Christmastide Inheritance (2) - Ephesians 1:1-19

Ephesians 1 - From Paul, one of the apostles of King Jesus through God’s purpose, to the ones set apart in Ephesus who are loyal believers in King Jesus. 2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the king, give you grace and peace! Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the king, who has crowned us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in the King. 4 He chose us in Him before before creation was made, so as to be set apart and unblemished before Him in love. 5 He pre-destined us for Himself, to be adopted through Jesus the king. That’s how He wanted it, and that’s what gave Him delight, 6 so that the glory of His grace, the grace He poured on us in His beloved one, might receive its due praise. 7 In the King, and through His blood, we have deliverance — that is, our sins have been forgiven — through the wealth of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. Yes, with all wisdom and insight 9 He has made known to us the secret of His purpose, just as He wanted it to be and set it forward in Him 10 as a blueprint for when the time was full. His plan was to sum up the whole cosmos in the King — yes, everything in heaven and on earth, in Him. 11 In Him we have received the promised inheritance! We were selected beforehand in Him, according to the intention of the One who does all things in accordance with the counsel of His own purpose. 12 This was so that we [Jews] who first hoped in the King would be devoted to extolling His glorious attributes. 13 In Him you too [Gentiles], who heard the message of truth, the good news of your salvation, and believed it — you were given the baptismal seal of the promised Holy Spirit. 14 The Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the time when the people who are God’s special possession are finally reclaimed and freed. This, too, is for the extolling of His glorious attribute of grace. 15 Since I first heard of your loyal faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, 16 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17 especially that the God of King Jesus our Lord, the father of glory, would give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in full knowledge of Him, 18 and to have the eyes of your inmost self opened to God’s revelation. Then you will know exactly the meaning of your calling by God and know the hopeful future it brings; you will know the wealth of the glory of His promised inheritance in God’s people 19 and what the transcendent greatness of His power in us believers truly is, seeing the working of His infinite might. (G. Strawbridge trans.)

Outline:
Blessings (1-3)
Benefits (4-12)
Baptism (13-15a)
Birthrights (15b-19)