Last week, we studied Ephesians 1:1-14. There we learned that God is forming one holy family and is calling all people to join his family through Jesus. If we really understand what God has done for us in Christ, we cannot help but praise God. God has been incredibly good to us. God has loved us when we did nothing to deserve it. And that God forgive our sins and make us part of his family —? It’s great. It really is good news.
I am delighted to be part of God’s family. And I’m excited that you’re part of God’s family. And may the family of God continue to grow around the world. I see what God is doing, I see God’s plan coming to fruition, and it makes me happy. It makes me praise God.
This brings us to today’s passage. Paul understands what God is doing in the world. God has this vision, this goal, to make one family for himself. Paul sees God’s plan and sees it beginning to bear fruit. God’s family is growing all over the world, and Paul praises God for this.
In today’s passage, in verse 15, Paul moves from this bird’s-eye view to praising God specifically for what God is doing in the church at Ephesus. Pablo is grateful for them.
So, verse 15:
For this reason, I too, hearing about your loyalty to the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not stop giving thanks for you,
remembering in my prayers,
There are two things in particular about the church that make Paul give thanks. The first is his loyalty to the Lord Jesus. The second is his love for all the saints. What I would like to do now is help you think about these two things.
All your English Bibles will translate the former differently than I did. They read: “Hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus.” But what does it mean to have faith?
There is a family of Greek words related to faith. Pistis is the noun. Our English Bibles generally translate this as “faith” or “belief.” Pisteuo is the verb. Our English Bibles generally translate it as “I believe.”
There are times when the Greek means something like “believe”. But the idea is usually much bigger than this. And since “faith” and “belief” are such a central part of who we are as God’s people and how we live, I want to take a little time to explain this.
Let’s turn first to Romans 3:1-3.
3 So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 A lot in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does your lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?
God has faith. Did you know that? That word at the end there, which all our English Bibles will translate as faithfulness, is the same Greek word that is (almost) always translated as “faith” or “belief” when it relates to us.
Does it make sense to say that God has faith? Does God believe that Jesus died on the cross for his sins? Does God believe that Jesus is the Messiah? In Romans 3:3, when Paul says that God has “faith,” this cannot be what he means. The idea here is that God has made promises to Israel, and God has kept those promises. God is faithful. All of our English Bibles translate “faith” here correctly as “faithfulness.”
What I would say is that this is one of the few places where our English Bibles get it right. Many Jews were “infidels.” This is the same Greek word, with a little prefix to make it the opposite. The problem with the Jews was not that they believed the wrong things. Their problem was that they were unfaithful to God. They were unfaithful. But God is faithful. God is faithful.
This is really what faith means. “Faith” is not primarily about believing that certain things are true about Jesus. Faith is primarily about fidelity.
God is faithful to us. God has given us promises, and he is faithful to keep those promises. He is faithful. He keeps “faith” with us. And we have fidelity to God, and to his son Jesus. So, in Ephesians 1, when Paul thanks God for hearing about the Ephesians’ faith, what he is saying is that he has heard about his continued faithfulness to Jesus. He’s not thanking God because they still have great theology. He is thanking God because they continue to faithfully live Jesus as Lord, and as King. Faith is fidelity. This is a much better translation.
Another verse that can help us think about what “faith” means is 1 Timothy 5:11. The first century was largely a world of men. And what I mean by that is that it was difficult for women to survive independently and support themselves. This was especially true for widows, who may or may not have children. In the early church, the church took its responsibility to care for widows very seriously. If she were a widow, she could sign up on this list and the church would take care of her material needs. In these verses, Paul talks about which widows should and should not be included in the list. What he means is that younger women should not be on the list; the church should not help them financially.
Now the young women refuse.
Because every time their strong physical desires take them away from Christ, they want to get married,
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incurring (lit: having) damnation,
because they broke their previous promise.
The word faith is in this verse. It is the word “promise”. To get on the list of widows cared for by the church, widows had to make a promise not to remarry. Instead, they would serve only God from now on. What we would say, in modern terms, is that the way to get on the list is to commit to becoming a nun. Fun or not?
