Chosen

Introduction

Caesar Augustus reigned from 27 BC to 14 AD. He was the great uniter of Rome. Because of his political and military shrewdness, Rome enjoyed almost 200 years of peace. While Rome extended its borders during that 200 years through military means, it enjoyed what has been termed the Pax Romana. While emperor, Augustus was deified and all emperors who succeeded him were also considered gods. This worship of the emperor or imperial cult became a source of great unity for Roman citizens and a source of great tension for Christians.

The city of Ephesus was known for its pagan temple to Artemis or Diana. In Acts 19, Paul is in Ephesus and during his time there, the gospel has affected the business and religious worlds. With so many coming to Christ, sales of Artimes’s figurines declined significantly. Worship of Artemis was compromised. A riot broke out in the city. Gentile Christians and Jews were persecuted.

That very same temple had been dedicated to Caesar Augustus between 11 and 13 AD with this inscription “Ephesian Artemis; to Emperor Caesar Augustus, son of god; to Tiberius Caesar, son of Augustus; and to the demos of the Ephesians.”

Augustus, who died almost 50 years before this letter was written, was viewed as the giver of unity to Rome; he brought order to a chaotic world; time was measured and had meaning by Augustus’ birth; he was called “savior” and “god.”

By the middle of the 1st century, emperors were thought to be “eternal” and that the rule of Rome would be permanent. Coins of that era depict Augustus and other emperors as warrior gods. Sculptures announce the total unifying conquest of Augustus and other emperors even to the point that an image of warrior emperor trampling enemies underfoot exists.

Paul wrote this letter around 62 AD. He has been in prison for about 5 years and it has been over 7 years since he was at Ephesus. Listen to Paul’s language in the writing:

1:21 — Christ has all authority over those who come against him eternally

1:22 — All things are under Christ’s feet

1:9-10 — In Christ time and unity occur

2:7 — In Christ grace will be shown throughout the ages

2:11-3:13 — Jew and Gentile do not belong to the kingdom of this world but to a kingdom whose head is Christ

6:10-17 — We are soldiers fighting in a war against demonic powers at work in this world.

The war is clear for Paul — good vs. evil; light vs. darkness; Jesus vs. Rome. Paul writes to remind his readers that they belong to good, light, Jesus. Our study over the next few weeks will remind us of the same.

Blessings

There are several ways to divide this text. Paul wrote it as one long sentence. It is 202 words of blessing with no punctuation. It is filled with dependent clauses and praise. One writer says there are 20 different ways to explain the structure of this section. Another writer says that there are 43. If we think about the culture of Paul’s day and its emphasis on emperor worship, and the tension that must have existed for those early Christians to follow God while living in an openly hostile environment, then it is possible for us to understand what Paul is doing with this text.

From the beginning, Paul calls on his readers to focus outside of this world. God’s blessings are in the heavenly realm. God’s blessings are not confined to this world. These blessings find their fullest expression outside of this world. Notice verse 3. Praise is given to God the Father who is worked through Jesus who is Lord and Christ and who gives every “spiritual blessing” in Christ. The word “spiritual” denotes the presence of the Holy Spirit who is mentioned in the latter part of the section. God, Jesus, the Spirit are the focus.

Look at the blessings that Paul mentions

V. 4 — God chose us before time. God thought about you and me before creation. He envisioned his children before he created time.

V. 5 — God adopted us. When the time came for us to enter this world, God made us one of his children. He gave us a place to call home. And he did this with pleasure. No coercion. No hesitation.

V. 7 — Jesus redeemed us. Bought with a price. Our souls have been bought by the blood of Jesus.

V. 7 — Forgiveness. Our sins are gone. Wiped away. Forgotten. No longer held against us. All done by God’s lavish grace. It is grace upon grace. It is God working for us because God never just gives, he gives abundantly.

V. 9 — He revealed one of the mysteries of this life — to have everything come under the Lordship of Jesus. Notice it is because God finds pleasure in revealing this. There are things that remain hidden with God but not his desire for us to be with him. He wants us.

V. 13 — Included in Christ when we responded to the gospel.

V. 13 — Given the Holy Spirit as a seal and deposit. The Spirit serves a two-fold purpose. He is a seal. The seal was a sign of authenticity. His presence demonstrates that our relationship is authentic. He is our deposit. The down payment that says more is coming.

The world cannot give us any of these things. In the spiritual war between good and evil, evil has nothing to offer us that will bless us.

Response

Look at the responses that comes as a result of these blessings.

V. 4 — holy and blameless. God chose us so that we could be holy. Set apart. He chose us so that our lives would be a demonstration of God’s presence. But not just as a demonstration to others but to God himself. He watches with great interest as his children live in this world. He wants to see our intent in this world.

V. 12 — Praise. God’s intent was that his people would praise him. Paul’s world, the pagan worshiper praised the emperor. He would praise that which took away from God. But not God’s children; we do not praise that which is counter to God. We uphold him and his ways.

Don’t leave verse 12 too quickly. Look at the phrase “the first to hope in Christ.” This is a difficult translation. The word translated “first to hope” is found only here in all of the NT and rarely in outside sources. It literally means “to hope before.” It carries the idea to “hope before” in a thing or person before the event confirms it. In other words, you trust in something before you see it. You expect something to happen before it happens and then when it does occur it is a fulfillment of your expectation.

Here’s the point. Go back to verse 10. God’s intent is to bring all thing in heaven and on earth under the Lordship of Jesus. It hasn’t happened yet. God says it will. We “hope before” that it will happen. We anticipate it happening. We expect it to happen. We know it is a matter of time before it happens. But in the meantime, we are at war. Evil says we only wish for something that will never happen. Evil says that there is more that this world has to offer than the empty unseen promise of God. And we hear the world’s voice very well. Rome told its citizens that god had already come — he was the great uniter; he was the giver of order over the political chaos; he was the savior. And the pressure was on.

There was order under Rome. There was unity albeit forced. And in a cosmopolitan city like Ephesus there was great prosperity. And there was pressure to give in. Pressure to accept. Pressure to join the world. But Paul calls us to praise. Praise the God who calls. Praise the God who forgives, redeems, and gives us a place to call home. Praise the God who through his authentic presence that there is more to come. We fight under the banner that Jesus is Lord. Paul says we have been called to lead lives that demonstrates that we clearly are under the Lordship of Jesus. What does your life demonstrate?

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