+I. God chose and predestinated these Ephesian Christians before the
foundation of the world.+--We must not so conceive of God's election
and the influence of His grace as to set aside our free agency and
final accountableness; nor must we so explain away God's sovereignty
and grace as to exalt man to a state of independence. Now, so far as
the grace of God in the salvation of sinners is absolute and
unconditional, election or predestination is so, and no farther. If
we consider election as it respects the final bestowment of
salvation, it is plainly conditional. To imagine that God chooses
some to eternal life without regard to their faith and holiness is to
suppose that some are saved without these qualifications or saved
contrary to His purpose. God hath chosen us to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
+II. Consider the spiritual qualifications to which the Ephesians
were chosen.+--"To be holy and without blame before Him in love"
(ver. 4). Holiness consists in the conformity of the soul to the
Divine nature and will and is opposed to all moral evil. Love is a
most essential part of the character of the saint. Charity out of a
pure heart is the end of the commandment. Without charity all our
pretensions to Gospel holiness are vain.
+III. Consider the adoption to which believers are predestinated+
(ver. 5).--Our sonship is not our native right, but the effect of
God's gracious adoption. 1. _It implies a state of freedom in
opposition to bondage._ Believers are free as being delivered from
the bondage of sin, and as having near access to God and intimate
communion with Him. Children are usually admitted to that familiar
intercourse which is denied to servants. 2. _Adoption brings us under
the peculiar care of God's providence._ 3. _Includes a title to a
glorious resurrection from the dead and to an eternal inheritance in
the heavens._ If believers are the children of God, then their temper
must be a childlike temper, a temper corresponding to their relation,
condition, and character.
+IV. That all spiritual blessings are derived to us through Christ+
(vers. 5, 6).
+V. The reason of God's choosing believers in Christ and
predestinating them to adoption is the good pleasure of His will+
(ver. 5).--If we admit we are sinful, fallen creatures, unworthy of
God's favour and insufficient for our own redemption, then our
salvation must ultimately be resolved into God's good pleasure. There
is no other source from which it can be derived. If death is our
desert, our deliverance must be by grace.
+VI. The great purpose for which God has chosen and called us is the
praise of the glory of His grace+ (ver. 6).--God has made this
display of His grace that unworthy creatures might apply to Him for
salvation. We are to praise the glory of God's grace by a cheerful
compliance with the precepts and thankful acceptance of the blessings
of the Gospel, by a holy life, and by encouraging others to accept
that grace. Believers will, in a more perfect manner, show forth the
praise of God's glorious grace in the future world.--_Lathrop._