Ephesians 1:4-5

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Ephesians 1:5

‘Having foreordained us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.’ He has not only chosen us but ‘decided on us beforehand’, ‘marked us out beforehand’ (pro-orizo) for a special purpose, that we might be adopted as His sons. Yet this is not because of our deserving but ‘through Jesus Christ’ and in accordance with His own pleasure and will. It was by His own will that He chose us, and of His own will that He begat us by the word of truth... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Ephesians 1:3-14

Ephesians 1:3-2 Chronicles : . A Paragraph of Praise.— God, who is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is thanked for the blessings— embracing every form of spiritual riches— bestowed through their mystical relationship to Christ in the heavenly sphere upon the writer and upon his readers. The fact of their Christianity is evidence of their vocation to be holy and blameless before Him in love— a vocation which runs back into the eternal counsels ( Ephesians 1:4): God has predetermined... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Ephesians 1:4

God blesseth us with all spiritual blessings according as he hath chosen us; election being the fountain from whence those blessings come, so that God doeth nothing for us in carrying on the work of our salvation, but what he had in his eternal counsel before determined. Chosen us; separated us in his purpose and decree from others, (whom he left out of that gracious act of his will), and determined that we should be holy and unblamable, &c. In him; either: 1. By and through Christ, (as in... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Ephesians 1:5

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children; having appointed us unto a state of sonship and right to glory. This seems to be more than the former, a greater thing to be the sons of God, and heirs of heaven, than to be holy. By Jesus Christ; as Mediator, and Head of the elect, and the foundation of all spiritual blessings vouchsafed them, and so of this relation into which they are brought, by being united to him. The adopted children come into that state by the intervention of the... read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Ephesians 1:3-14

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTESEphesians 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father.—The Hebrew form for “hallowing the Name” was, “The Holy One, blessed be He.” The Prayer Book version of Psalm c. gives, “Speak good of His name.” Who blessed us.—When old Isaac pronounces the blessing uttered on Jacob unwittingly to be irreversible, he depends on God for the carrying out of his dying blessing: the divine blessing makes whilst pronouncing blest. In the heavenly places.—Lit. “in the heavenlies”—so, as... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Ephesians 1:3-4

Ephesians 1:3-4 I. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." These words recall the joy and triumph of the ancient Psalms. They read as if Paul was intending to write a song of happy thanksgiving. He attributes to Christ the whole development of his spiritual life. The larger knowledge of God and of the ways of God, which came to him from year to year, had come from Christ; and he felt sure that whatever fresh discoveries of God might come to him would come from Christ. Faith,... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Ephesians 1:5-6

Ephesians 1:5-6 Regeneration and Sonship in Christ. We have now to consider that original and central Divine purpose which explains and includes all that the infinite love of God has done for our race already, all that the infinite love of God will do for us through the endless ages beyond death. God "foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself." I. "Through Jesus Christ." Our Lord is always represented as being, in the highest sense and in a unique sense, the Son of... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Ephesians 1:5-10

Ephesians 1:5-10 The Final Restoration of all Things. There are several passages in the New Testament and this is one of them which make it clear that the Divine mercy is ultimately to achieve a complete triumph over misery and moral evil; and these passages, if they stand alone, might give us the impression that all who in any age, in any land, in any world, have erred and strayed from God are to be brought back by the Good Shepherd to the flock and to the fold. I. But this Epistle, like the... read more

Charles Simeon

Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae - Ephesians 1:3-12

DISCOURSE: 2092THANKS TO GOD FOR HIS SOVEREIGN GRACE AND MERCYEphesians 1:3-12. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the... read more

C.I. Scofield

Scofield's Reference Notes - Ephesians 1:5

predestinated Predestination is that effective exercise of the will of God by which things before determined by Him are brought to pass. See Election, (See Scofield " :-") Foreknowledge, (See Scofield " :-") adoption Adoption (huiothesia, "placing as a son") is not so much a word of relationship as of position. The believer's relation to God as a child results from the new birth John 1:12; John 1:13 whereas adoption is the act of God whereby one already a child is, through redemption from the... read more

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