ABSOLUTE FINALITY
Opening Prayer
Lord, make us bold witnesses of You.
Read EPHESIANS 6:19–24
19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Final Greetings
21 Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. 22 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.
23 Peace to the brothers and sisters,[a] and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.[b]
Footnotes
- Ephesians 6:23 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family.
- Ephesians 6:24 Or Grace and immortality to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
‘Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers … will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus’ (Rom 8:38,39).
Think Further
These are Paul’s final words. Tychicus, one of Paul’s companions in Asia Minor (Acts 20:4), has carried the first copy of the letter to the first of its destinations. The fact that Paul has previously sent Tychicus to Ephesus (2 Tim 4:12) may account for the tradition that this letter was written to Ephesus, but here, in this brief final greeting, Paul names no one in Ephesus and, as we have seen earlier, hopes the readers understand his special calling as an apostle (Eph 3:2, 3). Paul describes himself as an ‘ambassador in chains’ (20), a striking paradox, since he could travel only in spirit. Paul asks for prayer for them first and then for himself, that even on death row he may have the courage to witness to the gospel. If Paul has not been executed before Tychicus takes his letter around the scattered Christian communities, he probably has been by the time the letter reaches them.
Because of the circumstances of this letter, which include that it does not address the people and problems of a particular church, there is a certain timelessness about it. It speaks to all Christians everywhere, in all places and times, even in today’s remote and unimagined future. God’s people, thought into being before the world began, are the children of the one Father, redeemed for God by the death and resurrection of His Son. This immense truth surpasses all circumstances, no matter if we face persecution, death, or martyrdom. However, there are consequences for how, as God’s children, we live in the world. We must live with transformed minds.
Paul’s final prayer for all Christians is that God’s grace will always be with us and that our love for Christ will never die throughout all the ages to come.
Apply
‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with [us] all’, now and always (2 Cor 13:14).
Closing prayer
Lord, grant peace toward each other in our churches as we labor together in Your vast vineyard.
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