works in Us
God is all powerful. He made the Heaven and the Earth. There is nothing He cannot do.


When we have problems in our lives, it’s very easy to get so focused on our problems, we box ourselves in to a point where we don’t see how to get out. This is a very difficult situation especially for non-Christians because they’ve never trusted God before, why would they start trusting Him now?


We need to note that in order to have a relationship with God, we need to get to know him. If we never bother to form a relationship when we have the chance, how could we learn to trust him when we’re in trouble?


Hence, for me, this tells me that I should actively get to know God. I can start by talking to Him often, by confiding in Him about my problems, by continuously seeking His guidance. As I get to know Him and experience His love for me, I would then have the confidence to turn to Him when I face extremely difficult situations, situations that I can’t solve on my own.




Ephesians 3:14–21
- Pray that God may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.


- Pray that we be rooted and established in love


- Pray that you may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ


- Pray that we know this love that surpasses knowledge.


- Pray that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.


Even when we think we have problems that is impossible to solve, we should just remember, God MADE this world. If He can do that with a breath, He can definitely help us through our problems.