To the Praise of His Glory

vv. 1-2

Who was the Audience?

Textual criticism is the attempt to reconstruct, as accurately as possible, the original Greek text of the New Testament

Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Purpose of God: Ephesians (p. 9). Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.

The majority view Ephesians, in all probability, to have been written as a circular letter written to be circulated amongst the 7 churches in Asia Minor.

Why was Ephesus famous?

The Purpose of God: Ephesians Ephesus in the First Century

Ephesus was famous for its great temple, a shrine to the goddess Diana (or Artemis in Greek). The temple of Diana was one of the seven wonders of the world. It was 425 feet in length and 220 feet in breadth. Architecturally it was composed of 127 white marble columns, each 62 feet high. It was opulently decorated with ornate carvings and priceless paintings. Its chief attraction, however, was an image of Diana said to have fallen directly from heaven to earth. The temple was so popular among pagans that Ephesus emerged as the religious centre of all Asia.

What purpose was this book written for?

1. To the praise of His glory for the past blessing of election

three pronouns* He-Us-Him = God-Church-Jesus.

*God chose us in Jesus before the foundation of the world*

-In His perfection, completely satisfied in His existence, The one and only sovereign God existed by himself and was alone: self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied and in need of nothing. We read thee different times in this passage “According to the purpose of His will”(v. 5) “According to His purpose which he set forth in Christ” (v. 9) “According to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (v. 11).

God election saving some and not others…

v.4 So according to the purpose of His will he chose us “to be holy and blameless”

Col 1:22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,[1]

We see here again this pair of words describing the eternal state of the believer.

Chosen to be Holy – The Westminster Bible dictionary says “The word holy denotes wholeness, entireness, perfection in a moral sense. 1. God is the infinitely Holy One (Isa. 6:3; 47:4; 57:15; Rev. 4:8). 2. Christians are holy, because they have within them the Holy Ghost (Acts 13:52; Rom. 15:16; 1 Cor. 6:19), and because they are consecrated to God’s service (Rom. 12:1; 1 Cor. 3:17; Col. 3:12; 1 Thess. 5:27).”

Chosen to be Blameless – To be blameless is to be innocent of wrongdoing. “to be without blemish” “to be faultless”

1 Peter 1:19-21“but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

Heb 9:14 “14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

2. To the praise of His glory for the present blessing of adoption vv. 5-8

Here we see the consequences of God choosing us, is with a view to adoption in our status as sons and daughters of god. We find ourselves possessing rich privileges and demanding responsibility.

Our privilege is redemption v. 7, only those who have been chosen into God’s family can say “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight”

This privilege of redemption consists of :

1. Free access to our heavenly Father

2. Forgiveness form the judgment of which we are deserving

John Stott writes that “redemption, forgiveness and adoption all go together; redemption or forgiveness is a present privilege which we have and enjoy now. It makes possible a filial relation to God. It comes from the lavish outpouring of his grace upon us.”

Now let’s look at our responsibility. The second half of Hebrews 12:10 states “but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness”

Looking back at Paul’s statements “He predestined us for adoption” and “He chose us…to be holy”, we can see that they parallel each other. In Eph 5:1 Paul writes “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children”

So our responsibility is the “obligation to imitate our heavenly Father and cultivate the family likeness”

Being adopted as children of God brings both “gain and loss”

1. We gain access to God as our heavenly Father through redemption.

2. We lose our blemishes’ the moment the Holy Spirit begins His work with in us, until we are finally perfected in heaven.

3. The praise of His glory for the Future blessing of unity vv. 9-10

God has done more than just chose us in eternity past and adopt us as a present possession. He is also now “making known to us the mystery of his will” for the future. What is this mystery??? Partly, we know later in the book of Ephesians it is revealed as the gentile’s inclusion into the church on equal standing with the Jews. It is said that the unity of these two ethnicities is a “symbol of foretaste of a future unity that will be greater and more wonderful still.”

I can’t think of anything designed to create more optimism in the church of Jesus Christ, than to know that the future of this planet, the future of reality, is in the hands of God alone.[2]

v.10 begs the question, what are “all things” that are to be united to Him.

I propose these things are the Church! Those who have already died, and those who are alive at this coming time. As well as the universe which was created by Christ according to:

Col 1:15-19 “15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell”

Heb 1:2-3 “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

There is a cosmic renewal that is to take place…

Romans 8:18-25 – Creation groans

Matt 19:28 – New world

2 Pet 3:10-13 – New heavens and a new earth where the righteous dwell.

4. To the praise of His glory for guarantee of the Spirit vv. 11-14

Government…FDIC… They can’t guarantee…

A seal of guarantee

A seal of promise

A seal of redemption

Christians debate whether it is possible for a Christian to lose his salvation. I believe that if we were left to ourselves then it would not only be possible for us to lose our salvation, but I wonder if it would be possible for anybody to persevere in salvation. But my perseverance in the faith does not rest in my own ability to persevere. My conviction that no Christian is ever lost is based on the promises of God and on statements like this from the first chapter of Ephesians: that when we believe in Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit is sealed on us and our souls are marked indelibly as the children of God.[3]

By way of closing our time we can have much joy and anticipation in blessings of the future when all things are made new and the global church and all creation are brought together in unity under the headship of Jesus!

In our present state we are blessed through the redemption, forgiveness and adoption that we have received through the shed blood of Christ Jesus our savor. And the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s seal upon us.

And may we also peer back in time and remember that God in the council of His own sovereign will chose us in Christ, to be holy and blameless for His glory!

[2] Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Purpose of God: Ephesians (p. 30). Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.

[3] Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Purpose of God: Ephesians (p. 32). Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.