Made Wise Unto Salvation
2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known
the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus.
In Acts chapter 16,
after the council in Jerusalem, Peter, James and John agreed to confine
their ministry and message of the Kingdom strictly to the circumcision, as Paul
points out in the book of Galatians:
Galatians 2:9 And
when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that
was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship;
that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
So after that meeting, they return to Antioch, in
Syria, and some time later, Paul chooses Silas, and goes back through the
regions of Galatia, to all the churches he had preached to at the time of Acts
chapter 13 and 14. It says:
Acts 15:36 And some
days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in
every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they
do.
Now I suspect that the main reason Paul would want to
go and do that would be to see how they do...as far as the doctrine which was
committed to him. In other words the issue that caused Paul to write the
Galatian letter, that of legalism, circumcision and the law of Moses, that the
Galatians were being subverted with. Paul called it "another gospel," and
religion assumes that Paul means a false gospel, but that is simply not the
case. The other gospel in the book of Galatians is the TIME PAST message of the
gospel of the Kingdom preached by Peter and the 12.
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Galatians 1:7 Which is not another; but there be some
that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Paul said they were PERVERTING the gospel of Christ.
It involved WORKING RIGHTEOUSNESS in a sanctification UNTO salvation maintenance
situation. It was a time past message, and it is also a FUTURE tribulation
message. It is an "abiding in the vine," IF situation. Before the WHY of the
cross was revealed by the Lord to Paul, there had been a TIME PAST message,
preached by Peter at Pentecost. And, Jewish kingdom saints, WHICH BELIEVED,
according to Luke's account in Acts 15 had tried to persuade people to put
themselves BACK under the law of Moses.
Acts 15:5 But there
rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was
needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of
Moses.
So the end result of that meeting was that the
Kingdom apostles, James, Cephas and John, had agreed to confine THEIR message to
the circumcison. Their message was mainly to convince the Jews that Jesus is the
Christ that was promised in scripture, and that Israel should believe in him and
identify with him, in water baptism, looking for his second coming, and the
restoring of the promised Kingdom to Israel. They were UNDER the Law.
But Paul said that "whosoever of you are justified by
the law, ye are FALLEN from grace." So trying to keep the law for salvation for
those Galatians, was to be fallen from grace.
So Paul wants to go back to Galatia and "see how they
do." So he chooses Silas, and they go, and in Acts 16 they come back to Derbe,
where Paul had preached before.
Acts 16:1 Then came
he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named
Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his
father was a Greek:
So Timothy was a
disciple already, when they got back to Derbe. No doubt, he had become a
believer during Paul's first trip. So Paul takes Timothy with him and you later
find Paul and Silas and Timothy in Macedonia, and in Corinth. That all occurs in
Acts 16, 17 and 18. But 2 Timothy is probably Paul's last book and it was
probably written just a short time before his death. In it, he tells
Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:7 I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
And that phrase there, THE FAITH, is very specific,
and because of it, Paul writes in 2 Timothy that "all that are in Asia" were
turned away from Paul. THAT is the beginning of all the religious confusion that
exists in the religious system today. Men began to turn away from the PURE grace
message committed to Paul by the risen and glorified Lord and they began to mix
the Kingdom message with the grace message. They blended Law and Grace, and even
the earliest writings of the so-called "church fathers" show that even from the
first century, the pure message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone
which was committed to Paul, was being corrupted and blended. And so it has been
down through the centuries. So THE FAITH, I have kept THE FAITH, has a special
meaning.
So in his last
letter, Paul writes to Timothy:
2 Timothy 3:10 But
thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith,
longsuffering, charity, patience,
2 Timothy 3:11
Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra;
what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered
me.
2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2 Timothy 3:13 But
evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being
deceived.
