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Ephesians 1 — Identity, inheritance, and a prayer that changes everything
7 min read
is writing from prison. That's worth knowing up front. He's chained to a Roman guard, and instead of writing a complaint or a plea for help, he writes one of the most expansive, soaring theological letters in the entire New Testament. This is his letter to the believers in — a he spent years building, in a city that was the cultural and religious hub of .
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And he doesn't open with small talk. He opens with a cascade of truth about who God is, what God has done, and who you are because of it. The first fourteen verses are technically one long sentence in the original Greek — Paul was so overwhelmed by what he was describing that he couldn't stop to take a breath. That energy matters. This isn't a theology lecture. It's a man who has seen something so stunning he can barely get the words out fast enough.
introduced himself the way he always did — by grounding his authority in something bigger than himself:
"Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God — to the saints in Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Two words: grace and . That's not just a greeting — it's a thesis statement. is what God gives that you didn't earn. Peace is what you experience when you believe it. Every single thing Paul is about to say flows from those two words.
Here's where voice starts rising. You can feel the momentum building as he traces God's plan all the way back to before the world existed:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world — so that we would be holy and blameless before him.
In love, he predestined us for adoption as his own children through Jesus Christ. This was his plan all along — according to his will, for the praise of his glorious grace, which he has lavished on us in the Beloved."
Let that land for a second. Before there were stars. Before there was a planet for you to stand on. Before your parents met, before your story had a single chapter — God looked at the sweep of all history and said, "That one's mine." Not because of anything you'd eventually do. Not because you'd earn it. Because he wanted to.
That word "" is important. In the Roman world, adoption wasn't a backup plan. An adopted child had every right the biological children had — sometimes more, because they were deliberately chosen. Paul is saying God didn't just tolerate you into his family. He chose you into it. On purpose. Before anything else existed.
moved from the eternal plan to the moment it broke into history — the . And he described what happened there in terms of rescue and :
"In him we have Redemption through his blood — the Forgiveness of everything we've done wrong — according to the richness of his grace, which he poured out on us generously.
With all wisdom and insight, he made known to us the mystery of his will — the plan he set in motion through Christ for when the time was right: to bring everything together under one head, everything in Heaven and everything on earth, united in him."
Two things happening here. First: . That's a marketplace word — it means buying someone's . You were bought back. The currency was the blood of . And God didn't do it reluctantly or sparingly. Paul said he "poured out" his grace. Lavished it.
Second: the mystery. Paul loved this word. He didn't mean "mystery" like a puzzle you solve. He meant something that was always true but only now being revealed. And here's the reveal — God's endgame isn't just saving individuals. It's reuniting everything. and earth. The spiritual and the physical. All of it, gathered back together under . Every broken thing mended. Every scattered piece brought home. That's the plan. That's always been the plan.
Now brought it closer. He moved from the cosmic plan to the personal experience — what actually happens when someone believes:
"In him we have received an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of the one who works all things according to his will — so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might live for the praise of his glory.
And you — when you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your Salvation, and believed in him — you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the guarantee of your inheritance until you fully receive it, all to the praise of his glory."
Catch that word "sealed." In the ancient world, a seal was a mark of ownership and protection. When a king sealed a document, it meant: this is mine, this is authentic, and nobody tampers with it. Paul was saying the is God's seal on your life. Not a feeling you chase. Not an experience that fades. A permanent mark that says: this person belongs to me.
And then "guarantee." The Greek word is actually a down payment — the first installment of something much bigger that's coming. The Holy Spirit in your life right now isn't the whole thing. It's the preview. It's God saying, "You think this is good? Wait until you see what's next." Everything you experience of God now — the , the conviction, the quiet sense that you're known — that's just the deposit. The full is still ahead.
shifted gears. He'd been building this towering theological structure — chosen, redeemed, sealed, guaranteed. And now he prayed. But not for what you'd expect. He didn't pray that things would get easier. He prayed that they would see more clearly:
"Because I've heard about your Faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people, I haven't stopped giving thanks for you. I keep praying for you — that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give you the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation so you can truly know him.
I pray that the eyes of your heart would be opened — so you'd know the hope he's called you into, the incredible richness of his inheritance among his people, and the immeasurable greatness of his power toward those who believe."
Read that again slowly. Paul didn't pray for better circumstances. He prayed for better vision. He knew the Ephesians already had everything he'd described in the first fourteen verses — chosen, adopted, redeemed, sealed. The problem wasn't that they lacked anything. The problem was that they might not realize what they had.
That's the quiet tragedy of so many people who believe. You've been given this astonishing identity, this , this power — and you walk around like someone who forgot what's in their account. Paul's was essentially: "God, open their eyes. Let them see what's already true about them." It might be the most important prayer anyone could pray for you today.
ended the chapter by pointing to the proof. You want to know how great this power is? Look at what it already accomplished:
"This is the same power God displayed when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places — far above every ruler, every authority, every power, every dominion, and above every name that exists. Not just in this age, but in the age to come.
He put everything under Christ's feet and gave him as head over all things to the church — which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills everything in every way."
Here's what Paul wanted them to feel: the power that raised a dead man out of a tomb and seated him above every government, every corporation, every system, every ideology, every force in existence — that exact same power is directed toward you. Not a scaled-down version. Not power-lite. The -grade, cosmos-ruling power of God. That's what's at work in the people who believe.
And then the ending — the is body. Not a building. Not an institution. Not a Sunday morning routine. The living, breathing fullness of in the world right now. That's what you're part of. That's the community Paul spent his life building, even from a prison cell. He wasn't describing an organization. He was describing an organism — alive with the presence of the one who fills all in all.