Commentaries:
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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.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Unity (Part 3): Ephesians 4 (A)Related Topics: Before the Foundation of the World | Called According to God's Purpose | Called Out Ones | Calling | Calling Out | Calling, Uniqueness of | Chosen People | Elect , The | Predestination
Ephesians 1:3-4
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.
Staff
Thy Kingdom Come! (Part One)Related Topics: Enduring to the End | Heirs According to the Promise | Heirs with Christ | Inheritance of the Christian | Overcoming | Predestination
Ephesians 1:3-4
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.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Awesome Cost of SalvationRelated Topics: Before the Foundation of the World | Begettal of Holy Spirit | Begettal of the Holy Spirit | Called According to God's Purpose | Called Out Ones | Calling | Calling Out | Calling, Uniqueness of | Chosen People | Elect , The | Family of God | God's Family | Holy | Holy People | Predestination | Separation | Separation from the World | Set Apart
Ephesians 1:3-4
"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!
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part One)Related Topics: Before the Foundation of the World | God Reproducing Himself | God's Purpose | God-Kind, Reproduction after | Image and Likeness of God | Image of God
Ephesians 1:3-6
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.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Sovereignty of God: Part ThreeRelated Topics: Before the Foundation of the World | Called According to God's Purpose | Called Out Ones | Calling | Calling Out | Calling, Uniqueness of | Elect , The | God's Purpose | God's Will | Predestination
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What Does Ephesians 1:3 Mean?
God chose a small remnant out of the earth's larger population to form His church, a Family impregnated by His Spirit and made in the image of His Son. This choosing had a moral aim: that this group become holy as He is. He predestined us in love according to the good pleasure of His will, not because of ethnicity, intelligence, character, or works, extending the same election as He did to Jacob. Unchanging in purpose from the foundation of the world, He is reproducing Himself, as Genesis 1:26 suggests. Predestination may be specific, having us in mind before Adam and Eve. This inheritance requires overcoming, enduring, and maintaining holiness until the end, trusting His plan spanning thousands of years rather than yielding to Satan's fears.