1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Redemption in Christ
3aBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as aHe chose us in Him bbefore the foundation of the world, that we should cbe holy and without blame before Him in love,
5ahaving predestined us to badoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, caccording to the good pleasure of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, aby which He made us accepted in bthe Beloved.
7aIn Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to bthe riches of His grace
8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and1 prudence,
9ahaving made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure bwhich He purposed in Himself,
10 that in the dispensation of athe fullness of the times bHe might gather together in one call things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
11aIn Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to bthe purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
The first chapter of Ephesians overflows with confidence and hope, encouraging believers with what God has done and is doing. Before the foundation of the world, God chose a small remnant out of humanity, a Family impregnated by His Spirit and bearing His Son's image, with a moral aim: that they become holy as He is. He predestined them according to the good pleasure of His will, not because of ethnicity, intelligence, ability, or works. Unchanging, God has never strayed from His purpose of reproducing Himself, as "Let Us make man in Our image" suggests. Christ's love for His people began before time, yet receiving the inheritance requires overcoming, enduring, and remaining holy and blameless to the end.
Ephesians 1:3-5
God has predestined us from the beginning! What deep meaning is contained within this! Did God have us planned even before He created Adam and Eve? He might have! It can mean that. Predestination may not be general at all but very specific - that the great Mind that created everything had us in mind so long ago.
This is exactly what the term "predestination" refers to!
Of course, as these verses clearly state, in order to receive this inheritance we must overcome and endure to the end! The apostle says that we must be holy and without blame; that is, we must maintain our holiness and blamelessness until the end, staying well away from all unrighteousness and works of the flesh.
He did not necessarily choose us as individuals before the foundation of the world, but He did decide that He would have a church, a group of people impregnated by His Spirit, a unique Family of His who would be in the image of His Son. The word "choose" suggests taking a smaller number out of a larger. In this case, the larger is the population of the earth, and the smaller number is that tiny remnant God has been working with - His church, His group, His family. The word "holy" implies the choosing had a moral aim in view. In other words, God was choosing a small number out of a large number, and the reason He was choosing this smaller number is to make this small number holy - holy as He is. He had a moral purpose in mind.
The apostle is saying we have been called, elected, become a part of this small group with a definite purpose in mind - that we should become holy. In order for us to become holy, God had to reveal some things to us, which Paul discusses in verses 5-12.
"For I am the LORD. I do not change" (Malachi 3:6). He has never deviated from His purpose from the foundation of the world. Once He had planned what He would do, He set out on to fulfill His purpose, and He has never strayed from it. Genesis 1:26 suggests this strongly: "Let Us make man in Our image." What is He doing? He is reproducing Himself. If He is creating man "in His image," then He is reproducing Himself!
His Word declares that in His love He predestined us "according to the good pleasure of His will." It does not say that He predestined us according to what He foresaw we would become, that He chose us because we were from a particular ethnic group, or that He picked us because of some mark of intelligence, character, looks, ability, or any other quality. Just as in Deuteronomy 7:7-8, His calling of us occurred out of the good pleasure of His will. He gave to us the same privileges and opportunities as He did to Jacob rather than Esau, and they were extended on the same basis - by God's election following the counsel of His own will and not by our works.
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The first chapter of Ephesians overflows with confidence and hope, encouraging believers with what God has done and is doing. Before the foundation of the world, God chose a small remnant out of humanity, a Family impregnated by His Spirit and bearing His Son's image, with a moral aim: that they become holy as He is. He predestined them according to the good pleasure of His will, not because of ethnicity, intelligence, ability, or works. Unchanging, God has never strayed from His purpose of reproducing Himself, as "Let Us make man in Our image" suggests. Christ's love for His people began before time, yet receiving the inheritance requires overcoming, enduring, and remaining holy and blameless to the end.