2 Timothy 3:14 But
continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of,
knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
2 Timothy 3:15 And
that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make
thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Now some people try to take that verse and prove to
you that all salvation is the same. It is all the same, Genesis through
Revelation, and there is only ONE gospel, and that Jesus Christ IS the same
yesterday, today and forever, and that God never changes. Well, it's true that
Jesus Christ is the same and that God never changes. Hebrews says that Jesus
Christ is the same:
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus
Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
The bible also says that God never changes:
Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not;
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Now He could have just POOFED them out of existence,
and wiped out the whole thing, and just reversed the whole thing and obliterated
it. He could have started over, or just forgot the whole thing, but He said I
CHANGE NOT, and Jesus Christ IS the same FOREVER.
But that's not what Paul is talking about
here:
2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known
the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Now Timothy is a
half-Jew. His father is a Greek. But his mother, must have taught him the Hebrew
scriptures, in other words, the old testament, which Paul says is able to make
thee wise UNTO salvation. He doesn't say that the Hebrew scriptures are able to
save him, but to make him WISE UNTO salvation. Being wise and knowing and
memorizing a lot of verses, or the whole bible, for that matter, is NOT
salvation. Why? Because salvation is BY FAITH. All salvatlion, Genesis through
the book of Revelation is BY FAITH. The just shall live by faith, and without
faith it is impossible to please God. Faith cometh by HEARING and HEARING by the
word of God.
So that's what Paul
is saying to Timothy. Not that old testament scriptures save you, or that
salvation can be found IN the old testament scriptures BUT they they are able to
make thee wise unto salvation, through what? THROUGH FAITH. Notice it doesn't
say salvation BY faith. It says salvation THROUGH faith. There is a BIG
difference in salvation BY faith and salvation THROUGH faith.
Now I want you to think about this for just a minute.
How does Paul say that you, in the body of Christ, are saved? BY grace, THROUGH
faith. That is a very specific statement. Look carefully at the verse:
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
So then, the gift of God, in the verse is salvation.
And that is in one accord with Romans:
Romans 6:23 For the
wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Some people want to
claim that the gift is faith. They say they are regenerated at some point in
time BEFORE they are saved so that they then can have faith, so faith is the
gift. But it's plain to someone who believes their bible that SALVATION is the
gift, ETERNAL LIFE, is the gift, not faith. BY grace are ye saved THROUGH
faith.
Now I want you to think carefully about something.
There are some more people in the bible who are saved in exactly THE OPPOSITE
WAY! BY faith THROUGH grace. When I started checking this out, this thing just
leaped off the page at me and I just said WOW! The exact opposite. Only in the
dispensation of grace are you saved BY grace THROUGH faith. Peter, James and
John, the water baptized Pentecostal Jews, and EVERYBODY else in the bible are
saved in exactly the OPPOSITE way, BY faith THROUGH grace.
Now remember what we are looking for. We are looking
for HOW the holy scriptures can make us wise UNTO salvation, in other words it
won't save us, what we find in the scriptures won't bring us INTO salvation. But
according to Paul, the Old Testament scriptures should make us wise UNTO
salvation, THROUGH faith. Not BY faith. See it?
2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known
the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus.
And like I said,
when I saw this I had to say WOW, now there's a light bulb moment. We are saved
BY grace THROUGH faith. Every body else IN THE BIBLE is saved BY faith THROUGH
grace. Let me show you something:
Romans 3:28
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the
law.
Justified BY faith. But whose faith is it? Well, it's
not your faith. It's the faith of Christ!
Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in
Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the
works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified.
If you are still
hanging on to one of those "new, easy to understand" translations, I suggested
you get rid of it. You've got a book, and you need a BIBLE. Go back to Romans
again:
Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Romans 3:29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not
also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
Romans 3:30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify
the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
See it there. It is one God which shall justify the
circumcision how? BY FAITH. And the uncircumcison how? THROUGH FAITH. We are
justified BY grace THROUGH faith. They are justified BY faith THROUGH grace.
