Soldiers for Christ: A Study of the Epistle to the Ephesians

By Dr. Brian J. Bailey

Dr. Brian Bailey presents this commentary on the epistle to the Ephesians, which beautifully portrays Christ as the warrior King, clothed with the armor of God. This same armor is available to us by His grace so that we too may be victorious over the enemy. It is the author’s prayer that the readers might enter into these beautiful truths that we might be raised up to “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (2:6)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zion Christian Publishers
• Release date: Aug 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781596651432

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Part One

THE BELIEVER’S POSITION IN CHRIST

1:1 - 3:21

Chapter 1

Chapter One of Ephesians speaks of the good pleasure of the Father. In this chapter we see that everything in life is done according to God’s good pleasure. Everything has been created for the pleasure of the Father, and that includes you and me, beloved.

1:1 - Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Paul opens his letter to his friends at Ephesus in his normal manner. He says that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Our ministry is according to the will of God. We cannot choose what we want to be in the Body of Christ; the Lord is the One who chooses. Hebrews 5:4 speaks of the fact that not just anyone who aspires to be in the ministry receives that calling: And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.

We think we know what will make us happy, but in reality only God knows what we were created for and what will truly satisfy us. Many people spend their whole life seeking to do something that they were not meant to do or pursuing a career that God has not called them to, and they are never happy.

I know people who have spent their whole lives trying to become concert pianists, but they were never happy or satisfied because God had not called them to that ministry. We must find out what God’s will and calling for our lives is, and seek by His grace to fulfil it. Only then will we find true happiness.

The term saints (meaning holy ones) is used of Christians. They are called saints because they are joined to Christ who is holy. Faithful is used here to denote those Christians who are walking wholeheartedly in the statutes, commandments, and ways of God. It is the faithful who are entrusted with the truth and teachings of God (2 Tim. 2:2).

Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 of the high standards required to be a servant and minister of the Lord: Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Christ said in Luke 16:10, He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. God, like any good employer, always gives us little responsibilities at first to see if we will be faithful to qualify for greater responsibilities and a greater level of ministry. As we are faithful in the little things, God promotes us in His kingdom, for promotion does not come from man, but from the Lord alone (Ps. 75:6-7).

A short time after I was first saved, the Lord told me to ask the Sunday school superintendent at the church I was attending if I could be a Sunday school teacher. The superintendent said to me, We have a class of ten boys all about ten years old, and we think you will be the ideal teacher for them. Other teachers had given up on these naughty little children, but I was determined that I would be faithful to the task the Lord had given me. God was very merciful and faithful to me, and within a short period of time all of these boys gave their hearts to the Lord in dramatic conversions.

Another very important lesson in life we need to learn is that we must be faithful in our secular employment. Jesus said in Luke 16:11, If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? Many people, in their zeal for serving the Lord, quit their secular jobs prematurely. This is especially the case in revival. I have been privileged to have witnessed several revivals in different parts of the world, and have seen many people make tragic mistakes by quitting their jobs in order to serve the Lord.

We have to be faithful to finish the work God has given us to do before He will promote us and move us on. I had to complete the work God had given me to do with that small Sunday school class before He would move me on to greater avenues of ministry. Therefore, we must not leave our secular occupation until we pass the tests there, and then God will move us on to full-time ministry in His perfect time.

1:2 - Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace means unity and oneness with God. Grace means unmerited favour. We were chosen not because of any merits of our own, but because God chose to show us favour. Grace also means divine enablement. When the Apostle Paul was suffering with an affliction, the Lord Jesus Christ said to him, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). It was grace that enabled Paul to endure that affliction.

It is the Lord’s grace alone that enables us to accomplish His will and purposes. The last four years of my wife’s life were a living nightmare for her. She was paralyzed on one side of her body and also suffered from heart problems. I had to do everything for her. I had to bathe her, clothe her, feed her, and take her everywhere she went.

Toward the end of the fourth year of caring for her, I began to get very weak, and I could feel that the grace of God to care for her was beginning to leave. I no longer had the physical strength to continue, and I did not know what was happening. And then the Lord took her home to be with Him. I realized that it was only the grace of God that enabled me and strengthened me to care for her all that time. Truly, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The thought of blessing comes from the Greek word eulogetos, which means to praise, adore or lift up by reciting the goodness or virtues of a person. In this case, the person is the Father Himself. We are to bless God and speak well of Him because of His goodness toward us.

He has blessed us by giving us all spiritual blessings (spiritual gifts and virtues) that are in heaven. Peter says, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue (2 Pet. 1:3). God, like any good father, does not give us everything we ask for, because some things we ask for would be detrimental to us. He gives us the things that we need which will be a blessing to us.

We have been blessed because one aspect of God’s nature is His delight in blessing others. Psalm 145:9 states that the Lord is good to all. In fact, the whole of Psalm 145 speaks of the goodness and compassion of our God toward His creation. The Apostle Paul notes in Romans 8:32 that He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Our Heavenly Father is a generous Father who delights in blessing His children. Just as at Christmastime and other occasions when parents give gifts to their children and rejoice when they say thank you—so our Heavenly Father gives us gifts because He loves to see the sparkle in our eyes and the joy in our hearts when He blesses us, and He loves to hear our heartfelt thanks.

Therefore, we should have confidence to approach the Lord’s throne, as the Apostle Paul states in Hebrews 4:16: Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

The Apostle Paul states in Hebrews 7:25 that the Lord Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost, or as we say in English, The Lord is able to save from the ‘guttermost’ (the worst condition imaginable) to the uttermost all those who come unto Him. Praise the Lord!

It is important that we have a right concept of God the Father. So often our relationship with our natural father affects our relationship with our Heavenly Father, both positively and negatively. I myself had a wonderful father and had a very close relationship with him.

One of the most vivid memories I have from my childhood is of my father lying in bed with me one night when I had an earache. He cupped his hand over my ear to make it warm and ease the pain. Therefore, as a Christian and a child of God, it has been very easy for me to think of God the Father as being a wonderful Father because of my own earthly father.

Unfortunately, though, others have not had very good fathers. Many times there are memories they have to forget, and they have to be healed of emotional scars before they can have a close relationship with God the Father. Not too long ago I was having dinner with several pastors in another country, and one pastor told me of the wonderful relationship he has with his daughter. She feels free to come up to him and fix his tie, straighten his hair, hug him and be affectionate with him. She has great love for him and he likewise has great love for her.

The interesting thing is that the wife of another pastor eating with us said, I would never dare touch my father like that or talk to him that way. She had a father who was very mean and unpleasant. It is amazing that this negative view of her father carried over to her view of God the Father. It was easy for her to relate to the Lord Jesus Christ, but it was very difficult for her to draw near to God the Father. Unconsciously, her relationship with her natural father was affecting her relationship with her Heavenly Father. Therefore, it is very important that we understand that God is a very good Father who cares for us.

I would like to consider now the blessings that we have received from God the Father through Christ Jesus.

1:4 - According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. God has chosen each one of us, knowing us and calling us by name, before the foundation of the world.

When we consider this subject, we are constrained to examine one of the most profound theological statements pertaining to life—that the Lord foreknew each of us. Therefore, because He foreknew us before the foundation of the world, He planned the steps that He would take in our preparation for life and eternity. This thought is developed by Paul in Romans 8:29-30: For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. God’s predestination is based upon His foreknowledge. These two theological words are inseparable.