“ I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Ephesian 3:9-10 NLT 

Footsteps #404. Chapter 1 opens with a beautiful Jewish-style poem (1:3-14) where Paul praises God the Father for the amazing things He has done in Christ Jesus. From eternity past, the Father has purposed to choose and bless a covenant people. Think here of the people of Abraham and Genesis 12:1-3. Now, through Jesus, anyone can be adopted into that family. Jesus’ death covers our worst sins, our worst failures. In Jesus, we find God’s grace. In fact, Paul says that grace has opened up a whole new way for us to understand every part of our lives. Notice the cosmic element in 1:10, where Paul says that God’s purpose was to unify all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (a title that means Messiah). We should never forget that the story of Jesus is not just about our personal salvation. Something happened in heaven (lucifer’s rebellion) and now the harmony of the whole universe is a stake. 

God’s plan was always to have a huge family of restored human beings who are unified in Jesus the Messiah. This divine purpose became clear; Paul says we were first made into that family. Here he is referring to ethnic Jews in the family of Abraham. Then Paul talks about how non-Jews (Gentiles including us), heard about Jesus and salvation through Him and they were also brought into His family by the work of the Holy Spirit. Here he is referring to the events told in the stories of Acts about how God’s Spirit brought together Jew and non-Jew into one family in Jesus. That was just like God promised to Abraham long ago. Notice also how in this poem Paul begins by talking about God the Father, but then about Jesus the Son and then, here at the end (v13), about the Spirit. All three work together.  

After the poem, Paul responds with a prayer (1:15-23). He prays that these followers of Jesus would not just know about, but personally experience, the power of the gospel, that would be energized by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and placed Him as the exalted head of the whole world.