Chosen, Loved, Filled
You can listen to Ephesians 1 below and read the passage in the New Living Translation here.
“This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.
I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
Thank you for joining us in listening to Ephesians 1! You can also access a written copy of Ephesians 1 in the New Living Translation (NLT) here.
We would love to hear your thoughts on this passage of scripture. Below are some questions that made us think. Feel free to answer one or all of them! You can also comment with any other questions or thoughts about the chapter.
Discussion Questions
1. In Ephesians 1:1-3, Paul refers to where the people he writes to are both physically and spiritually— they are physically near Ephesus and they are spiritually IN Christ Jesus.
-Where are you physically?
-Where are you spiritually?
-What do you think it means to be “in Christ Jesus”?
2. We read in the book of Acts that Paul said to the people in Athens: “From one man [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17: 26-28a, NIV).
-What spiritual reasons could there be for your physical location?
-How is God is active in this world and in your life?
