Efesios 1

VBL · Chapter 1/6

1Esta carta proviene de Pablo, un apóstol de Cristo Jesús conforme a la voluntad de Dios, para los cristianos en Éfeso y para los que creen en Cristo Jesús.

2Gracia y paz a ustedes de Dios nuestro Padre y del Señor Jesucristo.

3Alabado sea Dios, el Padre de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, quien nos ha bendecido en Cristo con todo lo que es espiritualmente bueno en el mundo celestial,

4tal como nos eligió para estar en él antes del principio de este mundo, a fin de que en amor pudiéramos ser santos y sin falta delante de él.

5Él decidió de antemano adoptarnos como sus hijos, obrando mediante Jesucristo para traernos hacia él. Se complació en hacerlo porque así él lo quiso.

6Por eso lo alabamos, por su gloriosa gracia que con tanta bondad nos dio en su Hijo amado.

7A través de él obtenemos la salvación mediante su sangre, el perdón de nuestros pecados, como resultado de su preciosa gracia

8que con tanta generosidad nos dio, junto con toda la sabiduría y conocimiento.

9Él nos reveló su voluntad que hasta ese momento estaba oculta, y por medio de la cual se complació en llevar a cabo su plan

10en el momento apropiado para reunir a todos en Cristo, tanto los que están en el cielo, como los que están en la tierra.

11En Él fuimos escogidos de antemano, según el plan de Aquél que obra todas las cosas conforme a su voluntad,

12con el fin de que nosotros, los primeros en guardar la esperanza en Cristo, pudiéramos alabar su gloria.

13En Él ustedes también han escuchado la palabra de verdad, la buena noticia de su salvación. En Él, puesto que creyeron en él, fueron sellados con el sello de la promesa del Espíritu Santo,

14que es el anticipo de nuestra herencia cuando Dios redima lo que ha preservado para sí mismo: nosotros, quienes le adoraremos y le daremos gloria.

15Esa es la razón, pues he escuchado de su fe en el Señor Jesús y el amor que ustedes tienen por todos los cristianos,

16por lo cual nunca dejo de dar gracias a Dios por ustedes y recordarlos en mis oraciones.

17Oro para que el Dios de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, el Padre glorioso, les conceda un espíritu de sabiduría para que lo vean y lo conozcan como él es realmente.

18Que sus mentes sean iluminadas a fin de que puedan entender la esperanza a la cual él los ha llamado:

19las gloriosas riquezas que él promete como heredad a su pueblo fiel. Oro para que también puedan comprender el maravilloso poder de Dios

20que fue demostrado al levantar a Cristo de los muertos. Dios sentó a Cristo a su diestra en el cielo,

21por encima de cualquier otro gobernante, autoridad, poder o señor, o de cualquier líder, sin importar los títulos, y no solo en este mundo sino también en el mundo por venir.

22Dios ha sujetado todas las cosas a la autoridad de Cristo, y le ha dado la responsabilidad como cabeza sobre todas las cosas para la iglesia,

23que es su cuerpo. Cristo llena y completa a la iglesia, pues él llena y da plenitud a todas las cosas.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul praises God for the rich spiritual blessings given to believers in Christ, including election, adoption, and redemption. He prays that the Ephesians would receive wisdom and revelation to fully grasp the hope and power they have in God.

Explanation

The chapter opens with one long, dense sentence of praise in the original Greek, listing spiritual blessings such as being chosen before the foundation of the world, adoption as children, redemption through Christ's blood, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit as a “pledge” (guarantee) of the future inheritance. This introduction sets the tone for the whole letter: an exalted vision of the believer's identity and purpose within God's eternal plan. Paul's prayer specifically asks for spiritual illumination, so that the Ephesians would understand the greatness of this inheritance and the power that raised Christ from the dead — the same power now at work in the life of every believer. The practical application for today is to remember that Christian identity is not based on our own merit, but on a plan of God's love that precedes our very existence, producing security and gratitude.

