Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:11b-The Father Claimed the Church Age Believer as His Possession According to His Predetermined Plan

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.

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 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.”

It states that the Father claimed the church age believer as His possession because He predestinated them according to His predetermined plan.

This participial clause is 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.”

This participial clause defines the meaning and referent of the prepositional phrase kata prothesin (κατὰ πρόθεσιν), “according to the predetermined plan.”

This second participial clause 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.

So therefore, in Ephesians 1:11, the apostle Paul employs the verb eklērōthēmen (ἐκληρώθημεν) in order to assert that each and every church age believer has been claimed by the Father as His possession.

The noun prothesis (πρόθεσις) refers to the “predetermined plan” of God the Father and which plan is a reference to the “divine decree.”

This is indicated by two factors.

First Paul describes this plan as the Father causing to exist each and every animate and inanimate object in the heavens and on earth, which is according to the purpose, that is His sovereign will.

Secondly, the divine decree describes the exercise of the Father’s sovereign will.

The “divine decree” is God the Father’s eternal plan in which He has rendered certain all the events of the universe, including both angelic and human history-past, present and future.

God’s decree rendered all things as certain to occur and He decided that they would exist and so therefore, God rendered certain to occur all the various circumstances that the Christian would experience during the course of his lifetime and God decided that these things would exist.

The divine decree took place in eternity past before anything was ever created and is God’s eternal and immutable will.

The “providence” of God is the divine outworking of the divine decree, the object being the final manifestation of God’s glory and expresses the fact that the world and our lives are not ruled by chance or fate but by God.

The decree of God is the chosen and adopted plan of all God’s works.

The decree of God is His eternal purpose according to the counsels of His own will, whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatever comes to pass.

The decree of God is the sovereign choice of the divine will (His sovereignty) and mentality (His omniscience) by which all things are brought into being and controlled, made subject to His pleasure, and producing His glorification.

The “decree of God” is His eternal, holy, wise and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be in their causes, courses, conditions, successions, and relations and determining their certain futurition (i.e., that they will certainly take place).

When I say “comprehending” I mean that the omniscience of God is the source of the divine decrees by “determining” I mean that the sovereignty of God chose before anything existed which things would actually become historical events.

The decree of God is His eternal and immutable will regarding the future existence of events, which will happen in time and regarding the precise order and manner of their occurrence.

The will of God in common usage refers to what God desires of an individual or group in a particular situation. In relation to the divine decree the will of God refers to the decision God made in eternity past, from His attribute of sovereignty, which established that certain things would actually come into being while other things would not.

The will of God is His sovereign choice as to what will take place in time.

God in eternity past decreed that angels and human beings would have volition and would be allowed to make decisions contrary to His sovereign will and without compromising His justice.

In giving angels and men volition, God decreed that their decisions, whatever they might be, would certainly take place-even those that are contrary to His desires.

Being omniscient, God had the good sense to know ahead of time what men and angels would decide, and He not only decreed that those decisions would exist but He also decreed the exact manner, consistent with His integrity, in which He would handle their decisions.

The relationship between human volition and the sovereign will and purpose of God can be view from different perspectives, namely, the “permissive,” “directive” and “overruling” will of God.

The “directive” will of God refers to what God directly requires of an individual, His “permissive” will refers to Him “permitting” His creatures to act contrary to what He desires and His “overruling” will refers to the fact that at times God “overrules” the bad decisions of His creatures in order to perpetuate His plan.

Therefore, when God the Father, from His omniscience and foreknowledge in eternity past knew that the church age believer would trust in His Son, Jesus Christ as their Savior in time, He elected them in eternity past to the privilege of possessing an eternal relationship and fellowship with Himself and the other two members of the Trinity.

Simultaneously, He also elected them by predestinating them to adoption as His sons because of the function of His attribute of love.

Grant Osborne writes “God’s actions are not contingent on historical developments on earth. He is in absolute, sovereign control and has a plan of salvation that guides history in accordance with his will. The forces of evil are powerless against the divine plan and purposes, for he is in the process of working out everything according to this providential purpose; this applies especially to his predestined choice of every believer.”[1]

The Old Testament references the divine decree in several places.

Psalm 33:11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever; his plans abide throughout the ages. (NET)

Isaiah 14:24 The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow: “Be sure of this: Just as I have intended, so it will be; just as I have planned, it will happen. (NET)

Isaiah 46:9 “Remember what I accomplished in antiquity! Truly I am God, I have no peer; I am God, and there is none like me, 46:10 who announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred, who says, ‘My plan will be realized, I will accomplish what I desire.’” (NET)

[1] Osborne, G. R. (2017). Ephesians: Verse by Verse(p. 29). Lexham Press.