The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians - Audio and Written Bible Commentary


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The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 1: The Purpose of His Will

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The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 1: The Purpose of His Will

The entire purpose of the Bible is to record the account of the making and keeping of certain promises which Yahweh God had made to one man whom He chose out of all other men for which to execute His will and to display His being and sovereignty. That plan has not changed, and that same God has often asserted that He does not change. In spite of anything which they themselves had done, the twelve tribes of Israel, as they are reckoned by the apostles and by Christ Himself, were considered worthy of receiving those promises and they are still the focus of the purpose of the will of God, which is the primary subject of Paul's epistle to the Ephesians. Only by completely ignoring the language of Paul here in the first chapter of this epistle can one imagine that the Old Testament and the New are somehow disconnected from one another, and that somehow God has chosen a different people. But if Paul's words are observed, one can only come to the conclusion that the people of the promises in Christ are the same people of the promises in Moses, and indeed they are. Here once again we shall see that Paul of Tarsus had taught Christian Identity.

As we had demonstrated during our recent presentation of the Book of Acts, and especially presenting Acts Chapter 28 here in January of 2014, prior to his arrest in Jerusalem Paul of Tarsus had already written eight of the 14 epistles which we have from him. This would include those which we have already presented here: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and Galatians. The other four which we have not presented here as of yet are 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy and Titus. Of the remaining 6 epistles, all written while he was a prisoner, one seems to have been written while Paul was under arrest in Caesareia, which is Hebrews. Two more epistles were written by him from Rome and before Timothy had voluntarily joined him there, which are this epistle to the Ephesians and then 2 Timothy, in that order. The remaining 3 epistles, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon, were all written from Rome after Timothy had joined him, and shortly before his execution which he was anticipating as he wrote 2 Timothy to ask the younger apostle to come to him.

The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 2: The Foundation of the Prophets

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The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 2: The Foundation of the Prophets

Opening our presentation of this epistle to the Ephesians, we saw Paul of Tarsus begin to describe the purpose of the will of Yahweh God in relation to His plan for the ages: that He has had a particular people who were chosen from the “foundation of the society” who were preordained for the position of sons of God. Because of that predestination, in Christ these particular people have redemption and the dismissal of their transgressions. Paul then asserted that with this understanding, the mystery of the will of Yahweh God had been made known, and that through that redemption, those same people have obtained an inheritance for which they were preordained according to the purpose of Yahweh and in accordance with the design of the will of Yahweh. Paul then explained that this is all relevant to those particular people “who before had expectation in the Christ” and accepting the Gospel that those same people, among whom were the Ephesians, “have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, which is a deposit of our inheritance, in regard to redemption of the possession, in praise of His honor.”

Examining all of the oracles of Yahweh in the Old Testament which relate to the things which Paul had said in the opening verses of this epistle, we find the following:

  • By the Word of Yahweh, only the ancient children of Israel were ever admitted to be the children of Yahweh (Deuteronomy 14:1), and by the Word of Yahweh, only the ancient children of Israel were ever considered to be the chosen of Yahweh (Psalms 105:6, 135:4; Isaiah 41:8, 44:1, 2). Only the children of Israel were even recognized, or known, by Yahweh out of all of the other families of the earth (Amos 3:1-2).

The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 3: The Household of the Mystery

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The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 3: The Household of the Mystery

Many of the things which we shall say here in our introduction to Ephesians chapter 3, we have already said in our other commentaries on Paul's epistles. This is because because Paul was teaching Covenant Theology throughout his epistles, and we are merely following along. Covenant Theology is the only true theology, and for as long as we are expositing Paul's letters, we shall be repeating many of these things over and again as often as Paul made reference to them.

But Covenant Theology is really just a belief in one simple concept: that Yahweh God actually keeps the promises which He had made to the forefathers of the Old Testament Israelites. Paul himself had said in Romans chapter 15 that it was the objective of Christ “to confirm the promises made unto the fathers”. With that acknowledgment, we have an obligation to study history and archaeology in order to find the correct identity of the Old Testament Israelites. Zacharias the priest prophesied of the purpose of the Messiah as it is recorded in the Gospel of Luke and he said “68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham”. Rather contrarily, Yahshua (Jesus) Christ Himself had told the Jews of His time that “ye are of your father the devil” and that “you are not My sheep” while also proclaiming that He had come only for the “lost sheep”, so at least many of the Jews of His time could not possibly have been Old Testament Israelites. In Romans chapter 9 it is learned that those many were actually Edomites, and that fact is corroborated in the histories of Flavius Josephus.