Fun facts

  • Ephesus was one of the largest and most important cities of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor, famous for the temple of Artemis (Diana), one of the seven wonders of the ancient world — which made the contrast with faith in one God even more striking.
  • Many ancient manuscripts of Ephesians do not include the phrase 'in Ephesus' in verse 1, leading scholars to suggest that this letter may have been written as a circular intended for several churches in the region, not just one specific city.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Efesios 1:1Paul writes this sweeping letter to the “saints” at Ephesus, an important port city in Asia Minor where he himself spent time preaching; the tone here is broader than in Galatians, treating the church as one body and an eternal project of God.
  2. Efesios 1:2The greeting “grace and peace” was Paul’s standard opening in nearly all his letters, joining the Greek way of greeting (grace) with the Hebrew one (peace).
  3. Efesios 1:3Paul opens the letter with a long blessing of pure praise: God has already blessed Christians with every spiritual blessing, located in the “heavenly places,” an expression the letter repeats several times to describe spiritual reality in Christ.
  4. Efesios 1:4Paul states that God’s choosing of believers is not recent: it happened “before the foundation of the world,” with the goal that they would live in a holy and blameless way, marked by love.
  5. Efesios 1:5‘Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children’ uses the Roman legal term for adoption, as in Galatians 4: the idea that God chooses and formally makes believers His legitimate children, with full rights of inheritance.
  6. Efesios 1:6Paul explains the final purpose of all this blessing and choosing: to produce praise for the grace of God, who made believers accepted before Him through Christ, called here “the beloved.”
  7. Efesios 1:7Paul describes what this grace cost: redemption, the rescue from a situation of debt or captivity, came through the blood of Christ, and resulted in the forgiveness of sins.
  8. Efesios 1:8Paul notes that this grace was not given in moderation: God made it “abound” toward believers, together with wisdom and understanding so they could grasp what it means.
  9. Efesios 1:9Paul uses the word “mystery” to mean a plan that had been kept secret and that God decided to reveal, according to what He had already purposed to do from the beginning.
  10. Efesios 1:10‘The dispensation of the fulness of times’ is a way of describing God’s plan reaching completion at just the right moment in history: to gather together “all things” in Christ, both in heaven and on earth, under one head.
  11. Efesios 1:11Paul repeats the idea of predestination, but now emphasizes how comprehensive God’s plan is: He guides “all things” according to His own will, not by chance.
  12. Efesios 1:12Paul indicates that he and the first Jewish believers who had already been hoping for the Messiah had the role of displaying, with their own lives, the glory of God.
  13. Efesios 1:13Paul now includes his Gentile readers in Ephesus in this same blessing: they too heard and believed the gospel, and received the seal of the Holy Spirit as confirmation of their faith.
  14. Efesios 1:14‘Earnest,’ a down payment, was a commercial term, an advance guaranteeing the rest would be paid later. Paul uses the same image from 2 Corinthians 1:22 to describe the Holy Spirit as the guarantee of the full inheritance still to come.
  15. Efesios 1:15Paul explains the reason for his gratitude: he had heard of the Ephesians’ genuine faith and the practical love they showed to all believers, not only to those closest to them.
  16. Efesios 1:16Paul assures them he has not stopped thanking God for them, mentioning them continually in his prayers, a common pattern in the openings of his letters.
  17. Efesios 1:17Paul spells out what he was asking for them in prayer: that God would give them more wisdom and revelation to know Him better and better.
  18. Efesios 1:18Paul uses the image of “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened” to ask that the Ephesians truly grasp two things: the hope of God’s calling and the riches of the inheritance He has reserved for believers.
  19. Efesios 1:19Paul continues the request, now for the third thing he wants them to understand: the extraordinary greatness of God’s power that is already at work in those who believe.
  20. Efesios 1:20Paul points to the ultimate proof of that power: it was the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor, at God’s right hand.
  21. Efesios 1:21‘Principality... power... dominion’ were terms describing hierarchies of spiritual power — angels, but also forces of evil, in the worldview of the time. Paul states that Christ was placed above all of them, without exception.
  22. Efesios 1:22The church is called the “body” of Christ, with Him as “the head,” an image Ephesians develops more than any other letter, comparing the relationship between Christ and the church to the relationship between a person’s head and body.
  23. Efesios 1:23Paul closes the chapter calling the church the “fulness” of Christ, as if He, being the head, were only complete in a certain sense through the body that is the church, filling everything.

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