In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,

according to the riches of His grace.

Ephesians 1:7

Critics often point out that the word “Trinity” isn’t found in the Bible, and they’re right. But the truth of the Trinity is revealed throughout both the Old and New Testaments, and we can see it clearly in the first 14 verses of Ephesians. Consider the following:

In the original Greek, Ephesians 1:3-14 is actually one long, complex sentence consisting of 202 words. In our English translations, this single Greek sentence is broken up into several sentences for better readability and understanding. And depending on the translation, it’s divided into anywhere from 3 to 7 sentences. When taken as a whole, these verses paint for us an incredible picture of the totality of God, in which each Person of the Godhead is active in our salvation.

For example, the work of God the Father is primarily described in verses 3 through 6, where He planned our salvation even before time began. In Ephesians 1:7-10, we see the work of the Son who achieves salvation for us by His redemptive death on the cross, or “through His blood” (Eph. 1:7). And the final few verses, Ephesians 1:11-14, highlight the role the Holy Spirit plays in applying salvation to our lives. It couldn’t be more clear. But it was all “in Him” or “in Christ” that we were granted redemption and the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus is the One responsible for all of this.

Note: I have already discussed the “in Him” or “in Christ” aspect of this verse in an earlier post. So, let me encourage you to go back and look again at that to gain a deeper understanding of Jesus’ impact on all aspects of our Christian life, not just our salvation.

And then, we move on to the incredible word, redemption.

Redemption is an essential core theme of Christianity. In fact, this one verse, Ephesians 1:7, summarizes the entire gospel, where it says, “In Him (Jesus, the Son) we have redemption (how) through His blood, (described as) the forgiveness of sins, (on what basis) according to the riches of His grace.” If John 3:16 is the first and most important verse kids learn in Vacation Bible School, then Ephesians 1:7 runs a close second.

But how important is the idea of redemption to Christianity? It’s indispensable.

B.B. Warfield (1851-1921), a prominent American theologian and professor at Princeton Theologica, emphasized the significance of Christ’s role as Redeemer when he said:

“There is no one of the titles of Christ which is more precious to Christian hearts than ‘Redeemer.’ Whenever we pronounce it, the cross is placarded before our eyes and our hearts are filled with loving remembrance not only that Christ has given us salvation, but that He paid a mighty price for it.”

That’s right. When we think of Christ as our Redeemer, we always picture Him as the Christ of the cross, whose blood provided for our redemption.

But what exactly does “redemption” mean? In his book “Systematic Theology,” Wayne Grudem defines redemption as “Christ’s saving work viewed as an act of ‘buying back’ sinners out of their bondage to sin and to Satan through the payment of a ransom.” Okay, that makes sense. But is there more?

The New Testament primarily uses two Greek words for redemption (and their derivatives). The first is agorazō and comes from the noun meaning marketplace, or agora. It means “to buy” or “to buy in a marketplace.” This word emphasizes the price Jesus paid for our salvation. In essence, He purchased or bought us back in the...

To the praise of the glory of His grace,

by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:6

As believers, one of the most incredible truths we can embrace is that God has made us, even with all our failures and shortcomings, “accepted in the Beloved” or “accepted in His Son” (Eph. 1:6). This short phrase reveals the depths of God’s love and the privileged position we now enjoy in Christ. And when we grasp the full implications of these few words, they will revolutionize the way we view ourselves and how we live out our faith on a daily basis. That’s not hyperbole, just the facts.

Let’s look at what it means to be truly “accepted in the Beloved.”

As we begin to unpack the richness of this verse, we must start with the declaration that God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). Let that sink in— before God spoke creation into existence, and before He formed the galaxies or breathed life into Adam, He had already selected you to be “holy and without blame” in His sight. And He chose you for no other reason than the “good pleasure of His will” or, more precisely, because He wanted to (Eph. 1:5).

Just think, you didn’t earn His sovereign choice of you, and you certainly don’t deserve it— none of us do. But that’s what makes His grace so amazing. God set His affection on you, not because of your merits, but simply because it delighted Him to do so. He predestined you to be adopted as His very own son or daughter (Eph. 1:5). The King of Kings wanted you in His family.

