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, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known [3] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

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

In this first statement, Paul identifies God as he has been revealed in the Gospel (Father and Son) and praises this God for raising Christ from the dead and bringing him up to the Heavens to rule at His right hand.  It is Jesus who was raised by the Spirit and Jesus who is seated in the heavens.  But in blessing Jesus God also blessed those who belong to Jesus.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

and are faithful in Christ Jesus

“Christ” means essentially King in Paul’s letters, with association with certain promises that a king would come and save. It would be more natural for us to read Paul write of those who are faithful to Christ Jesus, but that is not what he says. Rather, Jesus is not only the one to whom we are loyal, but He is the context in whom we walk the walk. Jesus is not only the king, but he is, in some sense, the realm or land in which our behavior can make any sense.

This idea actually goes back to David who is treated like he is somehow the land in which the Israelites live:

Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?” All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift?” And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel (2 Samuel 19.41-43).

And then again in the very next passage (ch. 20; emphasis added):

Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said,

We have no portion in David,
and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse;
every man to his tents, O Israel!

Christians are “in Christ” just as Israelites were “in Israel.” Christ is the environment in which they live and act.

In this context, we should mention that the faithfulness that Paul attributes to believers is not in any way contrary to the Bible’s message of grace and being right with God only through faith rather than earning such a position through moral behavior. Rather, in Christ, they are continually forgiven so that their obedient deeds, no matter how imperfect or wrong, are gladly received by God as a loving Father. As believers who have entrusted themselves to Christ alone, they have been faithful to the call of the Gospel and our counted faithful as they work that faith out in their lives, despite their shortcomings.

(This, by the way, has tremendous implications for how believers should treat others for whom they are responsible and with whom they are related. Paul will spell this out.)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

to the saints who are in Ephesus

Why “saints”? What does that term mean?
The easiest thing to do is to say that a saint is a “holy one” and just assume we all know what holiness is and let it go at that. I don’t think that really explains anything, so I’m going to go a different route. Yes, a saint is a Latin derivative that translates the Hebrew and Greek terms for “holy one.” But what does that mean?

The first time we find the word holy used as a noun it is used in Exodus 3.5 when Moses meets God in the burning bush. God tells him to remove his shoes because he is standing on holy ground. Normally the ground is cursed because of sin but when God draws near his presence makes the cursed ground holy so that it is an insult to wear shoes as if one needed protection from it.
So that’s one story. God drew near to a particular place at a particular time and that meant that the ground that he touched down upon was holy and had to be treated accordingly.

Another story is the story of Passover with the resulting law set down for Israel in Exodus 13.3 that every first born animal was to be “sanctified”—made holy. How does one sanctify a firstborn? Well in the case of an animal that is acceptable on the altar, sanctifying the firstborn meant bringing it to the central sanctuary and offering it up into God’s presence from the sanctuary altar.

That leads us to another story, the story of when God came down on Mount Sinai, once again that piece of geography had to be treated as “holy”—as special due to God’s special presence there. On that Mountain, God instructed the Israelites to build him a tent in which to live. That tent had different sections: the outer section was called “the holy place” and the interior section where God’s footstool dwelt was called “the holy of holies.” And that whole structure, that Tabernacle, was known as God’s “holiness” or “holy thing” or “holy place.” But it is translated the first time it is mentioned in Exodus 25.8 this way: “And let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.” Sanctuary, like saint, is an English terms we have derived from our Latin roots. Santus—“holy”—is the root of both saint and sanctuary, holy one and holy place.

In fact, it is in remembering Sinai that we first have a reference to people as “holy ones” or saints. Moses gives a blessing that recounts what happened:

The Lord came from Sinai,
And dawned on them from Seir;
He shone forth from Mount Paran,
And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; [angels]
At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them.
Indeed, He loves the people;
All Your holy ones are in Your hand,
And they followed in Your steps;
Everyone receives of Your words.
Moses charged us with a law,
A possession for the assembly of Jacob [33.2-4].

When God is enthroned at Sinai, it is appropriate to refer to his angels as “holy ones”; and when at the same time God is enthroned among his people, it is appropriate to refer to them as “holy ones,” saints, as well.

We typically think of holiness as a certain kind of moral quality. Someone is holy if he is righteous or godly. That’s true but it is a secondary development.

The primary meaning of holy is simply near to God’s special presence (in the case of God Himself holiness probably refers to His own independent integrity which also reminds us of his transcendence and separation from creation). Some things come near to God and they have no business being there so God expels them by destroying them or banishing them. They are not holy and therefore may not get that close. Other things belong near to God so that they can be called holy even if they are separated from God’s presence—they are meant to be brought to Him. The idea there is that they shouldn’t be so separated.

Related to this concept of holiness is the fact that those who are brought near to God need to behave in a way that is appropriate for being in God’s presence. But the moral quality is secondary.

