The greeting of this epistle follows the typical of Paul's usual address format, "X to Y, greeting" or "peace".
Verse 1
While English translationsindicate that the letter was addressed to "the saints who are in Ephesus", the words "in Ephesus" do not appear in Papyrus 46, one of the earliest manuscripts containing this epistle. See the section on the place, date, and purpose of the writing of the letter in the article on Epistle to the Ephesians for more details.
Theologian James Dunn considers this section "one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible" among Christian praise, "unlike anything else in Pauline letters". The Greek text of this part can be punctuated as a single sentence. It contains a four-dimensional blessing, sketched a circle starting from God and directing to God as the source and resource of it, reaching from the time "before the foundation of the world", into the revelation of the divine mystery, until the end of time to "sum up everything in Christ" with "the Spirit as the guarantee" of "the final redemption of God's own possession".
Verse 3
An rhetorical antanaclasis: God has blessed us in one sense, we bless Him in another; an "ingenious correlation of the passive εὐλογητός and the active εὐλογήσας ".
Verse 13
"In Him you also trusted" : The same promise, grace and privileges belonged to all that God called, both the believing Jews and the Gentile believers in Ephesus, whom Paul particularly addresses; as they were saved by the same Christ, and were "heirs of the same inheritance". Codex Alexandrinus alone reads "we", instead of "you".
"The word of truth" here refers to "the Gospel of your salvation", while the Jews use the phrase for "sublime and heavenly doctrine". Paul uses it to denote the "declaration and publication of salvation by Christ", in which they believed after hearing it.
"You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise": this is to be understood as the action of the Spirit who confirms, certifies, and assures the believers of their interest in God's favor, as well as the blessings of grace and their right to the heavenly glory. This seal is not circumcision, baptism, the Holy Communion/Lord's supper, nor the graces of the Spirit, but the Spirit himself, who conveys the truth to the spirits of believers, and as a "spirit of promise" that is, the Spirit who is promised by Father and Christ, and who is sent by them the Holy Spirit seals or certifies believers about the truth of the things above, by opening and applying the promise to them, to leave a greater impression of holiness on the soul, and more acts of holiness. This cannot be the same as the seal of the Father for his elected people because that was before faith, and is within himself, not on them, thus it is different from the Spirit's work. For the same reasons, it cannot be the Son's affection to the people, placing them as "a seal on his arm and his heart", or his asserting in them as his property, as well as their security and protection. Neither can it be the Spirit's finishing and completing the work of grace on the soul for this was not yet done on the believers in Ephesus, nor the confirming of the Gospel and the believers in it, by the special effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, or by his extraordinary works on the ministry of the word to establish it, and the faith of men in it, since these were not common to believers, whereas the believing Ephesians were sealed; while the Spirit of God still continues as a sealer of his people, as an earnest pledge of their inheritance until the day of redemption comes.
Verse 14
"who is the guarantee of our inheritance.": Some early versions read ὅ ἐστιν ἀρραβὼν whereas Textus Receptus and Byzantine/Majority texts read ὅς ἐστιν ἀρραβὼν.
"Guarantee": "down-payment, earnest"
Paul's Prayer (1:15–23)
This section contains the thanksgiving and prayer for the receivers of this epistle, concerning their "faith in the Lord Jesus" and the love of all believers, followed by a hope in "the working of the great might of God".
Verse 16
Lutheran theologianJohann Bengel suggests that "Paul made mention of all the churches in his prayers" as is similarly stated in and.
