Ephesians 1:4-6

Eph 1:4  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
Eph 1:5  he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Eph 1:6  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.


Verse 4
One of the purpose of our election. To be holy and blameless.

The unworthy have been declared worthy, the unrighteous declared holy.
We are now before God blameless and holy.

This verse is talking about our position, but that does not excuse us for not being holy in our conduct now. A Christian knowing that we are redeemed with the precious blood of the spotless lamb will strive to live holy lives.

Verse 5
Predestination
PREDESTINA'TION, n. The act of decreeing or foreordaining events; the decree of God by which he hath, from eternity, unchangeably appointed or determined whatever comes to pass. It is used particularly in theology to denote the preordination of men to everlasting happiness or misery.

Predestination is a part of the unchangeable plan of the divine government; or in other words, the unchangeable purpose of an unchangeable God.

Yes this verse is saying that before time began, we  (all who will be saved) were predestinated to this salvation. 

We are predestined to “adoption as sons.”

We were of our father the devil (Rom. 8:44; I Jn. 3:8-10). Under him we were, indeed, slaves, slaves to sin, under a sentence of death. But we have been adopted into the family of God. We are members of a new family, all the old debts are paid, and we are new people.

In His great love He makes us more than citizens and servants, and even more than friends. He makes us Children. God lovingly draws redeemed sinners into the intimacy of His own family.

Eph 1:5  He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

It is through Christ that this is possible that we can be adopted.

Joh 1:11  He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Joh 1:12  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Gal 3:26  for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith

Eph 1:5  He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

God did this according to the kind intention of His will.

KJV  “according to the good pleasure of his will,”


Pleasure, or kind intention

εὐδοκία
eudokia
yoo-dok-ee'-ah

2) delight, pleasure, satisfaction

Eph 1:6  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

The ultimate reason for everything that exists is the glory of His grace. That is why, as God’s Children, Christians should do everything they do--even such mundane things as eating ad drinking- to the glory of God.

From verses 3 through 6 here are 12   points

1.The blesser--God
2.The blessed ones--BLEIEVERS
3.The blessing--- Everything Spiritual
4.The location of blessing-- The heavenly places
5.The blessing agent--Jesus Christ
6The method--election
7.The object--the elect
8.The time--Eternity past
9.The purpose--holiness
10.The motive--Gods love
11.The result-- sonship
12.The goal-- God glory

Ephesian 1:3-4

Ephesians 1:3-14

List of blessings in Christ from God
1. Blessed with every spiritual blessing, this is a blessing
2. We are chosen
3. Predestined
4. We are adopted as sons
5. Redemption
6. Forgiveness or our sins
7. Made known to us the mystery.
8. We have obtained an inheritance.
9. We are sealed with the H.S. as a pledge of our inheritance. (it’s a done deal)

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Here in verse 3 there are 5 things that need to be pointed out about these blessing
The Source is our “God and Father”
Recipients “US” Christians true believers.
Content “Spiritual” It a spiritual blessing
Location “in the heavenlies”
And the means “In Christ”

We have everything in Christ

Christ’s riches. Ours
His resources are. Ours
His righteousness
Power
His position
Where he is
His privilege
His possession
What he has
His practice
What he does we do.    We have what we have cause we are in Christ.

Eph 1:4  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world

This text is speaking that God did indeed chose us ( born again believers) for Himself for salvation. Apart from any influence by men. Before the world was.

Jon 2:9 Salvation is from the Lord.

Free will VS Predestination.

Man is completely responsible for repenting and trusting in Christ and will be judged for not doing so.
A man is only saved because God chose him before the world was.

Both facts that the bible teaches.

Duet. 29:29

J.I. Packer.  In his book “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God”

All Christian believe in divine sovereignty, but some are not aware that they do, and mistakenly imagine and insist that they reject it. What causes this odd state of affairs? The root cause is the same as in most cases of error in the Church-the intruding of rationalistic speculations, the passion for systematic consistency, a reluctance to recognize the existence of mystery and to let God be wiser that men, and a consequent subjection of Scripture to the supposed demands of human logic.
 People see the Bible teaches man’s responsibility for his actions; they do not see (man, indeed, cannot see) how this is consistent with the sovereign Lordship of God over those actions. They are not content to let the two truth live side by side, as they do in Scripture, but jump to the conclusion that , in order to uphold their biblical truth of human responsibility, they are bound to reject that equally biblical and equally true doctrine of divine sovereignty, and to explain away the great number of texts that teach it. The desire to over-simplify the Bible by cutting out the mysteries is a natural to our perverse minds, and it is not surprising that even godly men should fall victim to it. Hence this persistent and troublesome dispute. The irony of the situation, however, is that when we ask how the 2 sides pray it becomes apparent that those who

J Mac
Because we cannot stand the tension of mystery, paradox, or antinomy, we are inclined to adjust what the Bible teaches so that it will fit our own system of order and consistency. But that presumptuous approach is unfaithful to God’s word and leads to confused doctrine and weakened living. I.e. weak Christians.

It is not that God’s sovereign election, or predestination, eliminates man’s choice in faith. Divine sovereignty and human response are integral and inseparable parts of salvation- though exactly how they operate together only the infinite mind of God knows.

Why is this such a big issue? Why does this separate so many Christians?