What Saith the Scripture? : Commentary Series: The Book of Ephesians

What Saith the Scripture?

Commentary Series:

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the

Ephesians

By Seth Koenig

Chosen Noble King Books 2010

Text Copyright © by Seth Koenig

Chosen Noble King Books 2010

All rights reserved.

All Scripture is taken from the Authorized King James Bible. All

underlining or capitalization of said Bible (and the words contained within)

is for reason of author’s emphasis and NOT for purpose of revision.

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Other Books by Seth Koenig

A Shallow Dive in Deep Waters

Established in the Faith (A Practical Guide to Biblical Discipleship)

What Saith the Scripture? Commentary Series: Psalm 119

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eISBN: 978-1-25746-072-4

Foreword

The Epistle to the Ephesians can rightly be called "THE Book to the Church". It is filled with the Doctrinal and the Practical, and has been feeding the flock of God for nearly 2,000 years.

I remember being challenged to memorize the 4th Chapter by a former pastor. I took him up on that challenge and am thankful that, though I can no longer quote it verbatim, its lesson on unity has stayed with me for quite a few years.

After founding Bible Believers Baptist Church in June of 2008, I needed a series to dive into with the people that would help establish what we are in Christ, and who we ought to be in Christ. After a brief series on the feasts of the Lord (as I wanted to start it all with Jesus Christ – and the feasts point directly to Him), Ephesians became that series. So now it holds a special place in my heart as the first Book I taught through, verse by verse, as the pastor of BBBC.

The following material is taken from roughly 250 pages of sermon notes. Some is meant to teach and some is meant to preach. As with all Commentaries I hope to write in the future, I have treated this work as a teaching guide AND a devotional. That which is emboldened is King James Scripture. It is emboldened because it is more important than my comments in between. It is perfect; I am flawed. It is without error; I am not. It is holy; I am just a sinner saved by grace. He must increase; I must decrease.

Happy Reading!

-Brother Seth Koenig

Ephesians Chapter One

(Ephesians 1:1) Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

There is no argument as to who authored the Book of Ephesians. This is the work of Paul, previously known as Saul of Tarsus under inspiration of the Holy Ghost (2 Timothy 3:16).

Paul makes it clear to the reader that he is indeed an apostle. He is no faker as mentioned in Revelation Chapter Two: …and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and has found them liars: When this commentary moves into the second chapter, we’ll discuss the signs of a truly gifted Apostle. For now we simply need to understand that Paul’s apostleship was brought into question on a number of different occasions by skeptics which led to Paul’s defense. Not only does he state that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, but makes it clear that he did not will himself to be one, but rather God willed this to be.

The letter is specifically written to the saints in Ephesus, but is also broadly written to "the faithful in Christ Jesus. Specifically, this letter is given to a body of believers in Christ Jesus gathered in the City of Ephesus around the time period of A.D. 60-63. Yet this letter (now called a book) has been preserved through the years and resides in the Authorized Bible in perfect condition – available nearly 2,000 years later. But note that only the faithful will likely pick it up and read it. It is not for the nominal Christian – for he would not be interested in the least. Consider yourself faithful. You’d have no interest in a commentary about a book you couldn’t care less about without being one of the faithful" in Christ.

(Ephesians 1:2) Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Nothing fancy here. Just note the word order. Grace comes first, and then peace follows. There is no peace without the grace of God first being given. Search the epistles, grace almost always precedes peace. Again, glory to God in the highest FIRST – peace on earth NEXT.

Where does the grace and the peace come from? It comes from God the Father and is shed abundantly on anyone who puts their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

(Ephesians 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

We’ll need to park here if just for the reason that the Church is so confused about the difference between physical and spiritual blessings.

The Bible says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14). This is an important verse we’ll use to aid our understanding of this particular verse.

The first time I walked into an Independent Baptist Church, I entered wearing a pair of ripped blue jeans and a Buffalo Bills jersey. (Mock all you want…I live in Buffalo, okay?) I remember this because after the Service, the Pastor used my obvious zeal for football to engage me in conversation and gauge whether or not I was saved. As time moved on I began to grow in the Lord. Both my wife (actually fiancée at the time) and I began to notice that what we were wearing was hardly appropriate for Church. (It was likely my dress rather than hers as less than appropriate.) But before long I found myself wearing a shirt and a tie. My haircuts became shorter and shorter. Suits or sport coats eventually became the norm.

Now before you think I’m going to start obsessing over length of dresses or church attire – please think again. You see, not one person (that I can recall) ever approached me about my dress. As I began to grow up in the Lord, changes just started taking place. Over time, if you stay under good Bible teaching and preaching, spend time in prayer and in fellowship with walking saints, something will begin to happen within you. It’s called, GROWING UP. The natural man (your flesh) doesn’t receive the things of the Spirit. Not only does he not receive these things, but they are actually foolishness unto him.

I’ve told this story just to bring us all the way back around the block to the poor state of Christianity in the Laodicean Church Age. We’re nothing but a bunch of babies! (John 3:6) says, That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. That doesn’t sound too complicated, does it? This simple verse, misunderstood, is a big part of the confusion in and out of the church. Out of the Church, the confusion lies in not understanding the new birth. In the Church, the confusion is in not understanding the difference between the things of the Spirit and the things of the flesh.

