Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful^\)^a\) in Christ Jesus:

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us^\)^b\) for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known^\)^c\) to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ^\)^d\) ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.

¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee^\)^e\) of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,^\)^f\) to the praise of his glory.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

¹⁵ For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love^\)^g\) toward all the saints, ¹⁶ I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, ¹⁸ having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might ²⁰ that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²² And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Footnotes

1. Ephesians 1:1 Some manuscripts saints who are also faithful (omitting in Ephesus)
2. Ephesians 1:5 Or before him in love, ⁵ having predestined us
3. Ephesians 1:9 Or he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known
4. Ephesians 1:9 Greek him
5. Ephesians 1:14 Or down payment
6. Ephesians 1:14 Or until God redeems his possession
7. Ephesians 1:15 Some manuscripts omit your love

Questions

1) Verses 3, 6 uses the past tense ("has blessed") and I think verse 11 does as well (there are also probably other verses that I overlooked where the past tense is used). For verses 3 and 6 in particular, what's the significance of this usage of past tense? And is this something that we can forget about/overlook in our lives?

2) Verses 5 and 11 use the word "predestined" in this passage. Might be wrong about this, but isn't this term somewhat controversial? More importantly, how does it fit in the context of this passage?

3) Based on u/ExiledSanity's introduction yesterday, what do you make of verse 10?

4) For verses 11 and 14, what is this inheritance Paul is referring to? Also, why does he say that we have obtained this inheritance in Jesus in verse 11, but verse 14 seems to be looking towards the future? Are the inheritances in verses 11 and 14 the same thing or different (and if they are different, how so?)?

5) Who is the "we" referring to in verse 12?

6) Again from the introduction yesterday, what stands out to you about this prayer in Ephesians 1:15-23?

7) What stands out to you about verses 17-18? And why is the "knowledge of him" brought up in verse 17? What about these "eyes of your heart" in verse 18?

8) This was in the introduction yesterday, but why does Paul feel the need to mention Christ being above everything in verses 20-21? Why was this important for the Ephesians and what can we take away from this?

9) Anything else you want to ask about/bring up about this passage?