TUESDAY May 21st
Ephesians 1:15
‘For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints. . .’
The words ‘For this reason’, could be looking back over what Paul has already written in chapter 1, which is all about the spiritual blessings which believers have been blessed with in Christ (v3). For in verses 13-14 Paul reminds the believers that they had heard the word of truth, and believed in Jesus and therefore had been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of the inheritance until we acquire possession of it. He wants to pray for them because of their being in Christ, but more specifically I think that ‘For this reason’ points to the two reasons he gives for praying for them, 1) Because he had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus, 2) Because he had heard of their love toward the saints. Because of your faith and your love, he says ‘I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers’, (v16).
Verses 3-14 of Ephesians chapter 1 are just one sentence in the Greek, thankfully broken down into the English for us in several verses, and one author has commented that they are verses of praise, whereas the next verses, 15-23 are verses of prayer.
But I want to highlight the two reason. Their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love towards all the saints.
Faith in the Lord Jesus is essential before we can come to know the many spiritual blessings that he has spoken about in the previous verses. It is only once we have come to faith in the Lord Jesus that we know what it is to be in Christ. It is only once we have come to faith in the Lord Jesus that we are incorporated into what Paul terms as the church, which is his body later in this prayer in verse 22-23.
I grew up under some who taught that a person doesn’t become a part of the body of Christ until they have been filled with or baptised in the Holy Spirit, I cannot subscribe to that, I believe that inclusion into the church, becoming a part of the body of Christ happens immediately that a man or women is born again, but the desire should be for each member to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 3, Paul says in verse 6, ‘This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.’ How are we members of the same body? Paul says through the gospel, that is through coming to faith, personal belief and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And although I readily accept the promise of the Father which is to be baptised in the Spirit, the Spirit is already given to everyone the moment they believe, we are born again by the Spirit, there cannot be believers who are in the body of Christ and another group of believers who are not in the body of Christ. We are all one in Christ Jesus.
Faith in the Lord Jesus is the key. Can you say that you know that you are ‘In Christ’, have you come to the place of saving faith, having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.