Ephesians 1.11a-The Father Claimed the Church Age Believer as His Possession and Two Reasons For It
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday April 6, 2023
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:11a-The Father Claimed the Church Age Believer as His Possession and Two Reasons For It
Lesson # 32
Ephesians 1:3 The God, namely the Father of the Lord ruling over us, who is Jesus Christ, is worthy of praise. Namely, because He is the one who has blessed each and every one of us by means of each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. 4 For He chose each and every one of us for His own purpose because of Him alone before creation in order that each and every one of us would be holy as well as uncensurable in His judgment. 5 He did this by predestinating each and every one of us for the purpose of adoption as sons because of His love through Jesus Christ for Himself according to the pleasure of His will. 6 This was for the purpose of praising His glorious grace, which He freely bestowed on each and every one of us because of the one who is divinely loved. 7 Because of whom, each one of us are experiencing that which is the redemption through His blood, namely the forgiveness of our transgressions according to His infinite grace. 8 This He provided in abundance for the benefit of each and every one of us because of the exercise of a wisdom, which is absolute and divine in nature resulting in the manifestation of an insight, which is absolute and divine in nature. 9 He did this by revealing the mystery of His will for the benefit of each and every one of us according to His pleasure, which He planned beforehand because of our faith in and resultant union and identification with Himself. 10 This was for the dispensation which brings to completion the various periods of history. Namely, to unite for the benefit of Himself each and every animate and inanimate object in the sphere of the sovereign authority of the person of the one and only Christ. Specifically, to unite for the benefit of Himself those things in the heavens as well as those things on the earth in the sphere of the sovereign authority of Himself. 11 Because of whom, each and every one of us has been claimed as a possession because of having been predestinated according to the predetermined plan. Namely, the one who is causing each and every animate and inanimate object to function according to His purpose, that is, His sovereign will. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 1:11 is composed of the first person plural aorist passive indicative eklērōthēmen (ἐκληρώθημεν), “each and every one of us has been claimed as a possession,” which is a declarative statement.
It is modified by the prepositional phrase En hō (Ἐν ᾧ), “because of whom,” which presents the first of two reasons for the declarative statement.
Paul presents the second reason for this declarative statement by employing a participial clause prooristhentes kata prothesin (προορισθέντες κατὰ πρόθεσιν), “because of having been predestinated according to the predetermined plan.”
This participial clause is then modified by another one tou ta panta energountos kata tēn boulēn tou thelēmatos autou (τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐνεργοῦντος κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ), “Namely, the one who is causing each and every animate and inanimate object to function according to His purpose, that is, His sovereign will,” which defines the meaning and referent of the prepositional phrase kata prothesin (κατὰ πρόθεσιν), “according to the predetermined plan.”
So therefore, in Ephesians 1:11, the apostle Paul employs the verb eklērōthēmen prothesin (ἐκληρώθημεν) in order to assert that each and every church age believer has been claimed by the Father as His possession.
He then employs the prepositional phrase En hō (Ἐν ᾧ) in order to present the first of two reasons for this.
It contains the figure of metonymy and asserts that it was because of the church age believer’s faith in and union and identification with Jesus Christ that the Father claimed them as His possession.
Paul then gives a second reason for this assertion by employing the participial clause prooristhentes kata prothesin (προορισθέντες κατὰ πρόθεσιν).
It states that the Father claimed the church age believer as His possession because He predestinated them according to His predetermined plan.
The apostle Paul then uses the participial clause tou ta panta energountos kata tēn boulēn tou thelēmatos autou (τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐνεργοῦντος κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ) to modify the prepositional phrase kata prothesin (κατὰ πρόθεσιν).
It identifies this plan as the Father causing each and every animate and inanimate object in the heavens and on earth to function according to His purpose, that is, His sovereign will.
Now, there is another interpretative issue with the verb klēroō (κληρόω) here in Ephesians 1:11.
