Ephesians     Chapter 3

Verse 1- 5 Paul says that he is in prison now because of preaching to the Gentiles. The Jewish church leaders who would not accept Jesus wanted Paul to stop preaching to people. Paul knew that God wanted him to preach about Jesus to others—so he kept preaching. The Jews put him in prison.

Paul said that God had given him this special job of explaining to the Gentiles this plan that God has for saving people from their sin.

Paul says it is a “mystery”. The Old Testament prophet/preachers told about God’s promise to send a Messiah to save the Jewish/Hebrew people. Some of the prophets said that God would save people from all nations.

God had promised Abraham that He would bless Abraham’s family and through his family the whole world would be blessed. Genesis 12:3

The Old Testament people did not completely understand what the Messiah would do or who he would be. There was much about it they did not understand.

Paul says that this “mystery” about the Messiah is now clear. Jesus was the Messiah that God sent. Jesus did not come for Jews only–He came for everyone in all the world. He came to save the world–not only Jews.

The Jews thought the Messiah would come to be their King on earth and would bring peace and the Jews would have a powerful King to have a strong nation on this earth.

Jesus will be their King someday. But the first time Jesus came to earth was not to be a King on this earth. He came to die for sin. He came to take man’s place in the death punishment. He came to raise to life again and break the power of death and sin.

Jesus came for all people everywhere to believe and be saved.

Jesus will come to earth again the second time—-then He will rule as a King on earth. The book of Revelation tells about Jesus’ coming to rule on earth for 1000 years. Revelation 20:6

Verse 6 The “mystery” was that the Gentiles were to be part of God’s plan of salvation. They were to have the promises of God also. The Jews always thought that God’s promises were only for them.

The Gentiles will be “heirs” of the promises of God. An “heir” is a son or daughter who gets the parents money, houses, etc. —usually after the parents die. It is riches that come to the children from the parents.

God is our Father, we will received riches from Him. For thousands of years the Jews thought they were the only ones to receive God’s promises. Paul says that God wanted everyone to receive His promises—He told Abraham that at the beginning. Genesis 12:3

Verse 7 Paul says that God chose him to be God’s servant/minister/preacher to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul says it was God’s power that worked in his life that he was able to do this.

Verse 8 Paul says that he felt humble to be the one God chose.

Verse 9 That the Gentiles should be part of God’s of salvation has been God’s plan from the beginning of the world. This plan was hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

Verse 10 God’s purpose/reason was to show His great wisdom to the powers and rulers in heavenly places. They will see God’s wisdom when they see the Jews and Gentiles joined together as His “church”.

This verse is hard to understand. Why will the joining of the Jews and Gentiles show God’s wisdom to the powers and rulers in heavenly places? Who are these powers and rulers in heavenly places? Satan would be one–who are the others?

Verse 11 This plan that was there in the beginning has now been completed by Jesus Christ.

Verse 12 By faith, we can come into God’s presence with confidence and boldness—not in fear—by faith, we can feel sure that it is okay and we will be accepted by God.

Verse 13 Do not be upset because I (Paul) am in prison. I am here in prison suffering because of my preaching to you. Don’t be upset—be honored and encouraged.

Verse 14 – 15 When I think of God’s plan for you to have salvation, too, I fall on my knees and thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of everything in heaven and earth.

Verse 16 I (Paul) pray that God will give you strength in your inner self—in your spirit.

Verse 17 I pray that Christ will live in your hearts by faith, that you will be strong like a plant with deep roots. That you will held — like strong roots in dirt—you will be held in God’s love.

Strong roots of a plant are important. Roots feed a plant and keep it healthy. Roots hold a plant in the dirt so it can get the things it needs to grow.

Paul wants the Ephesians to have deep roots in God’s love so they will be healthy in spirit and they will not dry up or blow away—they will be strong and grow in the Lord.

Having strong roots in God is very important. We will not be able to stay faithful and true to God unless we have strong roots holding us in God.

To have strong roots we need to know God’s word. We need to know how the Holy Spirit leads people. We need to have God’s presence in us.

We need to obey what God tells us to do. We need to talk to God in our minds always. We need to pray letting the Holy Spirit pray through us to God. We need to learn God’s ways.

Verse 18 Paul wants them to understand the things of God—just like you would get to know about a building—you would study it to see how high, how wide, how long, it was. So we study and learn about the things of the Spirit—we grow deeper, higher, wider in understanding of how the Holy Spirit does things and how we should think and live.

Verse 19 We should learn how deep is God’s love—His love is beyond our understanding—-He loves us more than we can understand.

So we can be full of God.

Verse 20 Paul ends his letter saying—To God be the glory—He who is able to do far beyond what we could think of or ask—by the power of God that works in us.

Verse 21 May God be given praise and glory—in the church and in Jesus—now and forever—with no end—on and on.