So saints are saints because they have been given access to God’s sanctuary. Saints have sanctuary privileges. They belong in God’s presence and are part of his inner sanctum. The fact that both words in English come from the same Latin word is actually convenient. Remember the meaning of the word saint by hearing the first syllable of the word sanctuary.

The sanctuary, remember, is where God is enthroned. Beyond the holy place in the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant overshadowed by two golden Cherubim. The Bible declares that God was enthroned above those Cherubim so that the Ark was his footstool (First Chronicles 28.2; Psalm 99.5; 132.7). As the Psalmist declares in Psalm 98—a Psalm all about God’s ruler over the world from his throne—“Holiness befits your house, O LORD.”
This is the legal position of all Christians! We are all given authorized access to God’s throne room. The amazing privilege this involves can be seen from another story from Second Chronicles 26: When King Azariah tried to force his way into the holy place, leprosy broke out on his forehead so that he was expelled not only from the Tabernacle but also from his own thrown in Jerusalem. But Paul, in calling us saints is ascribing to us free access to where kings were once barred.
You don’t see this with your eyes but the Gospel tells you that it is true. Jesus is now the one sitting on the throne at the right hand of God. He is not only God Himself ruling both the heavens and the earth, but he is a man like us to whom we are united by the Spirit through faith. We are throne room counselors in Christ, we are servants in the sanctuary, we are kings and queens under our Lord the High King.
So you and I have an obligation—to recognize who we are and to act like it! As I said, Holiness is not first and foremost an ethical quality but it entails that we behave as those who are in front of God’s face. Do we act like kings and queens in our everyday life? Or do we act like impoverished peasants squabbling with one another over paltry matters that should not concern those of our high rank? If we are saints, then as the Apostle writes in verse 1 we should be faithful to that calling.
Saints have sanctuary access. We are part of God’s inner court.
How does the Gospel especially reveal this to us? Paul always greets his churches as saints, but in Ephesians, we get the most direct explanation about why he does so. Ephesians emphasizes the ascension and exaltation of Christ to the right hand of the Father. In other words, Ephesians is all about Jesus, as our representative, being granted sanctuary access in the true throne room in heaven, of which Moses’ Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple were only copies.
The Gospel is about the life, death, resurrection and enthronement of Jesus. If the people were called saints when Jesus was enthroned on Mount Sinai, how much more so when he has been incarnated as a man like us and has gone through death to resurrection life—being exalted at God’s right hand?
The Gospel is that Jesus is Lord, having been raised up to be enthroned at God’s right hand. Thus, the Gospel states that those who believe in Jesus have, through him, sanctuary access. They are throne room people. They are saints.
Incidentally, this term, saints, fits with what Jesus said to Paul on the road to Damascas. He told him he was sending them to the Gentiles to preach “that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Those already “sanctified by faith” are believing Jews. The convicted Saul of Tarsus would have thought of Jews as having rights to the Land wherein God had placed his Sanctuary. As he understood what the person and work of Jesus meant Saul or Paul would come to understand that Jewish believers were drawn close to God in a new way. But he would have grasped at once from Jesus’ words that Gentiles were now allowed identical privileges, being also “sanctified by faith,” just as the Jews were.
This was also Peter’s conclusion from his experience preaching the Gospel to the Gentile believer Cornelius (Acts 11). He said that God “made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.” Cleansing is what one had to do under the Mosaic covenant when one lost sanctuary access due to ritual impurity. Cleansing ceremonies restored access. They granted the person the right, once again, to approach the holy place.

Some of us might be used to thinking of the language of “sanctification” and “cleansing their hearts” as denoting some sort of ethical transformation in a believer’s character. But that is not the meaning in these passages. It refers to being granted full access to God. We see an example of this in First John 1.9 where “cleanse” refers to the bestowal of complete pardon: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Given the background and meaning of the term “saints,” and the frequency and uniformity of Paul’s use of the word in addressing Christians, it is really odd that Protestant Church have so highly preferred the term “justification by faith alone” rather than “sanctification by faith alone.” We tend to (1) assume that “justification” has more importance to Paul because it comes up for a great deal of discussion in two of his lectures, and (2) think of sanctification almost exclusively in terms of transformation of character.

Regarding (1), while Paul uses the term a lot in Galatians and Romans and mentions it elsewhere, he refers to Christians as saints every time he addresses churches. Furthermore, her in Ephesians—quite certainly a generic letter written to more than one church—Paul manages to set out the person and work of Christ and His salvation of sinners without ever referring to “justification” at all. If the term, saints, is tied to “sanctification by faith” then it should arguably be seen as having priority in Paul’s thought. Of course, with the popularity of courtroom dramas, one could argue that the language of justification or vindication is more easily understood in today’s culture.

