As we begin Paul’s greeting to the saints in Ephesus, we show that Paul takes a common Greek greeting and a common Jewish greeting and creates his own: grace to you and peace. To understand the meaning of terms that occur in Ephesians and elsewhere we must have valid definitions. Every important term Paul uses has been redefined and confused by people who do not believe the truth. We need to know who is an authoritative apostle who speaks for God. Paul was, but even today that are false teachers who claim to be apostles or prophets. We also introduce the literary form of Ephesians 1:3-14 that is usually translated as “blessed.” As used here, the term is an ascription of praise to God for His glorious character and mighty deeds. We cite other examples of this same use of the special term here in the Greek. This sermon highlights many of the pitfalls that are in the religious world we live in because of refusing to define terms biblically. We must know what God has said and particularly who Christ is, what He did, and why we need Him. We must believe the gospel. Believers are saints, not because of some claim to higher status, but because of what God did for us in Christ by grace alone.  

Sermon handout and slides are available under the Downloads tab.

Sermon slides and handout are available under the Downloads tab.