SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/17/2018 10:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Salutation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 1:1-2
Message
of the verses: “1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To
the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The
following is what we will find in this Salutation: 1. The Dual Source of Authority, 2. The Dual
Designation of Believers, 3. The Dual Blessings of Believers, and 4. The Dual
Source of Blessing. I have stated that
we will move slowly through this letter that Paul wrote to the Ephesians, and
in today’s SD I want to cover two parts of this salutation.
The Dual Source of Authority
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus
by the will of God, (1:1a).”
I
am not sure that it would be proper if I turned this portion of verse one
around, but it would help me understand this a bit better, “By the will of God,
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus.” First
we want to look at the word apostle in the Greek: “1) a delegate, messenger, one sent forth
with orders 1a) specifically
applied to the twelve apostles of Christ 1b) in a broader sense applied
to other eminent Christian teachers 1b1) of Barnabas 1b2) of Timothy and
Silvanus.”
When
we look at the highlighted part of this explanation of this word we see that it
was “specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ,” and so we have to
include Paul in that group as Christ called him on the road to Damascus, and
Paul defends his apostleship in his letters to the Corinthians. The Lord used these men to bring about the
foundation of the church, and therefore there are no real apostles left, as
John was the last one of the apostles who died in the late first century. John MacArthur writes that “The apostolic
duties were to preach the gospel (1 Cor. 1:17), teach and pray (Acts 6:4), work
miracles (2 Cor. 12:12), build up other leaders of the church (Acts 14:23), and
write the Word of God (Eph. 1:1; etc.).”
I
want to explain that after the death of Judas, Peter formed a group of the
eleven to, with the aid of God chose a replacement for him, and it turned out
that Matthias was chosen (Acts 1:26).
Now I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that there are some who think that
Peter acted in a hurry in choosing Matthias in that the Holy Spirit had not yet
come upon the eleven. Later on God chose
Paul to be an apostle and as mentioned some think that he was the one who
should have taken the place of Judas. At
any rate if one believes that Matthias was one of the twelve, then Paul, who
was the apostle to the Gentiles is also an apostle, and there is no doubt that
he is an apostle for we see that in this verse which is part of our Bible that
the Holy Spirit has authored.
We
know that Paul was a brilliant man who was a top leader in Judaism, but that
was not the reason he was an apostle, as we read “an apostle of Christ Jesus by
the will of God,” and that is the reason he is an apostle. Paul did not write this to boast, but I see
that it had to do with him being humble, since Paul, better than anyone knew
his past and how he had treated the early believers of the church in
Jerusalem. Paul even calls himself “the
chief of sinners.” MacArthur writes “By
mentioning his apostleship, Paul simply established his undeserved but
divinely-bestowed authority to speak in God’s behalf—which he states at the
beginning of each of his epistles except Philippians and 1 and 2
Thessalonians.”
The Dual Designation of
Believers
“To the saints who are at
Ephesus, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: (1:1b).”
We
want to look at the word “saints” as it is found in this section of verse
one. “Holy, characteristic of
God, separated to God,
worthy of veneration 1) its highest application is to God himself, in his
purity, majesty and glory. {Lu 1:49
Joh 17:11 Re 4:8 } 1a) Of things and places which have a claim to
reverence as sacred to God, e.g. the Temple: {Mt 24:15 Heb 9:1 } 1b) Of persons employed by him, as angels:
{1Th 3:13 marg. }
prophets, {Lu 1:70 }
apostles, {Eph 3:5 } 2)
Applied to persons as separated to God’s service: 2a) Of Christ: {Mr 1:24 Ac 4:30 } 2b) Of
Christians: {Ac 9:13 Ro 1:7 Heb 6:10
Re 5:8 } 3) In the moral sense of sharing God’s purity: {Mr 6:20 Joh 17:11 Ac 3:14 Re 3:7 }
4) Of pure, clean sacrifices and offerings: {1Co 7:14 Eph 1:4 }.” I know
that people have a problem with this word “saint” and yet the truth of the
matter is that every person who has been born-again through the blood of Jesus
Christ is a saint. The truth also is
that believers do nothing on their own to earn this fact that they are saints
and so as we read in Ephesians 2:9 “not as a result of works, so that no
one may boast.” Every Christian is a saint
because every Christian is set apart and made holy through the perfect
righteousness of Jesus Christ, as His righteousness has been placed on believer’s
accounts.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful that God has chosen me to be
one of His children, knowing that I did not chose God but He chose me and now I
am to go out and work for the cause of Christ as He leads me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord as I take time to
study this wonderful letter of Ephesians.
I know that what I learn from this book will be taught to me by the
indwelling Holy Spirit of God.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: Gospel of John, 1, 2, 3 John,
and Revelation.”
Today’s Bible question: “Describe the fourteen cattle that Pharaoh
dreamed about.”
Answer in our next SD.
10/17/2018 11:38 AM
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