But speaking to the Ephesians here in the first two chapters of this epistle, Paul of Tarsus had spoken of the election of Yahweh God as God Himself had planned it from the beginning, “before the foundation of the society”. Then in connection with that election he spoke of preordination, alienation and reconciliation, of the forgiveness of sin, of the attainment of an inheritance, and that all of these things were in accordance with the design of the Will of God. As we have previously elucidated, all of these things were matters of prophecy and exclusively promised to the children of Israel in the books of the prophets. Then at the end of Ephesians chapter 2 Paul informs us that all of these things, as well as the Body of Christ, are founded not merely upon the apostles, but upon the apostles and the prophets.

The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 4: The Restoration of the Saints

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The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 4: The Restoration of the Saints

As we have already explained at length, for the first three chapters of this epistle Paul has been teaching Covenant Theology, and explaining to these Ephesians both how and why they should choose to follow Christ. So, for example, Paul has told them that they were chosen in Christ from the foundation of Society, preordained for the position of sons, redeemed, forgiven for their sins, and given an inheritance, since they had before had an expectation in Christ. Among other things, he also told them that they were indeed the Nations in the flesh, who had at one time been alienated from God but who are now reconciled, that they are of the family of the favor, and that they are of the Body of Christ which is built upon the apostles and the prophets. As we have seen, all of these things can pertain only to Old Testament Israelites.

Therefore in chapter 3 of this epistle Paul also explained that a mystery had been revealed to him, which is the mystery of the anointed that is found in the identity of the nations of the promises of Yahweh God which God had made to Abraham. We have seen that the “mystery of the anointed” is also that “new thing” which Yahweh had promised to do in Isaiah chapter 43, having brought the deported Israelites through a “way in the wilderness”, and having created many nations from Abraham’s seed. While there were a few other White nations in Europe before that time, those many nations descended from Abraham began to spring up in Europe after 1600 BC, and especially after the Assyrian deportations of the late 8th century BC, and we were informed by Isaiah as to exactly where those latter nations would be in Isaiah 66:19. This is the only historically legitimate view of modern White identity. This is also described in the “marvellous work” of Isaiah chapter 29 whereby Israel would be made to say “Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?” and they would not even know that they were the very vessel formed in the hands of the Potter (Isaiah 29:14-15). This being revealed to Paul through the writings, Paul was then able to conduct his ministry of reconciliation to the “family of the faith”, which are the nations descended from Abraham through Jacob Israel. We have seen that Paul had previously explained these same things in diverse ways to the Romans, the Corinthians, and the Galatians, all of whom were also nations which had descended from Abraham through Jacob Israel.

All of these things are so plainly evident in the epistles of Paul, and all of these things can be proven in a survey of the classical histories and the prophets, yet they are not commonly known among men. That too is a facet of the systematizing of deception which Paul shall later mention here in this chapter.

The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 5: Speaking the Truth with Love

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The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 5: Speaking the Truth with Love.

As we have already discussed at length, throughout most of the first half of this epistle to the Ephesians Paul of Tarsus had explained to them why they should be Christians, because they were indeed of the descendants of Abraham through Jacob Israel, the very people who in the period of the Old Testament had been alienated from God and who were now being reconciled in Christ. Here in this fourth chapter Paul has begun to explain how they should conduct themselves on account of their reconciliation, towards the edification of the Body of Christ which is, as he had described it, the restoration of the saints. Doing this, in the first part of this fourth chapter of Ephesians Paul had explained that these Christians now reconciled to God should find a common bond of unity in their common calling in Christ, and therefore they should seek to walk worthily in that calling with the purpose in mind that, as he had said, “we all would attain to the unity of the faith”.

Paul then professed the objective of that unity of the faith by concluding: “... that we would be infants no longer - being tossed as waves and carried about in every wind of teaching by the trickery of men, in villainy for the sake of the systematizing of deception.” Paul had also informed his readers at the end of chapter 2 of this epistle that the Body of Christ was founded upon the apostles and the prophets. Reading the words of the apostles together with the prophets the Word of God presents a clear narrative focused on a particular family, beginning with the promises to Abraham that his seed would become many nations, and that they would inherit the earth. Examining that narrative, if we observe the words of the apostles and prophets then we must accept that the people who are the called in Christ were those whom the Old Testament informs us would be called, and that the saints are those whom the Old Testament informs us are saints. So Paul refers to the “family of the faith” as the “household of the mystery”, because up until Paul's time it was a mystery as to how those promises to Abraham were kept, and that was the mystery which Paul was commissioned to reveal. Therefore Paul had professed concerning this same faith, in Romans chapter 4, that the promise was indeed certain to all of the seed, meaning all of the people who descended from Abraham through Jacob Israel, as Paul explains in another way in Galatians chapter 3.