The problem is that if the widows are younger women, there’s a good chance they’ll find someone they love, and they’ll find themselves wanting to get married. If they do this, after taking this oath, they will be damned. Not because it is wrong to remarry if your spouse dies. But because they made a commitment to God, to make a full commitment to God and the church, and not to remarry. And the Greek word translated here as “pledge”, again, is pistis, it is faith. So what does it mean to have faith in Jesus? It means making a promise to Jesus. It is a promise, to serve King Jesus from this day forward.
So what does “faith” mean? It means, above all, fidelity. Second, faith is a promise to Jesus. Faith is a promise we make to him, to live for him.
If we try to combine these two ideas, what does it mean to have faith? I think the best way to describe “faith” is as loyalty. We understand with loyalty, that it means a commitment, and that it is based on a promise. So when you see my translations, I’ll try to consistently translate it as loyalty.
Now the word “pistis” doesn’t always have these ideas of commitment and fidelity throughout the NT. There are times when it means something else like “belief.” But when Paul talks about giving our pistis to Jesus, he absolutely means giving Jesus your allegiance.
When you come to Jesus, it’s not just about believing that he is the Son of God. God, or the Messiah, or believe that he died on the cross for you. It’s great if you have great theology. You need to know these things. But what God wants is for you to kneel before King Jesus and submit to him as King. You make him a promise. You give your allegiance to him. And this oath, this loyalty, is a promise you make for life. Today, you continue to give Jesus your allegiance.
It is quite possible that many of you have been taught that “faith” means something quite different than this, and that you have never really given your allegiance to Jesus. Maybe you didn’t even know you were supposed to do this. You thought “faith” was basically about believing the right things about Jesus. This was me: I distinctly remember the moment this truth hit me. I remember where he was (Camp Nathaniel), where he was sitting (in which cabin), and what he was reading. And I remember he surprised me. If this is you, I’d be happy to meet with any of you and help explain this in more detail. I just want everyone to be clear that this loyalty to King Jesus is not optional. This is not something you choose to do later, after you are saved. If you want to be a part of God’s family, you have to give your allegiance to King Jesus.
So… back to Ephesians 1:15.
For this reason I too, knowing of your fidelity to the Lord Jesus and of your love for all the saints, do not stop giving thanks for you,
remembering in my prayers,
Paul has heard two things about the church at Ephesus that make him thank God. First, hear about his loyalty to the Lord Jesus. Second, hear about his love for all the saints.
There is a tendency among Christians to think that the church is not important. We believe that our allegiance to Jesus is a private and individual matter. We meet every week, sure. We worship together; we pray together; we listen to sermons together. But are we living as a family? Do we genuinely love each other, do we help each other? The Ephesians love one another. they get it. And so Paul thanks God for this.
Now, all of this is not to say that the Ephesians are a perfect or nearly perfect church. There are things that the Ephesians lack. And it is at this point that Paul transitions into how he prays for them. He thanks God for them, but he also has some specific prayer requests for them. There are things that he wants God to do for them, and here Paul tells them what they are.
That is why I too, knowing of your loyalty to the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not stop giving thanks for you,
remembering in my prayers,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in/through knowledge of him,
Paul’s prayer is essentially that they understand what God has done for them through Jesus. There are things you need to know about Jesus. There is something in God’s plan that they do not understand. And if they understood this, they would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Paul then develops this basic sentence thus:
The eyes of your heart having been enlightened so that you may know
1) what is the hope of your vocation,
2) what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance to the saints,
3) and what the surpassing greatness of his power towards us, who give him
loyalty, according to the operation of the force of his force,
which he has wrought/accomplished in the King,
raising him from the dead,
and sat at his right hand in heavenly places,
There are three specific things that Paul wants you to know. (1) the hope of God’s call, (2) the riches of the glory of his inheritance to/for the saints, (3) the surpassing greatness of his power to us–those who give allegiance–according to the action of the power of his power.
The first two things on the list have to do with…