Welcome back to our study of the book of Ephesians -- tonight we start through the text of the book in earnest: chapter 1, verses 3 through 14

As we begin, join us in worship as Charlie and Amy lead us

A challenging passage -- some of you have wrestled with this before, perhaps others have not

Either way, please come to this with as open a mind as you can…our desire is to see the Word of God for what it really says, not what we think it says or what we wish it to say…that’s what we mean when we talk about drawing out from the text what it says -- that’s the heart of exegetical Bible teaching

Tonight especially might give us some thoughts and ideas that cause us to wonder or question what we’ve learned -- we might push back on some things -- that’s OK, because at the end of the study, I’m confident we will all submit to the Word and be drawn into alignment with it, hear what the Spirit of God has to say to us, instead of seeking to impose on the text what we want it to say

Of course, we’ll reach out to other passages of Scripture where they are helpful in understanding where we are in Ephesians

And always be sure to check out any teacher you hear, never taking for granted what any particular teacher says as the gospel truth…the believers in Berea were commended by God in for checking out what the Apostle Paul taught…

Acts 17.11: “11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 

Note the response of the believers in Berea -- “they received the word with all eagerness, and they examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” -- excellent discipline for all of us…if the church was commended for checking out the teaching of the Apostle Paul, you should definitely look in the Word to check out what I’m teaching; trust and verify

Let’s begin with prayer

Read through 1.3-14 aloud -- all one sentence in Greek…

Paul begins with verse 3 as he begins to describe a key truth about this new humanity, this divine creation God calls the church -- how He calls this group into being

“Blessed be God……who has blessed us in Christ……with every blessing…”

He is worthy to be praised…the Gr word is ‘eulogetos’ (2128)

He acts in favor and goodness toward us…He blesses us, speaks a good word over us…where we get our word ‘eulogy’

Note that these blessings -- eulogia, blessings -- are spiritual -- that is, of the Spirit -- in their nature. We may think the best blessings are physical or material -- I think truly the best blessings are those that God would call “spiritual” -- those of the Spirit 

Where does this blessing take place? “Heavenly places” --- used five times in the NT, all in this book, two of the five in this chapter. And as always, Scripture interprets Scripture -- 

here in v 3 it’s the place of our greatest blessing

in 1.20 it describes the location of the Son seated at the right hand of the Father; 

in 2.6 it describes the location where we are raised and seated with Christ; 

in 3.10 it is the location of the “rulers and authorities” who observe the Church as the manifold wisdom of God; and 

in 6.12 it is the location of the powers of darkness against which we struggle. It is a fitting description of the spiritual realms that remain unseen to us, but which are very real and the place of our greatest blessings and our greatest struggle. More later on this.

As we see in this text, there is a clear division and progression of thought as Paul launches into this doxology of praise to God…

The Father is the focus of verses 3-6, the Son is the focus of verses 7 through 12, and the Holy Spirit is the focus of verses 13 and 14 -- we’ll adopt this same progression tonight as we examine the passage.

This passage is, in a sense, several key verbs -- choose, predestine, redeem, forgive, give an inheritance, seal -- surrounded by affirmations of God’s sovereignty -- that all things are according to His purpose, the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, His blessing, to the praise of His grace and glory. Take note of these as we go through the passage.

The Work of the Father

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 

So in this divine creation of the Church, the redeemed of all the ages, all those who are in Jesus -- as the three Persons of the Trinity work in concert to redeem humanity, what is the originating work of the Father? 

He chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world. 

We could stay on this passage for weeks, if not months, and never begin to exhaust the riches here…but we do need to be very clear on what the Scripture is saying -- and not saying.

God is acting -- no one else. He is making a sovereign choice, of His own divine intent and prerogative, of a group of people for His own possession. We need to understand that this passage looks at salvation from God’s perspective…it might help to keep that in mind as we journey through it.

Let’s look at the word “chose” -- renders Gr ‘eklego’ (1586) to select or choose, out of a group. Compound word: ek (out) and lego (to select) -- to select out or choose. Closely related to a word we’ll encounter later on -- ‘elect’ from Gr ‘eklektos’ (1588) and ‘election’ from Gr ‘ekloge’ (1589)

God freely, intentionally, and deliberately selected those who are His from among all of humanity. What we know is that -- based on Romans 8.29-30 and all of Romans 9, particularly 9.10-24 -- He did this without any reference to anything in us -- our worth, value, family lineage, righteousness, or even our choice. 

The word means to select from among a larger group -- to choose out for oneself. Clearly God the Father didn’t choose none -- nor would it mean He chose all -- it means He chose some. Nor is there any indication that God the Father made His choice based on our choice -- this passage, along with Romans 8.29-30, are clear that the Sovereign God is at work in this to act, as we’ll see in a moment, according to His divine purpose, and according to the counsel of His own will. 

Romans 8.28-30: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew (related in thought to the word “chose”) he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 9.10-13: 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

While this may be difficult to hear for some -- it is consistent with the rest of Scripture and indicates that our salvation in Christ traces its origin back to the choice of God the Father, not our choice. 

To make the point even more clearly, Paul tells us when that choice by God was made: before the foundation of the world, a poetic way to describe before creation, before the account of Genesis 1.1 -- from eternity past, God chose those who would be His -- the saved, the redeemed, there are many ways to describe this group…all those who have or will place their faith in Jesus Christ.

To what end? That we should be holy (set apart, Gr hagios) and blameless (without spot or flaw, Gr amomos) -- that is, that we should be declared righteous and just before a holy God.

Why did He do this? “In love…” we’ll see that more fully in Ephesians 2. 

But now Paul dives even deeper into this truth: 

God the Father has “predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ…”

This can be a volatile word -- predestined. Much has been said -- hurtful and helpful -- about this idea. The Greek word rendered “predestined” is ‘proorizo’ (4309). It also is a compound word -- from pro (before) and horizo (to determine). To determine or decree beforehand, as if to mark out a circle around. Horizo has in view a circle, much as the horizon appears to be a circle…in fact, that’s the origin of the English word. To mark out, to determine beforehand.

It is used elsewhere in the NT -- in Acts 4.24-28, following the release of Peter and John, they prayed:

“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

     and the peoples plot in vain?

26 The kings of the earth set themselves,

   and the rulers were gathered together,

   against the Lord and against his Anointed’—

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” 

A clear nexus of the responsibility and action of man -- the Jewish leaders and Gentile rulers -- and the plan and purpose of God.

Also used in Romans 8.29-30, the word is preceded by foreknew (proginosko) -- the plan of God, and those for whom the plan would be accomplished, were both decreed beforehand in the mind and purpose of the Father -- then completed all the way to glory.

We see it again in I Corinthians 2.6-8, as Paul writes:

“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

Again, the plan of salvation is in view as the “predetermined plan” of God.

What was “determined beforehand” in this Ephesians passage? Our adoption (to place into legal status as an heir, huiothesia, Gr 5206) as the children of God through Jesus Christ, to the praise of His glorious grace -- unmerited favor freely given on our behalf -- with which He -- the Father -- has blessed us -- gifted us -- in the Beloved -- Who is none other than God the Son. 

So the work of the Father is to choose and predestine His own…then He turns to the Son.

Which of course is our transition to the second part of this passage…

The Work of the Son

The key to this section --and perhaps the entire book -- is the phrase “in Him.”

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 

The first work of the Son is our redemption in Him. We are bought back from the slave market of sin through His blood, shed on the cross. ‘Redemption’ renders Gr ‘apolutrosis’ (629), to let go free or release through payment of a ransom. 

Used elsewhere in Romans 3.21-26: 

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Jesus redeemed us by paying the price for our freedom from sin -- but it could never be money or wealth of any kind…His own blood shed on the cross. He became our propitiation, both our blood sacrifice and the Mercy Seat upon which it was cast…we are justified by His grace as a gift -- never because we deserve it or even chose it.

The second work of the Son is to grant us the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us….

If there is one thing the world desperately needs but might not fully understand why, it’s forgiveness. 

We all understand that we are guilty -- what we need is the One we have offended, through rebellion, sin, and hatred, to not count our wickedness against us. Yet, in ourselves, we have nothing -- nothing -- which we can offer this holy God who stands in judgment over and against us…nothing I can say or do to convince Him that I’m not guilty…until the Son of God rises and takes our place, in the place of the defendant, the accused, and accepts our punishment, the sentence of death, for us, in our stead…thus the justice and mercy of God meet -- at the cross.

In this we find the ultimate picture of God’s grace -- true the word is -- “lavished” upon us. And in that revelation -- the mystery of God made clear, His eternal wisdom and insight given to sinful yet redeemed humankind -- we find our salvation. For it is His will -- His perfect, everlasting, loving, yet still incomprehensible will -- that we should be saved from eternal destruction and damnation, which we richly deserved, and instead find ourselves united for eternity with the very God who created us, who endured our rebellion and perversity, and died and lives again Himself to save and redeem us. Charles Wesley said it well in the 1738 hymn:

And can it be that I should gain

An interest in my Savior's blood?

