<p>1:1 <i>Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God-</i> Paul often begins his letters by saying this. But &quot;the will of God&quot; should not be understood by us as it is by Islam, where the will of God is understood as fulfilling anyway in a deterministic sense. The word carries the idea of the intention, the wish or pleasure of God. Paul could have turned down the call to be an apostle. He was not forced into obedience by an omnipotent Divine manipulator. All things were created for God's &quot;pleasure&quot; or will s.w. Rev. 4:11, but clearly enough &quot;all things&quot; do not all perform God's wish. We pray for the Kingdom age when God's will shall be done on earth- for it is now generally not done. We are best therefore to understood the idea of God's wish, His desire, which of course He labours to see fulfilled. But He does not force or impose; He too deeply respects the freewill of His creatures. The art of Christian life is to willingly align ourselves with His will.</p><p><i>To the saints that are at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus-</i> &quot;At Ephesus&quot; is omitted by some manuscripts, supporting the idea that this is more of a circular letter. But we can also detect specific references to the situation at Ephesus. So it may be that the letter was indeed written specifically to Ephesus, but also used as a circular letter of a more general nature- hence the additional address to &quot;the faithful in Christ Jesus&quot;. That term may however be some technical term which referred to the eldership; in which case we can note that the letter was firstly addressed to the whole church, and only secondarily to the leadership.</p>