Letters from Paul

A taste of the study room coming with Paul — pull open whatever you'd like to sit with.

The reading — Ephesians 1:3-14

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ; ⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love; ⁵having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire, ⁶to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved, ⁷in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, ⁹making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him ¹⁰to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him; ¹¹in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will; ¹²to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ. ¹³In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.

World English Bible

The words behind the words

Hear that word chose — "he chose us in him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4). It does not mean God looked ahead and saw who would be worthy; it means the choosing was his, in Christ, before you drew a breath or did a single deed. And adoption (Ephesians 1:5): not a distant favor, but a Father taking a child who was not his by birth and making him fully his own, with every right of a son. And that little phrase that beats through the whole passage like a drum — in him, in Christ, in the Beloved. Every blessing named comes through that one door and no other.

Where else you say this

I have followed this same thread elsewhere: that those God foreknew he predestined, called, justified, and glorified (Romans 8:29-30), so that none of it rests on you. And the adoption again — that you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but the Spirit of adoption, by whom you cry "Abba! Father!" (Romans 8:15). And the sealing of the Spirit as the down payment of what is coming (2 Corinthians 1:22).

The situation

I wrote these lines from confinement, in chains, to believers in Ephesus and the churches near it — mostly Gentiles, people once counted outsiders, without covenant, without hope, strangers to the promises. To such people I open not with rebuke but with worship, piling blessing upon blessing, that they might grasp they were never an afterthought to God. And I, in my own chains, needed to say it as much as they needed to hear it: the gospel is not bound though I am (2 Timothy 2:9).

The hard question

You will ask: if God chose before the foundation of the world, what then of my choosing — is my faith real, or am I moved like a stone? I will not soften it. Both stand together in the text, and I hold them together. Notice the passage does not aim at your anxiety but at "the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:14) — election is given not to make you peer behind the curtain, but to make you sure and to make you sing. Read the whole passage and see: every "he chose," "he predestined," "he lavished" is meant to steady you, not to trouble you. Rest there.

This is a small window into what a study room with Paul will hold — word by word, letter by letter, and the maps and journeys behind them. Get notified when it opens →

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