Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.
In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be for the praise of His glory.
And in Him, you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit after hearing and believing the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.
Notes
Paul’s greeting is more than courtesy—it is gospel-soaked language. Grace and peace are not mere wishes but the divine realities now flowing from the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to all who are in Christ. This opening is immediately tied to the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.
Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms is already ours in Christ. This is not future promise but present possession—secured in the ascended Christ and applied by the indwelling Spirit. The phrase “in Christ” functions as a New Covenant key, opening the treasury of God’s eternal plan. From before the foundation of the world, God’s desire was to make a people holy and blameless in His Son, not by Law, not by lineage, but by grace given freely in the Beloved—Jesus Himself
(cf. 2 Timothy 1:9; Romans 8:29–30).
- Adoption is the New Covenant family reality. No longer slaves under a guardian, we are sons through Jesus Christ (see Galatians 4:4–7). This is no generic fatherhood of God; it is intimate, Spirit-formed sonship in the Beloved.
- Redemption through His blood echoes the Passover and Exodus but is now fulfilled in Jesus—the true Lamb who takes away the sin of the world (cf. John 1:29; Hebrews 9:12).
The mystery of God’s will, hidden in ages past, is now made known: Christ is the summing up of all things. Heaven and earth, divided by sin, are reunited in Him. The New Covenant is not a plan B but the revelation of God’s eternal intention to center all things in Jesus.
Finally, Paul highlights the twin realities of hope and sealing. Those who hoped first in Christ (likely Jewish believers) and those who later believed (Gentiles, like the Ephesians) are together sealed by the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not only a gift but a guarantee—a down payment of the coming inheritance. Just as Christ was raised and glorified, so also His Spirit-dwelt people are destined to share in that glory
(see Romans 8:16–17; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22).
Everything here is Christ-centered, Spirit-sealed, and heaven-directed. Paul has no interest in merely reforming behavior. He begins instead with the blazing center of Christian identity: chosen in Christ, redeemed through Christ, sealed by the Spirit of Christ—all to the praise of His glorious grace.
Moe Bergeron 
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