Last time we noted that verse three begins what becomes a rather long sentence eulogizing God from verses 3 to 14 of Ephesians chapter one. In verse three Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ…”
Here Paul’s doxology identifies God the Father as the ultimate recipient of blessing and the ultimate source of blessing. He is the One to whom blessing is ascribed and the One from whom blessings go forth to those who love Him.
The word “blessed” translates the Greek word eulogetos (u-lo-get-tos), from which we get the word eulogy. To “bless” or “eulogize” God is to praise Him for His mighty works and holy character. Eulogetos, is used exclusively of God in the New Testament.
Just as – With the word “just as” at the beginning of chapter one, verse four we arrive at new material from Paul: “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation (or creation) of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him”.
The words “just as” or “according as” are kathos - meaning “even as” or “conformity with the fact”. In other words, His “blessing” (vs 3) is in conformity with the fact that He chose. The blessing followed the fact of divine election and the divine election took place “before the foundation of the world.”
Expositors Commentary says “The blessing…has its foundation…in eternity, and is neither an incidental thing or an afterthought of God”. In other words, God knew exactly, before the creation of the world, who He was going to elect and save.
It wasn’t like there was some calamity that God was faced with, where a lot of people would be lost for eternity, and God was wringing His hands in distress wondering who He was going to be able to save. He knew before He made the worlds who He would elect to salvation, and it would be the elect that would be “blessed”! The blessing was according to the choosing!
The “just as” at the beginning of verse four not only takes us back to the verb of verse three, “blessed us” but it takes us back to the subject of verse three, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who is the source of the (spiritual) blessing.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary tells us that the believer’s spiritual blessings are based on the work of the three Persons of the Trinity:
1. The selection of the Father, vv. 4-6
2. The sacrifice of the Son, vv. 7-12
3. The seal of the Holy Spirit, vv 13-14
He chose us - It implies the taking of a smaller number out of a larger. The word “chose” is in the middle voice where the subject of the verb acts in his own interest, “to pick or choose out for one’s self.” This is telling us that before the foundations of the world were laid, God determined all those that would be saved for Himself.
Please don’t think for a moment that this was like God went to a flower stand and picked out for Himself the most beautiful flowers out of all that were on display. The Bible tells us that it was the contrary.
This wasn’t the first time God chose out a smaller group of people out of a larger group. In the Old Testament we see God choosing Israel out from amongst all the nations of the world to be the channel through which He will bring salvation to all those other nations who would receive it.
Deu 7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Deu 7:7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
Deu 7:8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Those chosen were elected for reasons that only God knows. But what we do know from Scripture is that God didn’t choose by human standards.
When I was a boy I was very short and thick. Boys clothes in that day were either, “slim,” “regular” or “husky.” Oftentimes my mother would buy the same color and style clothes for me and my brother Billy…he would get an 8-slim and I would get a 12-husky.
Well, as a short 12-husky, I wasn’t a good basketball player, so when we would choose up teams to play basketball at the school playground or in the alley, I was always one of the last to be picked because all the good players were selected first.
But when God does the selecting, He doesn’t elect by humans standards. 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 says: “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
He chose us! He chose us, a smaller group, out of a larger group for Himself! Hallelujah! And because He chose us; He keeps us! “Who God choosed, He doesn’t lose!”
The Apostle Peter teaches this same truth in chapter one of his first epistle (verses 3-5) he writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved (garrisoned, fortressed by military might) in heaven for you, who are kept (guarded, , protected) by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”.
Now look back to verse two. Here Peter writes, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ…”
The word “elect” is the Greek word eklektos, ek-lek-tos. The believers Peter is referring to are said to be “selected out ones”.
This is the same election or “choosing” that is spoken of in Ephesians 1:4. However, in
1 Peter, we learn the method God uses in saving the individual and in Ephesians, we learn the result of this salvation.
Just as He chose us in Him - Those who would be elected before the foundation of the world were elected or selected “in Him”.
Again the Greek helps us to understand what is going on in this verse. The Greek grammatical classification is locative of sphere, which here means, “chosen out in the realm of Christ”.
This means that each person selected by God for salvation was included in the realm of the saving work of the Lord Jesus. As a bird is in the realm of the air, a fish in the realm of the water, the roots of a tree in the realm of the soil, the believer is selected in the realm of Christ… “in Him”.
“In Him” is referring to the sphere of Christ’s saving work. It’s as if God draws a circle, one that encompasses the redemptive work of Christ. It is out of this realm that believers are chosen. This is why it is impossible for anyone to be saved by works—salvation is of the Lord! (Jonah 2:9) It is His work; we are chosen in Him.
Several weeks ago we had a discussion in Bible Study that had to do with the words in a popular hymn, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. Our discussion was mainly fixated on two questions: “Can a person choose to follow Jesus and that choice results in his or her salvation?” Or, “Is salvation all the choice and the work of God?”
The answer to these questions is “Yes” and “Yes”. Yes, a person can choose to follow Jesus and Yes, salvation is all the work of God. But how can that be?
Well, salvation is of the Lord. In John 6:44 Jesus says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draw him”. The word "draw" in the Greek is "helkuo" (first aorist active subject) which means "to drag" (Strong’s Dictionary).
It is used for the dragging of a net (John 21:6). In Acts 16:19 it is used when Paul and Silas were being dragged into the marketplace. This Greek word is also used in John 12:32 where Jesus speaks of Himself "being lifted up from the earth (on the cross) and drawing all people to Himself".
In the act of electing people to salvation, God irresistibly draws or drags them to Himself…like the magnet in a scrapyard lifts iron and all the other ferrous metals leaving behind the scraps of aluminum and brass…God draws to Himself those whom He predetermined to love and forgive, while leaving behind those whom He has not.
On one hand, God’s love is irresistible but on the other hand, Scripture also teaches that man has a will and is able to choose God because God made that choice possible, thus we find commands in Scripture to “believe” and to “follow” the Lord. In Joshua 24:15 Joshua says to the people, “choose this day whom you will serve.” In John 11:26 Jesus says, “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die”.
The Bible is clear that no person receives Jesus Christ as Savior who has not been chosen by God (cf. Rom. 8:29; 9:11; 1 Thess. 1:3–4; 1 Pet. 1:2).
God chooses, one one hand, but on the other hand, the sinner receives Christ.
Jesus gives both truths in one verse in the gospel of John: “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me…and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37).
God chooses, one one hand, but on the other hand, the sinner receives Christ.
So if you believe that the Scripture teaches that God chooses or elects those who would be saved, you are correct. But if you believe that the person has a will and exercises a certain amount of responsibility in the matter of his or her salvation, you are correct as well.
There’s a story about a young man, an African-American, living in Memphis, Tennessee that illustrates this truth. This boy wanted to join a white, conservative, fundamental church. The deacons were examining this boy to determine if they’d let him join. They asked him, “How did you get saved?” The boy answered, “I did my part, and God did His part.”
The deacons thought that they had him, so they asked him what his part was and what was God’s part. He said, “My part was the sinning. I ran from God as fast as these rebellious legs would take me and my sinful heart would lead me. I ran from Him. But you know, He done took off after me ‘til He done run me down.”
...before the foundation of the world... - The word “foundation” is katabole, kat-ab-ol-ay', which comes from two Greek words: ballo - “to throw” and kata, - “down”.
The word katabole means “a throwing or laying down”. It describes the act of a transcendent God throwing down a universe into space. Hebrew 11:3 describes this act saying, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear”.
Our text is teaching us that Jesus was ordained to die for us before the foundations of the world. But again, the Apostle Peter teaches this same truth in 1 Peter 1:18-20:
1 Pet 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1 Pet 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1 Pet 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
The word “world” is kosmos, kos'-mos; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration. This contradicts what the evolutionists teach about the earth. They teach that the universe was in a state of chaos and it somehow evolved into what we have today.
