For a full description of the (Y3) reading plan, see the “About” page.
- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Eph. 1
This is a great chapter to read whenever I start to feel like I am lacking in anything! Paul reminds us that God has, “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3b). He then goes on to call out those spiritual blessings, which are many and great. God chose us to be holy and blameless. He adopted us as sons. In Him we have redemption and the forgiveness of our sins. God revealed His great plan to us, giving us wisdom to understand His great mystery. And He has promised us an inheritance, sealing that promise with His Holy Spirit as a down payment.
Paul wraps all of this up with a prayer for his readers. “…that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what is the wealth of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Eph. 1:18b-19a). Hope, wealth, and power – all of which surpass anything that exists on earth. We are blessed indeed!
Eph. 2
Paul wrote that Christ is our peace. Yet Jesus Himself said, “Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34). How can both be true? To answer that question, we need a good grip on what peace actually means. Most definitions indicate something along the lines of, “freedom from disturbance”, or, “a state of tranquility”. I think such definitions miss the mark a bit. The definition from dictionary.com comes a little closer. “A state of mutual harmony between people or groups, especially in personal relations.” This definition fully acknowledges the relational aspect of peace.
If we reword that last definition slightly, we can say that peace is the absence of division. For me, that starts to shed light on how Jesus brings both peace and a sword. What I see is that Jesus came to remove some divisions that should not exist and strengthen those that should. The most obvious and important division that Jesus removed is the one separating us from God. In removing that division, He also removed every other human division between those who come to the Father through Him. He makes it possible for people who once lived in enmity for whatever reason to become united as one body.
As for that sword, Jesus delineates the division between good and evil; those who belong to God through Him and those who belong to the evil one. Jesus is the line in the sand. On one side is peace with God through unity in Him. On the other is eternal disturbance and the absolute absence of tranquility.
Eph. 3
Paul’s God-appointed ministry was to reveal the truth of Jesus Christ, God’s plan for the redemption of the world, to the Gentiles. He referred to this message as the mystery of Christ, the gospel, and God’s wisdom. Many translations use the word, “manifold” as Paul’s descriptor for God’s wisdom. The CSB translators chose a different word, however. So what we have is “God’s multi-faceted wisdom”. (From Eph. 3:10). I like that! I am constantly marveling at how fractal, layered, and multi-faceted God’s word is. He did indeed hide the mystery of Christ in a kaleidoscope story. But now that we have the proper lens of Jesus Christ to view it through, what a beautiful image it reveals!!!