2004-08-16 - Grounding Glory in Christ

Ephesians 1:1-3 "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places."

The selection I have chosen for today has to do with the Ephesians study we have been doing on Tuesdays. I am presenting Guyse's paraphrase of these verses. The exposition of John Guyse is known as the Practical Expositor, which is a paraphrase and recommended for use in family devotions and closet. Guyse was born in 1680 and was a minister in London. He was an independent of the established Church of England and died in 1761. Darling says Guyse was "...said to display a sound judgment, intimate acquaintance with the original, and considerable critical powers." If you compare the paraphrase to the text above, you will see how the paraphrase expands and interprets the text provided above. A paraphrase such as this can be very useful in helping us have a better understanding of the passage. If you need some encouragement to keep pressing on, verse 3 should be the cause of a smile in your heart.

1. I Paul, who have the honor of being an apostle of Jesus Christ, immediately sent forth, authorized and qualified by him, to publish his glorious gospel, and am called to this important office according to the sovereign will of God, who of his own mere favor appointed me to it, I, in the execution of this high trust, send this epistle under divine inspiration to those Christians at Ephesus, who, as members of the church there, are by profession, and, as I trust, really renewed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit; and to those believers there, or elsewhere, that have obtained mercy to be faithful to their light and obligations, in their adherence to the truth as it is in Jesus, and by virtue of their union with him, the only Savior, from whom all their faith and faithfulness is derived, and in whom 'tis acceptable to God.

2. May all the riches of divine grace, as consisting of the free favor of God, and all its happy fruits, manifestations, and effects, which may be summed up in peace with him, with one another, and in your own souls, and is the peace that passeth all understanding, (Phil. 4:7) may all this, together with every kind of prosperity, abound towards each and every one of you here, till it be completed in eternal felicity hereafter, from our covenant-God and father in Christ, as the fountain and first moving cause, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ himself, as the purchaser and dispenser of all the blessings that are comprehended in the peace which he bequeathed to his disciples, when he was going to the Father (John 14:27)

3. All possible honor and glory, thanksgiving and praise are infinitely due, and are cheerfully paid by me and ought to be so by you, to the ever-blessed God, whose most endearing title formerly was that of the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, but who has now revealed himself under the still more encouraging and delightful character of God, even the Father, in the highest and most peculiar sense, of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, his only begotten and eternal Son, and the Divine Mediator between him and us, who in the immense riches of his love and grace to those of us, whether Jews or Gentile, that are saints and faithful in Christ Jesus, (verse 1) has freely and bountifully bestowed upon us, not only some, but all, and all manner of spiritual blessings, that are heavenly in their nature, origin, and tendency, and shall be completed in the heavenly mansions. They are already enjoyed in their beginnings and earnests by us, and are secured and taken possession of in heaven for us, in and by Jesus Christ, as our head and Savior, and the only purchaser of them, and grand medium of their conveyance to us.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

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