The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 6: Jesus Hates

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Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians Part 6: Jesus Hates

In the Gospel of Luke, Yahshua Christ is caught up in a dispute with the Pharisees which is described in Luke chapter 11, and then it says at the beginning of Luke 12: “In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” With this, Christ gives a long discourse which includes a discussion concerning the fear of this world and those who would “kill the body” as opposed to the fear of God who judges man after the body is destroyed. In this discussion Christ then states that “8... Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: 9 But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.”

This ultimately leads into a question posed to Christ by some of his disciples, where in Luke chapter 13 we read: “1 There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Repentance is something which is only necessary when one has sinned, and sin is a transgression of the law of God. Repentance is a necessary prerequisite for forgiveness, as we read in Luke 17:3 where Christ had said “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” Once again, that same Jesus had said “If you love Me, keep My commandments”, and His commandments are those which summarize the laws of God. The same Jesus had also said, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 5, “17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” By “one of these commandments”, He meant the commandments found in the law. Yahshua Christ had fulfilled the ceremonial requirements of the law, so that Yahweh God could be reconciled to Israel. But He did not put an end to the commandments, as the words of Paul and the other apostles prove in the Book of Acts and in their epistles.

The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 7: Menage a Trois: the order of the Kingdom

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In our last presentation of Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, we took a long digression in order to explain that Jesus hates, and to also explain some of what it is that Jesus hates. Doing so, we did not have the opportunity to discuss some of the first 12 verses of Ephesians chapter 5 from all of the perspectives in which they need to be discussed. We hope to compensate for that here by repeating those first 12 verses, summarizing and adding to what we have previously explained.

Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians Part 7: Menage a Trois: the order of the Kingdom

The French phrase menage a trois means a household for three. The enemies of Yahweh our God have ascribed to it a meaning in modern literature which it the phrase by itself does not convey, just as they corrupt every other facet of society with their gross perversions. The French word menage refers to the order of a household, and it is related to our English word manage, as well as words such as manor and mansion. As we approach the end of this chapter of Ephesians, it will become apparent why we have subtitled this program Menage a Trois: the order of the Kingdom. The order of the creation of Yahweh our God is indeed an order of interdependent family units each independently arranged in a menage a trois between a man, a woman, and God Himself, and no Christian household can be healthy and complete without all three members.

As we have previously detailed here in these presentations, in the first half of Paul's epistle to the Ephesians he had explained to them many of the reasons why they should be Christians, which are related to Covenant Theology and the apostle's ministry of reconciliation to the nations of scattered Israel. Now in this second half of his epistle, he explains to them how they should be Christians, exhorting them to keep the commandments of Christ, to adhere to the truth of God in spite of the worldly falsehoods, and to act towards one another with kindness, patience and charity, maintaining unity in the bond of the Spirit in Christ.

The Epistles of Paul - Ephesians Part 8: The Full Armour of Yahweh

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Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians Part 8: The Full Armour of Yahweh

In the later parts of chapter 5 of this epistle to the Ephesians we saw Paul of Tarsus admonishing Christians to be subject to one another, men to be subject to Christ, and women to be subject to their husbands. This is the fabric of Christian society. No Christian society can succeed unless it is adorned with this fabric. The Christian household, which is the basic component of Christian society, is a menage a trois, or a household of three, God, a husband subject to God, and a wife subject to her husband. This is the natural order of the creation of Yahweh which is found in Genesis chapter 2, it is the way we are made, and when we try to change this model we end up with the very predicament which we face today: broken homes, single mothers, disgruntled absentee fathers, and children without any real foundation or guidance in society who are instead being trained by godless employees of the State in our corrupted public schools. In addition to these broken families, we have communities of near-dwellers who compete with and step on one another, rather than helping build one another up, being alienated from one another.

Today, without an anchor in Christ, and raised by State schools, for several generations we as a society have been “tossed as waves and carried about in every wind of teaching by the trickery of men,” as Paul had warned in Ephesians chapter 4, “in villainy for the sake of the systematizing of deception.” Now we see the results of our alienation as our formerly Christian nations are overrun with pestilence of Biblical proportions.