Darrell Bock writes “In Christ, the calling of believers involves being claimed as a possession of God. This is a result of the programme God is working out according to his will. Believers have been allotted a place with God. We become God’s own possession, predestined as part of the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will. The key verb in this part of the praise is klēroō. It refers to something received or appointed by lot (1 Sam. 14:41). This term appears only here in the New Testament. Here the picture is of an inheritance or a group God has taken possession of as his own. It has fallen to us to be his. Colossians 1:12 is similar in force, looking to the believer’s allotment with the saints. Ephesians 1:18 points to the riches of God’s inheritance. In making us his own, God has also given us benefits. What exactly does inheritance mean? Do we have an inheritance, with the stress being on what we have received, or are we the inheritance, something God possesses of which we are a part? The stress in the note of praise is on how we are related to God and his actions. This fits the idea that we are a people for God’s possession, something that makes us precious not just because of what we have but because of who God has made us. Either way, this act and our secure place before God was and is intentional. Just as Israel was called to be God’s special people, so are those who are in Christ (Deut. 32:9). The predestination of this according to the purpose of the counsel of God’s will is an idea repeated from verses 4–5, making it almost a refrain in the passage. Our experience of grace is no accident. It is a key part of all the things God sought to accomplish in Christ.”
The verb klēroō (κληρόω) is expressing the idea of being chosen by God.
Specifically, it speaks of the church age believer being claimed by God as His own possession.
Ephesians 1:11 begins with the prepositional phrase en hō (ἐν ᾧ), “because of whom,” which presents the reason why the Father claimed the church age believer as His own possession.
This prepositional phrase en hō (ἐν ᾧ) contains the figure of metonymy which means that the Son is put for the church age believer’s faith in Him at their justification and their union and identification with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand, which took place at the moment of their justification through the baptism of the Spirit.
Therefore, this would indicate that “because of” the church age believer’s faith in the Son at their justification as well as their union and identification with Him, the Father claimed the church age believer as His own possession.
This faith at justification and identification with Christ manifested the fact that the church age believer was elected in eternity past by the Father.
The Father accomplished this by predestinating them for the purpose of adoption as His sons because of His love for them through Jesus Christ for Himself according to the pleasure of His will.
Therefore, this interpretation here in Ephesians 1:11 would mean that the church age believer’s faith in the Son at their justification as well as their union and identification with Him is the reason why God made them His possession.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:5, the verb proorizo (προορίζω) here in Ephesians 1:11 means “to predetermine” since the word pertains to determining something ahead of time or before its occurrence.
In other words, it pertains to coming to a decision beforehand.
Therefore, this verb refers to each and every church age believer being “predestinated” by the Father according to His predetermined plan.
The participle conjugation of this verb proorizo (προορίζω) as functioning as a causal participle, which means that it indicates the cause or reason or ground of the action of the finite verb.
This type of participle usually precedes the main verb, which in our context is the verb klēroō (κληρόω).
Here it is following the main verb and not preceding it, which does occur in the Greek New Testament with this type of participle.
Therefore, this would indicate that each and every church age believer was claimed by God the Father “because” He predestinated them according to His predetermined plan in eternity past.
In other words, Paul is asserting with this verb proorizo (προορίζω) that the Father predestinating the church age believer is the reason why he asserts that every church age believer has been claimed by the Father as His own possession.
In fact, it is presenting the second reason for the Father doing this.
When Paul employs the verb proorizo (προορίζω), he is not defining the action of the verb klēroō (κληρόω), which the participle of means would be doing, but rather, he is presenting the reason for the action of this verb.
The action of the aorist participle conjugation of the verb proorizo (προορίζω) indicates that it takes place simultaneously with the action of the aorist indicative conjugation of the verb klēroō (κληρόω).
Thus, the aorist tenses of both verbs indicate that the Father claiming every church age believer as His own possession and predestination took place at the same time.
This is indicated by the fact that the second reason each and every church age believer was claimed by the Father as His own possession is that He predestinated them for the purpose of adoption as His sons in eternity past according to His predetermined plan in eternity past.