Ephesians: Uniting All Things in Christ, Part 1

The blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation by grace through faith. Knowing the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Equipping the saints for the work of ministry. Speaking the truth in love. Putting off the old self. Walking in love. Making best use of the time. Loving wives as Christ loved the church. The whole armor of God.

Despite its brevity, the letter of Ephesians has a remarkably high concentration of beloved verses and memorable sayings. But how do they all fit together? What is Paul’s chief argument in this theological masterpiece?

Literary Markers

Ephesians marks its main sections through logical connector phrases and major shifts in topic. As with many of Paul’s letters, a salutation (Eph 1:1-2) and benediction (Eph 6:21-24) bookend doctrine (Eph 1:3-3:21) and application (Eph 4:1-6:20).

Paul begins to transition from doctrine to application in Eph 3:1, but breaks off mid-sentence to discuss the gracious nature of his ministry. He completes the transition in Eph 4:1, which labels the two main sections of the letter as “the calling to which you have been called” and “the urging to walk in a manner worthy of that calling.”

Greeting of grace and peace to the saints – Eph 1:1-2
Doctrine: The calling to which you’ve been called – Eph 1:3-3:21
Application: Walk in a manner worthy of this calling – Eph 4:1-6:20
Final greeting of peace, love, and grace – Eph 6:21-24

Part 1 Walkthrough

The apostle of Christ is so by the will of God, and the saints in Christ are so through faith. There is much harmony between the will of God and the people of God in this opening. In addition, “grace” and “peace” become more than a simple greeting in this letter, as both words play major roles in the rest of the letter.

Part 2 Walkthrough

Paul begins with an extended doxology (word of praise) to “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:3-14). Why is this God blessed? Because the Father is a God who blesses, by choosing in Christ and predestining through Christ, according to grace (Eph 1:3-6). Christ the Beloved is both redemption and inheritance of grace for those who hope in him (Eph 1:7-12). And the Holy Spirit seals and guarantees the inheritance, that is Christ, for believers who will one day possess him fully. In short, Paul blesses the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each person working in perfect harmony with the others to accomplish the plan he set for the fullness of time—that toward which all history is moving—”to unite all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph 1:10). Since verse 10 tells us what these tremendous blessings are all for, we must not miss its crucial role as a thesis statement for the letter.

Paul’s first prayer, then, is for God to grant his readers to know him (Eph 1:17), which requires heart-perception of his hopeful calling, his rich inheritance, and his great power (Eph 1:18-19). This very power overturned death and reunited heaven and earth in the person of Jesus Christ (Eph 1:20-23). Therefore, in Jesus Christ, the church on earth now has an unimpeachable head of state. All things are now poised to be united in him—but we desperately need God to answer the prayer that we might see with our hearts that it is so.

Next Paul discusses the glorious transfer from death to life, from earth to heaven, undergone not only by Jesus himself (Eph 1:20-23) but also by all who trust him (Eph 2:1-10). So uniting all things to Christ requires the overturning-of-death and the reunion-of-heaven-and-earth to become the experience of all of Christ’s body, not solely that of the head. What a gift (Eph 2:8)! And that gift comes with expectations of good works, prepared for us well in advance (Eph 2:10).

If all things will be united in Christ, the process must begin in the church, where people of all nationalities are being remade into a single new humanity by faith (Eph 2:11-22). Jesus, who preached peace to those near and far, is himself our peace. All are now fellow citizens and members of the family. All are part of his new temple. We have access to the Spirit, so true unity in Christ is not only possible but expected.

This causes Paul to reflect on the gift of grace given to him, not only in his redemption but in his apostleship (Eph 3:1-13). Grace was given to reveal that Gentiles are now fellow heirs (Eph 3:1-6). And grace was given to preach this eternal purpose—and thereby to offer bold access to people from all nations—in full view of the spiritual powers of heaven (Eph 3:7-13).

And such reflection on the grace of Paul’s apostleship leads him into his second prayer (Eph 3:14-19) and doxology (Eph 3:20-21). He knows better than his readers—who otherwise wouldn’t even know to ask—that they’ll require supernatural strength to comprehend that which would otherwise be incomprehensible: the unifying love of Christ for his church.

First Half Conclusion—The Church’s Calling

The God who is fully unified with himself has a glorious plan for the future: to imprint his unity on the rest of the universe by graciously uniting all of heaven and earth under one head, Jesus Christ. To get there, he first unites a new humanity with himself through faith in Christ. And that new humanity is now called to live in unity with itself in Christ. In other words, the church’s calling is to walk in true unity. The power for that unity originates from the unity the church already has with the fully unified Trinity. And that present unity anticipates the coming unity of all heaven and earth in Christ.

To violate the church’s unity, therefore, is to tell lies about who God is and what he is doing in the cosmos. Disunity in the church—which is disobedience to the church’s calling—is a path to surrender to the course of this world, to the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2), and to his demonic authorities in the heavenly places, who want nothing more than to thwart the manifold wisdom of God to unite all things in Christ (Eph 3:9-10).

I’ll save for next week’s post the letter’s second half, which provides the practical instruction for how the church can walk in a manner worthy of this calling to unity.

Interpretive Outline

Grace and peace to the saints – Eph 1:1-2
Doctrine: The unity to which you’ve been called – Eph 1:3-3:21
- Praise to a unified and unifying God – Eph 1:3-14
  - Prayer for eyes to see what that God is doing – Eph 1:15-23
    - The gift of grace that unifies people with God – Eph 2:1-10
      - The unity of the new humanity in the peace of Christ – Eph 2:11-22
    - The gift of grace that revealed and now preaches the unity of people with God and with each other – Eph 3:1-13
  - Prayer for supernatural strength to comprehend such divine, unifying love – Eph 3:14-19
- Praise to an astonishing God who empowers unity in ways we could never imagine – Eph 3:20-21

This post is part of a series of interpretive overviews of the books of the Bible.