In the blog post last week, I mentioned how Ephesians 1:3-14 is one long sentence in Greek. When the Apostle Paul wrote, or perhaps dictated, this section, it\u2019s like he didn\u2019t take a breath or pause. The words flowed like a rushing river of praise. Paul used words like \u201cchose us, predestined, adoption\u201d with confidence that the Ephesians comprehended what he meant. We have already noted the lengthy time he was in Ephesus and the teaching platform he used to expound the gospel. Thus, words that sometimes cause us theological differences and debates were understood by those in Ephesus and the surrounding churches.<\/p>\n
John R. W. Stott referred to Ephesians 1:3-14 as \u201cthe \u2018praise\u2019 half (of chapter 1, where) Paul blesses God that he has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing . . ., while in the \u2018prayer\u2019 half he asks that God will open our eyes to grasp the fullness of this blessing (1:15-2:10).\u201d[1]<\/a> As we enter into these significant verses, my prayer for us is the same as Paul\u2019s prayer in 1:18, that \u201cthe eyes of (our) understanding be enlightened.\u201d<\/p>\n As we briefly reflect on verses 4-6, let\u2019s remember these verses flow from the three-fold blessings Paul named in 1:3. God the Father whom we praise, \u201chas blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n Thus, the manifestations of divine grace named in 1:4-6 flow from the eternal and never-ending blessings of God in the fullness of His personhood as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The blessings revealed in each of these verses lay the foundation for our confidence in the eternal love of God.<\/p>\n The blessings begin with the fact that God \u201cchose us\u201d in His Son Jesus \u201cbefore the foundation of the world.\u201d They began with divine election; that is, God freely chooses for the sake of His glory. The continuation of the verse shows that the purpose of divine election is \u201cthat we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.\u201d This is not a hyper-Calvinism of double predestination.[3]<\/a> This is God\u2019s eternal purpose in His only begotten Son that \u201cin Him\u201d there be the way of living \u201choly and without blame before Him in love.\u201d<\/p>\n For Arminian Wesleyans and Pentecostals, the focus of divine election is in Jesus Christ. Noel Brooks quotes from Forster and Marston in their God\u2019s Strategy in Human History<\/em>, \u201cWe are chosen in Christ. This does not mean that we were chosen to be put into Christ<\/strong> (Brooks bold). It does not mean that God chose us to make us repent but left others unrepentant! It means that as we repented and were born again into the body of Christ, we partake of His chosenness. He is chosen, and we are chosen in Him.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n It is important to remember that in Ephesians Paul is writing to people who have heard the gospel message, by grace have repented of their sins, believed in the gospel, and are now incorporated by faith into the body of Christ. Paul is reminding them of the confidence they can have of their eternal salvation \u201cin Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n Ephesians 1:4 stands against a watered-down form of the gospel which promotes belief without repentance. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called this \u201ccheap grace\u201d where the transforming power of the gospel is absent in the life of a person.[5]<\/a> The apostle Paul clearly preached what Jesus preached, \u201cThe time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel,\u201d and \u201cmost assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n The kingdom of God is the sphere of God\u2019s holy and righteous reign. It is here that Paul connected election, God\u2019s prerogative to choose how He would demonstrate His holy love in the world, with God\u2019s election of Israel as an instrument of His love, truth, and grace to the nations. Just as Israel was chosen totally from God\u2019s grace (Deuteronomy 7:6-8) and not by their own merit, so now in Christ, God has extended that election beyond ethnic Israel to \u201cwhoever will\u201d shall be saved (Romans 1:16; John 3:17; 10:9; 2 Timothy 1:9).<\/p>\n Intellectually, we may not comprehend what God\u2019s grace is doing in our lives when we \u201crepent and believe the gospel.\u201d But by grace, we discern that repentance means we have made a conscious decision to live differently than we did prior to conversion. It may take us time to change habits, to learn the truths of God\u2019s Word, but God\u2019s grace is active in our lives, leading us to live \u201choly and without blame before Him in love\u201d (Ephesians 1:4). This is why discipleship in the body of Christ is so important. It takes \u201cthe church\u201d to grow in the grace and knowledge of God. We have become members of Christ\u2019s body, connected to people on the same grace-filled journey of the blessings of God.<\/p>\n In verse 4, I draw your attention to two words. First, we are called to live \u201cwithout blame.\u201d The word amomos<\/em> was used in the Old Testament to refer to perfect lambs without blemish used in the daily sacrifices. This is why Paul in Romans 12:1 says, \u201cby the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.\u201d<\/p>\n The second word is \u201clove\u201d at the end of verse 4. The command to live \u201choly and blameless\u201d is not a rigid legalism where we are condemning ourselves and others. Rather, it is an invitation to live \u201choly and blameless\u201d in His love. It is eternal love, the very nature of God, that brings about election \u201cbefore the foundation of the world.\u201d It is that love that reaches to us through the gospel. It is that same love that empowers us to live to the praise of His glory each day of our lives, being transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ \u201cfrom glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).