He doesn’t speak about individuals in a given city, or a specific congregation. And in speaking of these broad and grandiose terms of the church, he doesn’t use local references here. It is not an organization, it is an organism.

It is indwelt by the living Lord Himself. His great thrust and emphasis in this particular book is to speak of the church in its broadest terminology it is the body of Christ. And Paul is writing here to define for the believing community the church, as the body of Christ. Paul is writing to the Ephesians and not only to them, but this proved to be a letter that went far beyond the Ephesian church, no doubt circulating among all the churches, particularly those in the province of Asia Minor. Now, before we get into a discussion of redemption, let me just remind you of where we are in the book of Ephesians, because everything ought to be taught in the Bible in terms of its context that is, it only has its ultimate meaning when it’s seen in light of what is around it in the text. A familiar word in our society, but with an unfamiliar meaning, until we turn to the Word of God.

The word redeemed, and the word redemption, is really a very, very, vital part of the core of Christianity, and it becomes the theme of the wonderful text to which we draw our attention this morning redemption. And we talk a lot about redemption, and the word redeemed is not an uncommon word in our vocabulary, but I’m quite confident that the mass of humanity that uses the word doesn’t understand its theological implications. I remember some years ago, when my wife used to collect Blue Chip Stamps and Green Stamps, that every once in a while, she’d hand me a pile of books and say we were going to the Redemption Center to redeem our stamps.Īnd frequently, she has coupons, which she takes to be redeemed. And we’re looking at chapter 1 this morning, verses 6 to 10, discussing the theme of redemption, as Paul speaks of it in this section. We have begun what will prove to be greatly beneficial study of a marvelous word from God, the letter to the Ephesians.

Take your Bible, if you will, for our study this morning, and let’s look together at Ephesians, chapter 1 Ephesians, chapter 1.

Mass effect redemption summary