Ephesians: A Final Benediction
Ephesians 6:23-24 - Peace, faith, grace and incorruptible love!
“Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.”
Ephesians 6:23-24 NASB1995
Paul ends this letter to Ephesians with two beautiful benedictions. First, he proclaims peace to the brethren and love with faith, which comes from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, grace is with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. That last word love is emphasized because it was likely added later to emphasize the sincerity or incorruptibility of agape love.
I started the study of Ephesians in March, 2026, writing devotionals about it every other day until this last regular devotional published on July 12. I believe this was a total of 61 devotionals for an epistle that would take the average person about 20-30 minutes to read. My next devotional will be a summary of what we learned in this Epistle.
Precept Austin has excerpts from a sermon by Steven Cole that has some of the lessons we can learn from Ephesians:
By way of summary and review, here are four main practical lessons from Ephesians:
(1) The gospel is a life-transforming message.
Whether you are from a religious background, as the Jews in Ephesus were, or from a pagan background, as the Gentiles were, believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord drastically changed your life. As we saw, many of the people in Ephesus were heavily involved in the occult (Acts 19:18, 19). Many had engaged in immorality with the temple prostitutes at the famous Temple of Artemis or Diana in Ephesus. But when they came to Christ, they burned their occult books and they abandoned their immorality (Eph 5:3-12-note). God created them anew in righteousness and holiness of the truth (Eph 4:24-note).
Granted, this transformation works itself out gradually, as we lay aside the old life, are renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on the new life (Eph 4:22, 23, 24-note). But those who have been saved by grace embark on this new life of transformation in holiness.
(2) What you believe is extremely important.
Paul would not have spent the first three chapters of Ephesians laying the doctrinal foundation if doctrine were not crucial for your Christian life! What you believe determines how you live. If you claim to believe the gospel but live as the world lives, it proves that you really do not believe the gospel. We live in a day when professing evangelical Christians have belittled doctrine as irrelevant or even as divisive. While truth necessarily divides, we should hold to the truth in love (Ep 4:15-note). The doctrine of election, which Paul emphasizes in chapter 1, is divisive. But it’s also vital for your understanding of the gospel and your growth in the Christian life. If it were not, Paul wouldn’t have put it there.
(3) The church is extremely important to God.
Ephesians emphasizes the vital importance of the church. As Paul said Eph 1:23), the church is Christ’s body, “the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” If Christ loved the church and gave Himself for the church as His bride (Eph 5:25, 26, 27-note), then we must love the church and give ourselves for her. True, she is not yet glorified, without spot or blemish. Yes, you will get wounded in the church. But, yes, you must commit yourself to that to which Christ is committed.
You can’t say, “I love Jesus, but I hate His bride.” Or, “I love the Head, but His body stinks!” I recommend that you read Josh Harris’ little book, Stop Dating the Church [Multnomah Press].
(4) Relationships in the church are extremely important to God.
This is the main thrust of Ephesians 2:11-22, Ep 3:4-11, and Ep 4:1-6:9. It’s not a minor theme! Remember, in that culture, Jews and Gentiles were completely alienated from one another. But the church was to demonstrate the saving grace of God, who reconciled these two humanly incompatible groups into one new man. It is vital that we work through relational differences and show the world the love of Jesus Christ through our reconciled relationships. Don’t miss the fact that all of these truths are for those who are brethren (Ep 6:21-note, Ep 6:23-note). You become a brother or sister through the new birth, when God’s Spirit quickens you from spiritual death to spiritual life. So I close our studies in Ephesians by quoting again Ep 2:8, 9-note,
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Above all, make sure you have been saved!
I thank the Lord Jesus every day for that planned encounter with the zealous Pharisee Saul on the road to Damascus, as documented in Acts 9. Because of that encounter, Christians benefit tremendously from the God-inspired words of the Apostle Paul! He defines our faith so well in the epistles that he wrote and, God willing, I will come back to more of those epistles in the future for deep dives.
My next devotional is the summary of Ephesians, then I will have an introduction to the book of Isaiah. I can only imagine I will be diving into Isaiah for a considerable length of time, but in hopes of glimpsing the future after Isaiah, my long-term plan is to do the complete Gospel of John. I’ve done bits and pieces of all four Gospels in devotionals, but it will be time after the prophecies of Isaiah to do at least one of them all the way through. Thanks for sticking with this amateur Bible enthusiast!
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I thank You for Your guidance as I studied the Epistle of Ephesians. I eagerly await that same guidance as I begin a study of Isaiah (after summarizing Ephesians). Amen.
Citations and Credits:
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org.
Precept Austin was accessed on 07/11.2026 to review commentary for Ephesians 6:23-24.
Commentary from Enduring Word is used with written permission and without any alteration. ©1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com. Commentary from Enduring Word was not used for this devotional.