Look at it. Look at what Peter says:
Acts 15:10 Now
therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Acts 15:11 But we believe that through the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
Peter believes, and the whole Jewish Kingdom church
believes that they SHALL BE saved THROUGH grace. It is BY their maintaining
their faith, BY FAITH and enduring to the end that they receive the grace. We
are already saved BY grace THROUGH faith, the faith of Jesus Christ, who endured
unto the end for us, or in our behalf. Their faith is on trial. They are saved
BY FAITH, if their faith endures, and it is THROUGH grace:
1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your
mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
So when Paul told
Timothy that the Holy Scriptures were able to make him wise unto salvation
THROUGH faith, it got me to thinking. And, I thought about prophecy, the mouth
of all the holy prophets since the world began. And I said, no that's not it,
because the prophets never spoke about salvation BY GRACE. The grace message was
only revealed to Paul. So prophecy can't be it. It can't be what Paul was
talking about because they didn't even know about the church, the body of
Christ. They didn't know about the what, or the what manner of time. Look at
what Peter said:
1 Peter 1:9
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
They will receive the END of their faith, in other
words BY FAITH, by an enduring faith unto the end, the end of their faith will
be the salvation of their souls, THROUGH grace. The opposite of our salvation.
Now read on:
1 Peter 1:10 Of
which salvation ( and he is talking about HIS salvation, BY faith, by his
enduring faith) the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace (BY faith THROUGH grace) that should come unto
you:
1 Peter 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time
the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
So you can see that the old testament prophets knew
about and they prophesied about, the sufferings of Christ, and also the glory
that should follow. As a matter of fact, in all of the prophecies about Jesus
Christ, ANY time you see the sufferings written about, you ALWAYS see the GLORY
immediately after that. Sometimes a prophet speaks about the glory of the Lord.
Isaiah does:
Isaiah 6:1 In the
year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
So Isaiah has a vison of the glory of the Lord and he
writes about the glory. But any time you see the sufferings of the Lord, the
glory immediately follows. So it says the prophets searched, diligently. They
prophecied of the GRACE that was coming to Israel, in other words the GLORY at
the second coming. And they could see the sufferings and the glory. But they
never understood the what. In other words what it meant. What did the sufferings
of the Lord mean? And what manner of time did the Spirit signify BETWEEN the
sufferings, and the glory to come. They simply didn't know. The why of the cross
was only revealed to Paul.
So Peter, as we
read, does not have salvation by grace, he is looking for grace, enduring for
grace BY FAITH. But Paul says "wise unto salvation THROUGH faith" and I thought
of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter eleven has a capsule of history and
there is a lot we can learn there.
Hebrews 11:1 Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen.
If you have faith in God's promises you have
SUBSTANTIAL faith. In other words you have a spiritual substance, called faith.
It is not something that you can see, but yet it is real. You can't see faith,
you can't reach out and touch it. You can't smell it, faith has no odor. There
is no taste to it. You can't determine how much or how little faith you have by
goosebumps. Faith is not feelings. In other words you might say you FEEL that
there is a possibily of such and such, but that's not faith. Faith is a
substance, a spiritual substance. And faith always has an object. It always
focuses on an object. So it is EVIDENCE. People say that some type of religious
experience is evidence. Like the "evidence" of speaking in tongues. But speaking
in tongues is not faith, and it also is not a sign that you have faith. Faith
HAS NO SIGNS. People who walk in FAITH do not walk by SIGHT. The assurance, the
faith itself, is the evidence.
Now we know how we
get faith, right. How do we go out and acquire faith? Do you go to some
religious meeting somewhere, and do things or say things in order to GET SOME
FAITH? No. Do you go forward and pour out all your cares, or seek God at some
alter somewhere to get some faith? No. Well, this EVIDENCE, this SUBSTANCE, how
does it come?
Romans 10:17 So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
When you HEAR the word of God, FAITH COMES. You
either have it, or you don't. You ask somebody, do you believe the bible? And
they say, well, of course I do. Well, do you beleive the virgin birth of Christ?
Well, I need to study on that one. Do you beleive that Christ died for all your
sins? Yes, if I repent and ask him to. When did God ask you if you thought it
would be all right if he made Christ to be sin for you, so that he could die on
the cross for all your sins, and be raised again for your
justification?
So people that have
faith, are people who beleive God. They take God at his word and they take his
words at face value:
2 Corinthians 5:19
To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation.
