The word wherefore in Ephesians 1:15—Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints—literally means “on this account” or “for this cause.” This word links what Paul has already said in verses 3‑14 with what he is about to say in verses 15‑23. Based upon all they have in Christ, Paul prays that they will assimilate those truths.
To go deeper, we see here that Paul had heard of two specific things, two things that are actually the two ultimate tests of Christian profession. As John Calvin put it: “Observe here, that under faith and love Paul sums up the whole perfection of Christians.” What a wonderful statement! Paul here condenses true Christian profession into two words: faith and love.
First, Paul had heard of their faith. The first test of Christian profession is faith in Christ. This is evident from the context. With verses 3‑14 still in mind, Paul rejoices that these people had truly received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. This is the real “acid‑test” of Christian profession. Many today claim to be “Christian,” but at the same time they deny such truths as the Deity of Christ, His sinless perfection, His blood atonement for our redemption, and His literal, bodily resurrection. The acid‑test of Christian profession is whether or not there has been faith in Jesus Christ, that is, faith in what He was and in what He did. Without that faith, there is no salvation.
We should take careful note of the object of faith that Paul emphasizes. He specifically mentions their faith in the Lord Jesus. Any definition of faith is incomplete without a consideration of its object.Faith is a verb, so without an object, the entire concept is incomplete. In contrast to today’s meaningless “faith in faith” concept, saving faith has as its object “the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Notice that Paul here uses the simple title Lord Jesus. As one studies verses 1-14, he finds that this is the first time Paul uses this title. Yes, he uses “Jesus Christ,” “Christ Jesus,” “Lord Jesus Christ,” and just “Christ,” but never does he use Lord Jesus until now. He specifically says faith in the Lord Jesus, not faith in “Jesus Christ” or any other of the previous terms. Why? Because the title Lord Jesus is the bare essentials, the absolute bare minimum concerning the object of saving faith. In short, by using this title, Paul emphasizes not only the person of JESUS, but also His position as LORD, and these are the essentials. Without the person of Jesus and His position as Lord, a person cannot be saved. This is a vitally important and tremendously profound principle. Yes, there are countless people today who talk much about the person of Jesus but reject His position as Lord. In contrast, Paul is quite specific, recognizing that the Ephesians embraced both truths.
A common teaching of our day is that salvation entails just “believing in Jesus.” Some teach that no repentance is necessary, no change of life is expected, and no responsibility is demanded. But such teaching is foreign to Scripture. True salvation results in an automatic change in the person who believes, as II Corinthians 5:17 makes clear: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Further, the word Greek word behind “believe” (pisteuo) actually carries the idea “to obey.” As one Greek scholar writes: “Heb. 11 stresses that to believe is to obey . . . Paul in Rom. 1:8 [and] I Thes. 1:8 (cf. Rom. 15:18; 16:19 [II Thes. 1:7-8]) shows, too, that believing means obeying. He speaks about the obedience of faith in Rom. 1:5 [6:17; 16:26], and cf. 10:3; II Cor. 9:1.”
Believing (or faith) and obedience are so inseparable, in fact, we often find them used synonymously. Hebrews 5:9, for example, declares: “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (cf. 11:8). What’s more, as another leading Greek scholar points out, to have faith means to “entrust or commit oneself” and “entails obedience.” Good works never save (Eph. 2:8-9; Tit. 3:5), but good works and obedience to God’s Word are always a result, an evidence of salvation (Eph. 2:10; Jas. 2:14-26; Rom. 1:5; 16:26; I Pet. 1:2).
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