GREETINGS

 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

Ephesians 1:1-2

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

SALUTATIONS

 

This greeting is the shortest in any of Paul's letters, however brief it is, it includes three simple but important things that we should note. 

First, Paul's credentials: Notice how he describes himself, an apostle... by the will of God. An apostle was one sent with a message. And, as he tells us in his letter to the Galatians, the Lord Jesus appeared to him directly. Paul did not learn what he knew about the gospel by discussing it with the other apostles. The truth that he imparts to readers he learned directly from Jesus Christ, and that is his authority. Therefore, it is a good thing for us to remember that when you read Paul’s writings you are reading an approved, called representative of Jesus. (See Acts 9)

Paul was always amazed by the fact that it was by the will of God that he was an apostle. He had no other credit or fame in his life than that God, in the amazing wonder of His grace, had called this man, who was such a bitter, intense, nationalistic persecutor of the church; had arrested him and changed him; and had called him out to be an apostle to the Gentiles. Take note, Paul gives no other credentials. He doesn't refer to his training at the feet of Gamaliel or his Hebrew background and pedigree or the brilliance of his intellect or anything else. He simply says, I'm an apostle by the will of God. 

Then notice how these Christians are described: saints... the faithful in Christ Jesus. Saint is a word at which we all wince a little. We don't like to be called saints because we think of them as being holier-than-we, so unlike ordinary human beings. Yet, I remind you that the saints of the New Testament are people like us, people who are burdened with struggles and difficulties, who have strife at home and problems at work and troubles everywhere else. The one remarkable thing about them is that they are different. That is really the basic meaning of this word saint. In the Greek it is derived from the word for holy. And holy means distinct, different, whole, belonging to God and, therefore, living differently. It isn't that Saints don’t have problems, but that they handle them in a different way. They have a different way of life.

Then comes the greeting of Paul to these believers: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The two great inheritances of the Jesus follower are grace and peace. You can always have grace and peace, no matter what your circumstances.

Now,

“To the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen.