Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Ephesians · About this commentary
Chosen Before the Foundation
Ephesians 1:3-6
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, · WEB
The longest sentence in the collection begins here, and what the choosing is for is stated in every clause of it.
Verse 3 opens a single Greek sentence that runs unbroken to verse 14 — the longest in the collection. It has no imperatives and asks for nothing. It is an announcement, and the letter will not issue a command until chapter 4.
The blessing is located: in the heavenly places. That phrase occurs five times in Scripture and all five are in this letter Ephesians 1:20 Ephesians 2:6 Ephesians 3:10 Ephesians 6:12. It is where the blessings are, where Christ is seated, where the readers are seated with him, and where the powers they wrestle are — one realm, four uses.
Verse 4 gives the timing — before the foundation of the world — and then, immediately, the purpose: that we would be holy and without defect before him in love. The purpose clause is the part that governs how far the language reaches. What the choosing is stated to be for is character, not a headcount.
Verse 5 adds the second purpose in the same shape: for adoption as children. Again a relationship rather than a register, and again through Jesus Christ rather than in the abstract.
And the ground given is the good pleasure of his desire — not merit, and not necessity. Verse 6 states the goal of the whole arrangement, the first of three times the sentence will say it: to the praise of the glory of his grace.
What the passage does not say anywhere is that anyone was marked out for loss. The letter never draws that inference, and honest readers have differed for centuries over whether it can be drawn.
held with reason What this mark means