Vs. 6 "To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."

In verses 1 & 2 we studied Paul's God honoring salutation, and in verses 3 - 5 we are given a description of some of the great blessings (election, predestination , adoption, etc..) which the Ephesian, saints were the recipients of. And Paul concludes his description of these blessings with the last seven words of vs. 5, "According to the good pleasure of His will."

Thus, we are irrevocably driven to this conclusion, it was NOT because God foresaw something in us which was pleasing to Him, nor was it because He foreknew the elect would believe the gospel. Our belief of the gospel is the result of God's foreordination, "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts13:48). And the elect in their fallen nature are as displeasing to God as these who are the eternal objects of His just wrath (Eph. 2:1-3). Paul summed up his state in nature by saying, "For I know that in me (That is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing..." (Rom. 7:18).

Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God" (I Thes. 1:4).
"ELECTION OF GOD," our election is exclusively of God, and has for it's basis the pure grace of God. Arminianism is Satan's ultimate weapon in his effort to make void God's election, but the decree of election is underwritten by God's sovereignty, and cannot know deterrence, much less defeat.

Election is not creature decisionism wherein man chooses out from a plurality of god's the God of the Bible to be his Saviour, but it is the Eternal choice of God, whereby He picked out of the family of man an infinite number to be the beneficiaries of His sovereign and free grace. "God...did visit the gentiles to take out of them a people for His name" (Acts 15:14).

I will not ask the question, "Why God chose some and net others?" But will answer it with the words of the Bible, "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight" (Mt. 11:261. What God did, He did solely because it seemed good in His sight. None deserved to be saved, but it was right for God to save some.

"To the praise of the glory of His grace..." God's sovereign grace is displayed in election, predestination, adoption, and in the making holy these which are the objects of its redemptive power. So, in turn the redeemed praise God's infinite grace, for it is through grace that God's ineffable glory is demonstrated, and this grace which manifests the loving nature of God is exemplified in these chosen to be His children before the foundation of the world.

"Wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved." The "Beloved" is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in and through Christ that elective grace is freely bestowed. Apart from the atoning death of Christ there would be no channel for redemptive grace to flow in, and God's love would be shut up to the elect angels.

"Accepted in the Beloved," God's love for the elect is an extension Of His love for His Only Son, and our acceptance with God is through Christ When He hath made heir of all things. This is the only way we can be accepted with God, God's love for His people is for the sake of His own Beloved. So, it is not a question of the elect accepting Christ in order to be saved, if this was a condition of salvation then none would be saved; for Scripture says, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God..." (I Cor. 2:14). Numerous other scriptures could be cited which graphically state that man In his natural state is destitute of all ability to please God, and that his heart is enmity toward God.

Vs. 7 "In When we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."
"REDEMPTION and FORGIVENESS," "Redemption" denotes a freedom purchased by a price, such as a slave being bought from an auction block and as he steps down from the block is handed his "free man" papers. The Biblical usage of the term "redemption" without variance conveys the thought of setting free of a person from a state or condition from which the person has NO power to deliver himself, Such is the case with all the elect of God, they are by nature under the penalty of sin which they can never pay, and are the bondslaves of self sin, and Satan. But thank God, there is One in Whom they have redemption, and that One is Christ. And the means of their release from the guilt and Penalty of their sin is Christ's sacrificial blood. If the elect of God will keep in mind the Infinite price which God paid to redeem them they will have no problem praising God's glorious grace which provided the Saviour, and gave us acceptance before God in Him.

Not Only have we been "Redeemed", but we have also been forgiven all of our sins. By sinning we have trespassed God's Just law, and offended His holy character. Please note that it is "Sins" plural that we have the forgiveness of, not only our sin (singular) in Adam, but all of our accumulated sins are set aside also. We sinned in Adam once, and have in ourselves compiled an infinite number of sins, but Christ's shed blood was sufficient to satisfy all of God's just demands against us, and now we are free from all of our sins. This grand and glorious truth is vividly set forth in the words, "...According to the riches of His grace" (Vs. 7). Who can measure the riches of God's grace? The riches of God's grace is the-exact proportion of distance that Our sins have been removed from us. God said "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no moral" (Heb, 10:17). And what God has forgiven and forgotten we should forget.

If man's redemption was according to his desert or merit, there, would be no Person saved. Man in not only undeserving of the least of God's favors, but he ill-deserving. Whenever God deals with a man according to his merit that man finds re acceptance before God, but measureless suffering in hell will be his lot and his suffering will be according to or in exact proportion to his sins.

Vs.8 "Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence."

We have the inestimable blessings of redemption and forgiveness, but God's grace does not stop with these, His grace continues to abound toward us. And In this abounding grace we are made the recipients of wisdom and prudence.

We have been given wisdom from above which enables us to see beyond the natural realm, and causes us to see and understand spiritual things. Prudenance is that part of our heavenly knowledge which enables us to put into practice our spiritual understanding, and has to do with our conduct. It is by this gift of abounding wisdom and prudence that we understand and prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God, (Rom. 12:2).

Vs.9 "Having made known unto us the mystery of His-will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself."

"Having made known unto us the mystery of His will ..." The elect have been granted a measure of knowledge concerning God's designs for the future. While they cannot know the day nor the hour when Christ will return to this earth, they DO KNOW, He will return. Their knowledge of the mystery of God's will is in part, but the part they know is one hundred percent more than the knowledge which earth's most intelligent unsaved person has.

The word "mystery" is used six times in Ephesians, and sixteen times in other books of the N.T... It is used of the eternal purposes of God which lie beyond the pale of human reasoning, and therefore must be divinely revealed. It speaks of something clandestine or secret, but which has been revealed through the gospel of Christ. Psa. 25:14 "The secret of the Lord is with then that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant."

"Mystery" as used in verse 9 in the primary sense has to do with God's eternal purpose wherein He has made Gentiles as well as Jews the objects of redemptive grace. Inclusion of Gentiles in the covenant of grace makes room for the N.T. church, for the church is made up of Gentiles with the exception of a very few Jews. In the secondary sense, but no less important, the term is used to refer to the church which was hidden in Christ for four thousand years. Paul in very graphic language sets this truth before us later in this Epistle where he says, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Eph. 5:32). The spiritual union of Christ and His church, is yet a great mystery to professed Christendom, but to those foreordained to brideship, and have been added to the church it is to then no longer a mystery.

"Mystery.". In Vs.9 has to do with God's overall designs for the universe, and this includes all of creation. All of the elect are made objects of divine revelation, but it is to the church that Christ has granted to know the greatest measure of His eternal will. As in the natural realm, man will reveal more of his heart and mind to his wife than he will to any other person. So, with Christ and His church the church is the repository of the secrets of God, and if a man is to grow in grace and knowledge he must come to the place where these truths are stored.