Greetings (Ephesians 1:1-2)

In his greetings to the church, Paul mentions three points that we can explore briefly. They are (1) a special servant, (2) a special people and (3) special blessings. Each of the points has sub-points, but the structure of our study will be straightforward.

A special servant

The special servant is Paul. By the time he writes this letter he has been serving the Lord for about thirty years. In what ways was he special? We could perhaps focus on his background, which was impressive from social and theological viewpoints. He belonged to a wealthy family who could afford for him to study in different places, including with the prominent scholar and Pharisee in Jerusalem called Gamaliel. No doubt, it was perceived in those days that Paul would climb high. Yet even he had, he would not have becomes as special as he did.

The detail that makes him really special was that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ. There were some unique features necessary for a person to be an apostle. First, he had to be a witness of the resurrected Christ and commissioned by him; second, he had to be instructed by Jesus; third, he was able to speak infallibly when he was guided by the Spirit; and fourth, the message of the apostles would become the foundation of the church. Such a person is obviously quite unique, and therefore special.

Paul traced his calling as an apostle back beyond what he had experienced through knowing Jesus as his Saviour and Lord. In addition, Paul realised that the primary and initial reason why he was called to be an apostle was because of the will of God. Here, Paul refers to the purpose of the Father. The apostle had been selected by the Father and given this great privilege and responsibility to fulfil, which he was able to do by the help of the Holy Spirit.

The knowledge that he had been called according to the will of God gave great encouragement to the apostle. Whenever he faced opposition, whether from the world or in the church, he knew that it was all part of God’s will for him as an apostle of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 11 and 12, he lists some unusual qualifications of his apostolic calling, but even although there he is contrasting himself with those who claimed to be ‘super apostles’, and is using a form of sarcastic comparison, we can see that he regarded suffering and opposition as normal marks of an apostle.

The fact that Paul refers to himself as an apostle brings a formal aspect to the letter. It is not merely a letter between friends; rather it is a letter containing instructions about what the readers should believe and about how the readers should behave.

A special people

The people to whom Paul writes are called saints and faithful. It is possible that this letter was sent to more than one church, which explains the lack of names mentioned in it. This letter, unlike others written by Paul, has no personal greetings to individuals living in a city or town. Yet even if names are not stated, we can still see important truths about them, and two such details are mentioned in this greeting.

First, they are the saints in Ephesus. Ephesus was a pagan city, with a huge temple to Artemis. In the city, Paul with colleagues and laboured for several years and a church was formed and grew. A saint is an individual who has been set apart by God, separated from the world and to his kingdom. The public event that separated them took place when they believed the gospel. It is through the message of Christ crucified that God discovers his people and sets them apart from others in order to be his people.

At the same time, he gives to each of them the Holy Spirit to indwell them. He comes and lives in their minds and hearts when he regenerates them. They once were spiritually dead, but now have become spiritually alive. This new life that they possess shows itself in various ways in all his people. They delight in holiness, in communion with God and in serving the Lord.

Second, they are faithful in Christ Jesus. Paul highlights that the faith in Christ that they have is marked by loyalty to his name. They are his subjects as well as his saints. We are not to be surprised by this reality. When we believe the gospel message, we recognise that Jesus is Lord as well as Saviour. Not that their service of him is regarded as a chore. Rather they delight in it and in telling others about him.

Paul here introduces what will be a major theme in his letter, which is union with Christ. There are many aspects to this union, and one of them is the giving of life by Jesus to his people. It is because they have this life that they can be steadfast and loyal towards Jesus. This life also enables them to whatever is needed in their Christian walk.

Special blessings

The two special blessings are grace and peace. We can see that both of them come from the Father and the Son. How are they involved? Paul’s descriptions indicate that the giving is connected to the positions that they have. If we look closely, we will see that the positions are not the ones they would always have had as members of the Trinity. Rather, the names given to them point to something that happens in their relationship with their people.

God the Father is now the Father of his people, which means that he is providing spiritual benefits for the members of his family. They were not his children by natural birth, but became so when they were regenerated. Having been born again, they discover that they now belong to the family of God.

The Lord Jesus Christ is a way of describing the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. While he has always been the Son of God, he has not always been called the Lord Jesus Christ. He became Jesus when he became a human. The other details in his name here describe his position and his roles.

His position is that he is the supreme Lord, a position he received as a reward at his ascension, after completing the work of salvation. This is a reminder that there was an agreement between the Father and the Son, that if the Son completed or fulfilled the providing of salvation, he would receive the reward of exaltation. We can read about both aspects of what would happen to the Father’s Servant – his humiliation and his exaltation – in Isaiah 53.

The word ‘Christ’ describes his current activities – it is the word for Messiah, and it was predicted of him in the Old Testament that he would provide grace and peace. In other words, he is described here as the mediator who takes from the heaven storehouse and gives heavenly blessings to us.

What ideas come to mind from this joint activity of the divine persons? Since they are divine, it means that there will be sufficiency of grace and peace. There is no reason on the divine side of things why there can be a shortfall in what is provided. God is always sufficient for our needs.

Moreover, since grace and peace comes from above, it is inevitable that we will be, and must be, dependent on the Father and the Son for those blessings. We should never move away from having this ongoing dependency.

In addition, we will experience harmony if we respond aright to the Father and the Son. It is inevitable that the divine blessing will result in the experience of divine peace. If we don’t have the peace, we are doing something wrong. Paul will mention various aspects of the experience of peace later in this letter.

Responses

It is obvious from this greeting that one divine person is not mentioned – the Holy Spirit. Yet that does not mean he is absent. Instead his presence and activity is assumed. He is the one who gives life to his people and who conveys to them the blessings of grace and peace. We should always acknowledge his activities.

Although we have no apostles living today in the sense that Paul used the term, we have the teaching of the apostles recorded in the New Testament. The books of the New Testament were written by apostles or by those connected to them and who would have been approved by them. So the church does not lose out by having no living apostles. Indeed, we have what is better – the living and abiding Word of God.

The greetings found at the beginning of the letters are part of the inspired Word of God and therefore suitable for instruction about doctrine mentioned in them and for guidance about aspects of Christian living. As with other parts of the Bible, we should ask what this set of greetings tells us about living for God in this world.