Ephesians could have been written to a modern church. It is about us. It describes human beings, their predicament, sin, and delusion, but much more it describes God’s reaching out to people to recreate and transform them into a new society.[1] Most of the letter is about two subjects: power and identity. It describes the power God’s Spirit gives for living. It shows who we really are without Christ and who we become both individually and corporately with Christ. It is about how we understand ourselves and how we can get along with each other and God. The focus on God’s new society also makes Ephesians one of the most important works for understanding the church.

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This short little letter is a surprisingly comprehensive statement about God and his work, about Christ and his gospel, about life with God’s Spirit, and about the right way to live. 

1. God’s New Society is the title of John R. W. Stott’s commentary on Ephesians (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1979), now published under the title The Message of Ephesians: God’s New Society. Note the similarity to John Mackay’s God’s Order.

—Klyne Snodgrass 

Source: Taken from The NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians by Klyne Snodgrass Copyright © 2009 by Klyne Snodgrass. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com

The letter is consistently theocentric [God-centered] and Trinitarian. Its message about God’s grace and love is encouraging and rewarding. God is not some remote being; he is the prime actor throughout the letter. From the beginning the letter shows we were always meant to belong to God and that God has been and is at work to make the reality of our relationship with him happen. In Christ and by the Spirit God brings us to himself and gives us what we need for life. All the privileges of life are found in union with Christ and conveyed by the Spirit. Ephesians presents a gospel of union with Christ more powerfully than any other New Testament letter. Nothing short of attachment to him will rescue us from the human plight, and nothing can define us as human beings more than attachment to him. From living with him we learn how to live for him. 

—Klyne Snodgrass  

Source: Taken from The NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians by Klyne Snodgrass Copyright © 2009 by Klyne Snodgrass. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com

Ephesians, then, has as its main purpose identity formation.[1] It seeks to shape believers by reminding them how wonderful God’s work in Christ is, how significant their unity with Christ is, and what living for Christ looks like. It is a letter of definition and encouragement.[2] Paul sought to ground, shape, and challenge his readers so that they might live their faith.

1. J. Paul Sampley, “Ephesians,” The Deutero-Pauline Letters (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 23.

2. Nils A. Dahl similarly suggests that Ephesians is a letter of reminder and congratulations; see his “Interpreting Ephesians: Then and Now,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 5 (1978): 133-43.

—Klyne Snodgrass 

Source: Taken from The NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians by Klyne Snodgrass Copyright © 2009 by Klyne Snodgrass. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com

Just as the Lord lovingly chose Israel from among the nations as his own people (Deuteronomy 7:7–8; 10:15; Hosea 11:1; Malachi 1:2), so in mercy the Lord has lovingly chosen those he will save from all the people of the earth (Romans 9:11–13; Ephesians 1:4–5). This choice is part of his eternal decree, occurring before the creation of the world or any of its inhabitants (Ephesians 1:5; 2:10). The choice is in Christ, not man, therefore it does not rest on any foreseen decision of any human person (Ephesians 2:9). Gloriously, in his act of election, God chooses to save people who deserve his greatest wrath and who would otherwise never choose to come to him. Election is the only way anyone receives salvation in Christ. Those who are chosen will experience God’s eternal mercy (Romans 8:29–30). 

—Eric C. Redmond 

Source: Content taken from Ephesians: A 12-Week Study © 2016 by Eric C. Redmond. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Redemption is the most glorious work of God. It is far greater than his work of creation. He spoke a word and worlds were formed, but it cost him the life of his beloved Son to redeem the world. Paul enjoyed dwelling on this theme, because he had experienced Christ’s redeeming love. He had been redeemed from sin, from the curse and bondage of the law. He had been washed clean in the blood of Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit. So it only makes sense for him to have gloried in his Redeemer. “Redeem” means to buy back or to pay the ransom price. This is what Christ did for us when we were held captive to sin… 

The provision for our redemption is Christ—Christ is our Redeemer! “In him we have redemption” (Ephesians 1:7 NIV).  

The means of our redemption is Christ—Christ voluntarily took our place. “In him we have redemption through his blood. . . . Not with perishable things such as silver or gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ” (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19 NIV). He stood charged with our sins and paid the penalty with his blood.  

The fruit of our redemption is God’s grace—Even “the forgiveness of sins” is the result of redeeming love, and this is “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7 NIV). Grace is unmerited favor. God’s forgiveness is according to his unending favor, which is not limited by our faults. God casts our sins behind his back. He blots them out of his book of remembrance. He sinks them into the depths of the sea. He removes them as far as the east is from the west. Yes, he forgives “in accordance with the riches of [his] grace.”  

—Henrietta Mears 

Source: This content is from What the Bible Is All About, written by Henrietta Mears. Copyright © 1953, 2011 by Gospel Light. Copyright assigned to Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Ephesians repeatedly draws attention to the sharp contrasts between believers’ former way of life and their new life in Christ, contrasts that are underscored by means of the once-now form (note especially Ephesians 2). This fundamental distinction between unbelievers and those in Christ is epitomized in Ephesians 5:8: ‘For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light’ (NIV). This and similar portrayals of the readers’ Christian existence are clearly intended to remind them of the privileged position into which they have now come, and to urge them to pattern their lives on the character of God and Christ (see on Ephesians 4:32-5:2). This will also mean that their lifestyle should not conform to that of the surrounding society. 

—Peter T. O’Brien 

Source: O’Brien, Peter T. The Letter to the Ephesians. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999.

Over and over throughout Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, God is saying, “Walk this way.” Our old life outside of Christ is held up in stark contrast to our new life in Christ. The second half of the letter is especially direct in showing us how to be imitators of God, as his beloved children. And we get to see all of these descriptions, commands, household codes, and encouragements through the glorious window of God’s plan to unite all things in Christ. 

—Gloria Furman

Source: By Gloria Furman in her article, “God’s Grand Blueprint for Your Life” © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org. Used by permission.

What was previously concealed as to the exact nature of God’s plan of redemption through Christ is now revealed. Although the Old Testament prophets progressively unfolded the divine design, the precise details were often shrouded and seen as shadows behind a veil. God designed all along that his people understand his purposes, but many of the details of this plan were not disclosed to his people. Although the Old Testament included the nations being blessed, it was not clear that Gentiles would be considered equal with Israel. But now, in the gospel God has revealed the mystery of his plan, which has the ultimate goal of uniting all things in Christ. More specifically, it involves uniting Jews and Gentiles into the one, new people of God. Thus, the term mystery in Paul refers to something that was hidden but is now revealed, especially as it relates to God’s plan to include the Gentiles into the people of God.[1] In Ephesians the mystery involves the all-inclusive plan of God to unite all things (including Jews and Gentiles) into the one body of Christ…this plan was revealed by God “according to his purpose” (Ephesians 1:9 ESV). The word translated “purpose” is often rendered “good pleasure.” The goodness and love of God are manifested in his plan for humankind. Because God delights in redeeming lost sinners, that is what he purposed to do. So just as God predestined his people for adoption according to his good pleasure (Ephesians 1:5 ESV), he also has disclosed his plans to them for his good pleasure.

1. See Romans 11:25; 16:25–27; Ephesians 3:3, 4, 9; Colossians 1:26–27; and 1 Timothy 3:16. Paul uses the term mystery (mystērion) twenty-one times, including six times in Ephesians (1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 5:32; 6:19).

—Benjamin L. Merkle 

Source: Content adapted from United to Christ, Walking in the Spirit: A Theology of Ephesians © 2022 by Benjamin L. Merkle. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.