Well, I don;t
beleive that. I beleive that unless I repent of my sins and confess my sins then
God holds them against me until I do. Well WHAT IF, you had just committed a
whopper of a sin, the biggest sin you have ever committed in your life, about
ten minutes ago, and suddenly WHAM, you get hit by a big diesel truck, and you
are a goner? Well, you just have to leave things like that up to God, ya
know.
People with an attitude like that don't have faith.
They don't beleive God. They are NOT taking God at his word. They are doubting
the word of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him.
Well, that's just
your past sins. Well, how many of your sins were PAST in AD 33? that's when
Christ died, for your sins? All of your sins were future, over 1900 years into
the future when Christ died. When he died, how many of your sins did he not die
for, according to scripture?
1 Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1 Corinthians 15:4 And that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
We live in the age of grace, and God would have all
men to be saved, on the basis of those verses, right there, Christ died for our
sins. The wages of sin is death, and the verse says that Christ died. He took
the payoff that you deserved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved.
But like I said, this age, this period of time in
which we are living right now, is the only time in all of history that salvation
has been by grace alone through faith alone. And when it says THROUGH faith,
it's not talking about YOUR faith, it is speaking of HIS faith. The faith of
Christ. THROUGH his faith. By the grace of God, THROUGH the faith of Christ. But
when the church is gone, caught up to be with the Lord, it is no longer that
way. It was not that way in the past and it will not be that way in the future,
after the church leaves this world.
In the past, and in
the future, salvation is BY faith THROUGH grace, by enduring to the
end.
Let's look at it in Hebrews:
Hebrews 11:2 For by it the elders obtained a good
report.
Now when you OBTAIN
something, you DO something in order to obtain it.
Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was
righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet
speaketh.
Abel brought gifts
to God. He did it BY faith. He beleived in the blood sacrifice and that's what
he brought. Cain brought the works of his own hands. They BOTH brought things.
but Abel brought what the Lord had said to bring, a blood sacrifice, and God
respected Abel's offering. Look at Noah:
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of
things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his
house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness
which is by faith.
Now look at what it
says. it says Noah, BY faith, being warned of God. In other words, God said
something, Noah believed it, and acted accordingly.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God.
Now as you can see,
all salvation, Genesis through Revelation is BY FAITH. You must believe God. You
must take God at his word. God said it, and they acted on it. All salvation is
BY faith, but not all BY grace THROUGH faith. Salvation in the past, salvation
in the future, is BY faith, and it includes works of faith. You DO something in
order to obtain GRACE. Look at another example, in the book of James:
James 2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot
justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out
another way?
James is talking
about a woman, in Jericho, when the men of Israel went in to spy out the land.
As a result of her act of faith. Her life, and the life of her family was saved,
when the walls of Jericho fell and the city was destroyed.
So all the way down the list in the "Hebrew Faith
Hall of Fame" verse after verse says, BY faith. By faith, Abel. By faith, Enoch.
By faith, Noah. By faith, Abraham. By faith, Isaac. By faith, Jacob. By faith,
Moses. BUT, there is something else there, and it is THROUGH faith. Look at
verse 11:
Hebrews 11:11
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was
delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who
had promised.
Now did Sara's faith
bring something into existence? Could she just speak her will into existence
like a "word of faith" preacher claims, and cause herself to have strength to
have a child, when she was childless all her life, she was barren, and she was
NINETY years old? Absolutely not. The birth of Isaac is THROUGH FAITH. Whose
faith do you think it was?
Genesis 18:11 Now
Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with
Sarah after the manner of women.
Genesis 18:12
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I
have pleasure, my lord being old also?
Genesis 18:13 And
the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a
surety bear a child, which am old?
Genesis 18:14 Is any
thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee,
according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
So God told him what was going to happen, when it was
going to happen, and that he WOULD return and Sarah would have a son. By the
way, the name, Isaac, literally means laughter. So it was THROUGH faith. Whose
faith? The faith of God.