But the world, according to the Bible, is a system; it is an orderly arrangement. There is an apparent design and order in creation that awes the best of our scientists and researchers today and before this world was formed, it was ordained that Christ would go to the cross and die for our sins.
Why does the Scripture make the point that Jesus was ordained to die before the foundation of the world?
Can you imagine the insecurity believers would have if our salvation was based on a
“Plan B” or some other contingency? Imagine that, when God created Adam, never in His wildest imagination would He had thought that Adam would sin. So when it happened God was taken by surprise and had to scramble and come up with another plan to clean up Adam’s mess.
No! Spiritual blessings (1:3) are because of, or on the basis of, the work of the Trinity: God blesses believers because of the Father’s electing, the Son’s dying, and the Spirit’s sealing. The believer’s election was as good as done before the creation of the world!
One Bible expositor notes that the life of the Christian depends on “a love that never began as well as a love that never ends.” Chew on that for a minute.
...that we should be holy and without blame
The word “holy” is again hagios, the same word we studied when we looked at the word “saints” of 1:1. The root means “separated to God.” The verb means, “to separate from things secular and dedicate to God.”
Ephesians 1:4 describes our position in Christ. Paul is describing how God views us “in Him [Christ].” God sees us as “holy and blameless” because Christ our Savior is holy and blameless. His purity is credited to our spiritual bank account. That’s because God made Christ “who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
The apostle Peter puts it this way: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light…” (1 Peter 2:9)
Back in Ephesians 1:4 the words “without blame” mean “free from blemish” like the sacrificial animals presented on the altar in the Old Testament. which typified Jesus, the Lamb of God. (1 Peter 1:19)
The words “without blame” means “above reproach”. Literally it means “not to be laid hold of”. A blameless person in this context is described as “one against whom it is impossible to bring any charge of wrongdoing such as could stand impartial examination” (White)
We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, as the songwriter says, “faultless to stand before the throne”!
...that we should be holy and without blame before Him
Wuest: “The words, “before Him” which literally mean “to see down in.” The word speaks of a penetrating gaze that sees right down into a thing.
* It refers to the penetrating gaze of the Holy Spirit as He sees right down into our innermost being, through all of the superficialities, hypocrisies, and shams of human existence.
* It refers to a present, searching gaze of God into the inner character of the saint, not to a future judgment at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
It is not a searching gaze conducted in a critical attitude which looks for faults, but a satisfied, delighted contemplation of the reflection of the holiness and spotlessness of the Lord Jesus in the character of the saint.”
What is Wuest talking about? This time of the year many parents, grandparents and guardians post pictures on social media of their children graduating or being promoted from one grade to another. With the post they express how proud they are of their child and his or her accomplishments.
I’ve never read a post by a parent who spotlights their child’s accomplishment but also chastens him because he forgot to make up the bed, or dump the trash, or left the bathroom sink dirty.
As a dad I have had countless opportunities to sit back and see my kids performing a ministry in the church, serving, singing, preaching and teaching. As I observe them in their ministry zone, I see right through their faults to the rewards of parenting and the grace of God in their lives.
Paul writes in Ephesians 1:4, “even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him”.
In other words, it is God’s purpose in Christ Jesus to elect us into salvation and perfect His holiness in us, so that one day, as Paul puts it in Ephesians 5, “Christ might sanctify us, having cleansed us by the washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”
That’s how it's going to end up for the saint…for the person who has been set apart from sin to serve the living God! He drags us to Himself…we repent of our sin and the Father says to His servants, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” (Luke 15:22-24).
And, all this was done in God’s mind and heart before the creation of the world! It’s been done! This is why the hymn writer looked to that great and glorious day when the multitudes will be before the Lamb and wrote:
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found,
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
