Ephesians and God's plan for us

In the past year, I have spent a considerable amount of time reading, re-reading, translating, re-translating, studying, meditating, dissecting, and analyzing Ephesians chapter one. I remember reading my freshman year at Milligan and being shocked by a word I had never noticed before: predestination. At the time, the prospect of predestination existing in the Bible, and not just in the mind of "heretical" theologians, both shocked and scared me.

What was I to do? Well, for the better part of two years, I ignored the passage entirely, until I took a class that included Ephesians as one of the topics of study during my final semester at Milligan. I even decided to go further, and study this passage on my own as often as I could. I decided, finally, to trust in God to provide for me the insight needed to advance spiritually. If I found Calvinistic predestination, then it was gospel. If I found Armenian theology, it was gospel. Whatever the Bible taught, I would accept, and learn to love.

What I found was better than I could have ever imagined. What I found was not primarily a theological statement (most of the Bible isn't) giving a detailed account of how God's sovereignty affects man. It was not focused around systematically detailing a theological pattern (although it is rich with theology). The focus was bigger, more magnanimous (sorry if I'm being sesquipedalian), than any theological treatise could that exists!

I found praise. Eph 1:3 says "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." The rest of the passage is about why Paul is praising God. Praise is not uncommon throughout the Bible (just look at the Psalms), but this passage stood out to me among all the rest. Why? The theological nature of the praise.

In the modern era, it has become increasingly trendy to seperate theology from worship. Our worship songs are emotional driven (and often self-centered). I honestly struggle to sing such songs without first hearing quality exposition about the greatness of God. I struggle singing the same four phrases over and over, even if they are extremely true statements. I struggle because my worship flows not just from my emotional heart, but also through my knowledge of what God has done through Christ. My worship flows from my theological understanding.

I challenge you to read Ephesians 1:3-14 and look at the theology that is the basis of the praise for Paul. Paul overflows with theological statements centered around one main theme: God's eternal plan through Christ. Look it over, read it, study it. I will talk about some of the statements, including the discussion of predestination, in my next post. I hope you will see that when you study the richness of the true biblical theology, praise is the natural response!

Until next time I wish you grace and peace through Christ Jesus our Lord

Matt