Romans 3:3 For what
if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without
effect?
There was a purpose
in the birth of Isaac. Issac was a type of Christ. The
great-great-great-great-great Grandfather of Christ, after the flesh. It was
going to happen. God is FAITHFUL.
Galatians 4:28 Now
we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
It had to do that God made a promise, before the
foundation of the world. He promised eternal life. Now he promised eternal life
to somebody who was there? Who? God the Son. God the Father promised God the
Son, that if he would come down and die for our sins, that he would raise him
from the dead and he would have eternal life. So Jesus Christ endured to the end
in our behalf, absolutely faithful that God would raise him from the dead.
Raised for our justification. Proof that we are forgiven and accepted in the
beloved. In Christ. Now:
Hebrews 11:24 By
faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh's daughter;
Hebrews 11:27 By
faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as
seeing him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:28
Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that
destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
He kept the passover which was the TYPE of the shed
blood of Christ. Israel was to keep the Passover on the 14th day of the first
month in all their generations, and it says he kept it THROUGH FAITH. God's
faith. Moses had faith that God was faithful to do what he said. God had told
Moses to tell Pharoah, let my people go, Israel is my son, even my firstborn,
and it was the faith of God, God's faithfulness that delivered them from
bondage, parted the Red Sea, fed them manna for forty years, and their clothes
didn't lose a stitch and their shoes didn't wear out. How long do your shoes
last?
Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall
their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Those unbelievers mumbled and grumbled about any and
every thing and wandered around in the desert for forty years and not ONE of
them entered the promised land except two men who kept the faith, Joshua and
Caleb. The rest died in unbelief. But God remained faithful and Israel crossed
over Jordan and went into the land.
Hebrews 4:6 Seeing
therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was
first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
The unbelievers didn't make it, but that didn't stop
the faith of God, because God is faithful and it was THROUGH faith, the faith of
God that other things happened:
Hebrews 11:32 And
what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of
Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the
prophets:
Hebrews 11:33 Who
through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions.
Hebrews 11:34
Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness
were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the
aliens.
Hebrews 11:35 Women
received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not
accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
All of those people endured to the end BY faith, that
THROUGH faith they might obtain a better resurrecton. So God's promises began to
Abraham in Genesis chapter twelve. God confirmed those promises again to Isaac
his son. Later, God confirmed those promises to Jacob, his grandson. The mouth
of all the holy prophets spoke, confirming the promises of God. THROUGH the
faith of God they WILL COME TO PASS.
Romans 15:8 Now I
say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God,
to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
So Paul says:
Romans 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it
is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob:
Romans 11:27 For
this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Romans 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are
enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the
fathers' sakes.
Romans 11:29 For the
gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
So the gifts of God, the Kingdom, the Land, the
Priesthood, the service of God are all without repentance, and the calling from
the call of Abraham, all without repentance. God will not change his mind and
God is faithful. So if the scriptures make you wise to anything it should be
UNTO the fact that salvation is THROUGH the faith of Christ, because HE is
faithful.
2 Timothy 2:7
Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all
things.
2 Timothy 2:8
Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead
according to my gospel:
We know what Peter's
hope and calling is. We know why Christ was raised from the dead, according to
Peter's gospel. God is faithful to fulfill his promises to Israel and give them
their land, their Kingdom and their King, upon the throne of David.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince
of Peace.
But Jesus Christ was
also raised from the dead for ANOTHER reason, according to Paul's gospel. Let's
read it as if it is written directly to us, because, in fact, it is:
Ephesians 1:15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of
your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Ephesians 1:16 Cease not to give thanks for you,
making mention of you in my prayers;
Ephesians 1:17 That
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being
enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the
riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Ephesians 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of
his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty
power,
Ephesians 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he
raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places,
Ephesians 1:21 Far
above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that
is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Ephesians 1:22 And hath put all things under his
feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Ephesians 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him
that filleth all in all.
Ephesians 2:1 And
you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Ephesians 2:3 Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others.
Ephesians 2:4 But
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Ephesians 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew
the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus.