Ephesians 1:1-14

Paul starts his letter like always, calling himself “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Even this introduction fits with the theme of election about which he wrote here.

His first statement in the letter proper is one of praise. He praises the Father who sovereignly chose a group of people (the elect) upon whom to pour out his blessing. To the believer, he has given the greatest gift of all—the right to stand at the feet of the Creator and be called “holy and blameless,” or in other words separated for God’s use and clean in God’s eyes.

Let us look at the parts of this gift more carefully, one by one. First, as I already mentioned, he makes us “holy and blameless.” These two work hand in hand—when a person is blameless (that is, when God can find no flaw in him, because Jesus has already cleansed him), he will be more holy (set apart for the Lord’s use). Jesus’ death accomplished both of these.

The next gift is “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which he lavished upon us.” When we still looked away from God, living without him, he cleaned us. He didn’t make us do half the work. He did not look for the “moral people”; rather, he chose us even before he made the world.

The third gift is that “He made known to us the mystery of His will.” Mystery, of course, refers to something that was unknown that was revealed later. In this case, the revelation was that of God’s plan. This plan—all of history. It fit into his plan that Adam and Eve would sin, because then he would glorify himself by saving their brood by punishing his Son in our place.

This ties in with the fourth gift, our “inheritance.” Our inheritance is to live forever, as was the intention back in the days of Adam. He chose that some would believe, and be restored to what we were like before Genesis 3.

In short, we have been redeemed, regardless of how useless and deserving of death we are. Thanks be to God.