<\/p>\n Ephesians 1:5 picks up the election theme of verse 4 with the word \u201cpredestination.\u201d I refer you to footnote 3 below for more general information on this theologically loaded word. It, like \u201celection,\u201d is a mystery known in the loving will and purposes of God in eternity. With this word, here and in Ephesians 1:11; Romans 8:29, 30, we must confess that we believe in predestination because it is taught in the Bible. But it is important to note what is meant by that word by Paul and how we understand it.<\/p>\n After you have looked at footnote 3, come back to Ephesians 1:5 and read what Paul said about predestination. He did not say we are predestined to eternal life and others to damnation. He said we are predestined \u201cto adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself.\u201d The focus shifts to Jesus Christ and the \u201cgood pleasure of His will\u201d that is rooted in eternity to redeem lost humanity. Paul\u2019s use of adoption relates to the then well-known Roman practice that someone totally outside the natural family could be brought into the family with all rights and privileges of the natural children. This verse hints at Romans 8:12-17 on adoption as sons of God and hints at Ephesians 2 and 3 and the mystery of God\u2019s purposes in uniting Jew and Gentile as \u201cone new man\u201d as His witness on the earth.<\/p>\n Finally, Ephesians 1:6 affirms that all of this is \u201cto the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.\u201d Our English translations rightfully turn a Greek participle into the noun \u201cBeloved,\u201d referring to Jesus. It is Jesus who is beloved of the Father and who has accomplished the divine will regarding redemption and the ultimate restoration of all things (Acts 3:21). This section closes with praise \u201cof the glory of His grace.\u201d It is grace, amazing grace, born from the very heart of God\u2019s eternal love, that freely seeks to redeem lost humanity.<\/p>\n Wesley, and the IPHC, follow in the \u201corder of the work of grace . . . found abundantly in the ancient ecumenical tradition.\u201d There is prevenient grace <\/em>by which God \u201cattends us and awakens our attentiveness\u201d of God\u2019s existence and our need for salvation. There is convicting grace<\/em> that moves us to repentance. Then there is justifying grace<\/em> where \u201cwe are saved from the guilt of sin and restored to the favor of God.\u201d There follows sanctifying grace<\/em> where \u201cwe are saved from the root of sin and restored to the renewed image of God.\u201d [7]<\/a> Notice it is all of grace! It is not irresistible grace. Our free will is not abolished. But it is God\u2019s amazing grace inviting us to open our hearts to mysteries we do not fully intellectually understand or control. But by grace inspired faith, we say \u201cYes\u201d to God\u2019s love, we experience what it is to be held in the arms of Jesus, the one who is Beloved for our sake.<\/p>\n A final note about the assurance of our salvation. In Christ and His shed blood, we can truly trust in His saving grace. Such grace brings about repentance and an inward desire to live for the praise of His glory. We don\u2019t have to live with uncertainty or fear that God will reject us. We can trust in His provision in Jesus Christ and in times of temptation, \u201ccome boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need\u201d (Hebrews 4:14-16).<\/p>\n We should not be presumptuous about God\u2019s mercy and grace. It doesn\u2019t mean that we cannot turn away from God, reject His truth, compromise His Word, even apostatize. Our freedom to \u201cchoose this day,\u201d is a freedom given by grace to know what we should choose that brings glory to Christ.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> John R.W. Stott, The Message of Ephesians<\/em>, (Downers Grove, Ill: Academic, InterVarsity Press, revised edition, 2020) 15.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/2025\/01\/15\/we-are-blessed-in-christ-ephesians-11-3\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Though Calvin taught double predestination, that is, from eternity God has predetermined who will be saved and who will be lost, today this teaching is not held by most in the Reformed tradition. The IPHC is Arminian Wesleyan and do not hold that God has predestined some to eternal life and others to eternal damnation. As Wesleyans, we hold, as do Calvinist, that everything we receive from God is by grace. Though we have free will, we are not able on our own free will to save ourselves. It is through grace that we hear the message of the Bible that we are sinners, through grace we discern the truth of our spiritually dead condition, and through grace we see the atonement for our sins through Christ and through grace we repent and believe in the gospel. Even Wesley acknowledged that there was but a \u201chair\u2019s breadth\u201d (Wesley\u2019s words) between him and Calvin, mainly related to double predestination. For those interested in more reading and details in this area of election and predestination from an Arminian Wesleyan viewpoint, I point you towards Thomas C. Oden, John Wesley\u2019s Teachings: Volume 2: Christ and Salvation<\/em>, pages 137-190; Roger E. Olson, Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities<\/em>; Roger E. Olson, Against Calvinism<\/em>; Mildred Bangs Wynkoop, Foundations of Wesleyan-Arminian Theology<\/em> (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, 1967); Noel Brooks, Ephesians Outlined and Unfolded<\/em>, pages 19-24.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Brooks, Ephesians Outlined and Unfolded<\/em>, page 21, quoting Roger T. Forster and V. Paul Marston, God\u2019s Strategy in Human History<\/em>, (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers,1973) pp. 100-103, 117-149, 178-208.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship<\/em> (<\/p>\n
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