But this brings us to the second problem (2), which is that we simply think of sanctification wrongly most of the time. While sanctification has behavioral consequences (we who are given access to God ought to live as those who know they are before His face, and in His presence we find his Spirit gives us the power to do so), it refers first of all to a legal status. We are granted access to God’s sanctuary and throne room. Just as being expelled from the sanctuary in Eden was a legal penalty for sin, so being brought near again is forgiveness and a new standing in God’s sight. Those whom God loves he embraces and calls to himself.

Justification became central to the Church’s thinking about salvation for a variety of healthy reasons, but they were not necessarily reasons that always led us to understand Paul in his own vocabulary. Likewise, the Church’s use of the term “sanctification” as a word referring primarily to behavioral transformation is also something that may require more Biblical reflection. For Paul, the sanctification of Christians—their status as saints—has everything to do with their judicial standing in God’s sight and their salvation by grace through faith.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus

What sort of mail do you get?

I ask this to remind you that how you respond to something in your mailbox often depends on who you think sent it. Bills usually provoke a sigh. Personal letters and cards are often a delight. Direct mail ads—whether selling cars, credit cards, or political candidates—probably go into the wastepaper basket without being opened. Of course, direct-mail marketers know this is a common habit and attempt to get around it. I have received letters that look like big checks just waiting to be deposited in my account as free money. Other times, I have gotten letters that are designed to make me think that the president of the United States sat down and jotted me a personal note.

Of course, a letter in an envelope that seems to be from the White House almost never sees the light of day. I just throw it in the trash with the rest of the junk mail, unopened. After all, I know that the President and I are not close personal friends. I have no reason to expect a letter from him.

But what it, one day, as I sat here typing this manuscript, there was a knock at the door. I looked out the window and saw two men dressed in black with ties and dark sunglasses. When I opened the door they say in officious tones that the President has a message for me, and hand me a sealed envelope made of quality paper. In those sorts of circumstance I would perhaps start to believe I had received a letter from the leader of the free world.

Why should anyone care what Paul thinks? Why should anyone read his letter?

That must be a good question because Paul answers it before he writes anything else. Paul is an ambassador, a delagate, an agent, an appointed representative. The title apostle means all those things and more in this case. But Paul writes as the apostle of Christ Jesus which means that we must think of him as a royal ambassador for another kingdom.

Why “royal”? Because that is exactly what it means to be appointed by Christ Jesus.

The term “Christ” is the Greek word for anointed. In Israel a priest or king was installed into office by being anointed with oil. The ritual represented the action of God’s Spirit in appointing someone to and equipping and empowering him for office. When God rescued Israel from Egypt and had them build a tent for him to dwell in their midst, Aaron, the first Priest to serve God there, was anointed with oil (Leviticus 8.12). Samuel the prophet anointed David with oil to declare him king of Israel (First Samuel 16.13). David was the beginning of a royal dynasty in Israel that remained in power (more or less) until Israel was invaded by the Babylonian Empire and deported. Since that time, as Israel hoped for a return for the glory that they had when they were indendent, they came to expect God to restore a new descendant of David to the throne. In the Hebrew language, the expected King was called “the Messiah.” In Greek, he was called “the Christ.” Both mean, “the anointed one,” referring to God’s promise to appoint someone as a new king for a renewed kingdom.

This has a great deal of import as to how we are to read Paul’s letter. In the late popular television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ancient texts were constantly studied in order to find obscure prophecies about the future or else give clues as to how to deal with supernatural forces. Some people assume the Bible is meant to be regarded in this manner and either revere it in this fashion or dismiss because they know there are no such forces.

A popular genre today are self-help books, which are produced in both secular and spiritual styles. Many see this as the role for Biblical literature. Paul is writing practical advice for us to be better people, or to give us inspiration for living.

But Paul’s own interpretation of himself says that he is writing as the representative of the heir and ruler of the world. Even though Paul (as we will see) regarded himself as commissioned to represent Jesus to the nations outside Israel, and even when he was reviled and persecuted by fellow Israelites for doing so, Paul never for a moment from proclaiming a specifically Jewish message. “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal,” he wrote years later to his understudy, Timothy (Second Timothy 2.8-9a). For Paul, the royal identity of Jesus as the promised descendant of David was always essential.

In other words, when originally written, and even now, Paul was writing political material. He was writing to establish and strengthen communities in loyalty to a new king who was the lord and deliverer of not just Israelites who sided with him, but of everyone who entrusted themselves to him.

In the eyes of the authorities in Paul’s own day, this would have been regarded as subversive, if not outright treason. Today we miss this. In today’s society, Ephesians is a book that corresponds to private life, personal preference, interior “spirituality.” But in Paul’s mind, this is a letter to the nations from their emperor. From the standpoint of the Roman Emperor it is a letter from a pretender to a disloyal cell within the body politic.