Ephesian Doxology

Congratulating God
Ephesians 1:3-23 is a single sentence in Greek, often called a doxology because it recites what God has done and is an expression of worship to honor him. It starts with the word “Blessed”. The CEV (Contemporary English Version) renders it as “praise” but I would like to use Dr. John Gill’s explanation. “God is neither to invoke nor confer a blessing on him; for there is none greater than he to be called upon; nor does he need anything, nor can he receive anything from his creature; but it is either to congratulate his greatness and goodness, to ascribe blessing, glory, and honour to him, or to give thanks unto him, both for temporal and spiritual mercies.” It is a congratulatory address to God the Father, who has effected us with every spiritual blessing specially the blessing of being redeemed. God is to be congratulated, He should be greatly appreciated because His resolve was ultimately efficient and effective. And there is nothing on earth can change the course of his resolve. As Jesus said, “It is finished!”. It is done then. His way was already successful even if decades would run into being before actually realizing the fulfillment of all things. After all, God isn’t bound by time. Therefore, God authored our lives and He should be thanked for giving us life.

Redemption and Adoption
At verse 4-5, Paul tells us that God chose us not by our own hands but all by virtue of God’s overflowing love. He adopted us as sons, making us holy and blameless. Through the blood of Jesus did we have the forgiveness of our sins. During the time of the writing of the Epistle to the Ephesians, the redeeming of slave was a common practice. Therefore, it was of big deal to the early church that Paul used the word redeem or redemption. We were formerly enslaved by sin and were bound to death. But Christ’s death was the ransom used to pay off our death penalty. This redemption frees us from the penalty, but the adoption promises us a life of holiness. The sealing of the Holy Spirit was the pledge of God’s inheritance to His elect. He granted us the Holy Spirit who freed us from our total inability to seek God. As a part of His family, we are now recipients of this inheritance. These two words aren’t done in an orderly manner. Because when God redeemed us, He already adopted us. After all, as what verse 4 speaks, God chose us before the creation of the world. Therefore, we had been redeemed and adopted in the heart of God even before the earth began to exist.

The Centrality of Christ
In the entire passage, the Trinity was ever-present. From the Father creating and bestowing blessings, to the Son redeeming and the Holy Spirit Sealing, the Triune God was ever appreciated and praised. However, when Paul prayed at verses 18-22, he asked God to reveal unto the Ephesian Church the Hope of their calling, the Riches of the Glory of the Inheritance of the Saints and the surpassing greatness of God’s power all in accordance to God which He brought in Christ. And when he sat back at the right hand of the Father, all authorities became subject to Him. He is the head of the Church and His fullness dwells in us, His body.

The Reason for Everything
When I was eleven, I went to a retreat camp and I have to admit, it was the beginning of the realization that I am a redeemed and an adopted son of the Lord. But one thing that stuck with my mind was the reason I was “forced” to “receive Christ in my heart”. The staff planned a real-time drama rapture stuff. Since I was only eleven, fear struck my heart. I feared being left behind, I feared being thrown away in the lake of fire. To cut it short, “fear” led me to Christ. Time passed along those days and I became a member of what our local church called the communicant class. I learned from that class that God was a loving God and He wants to save my soul from hell. The thoughts of a majestic celebration when one comes back to God were so overwhelming. These were also reaffirmed and reinforced by the family. But time came when my life had to choose the worldly side, leaving my faith behind. The reason I am stating this is though parts of the learning I had were true, they were only relatively true. God saving people was a very great thing. It is indeed something to be celebrated about. But the thing lost here is what the passage has been talking about. It was stated thrice when concluding for an action of the Lord “to the praise of His glory” or “to the praise of the glory of His grace”. The redemption and adoption stuff were all executed not to give us happiness but to praise the glory of the Lord. The excitement, the happiness and security that we have are all based from the glory of the Lord. Yes, the Lord loves us so why He saved us. But still, that love is an overflow of His delight to His own glory. As what John Piper wrote in his book, “The chief end of God is to glorify God by enjoying God forever.”