Ephesians 1:3–14

Now Christ stands in two relationships with God, His Father. He is a perfect man before His God; He is a Son with His Father. We are to share both these relationships. He announced this to His disciples before He went back to heaven. His own words unfold it in full: "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." This precious — this priceless truth is the foundation of the apostle's teaching here. He considered God in this double aspect: as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our blessings are connected with these two titles.

Notice the language. It is God acting in this special manner of relationship. He means to bless the believer as He blesses Christ. That is, not as Christ is blessed as a divine person — that would be blasphemy. Here we have what is given to Him as man in heaven. "The glory that you have given me I have given to them" is a related truth. He means to have men in heaven along with Jesus. It is not enough for Him to have that blessed glorified man there alone. He gives Jesus companions.

It is not blessing conditional on obedience, as Israel's was in the land. It is blessing in Christ. God brings us into it, now that Christ has accomplished all that the Father gave Him to do... Who has blessed us! And with EVERY spiritual blessing! And in Christ! How complete! How certain! How secure!

God promised that if they obeyed, He would bless them in their basket and their store, in the fruit of their body, their cattle, and the ground. Their blessings were to be material... There are no such promises as these to the Church. The Church exists because of union with a risen and exalted Saviour, so its blessings are spiritual. God blesses the Church with redemption, forgiveness, acceptance, adoption, knowledge of His mind and will, joint heirship with Christ, and the guarantee of the Spirit — these, and blessings like them.

The expression "heavenly places" is in contrast with the portion of the Jews, who were blessed in earthly places. If we look at Ezekiel 36, it may bring out more clearly the character of our blessing as distinct from theirs. "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean… You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God." So there are spiritual mercies mixed in with their blessings. But they will be in the land of their fathers. God is going to make that good to the generation to come.

Our blessings are spiritual in character. Their sphere is heaven. And they are "in Christ" — ours only because we are identified with our great and glorious Representative and Head. They match a further truth. In an eternity past God marked us out for a place of infinite blessedness in an eternity to come, "holy and blameless before Him."

Suppose you told most of God's children on earth, "You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." They would think it wild enthusiasm or mysticism... They have no idea that it is a present fact true of all Christians. Though we are not yet displayed in it, it is not a question of feeling. May we believe it! Feelings may deceive me, but faith never can.

But in blessing us in this wonderful way God has acted in keeping with something His mind did in a past eternity. Before the foundation of the world He chose us in Christ. Note those two words, "in Him," for they, or their equivalents, occur again and again in this chapter. As a matter of history each of us was in Adam before we were in Christ. But before Adam was created, God saw us as in Christ, and on that basis He chose us.

You say, I am not holy. But look — is not He holy, and without blame, and in love before God? Oh yes. Well, I am in Him, that is the point.

"From" the world's founding does not mean the same as "before" it. Let us respect and learn from the very words of God. Think of the saints who are kept from yielding to the Beast at the close of the age. Their names were written from the foundation of the world in the slain Lamb's book of life… But the phrase used in Eph. 1:4, as in 1 Peter 1:20, is pointedly different.

God's choosing us before the foundation of the world is not what proves the sovereignty of grace by the time of the choosing. Suppose God were to choose us now — it would be just as sovereign an act as doing it then. The practical truth brought out in His choosing us before the foundation of the world is this: it proves we have nothing whatever to do with the world. Before its very foundation He chose us. We have nothing to do with the world but to get through it… God settled our living place with Himself before the world ever existed.

If we are to be before God, we must have a suited nature. Could the natural man be at home with God, and find pleasure where all is holy? Impossible, it is opposed to his very being. And supposing it were possible to be before Him with a conscience not at rest, where would be the joy? How blessed, then, that we are to be "holy and without blame before Him in love!" "Holy," because we have His nature, a nature that finds its only portion in God. "Without blame," because of Christ's work; for who shall lay anything to our charge? "In love," because His love flows always into our hearts, and back again to Him its source.

It is wonderful that these three things should be said of us — that we should be "holy and without blame before Him in love." For these three things mark the blessed God Himself. Holy in His character; blameless in His ways; and love in His nature.

"Before Him" — what an expression of His delight. Just as a mother puts her child out before her eyes so she may gaze on it and be satisfied in her love, so has He set us before Him in Christ.

Thus the blessing of verse 5 surpasses the blessing of verse 4. There it was sovereign choice that by grace makes us suited to Himself: here it is God's good pleasure that predestines believers to the relationship of sons.