Died He for me who caused His pain!

For me who scorned His perfect Love

Amazing love! How can it be

That You, my God, would die for me!

Boldly I come before your throne

To claim your mercy immense and free,

No greater love will there be known

For O my God, it found out me!

Amazing love! How can it be

That You, my God, would die for me!

Paul now turns briefly to the “mystery” of His will -- the first use of seven uses in the book. For Paul, a mystery wasn’t something unknowable -- it was something that remained unknown by mankind until it was revealed by God. Here the reference is to the will of God, according to the purpose of God, to set forth the plan of God…

What is the plan and purpose of God? What is He doing? Ever wonder about that?

“ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

He is about “uniting all things in His Son, both heaven and earth” -- that Christ might be “all in all” or as Colossians 1 says, 

“15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Amen.

The third work of the Son is to bestow our inheritance…once more, the text tells us that we are “in Him” 

“11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

It isn’t enough for the Almighty God that we should be saved from an eternity in Hell, saved from being separated from Him from everlasting to everlasting…in our adoption into His family, both Jews and Gentiles, He makes us into one people, with no dividing wall of hostility between us any longer…and all this is, again and always, “according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”

This salvation is one conceived, assigned, and purchased at the highest possible price -- the blood of the sinless Lamb of God -- and freely given to the undeserving, the rebellious, the very enemies of God…for in His purpose and will, and by His glorious grace, He not only saves us from death and judgment, He not only redeems and forgives the guilty slave of sin, He adopts us into His very family, and ultimately, in the words of Revelation 21, we learn this: 

“…And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” He comes to live with us. 

And with this salvation, this redemption and forgiveness, this closeness and intimacy with the Almighty Creator God -- we learn that He gives us an inheritance, in addition to all the other blessings that have been poured out on -- “lavished” on -- us. 

And again we find this word “predestined” -- to determine or mark out beforehand, to decree beforehand. The first time we see it, in verse 5, it has to do with God the Father’s choice of those who are His own from before the foundation of the world -- eternity past. This second time, it has to do with eternity future, our receiving the inheritance assured to us from ages ago. From eternity past to eternity future, our Sovereign God has marked out our lives for His glory and our good…

We’ll see this again, in verse 14 in a moment, and in more detail in 1.18, next week.

It is now the third time that we encounter the word “purpose” renders Gr ‘prothesis’ (4286). It means to purpose or plan; a setting forth, presentation, determination, plan, or will; it involves purpose, resolve, and design. 

We see the purpose of God again in II Timothy 1.8-9: 

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

These verses confirm what we see in Ephesians -- that the salvation of God, His holy calling, is not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. Note the similarity -- the Sovereign God is the One acting toward His own goal and objective, not dependent on nor related to our works -- our calling does not depend on ourselves, but His own purposes, which were given -- though we did not know it -- in Christ Jesus “before the ages began ‘’ or as in Ephesians, “before the foundation of the world.”

In verse 12, there is an interesting phrase: “so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” The “we” in view here could be the initial Jewish believers during Christ’s earthly ministry, or all firstfruits of Paul’s own ministry among the Gentiles…in either case, they were, as we are, “to the praise of His glory.”

Now we transition to the third section in the passage: 

The Work of the Holy Spirit

This passage concludes with the attention turning, briefly, to the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Paul begins again with “in Him” -- except this time Paul describes a person’s salvation experience and one of the works of the Holy Spirit in that moment. When you heard -- with understanding and insight, led by the Spirit of God, what theologians would describe as the “effectual calling” -- the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation -- as God in grace and mercy opened the eyes of your heart and you understood that you were His, you believed in Him.

We’ll learn more about this in chapter 2, verses 8 through 10, but what we need to understand here is that as a person places faith and trust in the work of Christ for salvation, the Holy Spirit accomplishes something entirely unique. Many works of the Spirit at salvation could be listed -- conviction, indwelling, gifting, comfort, and others -- but here, Paul says that at that moment we were “sealed with the Holy Spirit.” “Sealed” renders Gr ‘sphragizo’ (4972) -- used in Biblical and classical Greek to denote the sealing of a letter, scroll, or book, so as to secure it against opening or intrusion by someone other than the intended recipient. The act of sealing typically involved wax, and always a signet ring, a stamp or symbol indicating who sealed it and sent it. It was also used of sealing up a tomb or sepulcher to secure it against theft or vandalism. Here, the meaning is already clear to you, isn’t it…the promised Holy Spirit (promised in Luke 24.49 and John 16.7) is that One Who secures and protects us, by impressing in us, as it were, the very signet ring of God. There is more to say on this than we have time for, but I commend to you an in-depth study of the Holy Spirit. 

