We are continuing to dive into the good news of the real Gospel.
We started unpacking Ephesians 1 in the first two blogs in this series, and we will continue here in part 3. Here it is for reference:
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, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He set forth in Him, 10 regarding His plan of the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. 11 In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in the Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:3–14 (New American Standard Bible, emphasis added)
We previously discussed being blessed, being chosen, being united with Christ, and being holy and blameless image-bearers of God.
So, here’s the lineup. We get:
- Predestined with adoption as sons and daughters
- His grace, with which He favored us
- Redemption through His blood
- Forgiveness of our wrongdoings
- In the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Christ
- in the heavens
- on the earth
- having obtained an inheritance
- having been predestined according to the purpose of Him
- to be to the praise of His glory
- having been sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise
Predestined with Adoption as Sons and Daughters
In the first of this series, I spent a great deal of time talking about being predestined to be conformed into the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). This goes hand-in-hand with our adoption as sons and daughters of God. Earlier in Romans 8:15–17, it says:
15 And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!” 16 For the Holy Spirit makes God’s fatherhood real to us as he whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!”
17 And since we are his true children, we qualify to share all his treasures, for indeed, we are heirs of God himself. And since we are joined to Christ, we also inherit all that he is and all that he has. We will experience being co-glorified with him provided that we accept his sufferings as our own.
The Passion Translation (TPT) (emphasis added)
You are totally accepted and embraced in God’s family. He is after any lie that makes you believe you are an orphan (alone, having to perform, never good enough, outside, unable to be secure, or unable to rest). All those lies need healing. You are His true child and are qualified to share in His inheritance. Woohoo! Holy Spirit is constantly at work convincing us of His love, acceptance, and high regard for us!
We discussed being co-glorified at length earlier. That involved yielding to the same type of suffering that Christ felt (outside of being crucified for the sins of the world—that was His job alone). Christ suffered in His flesh (the part that wants its own way, i.e. to not forgive or not obey). Being confirmed to the image of Christ is amazing, but it often takes saying “no” to things you want to say “yes” to and “yes” to things you want to say “no” to. It is yielding to God challenging our self-will, independence, selfishness, pride etc., which are really not the true “us” anyway.
God’s Inexhaustible Grace, Ongoing Favor, and Glorious Inheritance
The Merriam-Webster Online dictionary defines grace as “unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.” That is a starting point. You don’t earn it. You “get” it because of God’s absolute goodness, loving kindness, and generosity—not yours. We need grace literally for EVERYTHING. It is supernatural empowerment. It is favor that keeps going. It costs you nothing, but cost God EVERYTHING. And Father/Son/Holy Spirit insisted on paying up, because They were unwilling to do with you totally healed, restored, delivered, renewed, and redeemed! You got it by birth. You were born of Him, born again in Him, and you get EVERYTHING by inheritance. It is an inheritance of forgiveness, mercy, healing, wholeness, provision, protection, peace, justice, renewal—everything for your highest good! It is an inheritance that costs you NOTHING, but once again, cost God EVERYTHING. I guess He must really be smitten with you!
Redemption and Forgiveness
Redemption literally means “to buy back.” Being redeemed means you were “bought back.” What were you bought back from? Ultimately from sin and death—the two enemies of God (Rom. 5:12–14, Rom. 6:23, Rom. 8:2, and 1 Cor. 15:25–26). If you said satan, you are sort of right (Heb. 2:14). Second Timothy 2:26 in The Passion Translation says:
26 This will cause them to rediscover themselves and escape from the snare of Satan who caught them in his trap so that they would carry out his purposes.
What we refer to as satan is utterly defeated, and God never paid or pays tribute to him/it. He/it is a non-issue, except as we yield to him/it and give him/it the power God gave us. When we forfeit our power, it causes us to sin, which yields destruction and death. BUT Christ triumphed over all that mess by becoming sin and bowing down to death on our behalf; taking fallen humanity with Him (the First Adam). This was so that when He was resurrected, He would save humanity from its own twisted, delusional, depraved ways of being and restore us back to unfettered relationship with Him. This is what is referred to as “being baptized into His death” and being “raised again a new creation” (Rom. 6:3–4; 2 Cor. 5:17–19, 21). Second Timothy 1:10 says:
10 This truth is now being unveiled by the revelation of the anointed Jesus, our life-giver, who has dismantled death, obliterating all its effects on our lives, and has manifested his immortal life in us by the gospel.
TPT (emphasis added)
Colossians 1:13–14 in the New American Standard Bible adds:
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(emphasis added)
The blood that was shed was His. It confirmed the new, unbreakable covenant of forgiveness for humanity and was an unbreakable covenant between Himself and Father God (Matt. 27:22–23 and Mark 15:13–14). It is that blood that speaks of your eternal redemption and is there to cleanse your conscience of sin so that you are free to serve because you love like Him (Luke 22:20, 1 Cor. 11:25, and Heb. 9:14).
To Be Glorified and Sealed
We talked a LOT about being gloried in Part 1 of this series, so I won’t belabor this here. Being sealed with the Spirit means you are eternally His AND His promise of full redemption—including the glorification of our bodies—is yours! You can bet your life and eternity on the promise sealed with Holy Spirit!
Bringing All Things Together in Christ
This next one is heavy duty: in the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Christ in the heavens and on the earth. That means this is happening right now and will continue to happen until ALL THINGS are utterly restored. This is kicked up a notch where Scripture says that all things will be restored in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
9 For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9–11(NASB, emphasis added)
1 Corinthians 15:24–28 erupts with:
24 Then the final stage of completion comes, when he will bring to an end every other rulership, authority, and power, and he will hand over his kingdom to Father God. 25 Until then he is destined to reign as King until all hostility has been subdued and placed under his feet. 26 And the last enemy to be subdued and eliminated is death itself.
27 The Father has placed all things in subjection under the feet of Christ. Yet when it says, “all things,” it is understood that the Father does not include himself, for he is the one who placed all things in subjection to Christ. 28 However, when everything is subdued and in submission to him, then the Son himself will be subject to the Father, who put all things under his feet. This is so that Father God will be everything in everyone!
TPT (emphasis added)
Related to redemption is the Greek word Apocatastasis (also apokatastasis), which is the belief that everyone and everything will be saved in the end. It’s a Greek word that means “restoration to the original condition” and was held and taught by many ancient church fathers, including Gregory of Nyssa, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen.
I honestly don’t know what that all looks like, but I am overflowing with hope for all people and everything. If you do run into someone who says they know what that means, be kind, but take it with a grain of salt. They don’t know, and while it is fine to happily conjecture and believe fiercely in what we think, we ultimately need to trust God in His love and masterful goodness that it will be unspeakably amazing!
I will end with this beautiful quote from Paul Young (Lies We Believe About God, pp. 117–118):
“The Gospel is that Jesus has already included you into His life, into His relationship with God the Father, and into His anointing in the Holy Spirit. The Good News is that Jesus did this without your vote, and whether you believe it or not won’t make it any less or more true.”
I hope this has been a huge blessing and has given you a ton to meditate on and dive into for yourself.
Let me know how it impacted you!
Much Love,
Catherine
