1:1 Paul, {1} an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the {a} faithful in Christ Jesus:
(1) The inscription and salutation, of which we have spoken in the former epistles.
(a) This is the definition of the saints, showing what they are.
1:1 The Foreordination of the Church
SUMMARY OF EPHESIANS 1:
The Salutation. Our Election and Adoption by Grace. This the Source of Salvation. The Mystery Made Known. The Inheritance. Prayer That Wisdom and Knowledge Be Given to the Saints.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. It was always the custom anciently to place the name of the writer at the beginning rather than at the end as with us.
By the will of God. Emphasis is placed in most of Paul's epistles upon the fact that he was not an apostle by the appointment of man, but by the will of God.
To the saints which are at Ephesus. All Christians were called saints in the early church. See the salutations of other Epistles.
And to the faithful in Christ Jesus. The same as the saints. There is no article in the Greek before faithful. A literal translation is To the saints dwelling in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus.
1:1 By the will of God - Not by any merit of my own. To the saints who are at Ephesus - And in all the adjacent places. For this epistle is not directed to the Ephesians only, but likewise to all the other churches of Asia.
1:1,2. All Christians must be saints; if they come not under that character on earth, they will never be saints in glory. Those are not saints, who are not faithful, believing in Christ, and true to the profession they make of relation to their Lord. By grace, understand the free and undeserved love and favour of God, and those graces of the Spirit which come from it; by peace, all other blessings, spiritual and temporal, the fruits of the former. No peace without grace. No peace, nor grace, but from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ; and the best saints need fresh supplies of the graces of the Spirit, and desire to grow.