The verse in Ephesians says that God has blessed us with all SPIRITUAL blessings… Sadly, some people read this verse and automatically start thinking of God reigning down money or physical healing and the like. But physical blessings are not mentioned in this verse. If you think this is just a Charismatic error, think again. Even the fundamental Bible Believing Churches are starting to look at this thing in the wrong way. Somehow we’ve managed to start equating physical growth with spiritual blessings. I’ve listened to Pastors as they engage in conversation, one with another. Often, one of the first questions asked is, So how many are you guys runnin’ at? That’s slang for, How many people are now attending your church, brother? WHO CARES! What happened to questions like this: Are you guys staying faithful to evangelism? Are you folks rightly dividing the word of truth? Do you often lift up and bring glory to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?

If physical growth equals spiritual blessings from God, then Benny Hinn, Oral Roberts, and Kenneth Copeland are three of the most blessed men on earth. That is the same Benny Hinn who taught that God is not a Trinity, but actually consists of nine separate beings. That’s the same Oral Roberts who claimed that God would kill him if he didn’t raise so much money. That’s the same Kenneth Copeland who proclaimed that anyone with the right faith could have gone to the cross in Jesus’ place. You know who else had a large congregation? Jim Jones! The errors of these men are due to their carnal appetites and lack of spiritual growth. They’re babes (if they are even saved at all – except Jones who was very obviously not). They only see the physical. They’ve not grown up enough to see past the flesh and into the Spiritual.

Let’s also note that our verse in Ephesians says that we’re blessed with all spiritual blessings IN HEAVENLY PLACES… The part about heaven is important. Do you know why Christians are so often carnally minded? They simply just don’t understand or realize just how good heaven is going to be. You’re going to get ALL spiritual blessings in heavenly places – not some. (1 Corinthians 2:9) says, But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

How wonderful do you imagine heaven to be? No, your imagination’s not big enough. You say, I don’t know…I can imagine quite a bit. Well, that is still not good enough. It has not even entered into your heart! And for that reason we walk around thinking about the best this world has to offer, and before long we want that earthly stuff, and it steals our time, our thoughts, our affection – and worse, OUR HEARTS. Before long we stop serving the Lord and start serving mammon. If we could just understand how good heaven is going to be, perhaps we’d stop caring so much about a world that wants nothing more than to chew us up and spit us out.

(Ephesians 1:4) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

If you thought we parked too long on the last verse – you ain’t read nothin’ yet! This verse needs an excessive amount of explanation. We will discuss the doctrine known as: ELECTION.

John Calvin said, We call predestination God’s eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others. Therefore, as any man has been created to one or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestined to life or death. (Institutes, Book III, Ch. XXI, Sec. 5) Get all that? That’s because John Calvin, though arguably a brilliant man, was a very confused man when it came to Biblical doctrine. He was a hero of the Protestant Reformation and his writings are revered by many Lutherans and Presbyterians & Reformed Baptists. He also happened to be a man who believed in torturing those who did not accept Christianity as the State Religion. When a man by the name of Michael Servetus stood up against Calvin’s teachings on Predestination and Election, Calvin drew up thirty-nine accusations against him. Servetus was burned at the stake – yet called upon God to forgive his accuser before dying. Why anyone would be interested in what Calvin had to say about the Bible is beyond me. I’ve not read all of his works, but that which I have read has never lead me to conclude that John Calvin was a Born Again Christian.

Johnny Calvin believed in what might be referred to by some as God’s Eternal Decree. Here’s when you know you’re in a Calvinist church: they’ll OFTEN use the word Sovereignty. You’ll not find that word anywhere in the Bible. Let me explain what Calvin meant in the above quote: Before God created the world, he decided who He would allow into heaven and who He would cast into hell. There is no such thing as free will when it comes to salvation. We are all merely pawns in God’s Chess Game of Life. This has lead to great confusion in the Church. Let us remember – where there is confusion – there is the Devil. (1 Corinthians 14:33) For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

Calvinism is confusing. You must insert words into Scripture in order to teach it. You must ignore other clear passages in order to believe it. For example, the Calvinist will tell you that you cannot understand (John 3:16) without inserting the words of the elect into the passage. Now, they don’t change the Bible here – let me be clear. They simply state that adding the words will help you better understand it. In essence, here’s what they do with this verse:

(John 3:16) For God so loved the world OF THE ELECT, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever OF THE ELECT believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (Italicized and underlined words are added by author to make a point – not to change the actual Scripture.)

Calvinism is for the heady, high minded men of Seminaries and Institutes. Calvinism is not of God – it is from the pits of hell. So what does God actually mean in Ephesians 1:4?

What is Election?

First, let’s be clear. Ephesians 1:4 does not reference salvation or damnation. The reader will not read that God has chosen us to irresistible grace. We cannot possibly read that John Doe will spend an eternity in the flames of hell. To believe being chosen of God means that you are saved is to ignore something very obvious in your Bible.

(Luke 6:13) And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;

(John 6:70-71) Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? (71) He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.

What are these verses teaching? Well, if you’re an honest student of the Bible, you’ll have to admit that not everyone God chooses assures them of salvation. God chose twelve apostles. One of them betrayed Him and will spend an eternity in Hell. Why? Because Judas Iscariot DID NOT CHOOSE CHRIST.

Jesus isElect and Chosen

The word election appears only six times in the Authorized Bible. The word elect appears twenty times in the Bible. I understand that this word is not found in Ephesians 1:4. What we find in Ephesians 1:4 is what Calvinists have mistakenly referred to as Election. Let us consider the law of first mention: In order to understand a term or a word used in the Bible, the best place is to start in the first place that word or term appears. This may not give you everything you need to know about a particular subject, but it’s a great place to start. Then look at other Scripture – line upon line and precept upon precept (Isaiah 28:10). Make sure every