Ephesians 1:3-14

I. Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3-14 form but one sentence, so heaped up in thought and so involved in construction as to well-nigh baffle all attempts at exact analysis. The passage, as a whole, has a triumphant liturgical tone, the key-note being found in Ephesians 1:3. Probably no one view exhausts the meaning, we therefore give a number of summaries:

Braune finds in the refrain ‘unto the praise of the glory of His grace' (Ephesians 1:6), ‘unto the praise of His glory' (Ephesians 1:12; Ephesians 1:14), the key to the divisions: ‘in Ephesians 1:4-6 the first foundation for praise (the election of eternal mercy); in Ephesians 1:7-12 the second (the carrying out of the eternal decree); in Ephesians 1:13-14, the third (the personal appropriation of salvation).' Stier and Alford find a Trinitarian arrangement, Ephesians 1:3-6 pointing to the Father, Ephesians 1:7-12 to the Son, Ephesians 1:13-14 to the Spirit.

Another outline is: Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3), who in the past chose us in Christ (Ephesians 1:4-6), in the present redeems us in Him (Ephesians 1:7-9), and in the future will unite all in Him (Ephesians 1:9-10), both Jews (Ephesians 1:11-12), and Gentiles (Ephesians 1:13), both of whom received the Spirit, the earnest unto full redemption (Ephesians 1:14).