PAUL'S CLOSING BENEDICTION
A reciprocity of divine interest and affection between Paul and the Ephesians shines out at the close. He takes for granted their interest in his welfare as a prisoner. Tychicus ministered to the aged Apostle, Timothy not being in Rome at the time. So Tychicus is called not only a beloved brother but a faithful minister in the Lord. Paul sends him from Rome to Ephesus but does not mention him here as the undoubted bearer of this priceless letter. Instead his mission is to inform the Ephesians of Paul's affairs, and to encourage their hearts also. Apart from Tychicus the letter closes without Paul's customary salutations so noticeable at the end of Romans. Surely he must have known the brothers and sisters at Ephesus as well or better than those in Rome. He had not visited Rome at the time he wrote that letter, but he had spent so much time in Ephesus he must have known it and the Christians there as well as his own town of Tarsus. What explains this silence at the end of the Ephesian letter, broken only by Tychicus? One wonders if it is not the mountain top character of the Ephesian letter the most profound truths calling for the utmost brevity.
And so the closing benediction is "peace to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption." Notice how Paul's message from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ reverses the order of the words "grace" and "peace" at the beginning. The letter opens with grace and peace 1:2 but closes with peace and grace 6:23, 24. The reason is that our blessings in Christ at the beginning, are unqualified. At the end, too, peace is unconditional. It is the portion of every believer through the blood of the cross. But grace is looked at in a slightly different light now that the Ephesian letter has been made public. Paul told the Corinthians that many corrupted God's Word see 2 Cor. 2:1717For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:17). So the message of grace that is the enjoyment of divine grace is extended only to those who "love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption." Such see themselves as God sees them as heavenly men, seated in heavenly places in Christ. They deport themselves that way in the circles of this temporary life's activities and relationships chapters 4, 5, 6 to verse 9 and face Satan with courage in the armor and with the weapons God has provided them. May God keep us the reader and the writer in this incorruptible love, in Jesus' precious Name. Amen.