The riches that we have in Christ are too many to count, but God is pleased to list out a few of them for us in Ephesians 1. Paul calls them “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph 1:3).
One such blessing that Paul emphasizes five times is that God wants us as Christians for Himself, all for the praise of His glorious grace (cf. Eph 1:6, 12, 14). This concept comes up four times in Paul’s doxology in Eph 1:3–14 (Eph 1:4, 5, 11, 14) and again in his prayer in Eph 1:15–23 (Eph 1:18).
What follows below is a simple run through each of these instances to encourage us with how God wants us for Himself, both now and especially in the future. What an encouraging thought!
Ephesians 1:4
God’s choice of us in Him has as its goal for us to “be holy and blameless before Him.” Many verses in Eph 1:3–14 jump from God’s role in eternity past to encourage us further with what is in store for our future. Thanks to faith in Christ, God has presently declared us holy, and one day, as we see in this verse, we will be perfectly “holy and blameless”—not just for us to see, but “before Him.” He will make us stand before His presence blameless and with great joy (cf. Jude 24)!
Ephesians 1:5
God’s inclusion of us through “adoption as sons” is “through Jesus Christ” and that “to Himself.” As we believe and are brought into His family with Him as Father over us, there is a coming time in which our sonship will be fully manifest. We are adopted now, yes, but as with many blessings in Eph 1:3–14, so also it is likely that Paul has our glorious future in mind with reference to our adoption as sons to the Father (cf. Rom 8:14–17, 23). Perfect sonship to come!
Ephesians 1:11
While it is true that we have a coming inheritance in Christ (cf. Eph 1:14), the first part of Eph 1:11 has an interesting verb that could be translated “we were made an inheritance.” (klēroō). Its form is passive, indicating that we ourselves are not acting in this verse. Something has happened to us. We have been “inheritanced.” Implied is that someone else (God) has allotted us to Himself. So, Paul continues the theme of God wanting us for Himself, and he prays later in Eph 1:18 that we would understand this very truth (see below).
Ephesians 1:14
Shifting now to the inheritance that we receive (not God receiving us), this verse indicates that part of our inheritance has come early—the Holy Spirit. Having heard the gospel and having believed the truth (cf. Eph 1:13), God gave us the Holy Spirit as a pledge and promise of an inheritance that fully comes to us at “the redemption of God’s own possession.” In other words, when we receive our inheritance, God fully redeems us as His own possession. Like our explanation of adoption above, so also it is with redemption. We are indeed presently redeemed by faith in Christ (Eph 1:7), but this verse here (Eph 1:14) refers to the fullest manifestation of our redemption that comes in the future at our glorification (cf. Rom 8:23). The Spirit in us is a promise of full redemption to come, all to be God’s own possession!
Ephesians 1:18
Paul prayed that the Spirit would give the Ephesians wisdom to understand God’s revelation about their salvation (Eph 1:17). He also prayed that they would be “enlightened” to understand these glorious truths (Eph 1:18). Paul identifies one of these truths as “what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” So, God has a wealth of glory, a glory seen in His inheritance, and this inheritance is you and me as Christians, “His inheritance in the saints.” We should pray that we might comprehend this amazing truth!
Holy and blameless before Him; adopted now and fully in the future; allotted as an inheritance for Him; redeemed now and fully one day as God’s own possession; we as saints as God’s glorious inheritance—what a day it will be when God has us perfectly unto Himself and what it will mean for us!
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David Huffstutler is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Troy, MI. He blogs here, where this article also appeared. It is published here by permission.
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