But, and I know it may be hard to believe, it gets even better.

Now, because of His loving choice and predetermined plan, you are “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6). The word “accepted” means much more than we assume when we use it today. We speak of inclusion, such as, “I just got accepted into college” or “I feel accepted by my co-workers.” But in Greek, “accepted” (charitóō) means being “highly honored” and “greatly favored.” In fact, it is the same word used of Mary when the angel Gabriel appeared to her saying, “Rejoice, highly favored one (charitóō), the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). And this is the only other place in Scripture this particular word is used.

Just as Mary found grace and favor in God’s sight to be chosen as the mother of the Messiah, you also have found grace and favor to be chosen and accepted by Him as His beloved child. Jesus took on the punishment your sins deserved, paying their penalty of death on the cross and, by doing so, made you righteous and reconciled to the Father. So when God looks at you, He doesn’t see your sins, failures, and shame, but the perfect righteousness of His Son imputed to you (2 Cor. 5:21)— His now adopted son (Eph. 1:5).

In Christ, you are now (and I know this may be hard to believe) highly honored and esteemed, deeply loved, and greatly blessed in Him. And God doesn’t begrudgingly accept you because He spoke too soon, maybe before He knew what you were really like, and has to fulfill a promise He’d rather not. No, He now joyfully allows His grace to “abound” toward you in all His wisdom and prudence because of the “riches of His grace” He was pleased to lavish upon you (Eph. 1:7-8). How does that make you feel? And where is the place in your life for insecurity when God has already highly honored you to the degree He has? Read the verse again, if need be.

Think about what this means for your identity and sense of self-worth. You no longer have to be crippled by feelings of insecurity or inadequacy, constantly...

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance…

Ephesians 1:11a

In this passage, we see more of the blessings that are ours because we are “in Him” or “in Christ.” Again, I suggest you spend a little time with Blue Letter Bible or another Bible software program of your choice and search the phrases “in Him” and “in Christ” for yourself. After all, we all learn better by doing rather than just watching someone else do it. So jump on in and get your feet wet. And when you do, begin with “in Christ” and scan the verses to see how the theology of these two words permeates almost all of Paul’s writings. He obviously understood the significance of being “in Him,” and it would do each of us good if we understood it as well.

We have been studying the first chapter of Ephesians and are focusing on verse 11, where it says:

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

So let’s look at each word and phrase in the first part of this verse to see exactly what God is saying so we can determine exactly what He means by what He says (we are only going to look at the first eight words today; we’ll cover more next time).

In Him – We have discussed this at length in a prior post. Basically, this phrase reveals to us that, apart from Christ, the only thing we can expect from God is condemnation for our sins. But, because of Christ and because we are now found “in Him” (which is all a gift from God lavished upon us), we can rejoice in all circumstances for:

There is therefore now (present tense) no condemnation to those (put your name here to make it personal) who are (what) in Christ Jesus, (described as those) who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit – Romans 8:1.

We Have Obtained an Inheritance – This phrase is a translation of a single compound Greek word, eklērōthēmen, which has two renderings. In other words, this word can be translated in two different ways. And each of these translations, even though they mean something entirely different in English, are correct both grammatically and theologically. Plus, this word is in the aorist active indicative tense, which means it is so certain to happen, that it can be spoken of as having already taken place. We see this also in Ephesians 2:6, where the same tense is used when it states God, “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The certainty of this is so secure that the Holy Spirit speaks of it as having already happened. And the same applies to our obtaining an inheritance in Him.

But there are two correct renderings of the Greek word in question. The first, and the one that seems to fit the context best, means “we have obtained an inheritance” in Him. Or, we have received an inheritance from God as adopted sons whom He predestined or predetermined from eternity past (Eph. 1:4-5). And the inheritance we have received in Him is just part of how God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). This is why Romans 8:15-17 makes the point of revealing we are not only “children of God,” but “heirs”— those who receive an inheritance. But it continues, we are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” So, it would appear the first rendering of this passage, of our receiving or obtaining an inheritance from God, is accurate and supported by Scripture.

But what about the...