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Connect Blog - Ephesians

Connect Blog

Ephesians 1:3-14

October 8, 2017

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (1:3).

“Blessed” in this passage means to speak well of … Paul is speaking well of God.

Paul responds to all that God has done for us in Jesus with praise and adoration. Worship is a response to Who God is and What He has done.

The spiritual blessings in heavenly places speaks to that which finds its origin in heaven: forgiveness of sin, redemption, adoption, etc.

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (1:4-6).

Who? “He (Holy God) hath chosen us (sinful man).”

We didn’t chose God, God chose us

When? “before the foundation of the world”

What this means is that God set into motion his plan for our redemption prior to our creation and fall.

Remember – God is eternal and omniscient. We live in time, God looks down on time. He sees the past and the future concurrently.

There are two extreme views: Calvinistic View and the Armenian View. The Calvinistic view holds that God alone chooses those who will be saved, leaving those who does not chose to go to hell. The Armenian view holds the choice of salvation to be by the free will of man. Now “my” view: I believe that God has set into motion His plan of redemption; that He enables man to see his sinful condition and His provision for their sin and allows man to make a decision. Predestination is, as it relates to man’s salvation, pre-knowledge.

What? “that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself”

“holy” means set apart. God has set us apart in Christ

“blameless” guiltless …because the sentence of our crime was carried out by Christ

“adoption of children” – God has adopted us granting to us all rights and privileges. We are joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

Why?