Daily Bible Reading 2nd September 2024 // Ephesians 1:1-3
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
Paul nominates himself in v 1 as 'an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God'. This is an impressive utterance, for straightway the apostle affirms the authority by which he speaks and writes. There may be a conscious implication in this, as if he were saying, 'Recall how it was when I came among you. What was done then was done by the power of God, and I was the Lord's anointed for you'. Next, the words 'the saints in Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus', which contain a great deal for us. The twofold designation, 'saints in Ephesus' and 'faithful in Christ Jesus' indicates the two worlds in which Christians live. On the one hand we are 'in Christ', which bespeaks a new order of being (cf 2 Corinthians 5:17 - a Christian is someone to whom something has happened so decisively that life is never the same again). On the other hand they are 'in Ephesus', and this is a reminder that they are to live this new life in the world of Ephesus with all its ugly and hazardous connotations. Furthermore, they are 'the faithful in Christ Jesus', and this is not only a name for the Christian, but a description of what they ought to be in the world in which they live - and this is a reference not to orthodoxy of belief so much as integrity of life. The two phrases, of course, belong together for it is our consciousness of what we are and have in Christ that enables us to live lives that are faithful and well pleasing to Him.