Ephesians 1:1-23

Ephesians is the last of the three letter Paul wrote during his house arrest in Rome, around A.D. 62. Ephesus was a large, important city and this letter was probably sent to many churches in the area. The letter shares a lot of the same information as Colosians. However, the emphasis in Colosians was correcting false doctrine; whereas, the emphasis in Ephesians is unity.

Paul begins his letter once again with greetings and an acknowledgement of the greatness of God and His Son, our Savior - Jesus Christ. Through Christ we have redemption and forgiveness. This is a foundation of our faith and can never be stated too much. Not only is God so, so good, He has put into place a perfect plan that includes you as a believer.

Now we come to a passage that leads to a lot of misinterpretations and troubles. Verse 11-12 Paul talks about predestination. Some people interpret this to mean that God has already decided who will become a believer. It's out of your hands. However, this removes free will & our relationship with God is based on our free will to choose Him or to deny Him. So, God does not choose who will be His child & who will go to hell. I look at it this way - God exists outside of time. He knows the past, present, and future. It's like He's already been to the theater & seen the movie. Since He knows what will happen, He knows who will choose Him & who will deny Him. He knows every decision you're going to make before you make it. This allows God to choose men and women who will willingly carry out His plans. It's not forced, God simply works within our free will. If I as a parent can determine which of my children will make a certain choice or be best for a particular job since I KNOW them so well, God - who knows EVERYTHING - can certainly work His plans through us.

Paul finishes his greeting by telling the church how he prays for them, much like in Colosians. Then he sets up his thesis statement - Jesus is the head of the church. He will expand on this issue as he begins to speak on the unity of the church body and our place in it.