Ephesians 1:13: Listening and Believing

Ephesians 1:13: "In you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation -- having also believed ..."

As every parent knows, there is a huge difference between hearing and obeying. Have you ever asked your son to do something and heard the response "I know, Dad"? And then, when days go by and the task is still undone, have you ever wondered what he meant by "I know"?  The gap between hearing and doing, between knowing and acting is the gap Paul addresses in this verse. Notice well: the Ephesians Christ-followers first listened and then they also believed. They first took in the message, the story of God's redemptive activity in Christ  for the purpose of forming a people for His own name. Then they believed it! This means that they agreed with the message, and took appropriate action. They exercised true, saving faith. 

To get a better understanding of this process we can look at Paul's fuller explanation of it in Romans 10:13-14: "For 'Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?"  

Did you notice the progression? We have to move backwards through the verses to see it in the order it actually happens: First we hear, then we believe, and then we call upon the name of the Lord.


John Calvin is very helpful here. He suggests that the first step is to hear.  He even gives us a Latin word for this - noticia. You see how this is almost like "notice" and that's important. The first step in God's drawing of the heart to love Him is that we are made to "notice" the message of the Gospel. Maybe we've heard it a hundred times, but at some point we begin to take notice of it. We hear it and it doesn't bounce off the ear. We take it in. We mull it over, and determine that it is worth contemplating.

The next step is that we come to find some benefit in the message, in the facts about God and Jesus, and the redemptive story of the cross and the empty tomb. We agree with the facts as being true. We believe. Again, Calvin is helpful in defining this step with the Latin word assensus. As you can see, it means we give our mental assent to the facts. We acknowledge their truthfulness, that they align with the facts of history and of our hearts.

And at this point you might think you've reached faith. But the awful truth is that the demons themselves have gotten this far (James 2:19). The demons may be the most learned theologians in the universe. They know for sure the truth about God, about Jesus, and about all that He has done, and promised to do. They believe. It doesn't take any help from God the Spirit to get this far, and that is probably the reason so many say they are believers while having no change in their lives. But, there is one more step. Saving faith includes the action of trust, or calling as we will see. The demons believe, but their belief drives them to hatred and rebellion rather than faith and trust.

To be sure, the word believe is used in many ways in Scripture (check out John 8:30, 31 and compare it to vs. 59. The same group that believed latter took up stones to kill Him.) Only the context can determine if it means saving faith rather than mere mental assent. In Ephesians 1:13 it means both as we can see: they believed, and they also acted on that belief in the way demanded by God, and so entered into salvation and inherited all of God's blessings.

The last step in Paul's process is to call: Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Given that the natural, sin-corrupted heart is both unable and unwilling to obey God (see: 1 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 8:7), we understand that this last step is made actual only as the Holy Spirit does the miraculous work of regeneration. The Holy Spirit rides in on the Gospel, opening blind eyes fully to bring about true repentance and saving faith. And this faith is what Paul here describes as the call.

Calvin defined this call as fiducia. When I was in the banking industry we were always talking about having a fiduciary responsibility toward our clients and their money. The word means "trust." They entrusted us with their money and we were responsible to handle it in a way that was trustworthy. In the process of faith, to call is to entrust your soul to God on the basis of His promises in Christ. It is an action of the mind and heart that turns away from other objects of trust to entrust all that we are and will be to God alone, because of Christ. It is to take into account all that we have heard about our sin and the wrath we deserve, the promises and saving activity of God in Christ, and then to believe what we now understand and agree with as true, and finally to call upon the name of the Lord in complete trust that He will keep the promises He has made. He will consider Christ's death for sin as though it were ours, and as well consider Christ's righteousness as though it were ours. And on that basis, He will declare that we are no longer enemies, but friends; no longer criminals, but justified; no longer outcasts, but beloved sons and daughters making up a people for His own possession through whom He intends to declare the light of the Gospel to the nations. On the basis of what we have heard, and believed, we now call upon the Lord, declaring that we are entrusting our lives into His hands.

Paul recognized in the Ephesians believers that this had taken place. Their lives demonstrated it, even though they were not perfectly holy, or at times even close (see: 4:17). Yet, since their position in Christ was grounded on the love of God the Father and the redemptive work of God the Son, they were secure. Their trust in God, while not perfected, was nevertheless real. As a result, Paul could declare that they were heirs of the greatest set of blessings the universe would ever know, and had been granted the indwelling presence of God the Spirit as proof.

My question for you is this: have you called upon the name of the Lord? I expect that you have heard the story, and probably you already believe that it is true. But have you entrusted your life, your well-being both now and for eternity to God on the basis of His promises in Christ? Do you understand those promises? Have you really heard them in truth, analyzed them fully and come to believe them to be absolutely true? Have you truly denied other avenues of trust, to follow Jesus and follow closely? My prayer is that your heart is full of joy and able to answer "yes" today.

Hope this helps,

David