PAUL MEETS EVERY OBJECTION MAN MIGHT MAKE TO THE EXPRESSED WILL OF GOD After Paul's letter was read and discussed at Ephesus we may be reasonably certain that the tenor of his doctrine would soon be understood and opposed in the Jewish community resident there. The ties of nature between Christian Jews and those who remained in the synagogue after Paul and his followers left it for the school of Tyrannus these links would remain. Relatives would discuss the implications of Paul's teaching, and it would soon spread. For the Jews would never concede divine blessings such as Paul wrote of, poured out on Gentiles. Paul anticipated these objections through the Holy Spirit of course and demonstrated that all our blessings are according to that is in harmony with what God is in Himself. There are several harmonies in the first chapter.
Our blessings are first shown to be consistent with the will of God Paul commences by telling the Ephesians, not only that they are blessed with every blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, but also that this is according as God chose us in Christ that is, in harmony with that choice before the world's foundation. Since the Jews' blessings were earthly, how could they accuse God of unrighteousness in blessing the Gentiles when God willed to do so before the world's foundation? God's counsels to bless the Ephesians and other Gentiles who are in Christ vastly precede the existence of the Jew or even the world he loved. There is nothing in what God has done, then, which is in any way incongruous with what He is. Indeed all is in harmony with God's holy nature. He sees us holy and blameless in His presence in love. Then once more Paul points out God's sovereignty in a past eternity. Not content only to choose us in Christ He next predestinates us to sonship. This further blessing adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself that is to the relationship of sons to the Father, is in harmony with "the good pleasure of His will." God is not answerable to man in the exercise of His will. This is a divine principle "that Thou mightest be justified in Thy sayings, and mightest overcome when Thou art judged" Rom. 3:44God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. (Romans 3:4).
Our blessings shown to be consistent with the grace of God Paul next anticipates another objection. The Jew cannot argue with God's sovereign will but surely he will object to those blessed by it, due to their evil conduct. "Why Paul" we can hear a Jew saying "you yourself admitted that these Ephesians were controlled by the devil in your own letter 2:1 and you proved it yourself when you were in their city. Didn't they cry out for nearly two hours 'great is Artemis of the Ephesians?' Didn't they worship the image which fell down from Jupiter? And while they were doing such things we kept the law, worshipped God in the Temple, and read the Holy Scriptures. Finally you admitted that God has blessed us in 2:12 of your letter yet you say they are taken into favor in the Beloved One.”
To counter such practical objections Paul tells us that we have redemption "through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace." Paul is fond of the word "riches" as descriptive of God and His attributes. He uses the word here to highlight our poverty toward God to make it clear that we needed a God rich in grace able to dispense it abundantly. It is a signal that God is proceeding on a new principle toward man not law but grace. Yet He does not compromise His righteousness in extending the golden scepter to us, for we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. In the future day, when we will be displayed in glory, He will show "the exceeding riches of His grace" 2:7. The difference between these two expressions is one of time only.
Our blessings shown to be consistent with the purpose and counsels of God concerning the glory of His Son With every objection swept away and grace overflowing to us in all wisdom and intelligence, God has made known to us "the mystery of His will ACCORDING TO HIS GOOD PLEASURE WHICH HE PURPOSED IN HIMSELF for the administration of the fullness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth; in Him, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance, being marked out beforehand ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE OF HIM WHO WORKS ALL THINGS ACCORDING TO THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL verse 8. Wisdom and intelligence characterize God's counsels about His Son. The mystery of His will is the future universal rule of Christ and the Church not Christ alone, nor the Church alone, but Christ and the Church together. The mystery of His will is to end the present separation of the heavens and the earth, and unite them under the administration of Christ v.10 and the Church "we also" v.11. When this takes place we will have received the inheritance. The mystery is purposed "according to the good pleasure which He purposed in Himself"; the inheritance is purpose and counsel "according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His own will.”
Our blessings shown to be sure because based upon the power of God manifested in the resurrection and ascension of Christ At the end of the eleventh verse Paul speaks of the counsel of God's own will. Surely the divine counsels are fully revealed at this point. The Spirit then comes in as the seal and pledge that God has saved our souls now and will save our bodies later, upon which we shall receive our inheritance. All will be to the praise of His glory. The question is how will this take place? The answer is found in the nineteenth verse of the first apostolic prayer. Our bodies will be changed and the kingdom introduced by the exercise of divine power. The measure of this divine power is the resurrection and ascension of Christ. This is the inlet to the teaching of the second chapter, where we are seen as dead 2:5. The same power which raised Christ from among the dead raises us. It goes further just as Christ ascended so do we. The divine power is manifested in resurrection and ascension 2:6. And so all is "according to the working of His mighty power.”
God's Sovereign Grace
Now that the reasonings and disputings of the human mind have been anticipated and disposed of, let us turn back to verses 7 and 8 which form a fitting conclusion to the subject we have been considering in this chapter. In verses 7 and 8 Paul tells us that we have redemption through the blood of Christ and that our sins are forgiven. Paul makes it clear that in exerting His will to bless us God has not sacrificed His righteousness, for the blood of Christ has been shed. Again the critic might point out that though the angels never sinned and are as much God's sons as we, yet God is giving the inheritance to us not to the angels see Heb. 2:55For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. (Hebrews 2:5).. True, but we have learned God's heart in a way the angels never can*1 and the price of making us sons is the precious blood of Christ. Perfect righteousness indeed and an outpouring of grace without parallel in fact "all wisdom and intelligence." For we will never forget, throughout all eternity, that everything we are and possess is founded on the death and blood shedding of God's beloved Son. This knowledge will keep us close to His heart forever, because it will temper our future greatness with humility. "God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble" 1 Peter 5:55Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5). And so all is "according to the riches of His grace.”
An unknown author once wrote these lines at the end of his life to give expression to God's ways with him:
“God of my life, how good, how wise
Thy judgments to my soul have been
They were but blessings in disguise
The painful remedies of sin
How different now Thy ways appear
Most merciful when most severe.
Trouble and loss and grief and pain
Have crowded all these many years
I never could my wish obtain
And own at last with joyful tears
The man whom God delights to bless
He never curses with success."