To the praise of the glory of His grace. Ephesian 1:6 KJV
That we should be to the praise of His glory… Ephesians 1:12 KJV
Until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory… Ephesians 1:14 KJV
To the praise of the glory of His grace. Ephesians 1:6 NASB
That we … would be to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:12 NASB
With a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:14 NASB
Ephesians 1 has been described in various ways: the Everest of Spiritual blessings; the watershed for divine grace, and the Unsearchable Riches in the heavenlies which are ours. No one would argue that few chapters in the Scriptures describe in such fullness and detail all that has come to the believer by virtue of being “in Christ.”
It is carefully pointed out that verses 3-6 highlight the role the Father has played in conferring these blessings. Then verses 7-12 turn
the reader’s attention to the person of the Lord Jesus as the means by which all has been given to us. Finally, the Spirit of God is mentioned in verses 13 and 14.
Another look at these divisions shows that verses 3-6 are looking back to what God purposed in Himself eternally. Verses 7-12 to what Christ accomplished in time and has been made good to us in the present. We should not be surprised then that verses 13 and 14 not only are concerned with the present sealing by the Spirit but look forward to a future day when redemption will be complete.
The landscape of divine blessing is breathtaking. Human wisdom could never have conceived such a “great salvation.” Whether we are standing on the peak of Everest surveying the blessings or wading into the depths of the ocean of God’s grace, whatever analogy may be employed, we have received “every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ” (v 3). But there is in each paragraph, an added glory or brilliance which awaits our consideration. In each instance, what has been done has been without compromise to the character of God. All is and will eternally be “to the praise of His glory.”
If we consider God in His sovereign counsels, all is to the praise of the glory of His grace. He has not only placed us in His Son, but in the “Beloved” (v 6). If we wonder at the grace which has brought forgiveness and redemption, enlightenment and inheritance, once again the result is His glory. And the sealing by the Holy Spirit of Promise has not caused God to lose one iota of His character: it is to the praise of His glory. Every aspect of our salvation, the wealth of the heart of God opened to us, is all, both now and forever, to the “praise of His glory.”
Consider:
Can you find at least seven individual blessings which are ours as a result of being “In Christ?”
In the sister epistle to Ephesians, Colossians, we have been translated into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. Compare this with being “accepted in the beloved” and think of where grace has brought us.