D.M.LloydJones

Adoption ‘Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.’ Ephesians 1,5 The opening word of this verse reminds us of its intimate connection with what has gone before, where we have seen that the purpose of salvation is to destroy the work of the devil, and to restore us to a condition where we can stand again before God holy and without blame in love and have communion with Him as Adam had before the Fall. But it does not stop at that. In this fifth verse the Apostle leads us on to something yet more glorious. It is as if we were climbing up a staircase to some wonderful high tower. We reach a kind of platform with a glorious view than which nothing greater seems to be possible. One would have thought that nothing could be added to the previous statement; but the Apostle does add to it, and he does so because he feels that he has not yet told us everything about ‘the exceeding riches’ of God’s grace. So, h...

I digress for a moment to point out that when we read our Bibles nothing is more important than that we should look at every word and question it as to its meaning. How easy it is to do a certain amount of Bible reading every day, followed perhaps by a brief prayer! If your main concern is simply to read a certain amount each day you may well skip over words such as these, these profundities of our faith. Here at the very beginning, in this preliminary salutation, the Apostle plunges at once into the very depths of the profoundest truth and doctrine that is to be found anywhere in the Scriptures. Or, to state it in a different way, this verse is a kind of overture to the entire Epistle. It is the characteristic of great pieces of music, certain types of music in particular, to have an overture. The musician starts by composing the main body of the work, which may have various movements or acts, each having its theme. Then, having finished the work, he goes back to the beginning and wri...

4 The Everlasting Covenant ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.’ Ephesians 1:3 Here, once more, we have one of those glorious, staggering statements which are to be found in such profusion in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Nothing, perhaps, is more characteristic of his style as a writer than the frequency with which he seems to state the whole gospel in a phrase or verse. He never tires of doing this; he says the same thing in many different ways. This surely is one of his, even his, most glorious statements. We must approach it, therefore, carefully and prayerfully. The danger when considering such a statement is to be so charmed and enraptured by the very sound of the words, and the very arrangement of the words, that we are content with some passing general effect, and never take the trouble to analyze it and thereby to discover exactly what it says. We may be content with a purely...

Introduction ‘Paul, an apostle of Jesus to the saints which are faithful in Christ Jesus.’ Christ by the will of God, at Ephesus, and to the Ephesians 1:1 As we approach this Epistle, I confess freely that I do so with considerable temerity. It is very difficult to speak of it in a controlled manner because of its greatness and because of its sublimity. Many have tried to describe it. One writer has described it as ‘the crown and climax of Pauline theology’. Another has said that it is ‘the distilled essence of the Christian religion, the most authoritative and most consummate compendium of our holy Christian faith’. What language! And it is by no means exaggerated. Far be it from me to try to compete with those who have thus described this Epistle, but it seems to me that any general description of it must take special note of certain words which are characteristic of it, and which the Apostle uses more frequently in it, perhaps, than in any other Epistle. The Apostle marvels at...