God is a giver of gifts. He loves to bless His children. Ephesians 1 says that He has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”. What sort of gifts has He bestowed upon those who love Him?

Election: We are Chosen

Ephesians 1:1-4

The theological term ‘election’ is something that’s been debated for centuries by people who have minds and intellects that are infinitely greater than mine.  The debate in it’s simplest form asks this question, “Do we choose God or does God choose us?”  We could point to many verses in the Bible that seem to indicate that we are responsible for embracing or rejecting God. There are other verses that say that God does the choosing. This is one of those verses. It is very explicit. It is very plain.  Just as HE CHOSE US IN HIM. The term ELECTION is the term that theologians use to simply state WE ARE CHOSEN.

‘We are chosen’ is spoken in the ‘MIDDLE VOICE’ in the Greek, and through translation into English we lose a little of the impact of what is being conveyed by Paul. The MIDDLE VOICE means that the subject initiates the action and participates in the results of the action! The middle voice calls attention to the subject as the one who is acting on His own behalf, intimately involved in the action to bring about a desired end.   The subject is GOD.  The action is the CHOOSING.

God did not choose his children and then walk away. He is fully, totally, intimately involved in your life and mine – participating in His action upon us… why? That you and I would be holy and blameless before Him! Election does not have to be a troubling doctrine for us.  We don’t need to engage in endless debate on who chooses whom. James Montgomery Boice makes this helpful comment on the topic: “Instead of destroying the value of human choices, election gives us a capacity for choosing that we did not possess previously as unregenerate persons”.

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever been in a debate or argument about ‘election’? Describe it. 
• Can you think of some other verses that clearly state that we are chosen by God?
• List the verses that seem to indicate that we choose Him.
• How do we reconcile these two seemingly opposing thoughts?

Adoption: We are Family

Ephesians 1:5-6

A second spiritual blessing is ADOPTION. That means we are a part of God’s family. God has brought us into His family and made us sons and daughters! Think about the term ‘adoption’ for a minute.  When a little baby gets adopted into a family, they become a member of that family. They take on the last name of their family, they get to sleep in their house, they get to eat at the same table with them, they get Christmas presents and have birthday parties and go on vacation together. Adoption is a FAMILY idea. An adopted child enjoys all the benefits that a biological son or daughter would enjoy.

When we’re adopted by God, we enjoy every benefit that a true son of God would enjoy. We are brought into a close relationship with Him, so much so that we can call Him Abba Father (Gal 4:6), which is a term of endearment like ‘Daddy’ or ‘Pappa’. Who wouldn’t appreciate the comfort in knowing that there is a loving Heavenly Dad who is always there to protect you and guide you and provide for you?

Discussion Questions

• Do you feel as though you ‘belong’ to God? Why or why not? Please explain. 
• What benefits of being God’s adopted child have you enjoyed personally?

Redemption: We are Bought

Ephesians 1:7-8

Another spiritual blessing bestowed upon us from God is REDEMPTION.  Terms to describe redemption would include ’loosed, set free, delivered’. It means we have been set free due to the price that was paid, namely the blood of Jesus Christ. 

Redemption is a rich term that appears many times in the Bible. In the Old Testament period, if someone incurred debt and lost their property as a result, a close relative could buy it back in order to restore it to the person or family who previously owned it. 

There are a couple nuances in the meaning of the word in the New Testament:
1).  In many places, the word is a legal term that originally referred to buying/purchasing in the marketplace. One form of the word redemption meant ‘out of the marketplace’. That is, when you bought something from the marketplace, the intent was that it was never ever to return there. Dollar bills have the words ‘legal tender’ on them. When you purchase something at the grocery store, it is not legally yours when you’re pushing it around in the store, but rather it becomes legally yours when you give the cashier your money. Then you take your purchased product home, intending that you’ll never have to return it to the marketplace. Spiritually, Jesus purchased you with his blood, with the intent that you never have to go back to that place you once lived.  The grocery store analogy falls short because we do return things to the store on occasion, but Jesus never sends you back!
2).  The word REDEMPTION in this particular passage goes one step beyond ‘buying you out of the marketplace, never to return’. This word in Ephesians says: ‘there is a payment of a price to set you loose, to set you free. This is what Jesus does: he sets you free from sin. Redemption means that we have been bought with a price, and delivered from a life of sin and corruption. The price or the RANSOM was the very blood of Jesus.

A word of clarification: Jesus did not buy you from the devil. It’s not like Satan was holding you hostage and Jesus’s blood was the payment to him to set you free. As an unregenerate sinner, the wrath of a Holy God was upon you and I.  Jesus blood was required by GOD to appease HIS WRATH.  Satan has nothing in this REDEMPTION TRANSACTION.

Discussion Questions

• How does knowing you’re redeemed help you during temptation?
• What does it feel like to be free from the bondage of sin?

Forgiveness: We are Debt-Free

Ephesians 1:7-8

Colossians 2:13 tells us that there was a certificate of debt against us. But because we were REDEEMED, God has granted us the spiritual blessing of FORGIVENESS.  And because we are forgiven, we are DEBT-FREE. Not only was the debt cancelled but it was taken out of the way, removed completely… nailed to the cross of Christ.

Forgiveness is also a legal term which means a debt has been paid or a pardon has been granted.

Psalm 103:12 says that ‘as far as the east is from the west, so far He has removed our transgressions from us’. The distance from the east to the west to Jewish people represented ‘infinity’. Our sins are so forgiven that they are an infinite distance from us. The sin that once weighed us down with guilt was removed and transferred to the sin-bearer, Jesus Christ. The sin that once stained our souls with pollution and corruption has been washed away to make us whiter than snow.

