If you have been following my posts on Ephesians, you may be happy to know that I have compiled them into a book and fixed all those typos (I hope).

I studied Ephesians in order to learn more about our great God and His ways in the Church.

You can find my book on Amazon, where it is available in both paperback and Kindle versions. The Australian version is here, but it is available on all Amazon country sites. (The easiest way is to click the link then change the .au to your local ending.)

I hope the book is a blessing to you.

Here is the conclusion to my study on Ephesians. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Conclusion

It has been hard to sit down and write my concluding thoughts on Ephesians. It is an adventure I have been pursuing for four years, and this marks the end of the journey.

I started with a belief that this short letter of Paul’s was a key to the church moving forward in the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. That belief has been vindicated, even though I feel like my own study has barely scratched the surface.

Paul uses the word mystery to describe God’s plan of salvation. A mystery is something that was previously hidden but has now been revealed. I feel that the book of Ephesians is itself a mystery which God is now unveiling.

Many of the struggles which christians face in daily life would disappear if we could only see the world, and our lives, from God’s perspective. Ephesians starts with an amazing statement: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. That is an epic statement. It tells us the God has lavished his love on us and that he holds nothing back from us. It also tells us that the blessings are in the heavenly realm. We have to fix our attention on heaven and not on earth to receive the blessings that God has for us.

But the blessings are not for individuals alone. We are being built into a temple for God, a household of faith. All of the divisions and conflicts of human history are done away with when we recognise that we are all one in Christ.

When we really absorb this truth about who we are in Christ, it results in a new life. We are no longer locked into the ways of sin followed by those who do not know Christ. Growing in our understanding of Christ’s forgiveness, we become imitators of God, living holy lives not sinful lives.

Marriages are transformed and family relationships renewed. Even the workplace is made new by the power of submitting ourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Paul reminds us in the very last chapter that every battle is spiritual. We sometimes lose sight of this fact. We fight against people rather than the true enemies – the rulers, principalities, and cosmic powers of this dark age. God has given us weapons that will protect us in this battle. We have to take them up, praying in the Spirit at all times.

I have been surprised by the depth of understanding that the Holy Spirit has given me in this study of Ephesians. To see each verse of a dozen or so words speak to issues of faith and life has been a revelation in itself.

I hope that you, the reader of this book, are encouraged to go deeper into the Word of God. May God give you a deeper, fresh revelation of his grace to you and of your place in his eternal Kingdom. Amen

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 6:23-24. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 6:23-24

“Peace be to the whole community [literally” to the brothers”] and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now we come to the very end of the letter, a blessing upon the people of the church.

The translation by the New Revised Standard Version of the Greek word for “brothers” as community is a bit of a stretch for this usually quite literal translation. I think that it detracts from the personal nature of the christian community. Most translations keep with “brothers”, or, as with the New Living Translation, “ dear brothers and sisters.” I think that the NLT catches best the sense of affection that Paul has for these beloved christians.

Paul prays for peace for the faith community. This is the traditional Hebrew blessing, “shalom”, which means peace and much more. He started the letter with an invocation for grace and peace, and he now concludes it with similar but not identical words.

If the church were to take seriously all of the promises and commandments in Ephesians, it would thrive in the peace of the Lord.

To the blessing of peace, he adds the phrase “ love with faith”. The two qualities of the love of God and faith In God are closely intertwined in practice. We cannot know the love of God without faith in Him, but, as we grow in our experience of love, our faith also grows. The two are, in reality, impossible to separate.

These qualities – peace, love, and faith – come as gifts from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We often think of faith as something that we do, but even faith Comes as gift (see 1 Corinthians 12:9).

Grace is a traditional Greek greeting. When Paul writes “grace and peace”, as he does in many of his epistles, he combines both Greek and Hebrew traditions, signalling the unity of Jew and Gentile in the New Covenant.

Paul is praying grace for all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

The word translated “ undying” means incorruptible, and is used in two ways in the New Testament. It can mean eternal in the sense that death cannot overcome something and cause it to decay. It also has the sense of pure or morally incorruptible.

In both senses of the word, love for Jesus is eternal and incorruptible. Loving Jesus Christ will last forever as it will carry on beyond the grave and into heaven. Pure love for Christ also brings a kind of Innocence in which we cannot be diverted from our true focus in Him .

Key points in these verses:

• We can experience peace,love and faith as gifts from the Lord
• Our love for Jesus can be everlasting and pure