In the saint now there is much that is very unsaintly indeed, unlike God and His beloved Son. There is pride, vanity, foolishness, and all kinds of evil ways and thoughts that never flow from Christ… But for all this, are they not saints? God forbid they should not be. And yet this is the steady thought of God. How can that be? Because God looks at us here according to what He gives us in Christ, and nothing less.

To predestine is to mark out beforehand, to decide in advance. Election is God's choice of people; predestination is to a blessing. In Ephesians 1:5, 11, God predestines believers to the adoption of sons, according to His purpose. Predestination does not, as some insist, imply that others are marked out for wrath.

The apostle John is the one who dwells on our being "children" of God. Why? Because we are born into the family of God. Born of the Spirit, we are children of God, children of His family… But when it is a question of being "sons," predestination is what puts us into this place of relation… Adoption is never of children; it is always of sons. One must be by new birth a "child" of God. But God also predestined to adopt the Christian into the position of a "son" by Christ Jesus to Himself… Believers in Old Testament times were all "children," as we who believe now are also. But they were not adopted "sons." Sonship is one of the new privileges of the gospel.

Christ is Son of God under two aspects. As the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father He has a relationship which is not and never will be ours; but as Man He is called Son of God (Psalm 2; Luke 1:35). He sets us in that same relationship. Only one difference remains between Him and us: the place is His because of His personal dignity and worth… while we are sons only because of His work. But it is marvellous to think that our relationship is absolutely the same as His. "My Father, and your Father; My God, and your God."

Would we ever have conceived that a relationship like the angels' was possible? It would not do for God. He had countless angels, strong and always doing what pleased Him — but they were only servants. He wanted sons: sons to surround Him in His home of light and love with the cry of Abba, Father… Sweet thought: He planned this for His own indescribable joy. It was not only for our blessing, but according to the good pleasure of His will.

"The good pleasure of His will" is not simply sovereignty — it is the good pleasure of His will. God is acting in His love and showing the will of His grace. He takes up poor, wretched, vile sinners, and pours out on these objects of His mercy all the riches of His own goodness. "The good pleasure of His will," that which God takes delight in, is the ministering of the fulness of His blessing to us. Here the soul finds solid ground… the measure of His goodness can never be the measure of what we deserve from Him.

God will not rest till He displays us before all in the position of sons… We shall stand before God, holy and without blame. But God desires more for us than that. He would have us before Him as sons, and He tells us about it as part of what He has called us to… So He gives us the Holy Spirit as the spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15), while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23).

The free forgiveness of our sins in Christ is far from exhausting the riches of the grace of God. He who saves us is the only wise God. In the way He works now, as the Creator of His Church, He shows to faith both the glory of His wisdom and the deep perfection of His plan.

It is not said, "abounded toward us in forgiving us," because full forgiveness is a positive need. But when we hear of "wisdom and prudence," it is a question of God's counsels about His Son. That stands above any thought of need, and does not depend on it. He says, as it were, You are able now to enter into My thoughts, and understand them when I speak. You are delivered from anxiety about your sins, and are free now to enter into My purpose.

As far as I know, wisdom is resource or ability, but prudence means intelligence. Wisdom would be the ability to understand these things. Intelligence would be that you grasp them. Without the ability to understand these things we could never have them as light in our souls.

Not only has He abounded to us in connection with His grace, but also in connection with His wisdom. Verse 8 speaks of "wisdom and prudence [or, intelligence]." He has made known the secrets of His wisdom. His aim is that we should enter into them with understanding, and enjoy them.

But the true knowledge of God's way belongs only to those who have been made alive by His grace, and fully established through faith in Jesus. Natural cleverness has no power to reach the mysteries of God. They are open only to the spiritual person.

God has abounded in this grace. There is no limiting, no reserve — only the full, free flow of His love, showing His favour to His saints. This grace is not moved by a burst of eager affection alone. It is moved by pure wisdom and prudence, with the calm deliberation of eternal intelligence (v.8). How perfectly His grace and wisdom are mingled in these marvellous things!

He acts according to the "riches of His grace." He has caused that grace to abound toward us "in all wisdom and intelligence" (as it may be read). This suits people called to such a calling. He does it by making known the mystery of His will, which He purposed in Himself for the glory of Christ. He treats us as friends (compare John 15:15), in the place of intimacy and nearness.

God has given us of His grace in all wisdom and prudence. He is not content to give us this portion only by bringing us into it later on. He wants to give us the knowledge of it now, here below, in all wisdom and prudence, according to His good pleasure. We have not to do with a God who sets us before His justice, but with a God of grace who acts according to His own thoughts.

"Making known to us the mystery of His will." This does not mean something you cannot understand. It means something you could not know before God told you. Do not turn away and say, All I want to know is to be saved. We ought to desire to learn all God is willing to teach us. The word "mystery" means something God chose to keep secret. He had not revealed it before, but it is perfectly understandable once He unfolds it.

The mystery of His will is what has always been near to His heart, for it involves the glory not of the church only but of Christ. It is "according to His good pleasure which He has purposed in Himself." No one suggested it. It was His own will. And what is the mystery of His will? It is that when the times are complete, God will gather together into one all things in Christ, both the things in heaven and the things on earth. Under Christ He will reunite all these things that Satan has scattered.

God has always acted according to His own will. In the presence of sin and the ruin it caused, He chose for long ages to keep the main purpose of His will a secret, a mystery. Yet the pleasure of His will and His purpose has always been good, for He is good. This is a great fact, and we do well to hold on to it. The "pleasure of His will" is good (v. 5). The "pleasure which He has purposed in Himself" is good (v. 9). God's pleasure and purpose is not tied to judgment. That work is necessary, and He will carry it out at the right time, but He calls it His "strange work."

It is not said, "abounded toward us in forgiving us," because full forgiveness is a positive need. But "wisdom and prudence" is a matter of God's counsels about His Son. These stand above any thought of what we need, and do not depend on it. He says, as it were, You are able now to enter into My thoughts, and understand them when I speak. You are delivered from anxiety about your sins, and are free now to enter into My purpose.

When God reveals His thoughts to us like this, it is not about our own direct blessing. It is the sign of His confidence in us, whom He has brought into such a close relationship with Himself. As Christ said to His disciples, "I do not call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you."

In the glory of Christ and of the church, God has given us a future full of His own designs. Studying it now fills our hearts with associations with Him... He reveals it to us as His friends (John 15:15; Eph. 1:9), making us sharers of the thoughts that occupy Himself... If the ends men pursue show what they are, our conduct in this present life will carry the stamp of the future we expect. Our life here will be coloured by the foretaste of things there.

The word "dispensation" appears twice in the older English translation of the letter to the Ephesians — in Ephesians 1:10 and Ephesians 3:2. In both places the Greek word means the law or arrangement of a house. It is close to the word for steward, so it is sometimes translated "stewardship." In general, a dispensation is the order of affairs that God chooses to set up at any given time.

The "fulness of times" can hardly mean the eternal state, for then God will be all in all. It seems rather to have in view the world to come — the thousand-year reign of Christ — when the full result of God's ways in government will appear in perfection. God has entrusted men with all the principles of government at different times, and men have failed completely in each of them. Under the rule of Christ those same principles will appear in perfection. The government of man has shown the ruin of the times. The reign of Christ will show the "fulness," or perfection, of the times.

Many have supposed that this means the present dispensation. They confuse it with another expression used in Galatians 4:4: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son." But "the fulness of time" and "the dispensation of the fulness of times" are two very different expressions… The Church is now reconciled; but things in heaven and on earth are still to be reconciled.

What marks it out is the gathering together — literally, the heading up — of all things in heaven and on earth in the Christ… Have you ever seen a barrel-maker heading up a cask? He stands the wooden staves on end around the head, or end piece, of the cask… That head is the centre that holds them all together. Once it is in place, the harder he presses the staves in, the firmer and better the work.

The verse says nothing about the things in hell, because this promised gathering belongs to a world of blessing… Sin is lawlessness. It turns every man into a little unit on his own, with his only centre in himself. So through all these ages of sin's reign, however cleverly men build their unities, everything has fallen apart. God has His unity. He is working towards it.

Elsewhere we read of the reconciliation of heavenly things as well as earthly ones (Colossians 1:20). That word implies they were estranged before. And here it rests on the cross: "making peace by the blood of His cross"… Sin has defiled not the earth only but the heavens. The work of Christ has glorified God about that sin, so He can step in, deliver what is to become the inheritance of Christ and His "joint-heirs," and bring it back to Himself.

But the church is not included in any of these things… We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ — not just heirs under Christ, but heirs with Him. It is the picture given at the very start of man's history. Adam had the glory of being head over this lower world, and his wife shares that rule because she is joined to him. The church is the spiritual Eve of the Lord Jesus, the bride of the last Adam.

Notice where we come into it: "in whom also we have obtained an inheritance." We are heirs, as the apostle says to the Romans — "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." That is, God says: I am going to give everything to Christ. I am going to gather together in one all things in heaven and on earth in Him. And with Him you are joint-heirs — with Him you have received the inheritance.

In Ephesians 1:11 some translate it "we were made a heritage." But the Greek means "we have been placed by lot in possession of," or "have obtained a lot, or inheritance." The point matters. We are joint-heirs with Christ.

All belongs to God, but Christ is the Heir, and God has marked His many sons out to share the inheritance with Christ. That is why it says, "in whom also we have obtained an inheritance" (verse 11). We have nothing outside of Christ. All our blessings now, and all that we will have in the coming day, are "in Christ," in association with Him. They depend on Him, who obtained everything for us by His death on the cross.

This is "according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will." He did not give it to us in answer to anything we asked or wanted. He has acted from Himself in His infinite wisdom and eternal love. He did not consult us about this, or about any blessing He has given us. And it is good for us that He acted this way. If He had left our blessings for us to decide, we would have been hired servants forever, and not sons.

God settled our destiny beforehand. He did not settle it to fit our need, or even our thoughts and wishes, but according to His own purpose, and He carries out all things as He pleases. So we may be sure that no possible slip can come between us and the inheritance He has destined for us.

Purpose is the goal God has before Him. Divine Persons took counsel as to how that goal would be secured, and the ways of God are bringing it all into effect. When the ways of God reach their end, His counsel will have been fully carried out. What He purposed will be secured, and this is what will go into the eternal state… Notice how all three are in verse 11 of our chapter: purpose, working and counsel.

How very encouraging it is for the Christian to know that nothing happens in this world except what serves the will of God. God is not acting openly today in the events of the world, as He certainly will in a coming day. But His counsel has ordered that everything must work towards one great end: the fulfilling of His eternal purpose. What God does not rule, He overrules, even as He makes the wrath of man praise Him.

The apostle is speaking here first of Jewish Christians. They have believed in Christ before He is revealed. That is what "we who have first trusted in Christ" means. If I may use a new word, they "have pre-trusted in Christ" — they trusted in Him before He appears. The remnant of the Jews in the last days will believe (like Thomas) when they see Him. Blessed is the one who has believed without seeing.

As we pass from verse 12 to verse 13 we notice a change in the pronouns, from "we" to "you." When the Apostle wrote "we … who first trusted in Christ," his mind was on the saints gathered out of Israel, himself included. The "you" meant the saints gathered out from the Gentiles. The Jewish believers were something like the firstfruits of their nation. Later, a redeemed and restored Israel will be for the LORD's praise on earth. But those who trusted in Christ beforehand, in this gospel age, will have part in the heavenly calling. They will be to His praise in the heavenly places.

The people in this verse are described as having first trusted, or hoped, in Christ. It is hard to accept that the Apostle uses this expression only to mark off himself and his fellow Israelites in the faith from the Gentiles who were grafted in later. The general statement, "That we should be to the praise of His glory," refers to the saints with no reference to Jew or Gentile. The chapter has kept these same people before us from the start as the chosen objects of blessing.

The nation of Israel will not be among those who hoped in Christ beforehand, "to the praise of His glory." They will be the subjects of His glory. "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you." His glory will take in their salvation. But some out of that unbelieving nation received Christ before they saw Him. They will therefore appear with Him in glory, and that will be to "the praise of His glory." Blessed are those who receive Christ when they see Him. More blessed still are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Nothing glorifies God except the carrying out of His will. And, as we have already seen, He Himself is the pledge that it will be carried out. Sovereign grace has lifted the Church to her place, and that will be to the praise of His glory and nothing else.

In unfolding grace and glory in this Epistle to the Ephesians, we may observe that there is a peculiar accumulation of language, as I may express it, as though the Writer (the Spirit) were conscious of what a theme of unusual weight and dignity He was treating. We read of "the glory of grace," of "the riches of grace," of "the exceeding riches of grace," of "the praise of His glory," and of "the praise of the glory of His grace." This is the style in which the magnificent secrets of this Epistle are brought out to view. The casket is according to the treasure.

The Jewish nation lost their earthly inheritance by rejecting Christ and following their own will. The remnant of the Jews who believed in Christ gained a more glorious inheritance in the world to come. It came to them by the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will. Joined with Christ in His reign, believers will display His glory. In that day He will be "glorified" and "admired" in all that believe (2 Thess. 1:10). … These believers from among the Jews had "pre-trusted" in Christ. They had trusted in Christ in the day of His rejection; the restored nation will trust Him in the day of His glory.

As we move from verse 12 to verse 13 we notice a change in the pronouns, from "we" to "you." In writing, "we who were the first to hope in Christ," Paul had in mind believers gathered out of Israel, including himself. The "you" meant believers gathered from the Gentiles.

The Jews, or those who had been under Jewish teaching, had been for a while in an infant state, an Old Testament condition. But the Gentiles by faith passed straight into the full Christian blessing.

The Ephesian believers were sealed with the Holy Spirit after they believed (see Eph. 1:13). This verse gives us clearly the order that is always followed. First, they "heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation"; second, they believed it; third, they were sealed with the Spirit.

The writer well remembers an answer to this question: "After is not a question of time, but of order." Receive the gospel of your salvation, and you receive the Spirit. The second follows from the first. After the blow, the sword cut. How long after? It is simply cause and effect. The moment a man or woman receives the gospel of their salvation, God gives the seal of the Holy Spirit, claiming the believer for Himself for ever.

We now come to a word of very large meaning. It is so large that it can cover other gospel words such as justification, redemption, reconciliation… So in Ephesians 1:13, that one word sums up the whole deliverance that has reached us, in all its parts.

The Holy Spirit given to dwell in believers is Himself the seal. By Him God marks them out, takes possession of them as His own, and declares them to be His property… But the figure is that of a seal. A seal did not only show ownership by the mark stamped on it. It was also put on for protection. So believers are said to be sealed until the day of redemption. The seal keeps them safe until the Lord returns to receive them to Himself.

God claims the whole believer — body, soul and spirit. Even the body that dies He will claim and change at the coming of the Lord Jesus.

He is called "the Spirit of promise," probably because He is "the promise of the Father, which," says Christ, "you have heard of me." He is also the pledge of the coming inheritance — not a part of it, which would take from His glory.

He is sealed with the Holy Spirit as a believer not only in Christ, but in the gospel of our salvation — the work that Christ has done… This explains why there were people born of the Holy Spirit who were never sealed. The Old Testament believers, for instance, all looked for Christ. All were born of God, but not one was sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Notice the importance of the words "in Him," found twice in this verse. Their trust was not simply in the gospel, but in the person of Christ, of whom the gospel speaks… It is not a matter of having entered more into the truth of the work of Christ in redemption, but simply of believing in Him personally. The simplest believer therefore shares in the sealing of the Spirit.

'Earnest' is an old word for deposit, down payment, or guarantee. When a buyer of a house pays the deposit you know he intends to pay the balance. In this sense, the Holy Spirit is called 'the earnest of our inheritance' (Eph. 1:14; 2 Cor. 5:5): God has already given us His Spirit, so He will also give us the future inheritance — to share in Christ's universal dominion (Eph. 1:10, 22, 23). This is why it continues to say: 'to the redemption of the acquired possession' (v. 14). It is a future redemption. The inheritance is already ours, but it still needs to be 'redeemed'. It is like a cheque you already hold: the bank only pays it when you hand it in.

Scripture does not say that the Holy Spirit gives the earnest of our inheritance. It says that He is Himself the earnest of our inheritance. He is the guarantee that when the appointed time comes we will have the inheritance with Christ.

The Holy Spirit is given to us as an earnest of the inheritance, but He is never said to be the earnest of God's love. The earnest of His love would imply that I only get a little of His love now, and am to have a great deal more when in heaven. The love of God fully rests on the believer already. "The love with which You loved Me" — is this an "earnest"? Is it not the fullness of His love?

No, we are the heirs, heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ; and there is no possibility of confusing the heirs and the inheritance... The earnest is not for the inheritance, but for the heirs, as anyone can see. We have received nothing of the inheritance yet. Christ has not received it. He has purchased it with His blood, but power has yet to redeem that purchased possession... What must be the glory of the inheritance of which the Holy Spirit is the earnest!

In Ephesians 1:14 however the point is different. What He has purchased by His death He will in the end redeem by His power from every force set against Him. This is the difference between redemption by blood and redemption by power.

"The redemption of the purchased possession" looks forward. It points to the time when Christ will take possession of everything He bought. Then creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay. The first stage is the changing of our bodies into His image at His coming.

This is what we wait for. We wait not only for the coming of Christ, the resurrection of our bodies, and our being glorified together with Him. We wait also for the time when, as joint-heirs with Him, we will enter with Him on all that scene of dominion, blessedness, and glory which He won through His death... No wonder we are told that this final result is to the praise of God's glory! Our present acceptance in the Beloved is to the praise of the glory of His grace. Our share with Christ in His inheritance will be to the praise of His glory.