When we are forgiven, we are clean. We are debt-free. We once owed a huge un-payable debt with our iniquity, but Christ paid the debt we owed. He took our place on the cross as our substitute! We belonged there, but Jesus paid our price. Jesus’s death – his blood – is what saves us. Jesus Christ alone is the source of our forgiveness and our salvation.

Discussion Questions

• Are some sins more costly than others (does it take more to forgive a murder than a little white lie)? Explain. 
• Is God’s forgiveness permanent? 
• If we’re forgiven at the cross, why must we keep confessing our sin?

Inheritance: We are Beneficiaries

Ephesians 1:11-12

Another spiritual blessing is the fact that we have an INHERITANCE. We are beneficiaries! Jewish people knew that when they had an inheritance, the promise they were waiting on was so guaranteed, so certain, that they lived and spoke of it as if it had already happened.

Author and pastor John MacArthur says,

“In Jesus Christ, believers inherit every promise God has ever made. Because we have been made joint heirs with Christ Jesus, we are guaranteed possession of everything he possesses. We are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” (Rom. 8:17).

God has made promises about our future home, heaven:  it is a place with no sin, no pain, no sickness, no disease, no sorrow, no fear. It’s a place with no fighting, no divorce, no alcoholism, no murders. He’s promised us a new heaven and new earth. A place of paradise, abundant joy, peace and blessings. And since we are heirs, we can live as though this place is already ours because it is! That is a guarantee because it is our inheritance.

Discussion Questions

• What specific thing are you most excited about in your inheritance? What are you waiting for the most?
• Is everything we are promised just for the future in heaven, or have we inherited some things now?

Sealed: We are Secure

Ephesians 1:13-14

We see in verses 13 and 14 that another spiritual blessing is that we are SEALED.  Being sealed means that we are SECURE. Theologian Charles Hodge has suggested that there are actually 3 purposes for a ‘SEAL’:

1).  To confirm the authenticity of something (like a birth certificate)
2).  To mark something as one’s own property (like the deed to your house)
3).  To make something fast or secure (like when Daniel was thrown into the lions den, King Darius placed his seal upon the stone that covered the den.  And like when Jesus’s tomb was sealed, making it secure to prevent the theft of His body)

A seal in Paul’s time was an official mark of identification placed on a letter, contract or other important document. A seal was usually made from hot wax, impressed with the mark from a signet ring and then placed on the document to identify it with the authority of the one to whom the signet ring belonged.  When we are SEALED in HIM, we are marked and identified as AUTHENTICALLY OWNED and SECURE in Christ Jesus!!

Being sealed is a completed action that is tamper-proof. When we were sealed by the Holy Spirit, it was once and forever.  This is called security!

Discussion Questions

• Do you recognize the tactics the enemy uses to attempt to convince you that you are not secure in Christ? What are they?
• What methods can we use to combat these assaults?
• How does knowing that we’re ‘owned’ by God affect your relationship to Him? 

Paul’s Prayer for the Saints

Ephesians 1:15-23

The Reason for the Prayer

Looking back over the previous verses, we see that Paul’s reason for the prayer is because of this great inheritance bestowed upon the saints by God Himself. We could say that Paul was considering ALL the spiritual blessings mentioned in the previous verses as his reasoning for launching into this magnificent prayer on behalf of the Ephesian believers. 

In these verses he recognizes the believer’s faith in the Lord and also their love for their fellow saints, and so Paul makes sure that they know he is praying for them. It is a great encouragement to us when we know someone else is going to the Lord on our behalf. 

The Frequency of the Prayer

Paul tells his friends that he prays for them unceasingly. For Paul, this is an on-going activity. It’s not a one-and-done kind of deal. He has them on his prayer list and he never forgets to pray for these people. 

The Content of the Prayer

Paul asks God for ‘a spirit of wisdom’ and for ‘knowledge of God’ to be revealed (v.17). In order for these to come to pass in the believer, he goes into more specific detail, praying for:

1). Enlightenment
This not a subjective thing. Truth from God’s Word illuminates the darkness, lighting the path before us (Psalm 119:105). We need God’s light to give us an understanding mind. 

2). Recognition of God’s calling
A statement in John MacArthur’s commentary on Ephesians says, it is God’s great plan that every believer one day “become conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). The hope of His calling is the eternal destiny and glory of the believer fulfilled in the coming kingdom. 

3). Knowledge of God’s riches toward the saints
As we learned already in the previous verse, God has lavished spiritual blessings upon us. Referring to things like our adoption, forgiveness, redemption and inheritance, Paul can safely conclude that all believers are rich, regardless of financial status!

4). Understanding of the greatness of God’s power
When we get a glimpse of God’s power and begin to grasp it’s greatness, that is when we become aware of Him working in us and gives us confidence to do his will in areas like forgiving others, evangelism, suffering, enduring trials, etc. 

The Confidence in God Hearing

Paul knows that praying these types of prayers works. Why? Because he is beseeching a strong God who placed His own Son in a position of all rule, authority, power and dominion. All things are subject to the Lord Jesus Christ. We can have full confidence in praying to a God who is able to delegate this kind of authority. We don’t need to worry about the outcome of our prayers because God is sovereign. He is in control. He will answer according to His will and in His time frame. Our job is to lay our requests at His feet and let Him work according to the strength of His might. 

Discussion Questions

• What can we learn from Paul’s prayer to help in our own prayers lives?
• In what tangible ways is it helpful to tell someone we have been praying for them?