Here He is the Seal, the Guarantee, some translations will say the deposit or earnest (as in earnest money in a real estate transaction) of our salvation -- the idea is this: as He dwells within you, He is the One Who guarantees that God the Father will finish the work He has begun in you. 

In Philippians 1.3-6, Paul writes this:

“3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” 

As good as this news is, the best news is this: the Spirit is the deposit -- but only the deposit. The rest of the transaction awaits the completion of all that the Father is doing in us -- at the day of Christ Jesus, as Philippians tells us. Then we will, as we learn here, “acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.” Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Conclusion

As we close tonight, let’s return to the theme of the book: Fitted Together: The Church as the Body of Christ. We’ve learned tonight how the Almighty God set about doing just that -- the Father chooses and predestines, the Son’s work of redemption, forgiveness, and providing an inheritance executes the Father’s plan, and the Holy Spirit’s empowering work of sealing the believer guarantees the completion of what the Father has purposed and the Son has accomplished. 

These truths are a powerful assurance of who we are in Christ -- that we have been chosen by God, through no worth or action of our own, but entirely of His grace.

I realize that not everyone sees the biblical basis for our salvation in this way…some struggle greatly with the idea of God choosing who is to be saved, and over the last 80 years or so of the church, particularly the church in America, what I just taught has not been the dominant view. What I believe Ephesians and the rest of the Scripture clearly teaches is that God, in His grace and mercy, didn’t make salvation possible -- He actually and completely accomplished it on the cross for those who are His own, whom He chose from before the foundation of the world, for whom Christ died, and who are then sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of Christ Jesus. 

But many churches teach that on the cross, God didn’t actually and completely accomplish salvation for His own -- He made salvation possible for everyone. But in order to be saved, people must choose Him -- accept the offer. As the teaching goes, the death of Jesus Christ paid for the sins of the whole world -- meaning every living, breathing person on the planet -- but it was only an offer. If a person rejected that offer, then that person died in sin and went to Hell. 

There are several problems with this understanding. First, it doesn’t deal with the truth of God the Father’s work -- words like “choose” “elect” and “predestine” are largely ignored or redefined to fit the new framework. The attention is mostly on the work of Jesus -- but that work is changed from one that accomplishes all that the Father gave Him to do, and completes the work of redemption of the body of Christ, and instead creates the front end of a transaction of sorts -- an offer to people to come to God by faith and be saved. 

But a key difficulty is that in our lost state apart from Christ, we can’t effectively hear and understand this “offer” -- as I Corinthians 2.12-14,

“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.  14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

And worse than being unable to discern spiritual truths, the Word also describes us apart from Christ as “dead in our trespasses and sin” in Ephesians 2.1-7:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins … 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

There’s much more to say, but time doesn’t permit tonight -- but to summarize, God is about calling out and redeeming a people for Himself, chosen from before the foundation of the world, saved by the work of the Son, and sealed by the work of the Spirit -- not offering a transaction to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, hoping they accept. No indeed -- our God is about taking those who were dead and bringing them to life, through His own sovereign power, grace, and mercy. 

So what do we do with this understanding?

I think we can be motivated to deeper praise -- to sing with even more fervor that “God is so good to me” !

And while some might say that these truths make evangelism difficult -- how can you share your faith from Ephesians chapter 1? -- I would suggest you consider this: you simply state the truth of what God has done, is doing, and will do for His people -- and then call for action. Much as Jesus did in John chapter 11.23-27 as He talks with Martha about the death of her brother, Lazarus:

“23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Jesus could certainly have stopped after saying “…everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” But He didn’t -- instead He asked Martha a penetrating question: “Do you believe this?” Not everyone will say yes -- but some will. And how will they respond in faith unless someone asks them?

Perhaps tonight you found your way to this livestream, or you’re seeing this later on demand, and you’re wondering what all this means, and if you can know this Jesus I’ve been talking about. You can…if you hear the word of God speaking of the works of God, and for the first time you understand that you believe that this isn’t some interesting discussion but instead for you is a call to express that belief and faith in Jesus for the first time in your life, then contact us -- let us help you through the first steps of getting to know Jesus Christ. We are at info@vbvf.org -- please reach out to us.

There may be some questions tonight…so let us close at this point in prayer, asking for God’s wisdom as we seek to understand both His actions and His ways.