Steven Long Inheritors of the Crown (Ephesians 1:11-14)

Last updated: 10/11/2009

ἐν| ᾧ| καὶ| In| him| we| have|

Ac
11a obtained| an| inheritance,
ἐκληρώθημεν
11b προορισθέντες having| been| predestined Id

κατὰ| πρόθεσιν| τοῦ| according| to| the|

11c purpose| of| him Exp
τὰ

πάντα| who| works| all| things|

according| to| the| counsel|
ἐνεργοῦντος| κατὰ| of| his| will,
11d Pur
τὴν| βουλὴν| τοῦ|
θελήματος| αὐτοῦ,
εἰς| τὸ| εἶναι| ἡμᾶς| so| that| we| who| were|
the| first| to| hope| in|
εἰς| ἔπαινον| δόξης| Christ| might| be| to| the| Res
12 αὐτοῦ| τοὺς| praise| of| his| glory.
G
προηλπικότας| ἐν|
τῷ| Χριστῷ· -----------------
---------------------------
ἐν| ᾧ| καὶ| ὑμεῖς| In| him| you| also,| when| Sit
you| heard| the| word| of|
ἀκούσαντες | τὸν| truth,| the| gospel| of| your|
λόγον| τῆς| salvation,
13a
ἀληθείας,| τὸ|
εὐαγγέλιον | τῆς|
σωτηρίας| ὑμῶν,

ἐν| ᾧ| καὶ| and| believed| in| him,

R
13b
πιστεύσαντες

ἐσφραγίσθητε| τῷ| were| sealed| with| the| Id

promised| Holy| Spirit,
πνεύματι| τῆς|
13c
ἐπαγγελίας| τῷ|
Ac
ἁγίῳ,
ὅς| ἐστιν| ἀρραβὼν| who| is| the| guarantee| of|
our| inheritance
14a τῆς| κληρονομίας| Exp
ἡμῶν,

εἰς| ἀπολύτρωσιν| until| we| acquire|

possession| of| it,| to| the|
τῆς| περιποιήσεως,| praise| of| his| glory. Res
14b
εἰς| ἔπαινον| τῆς| G
---------------------------
δόξης| αὐτοῦ.

Notes

Inheritors of the Crown

Again, the glory of God and Christ are the central theme in this passage as Paul's phrase, To the praise
of His glory is stated twice; at the end of verse 12 and then again at verse 14. Sandwiched in the middle
of His glory is stated twice; at the end of verse 12 and then again at verse 14. Sandwiched in the middle
of those two verses are the Ephesians' believing in Christ and being sealed with the Holy Spirit. Note
closely however, that the focus is not so much on the believer as it is on the promise of God to impart to
the believer the inheritance that rightly belongs to Christ. This passage can be outlined as follows:

The Obtaining of the Inheritance

While Paul focuses on the inheritance of the believer, pointing to the riches they have in Christ Jesus with
the Father, he also makes it very clear the reason behind the inheritance. It has nothing to do with us and
everything to do with God. He gives two reasons for this:

A. Having been predestined

First, is the idea that we have already been selected unto this inheritance. Though predestination is a
hard doctrine to digest, and though it makes us uncomfortable and violates our view of who God is, it is
nevertheless a truth that cannot be ignored. It is truth because the Bible clearly portrays the doctrine here
and throughout its pages. A few examples will suffice to prove this point:

Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through
him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the
way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he
has promised him. (Gen 18:18-19)

And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the
miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. .
.And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The
LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy.(Ex 4:21, 33:19)

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many
as were appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)

The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.
And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation
of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. (Re 17:8)

Of course, these passsages represent a very small portion of Scripture that talk about God's sovreignty
over mankind. I have simply pointed to these passages to concrete the idea that predestination is present
throughout Scripture; and Paul makes no attempt to hide the fact that we are blessed only because of
God's choosing of us and His mercy upon our wicked selves.

There are two other things I would like to briefly point to before moving on:

1. In Scripture, predestination always has God as its subject. My point in saying this is for us to realize
the fact that in eternity past no one existed but God alone. That is to say that the only one around who
made the decisions concerning salvation, sanctification, and any other action was solely God. Most would
try and re-interpret what Paul says as the fact of God knowing in advance who would and would not
believe. But this is not the case for God is the creator of all things including time, circumstances, and will.
So the question remains is, does God simply know (cognative knowledge) of who will excercise faith in
Him, or does He know (omnisciently) because He creates the time, person, and circumstanes under
which that person will excercise faith in Christ? God not only knows what is going to happen He causes it
to happen. That is why Joseph could confidently decalre to his brothers, "Do not be distressed and do
not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of
you. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a
great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God." (Gen 45:5, 7-8) Now, Paul relays
this sovreignty to the Ephesians. In fact, Paul's usage of both words of 'obtained' and 'predestination' are
this sovreignty to the Ephesians. In fact, Paul's usage of both words of 'obtained' and 'predestination' are
not only in an aorist tense (completed action) but also in a passive voice. Simply put, it means that the
subjects of this sentence (us) are being acted upon (by an outside agent. i.e, God) rather than doing the
action for ourselves.
2. Predestination always precedes any spiritual blessing.This is simply a fact that is throughout all
Scripture. Why was God favorable towards Abraham? Because He chose him (Gen 18:18). Abraham
certainly did not ask to be sought after. He continued in everyday life worshiping false gods until Yaweh
called him to leave Ur. And why did the Lord bless the stubborn, wicked, rebellious Israelites and give
them the Promised Land? Because He loved them and chose them as His own people (Deut 7:7-10). In
the same manner, God has chosen us as His special people; a people to be holy and blameless before
Him (v.4). And I can certainly assure you that there was nothing in us that would cause Him to choose us
except for pure, unhindered love and mercy (1Pe 2:4, 9; Mt 22:14; Ro 11:5, etc.).

B. According to His purpose

There are two phrases here in verse 11: According to the purpose of Him and According to the counsel of
His will. The Greek words used are boule and thelema, respectively. Both can be interchangebly used in
the sense of 'will.' Often, thelema is used as something that has been determined or that which will come
about (Thayers, G2307. See also, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, pp.73-136 for a detailed
discussion of the Genetive case and its multi-faceted use; [the Genetive is used in the Greek construction
in the last clause of verse 11]).

So, in Paul's mind the inheritance of the believer has already been obtained. Note that it is obtained to
the praise of His glory. This inheritance is tied to the two phrases mentioned earlier:

(1). According to the purpose of Him

Everything God does is always to glorify His own Name and cause His people to praise Him. His glory is
first and foremost while our salvation and sanctification is secondary. Let us never make the mistake of
reversing the two: God's glory is not dependent upon our salvation, but our salvation is dependent upon
(and with great mercy and love) God's glory. Scripture testifies over and over again that God does these
things in spite of us rather than on account of us (Isa 63:14; Ex 33:19; Isa 43:7; Ezek 20:14; 1Pe 1:20;
1Joh 2:12).

(2). The counsel of His will

This phrase alone signifies a great deal. The nuances are plain and Paul makes use of them well here.
There are two that can be discussed here.

First, the counsel belongs to God and God alone. He has no need to consult another for He is the
creator of all things. He already possesses complete and perfect knowledge for He had already in mind
what He was to do before He began the process of creation (Isa 46:10). Regarding our inheritence, Jesus
was the Lamb slain from the foudation of the world (1Pe 1:20; Re 13:8) and all counsel is within the
Triune Godhead so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. The
beauty of this is twofold: (1) We are the beneficiaries of God's counsel having been predestined. It is
something that causes us to break forth in praise which in turn causes God to be glorified. (2) God still
recieves the glory from His own counsel regardless of what may come. If God damns every person to
Hell, He is still glorified. If He saves some and not all, He is still glorified. If every person were to willingly
bow their knee to Christ, He is still glorified. No matter which way we turn the key God's glory is always at
the other end of the lock.

The second aspect of God's counsel is this: no one was there when He made these decisions. This
seems a bit trifling to point out but it is truth. God made, decreed, and acted upon His own counsel. No
outside force was there to persuade or dissuade Him from any course of action; and when we come
across the doctrine of predestination in the Bible we would do well to remember this. God is still in control
of every situation. Many are offended at the idea that God is the one who chooses the recepients of His
grace. Yet, the text is very clear in saying that the cause of our inheritance is the fact of our having been
predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
Can Paul be any clearer? God needs no defense for the actions He makes and we disservice God greatly
when we insist that He work according to our sense of justice and fairness. When we begin to meddle in
God's counsel we may receive the same answer that a well-loved character of the Bible received: Who is
this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you,
and you make it known to me (Job 38:1-3).
The simple fact of the matter is, God is God and we are not. All the good, the bad, and the ugly of this
world belong to His counsel; His secret counsel of which no man has ever entered, and we would do well
to leave God as the final Orchestrator of all matters, including our salvation.

Application

We have been created solely for God's glory and His Name. If we are in Christ it is because of His grace;
if we are inheritors of the crown it is because of His love and mercy; if we have answered the gospel call
it is because of His purpose and the counsel of His will. God's main concern is To the praise of His glory.
How awesome that God would choose from among His creatures those of us who are unlovely and not
deserving of anything but death and condemnation! And God has done this so that we will break forth in
unhindered praise and sing mightly to God:

Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. (Ps 96:2)

How awesome is our God!