So far in our study of Ephesians, we have learned that we are privileged, chosen, and redeemed. In the next few verses of this letter, we find out that we are also heirs. To be an heir is to be someone who has the right to receive something owned by somebody else when the owner determines that you can receive it.

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-14)

Ephesians 1:11-14 answers three important questions about our inheritance.

The first important question Ephesians 1:11-14 answers about our inheritance is,

How we got it: God’s plan in Christ. (1:11)

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

“In him we have obtained an inheritance,”

This is a consistent theme in Ephesians 1.

In verse three, we read, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

In verse four, we read, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.”

In verse seven, we read, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

And now we read, “11 In him we have obtained an inheritance,”

Paul is being redundant on purpose. He needs us to understand the privilege of having every spiritual blessing, the joy of being chosen, the power of knowing that we have been freed from the slave master of sin, and the confidence we have in our inheritance, has literally nothing to do with anything we have done or haven’t done, but rather entirely by what God has done through Christ. Not one thing that Paul has told us about is attained by me performing religious works or inhibited by me not performing them. Not one thing that Paul has told us about is separated from me or destroyed through my failure, nor is it acquired through my success. Everything that Paul is telling us about who we are has been done by God in Christ.

In the early church, there were those preaching that you had to be circumcised, practice Jewish festivals and traditions, as well as obey the Old Testament Law to be God’s people and receive God’s favor and blessings. 2,000 years later, there are still people who preach this false doctrine, despite it being thoroughly repudiated in the New Testament. We have a massive, obvious amount of Scripture, like Ephesians 1-3, Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, that overtly teaches the exact opposite, as well as all kinds of Scripture that not only directly rebukes those doctrines as false but also rebukes those who teach them! It is not in any way a suggestion that Christ gave us the right to live lawless lives of immorality, but rather that what God did in Christ replaced the old relationship with something that has nothing to do with religion and religious practice and everything to do with an actual relationship whereby He has done something in us so magnificent and glorious that only He can get the credit for it!

Imagine it this way. Imagine you were poor, and you got invited to play a rich person in a movie, but it was a low-budget movie that couldn’t pay you much money, so in the end, you were still poor. Everything you did in the movie to act like a rich person was just a performance; at the end of the day, you still couldn’t afford to do anything but survive, and despite how convincing you were in front of the camera, you couldn’t live that way, and you knew it. Nonetheless, there were still times that you were so caught up in your character that you started believing yourself to be that character. You even found yourself walking off the set after work one day with the mindset that you were about to hop on your helicopter and fly back to your mansion to eat the dinner prepared by your private chef beside the pool that overlooked a million-dollar view of a gorgeous sunset behind a magnificent chain of mountains. However, you suddenly woke from your daydream and realized you were walking through a parking lot to get in the very used car you hoped would crank when you turned the key! That’s what religion is. Religion is acting like somebody you can’t be.

However, the Gospel changes the entire analogy. In the Gospel, we aren’t called to be in a movie at all. We were slaves to sin and death, and God showed up and rescued us out of it! In the context of my analogy, it would be as if I were so trapped in poverty that there was no possible way to escape. But, then I found out somebody I had no relationship with at all put my name on a multi-trillion dollar trust fund that pays me forever, a trust made out of not one dollar I ever earned but that I now have every right to use not as a guest, but as a family member of the trust and thus fellow owner of it; an heir because God has seen, viewed and made me an heir, as HIS inheritance!

“In him we have obtained an inheritance,”

There is a translational nuance here that doesn’t change the fact that we are heirs to all God is and has, but it does add to the level of sincerity and belonging we have in that inheritance. More and more scholars now feel that the correct translation should be “we were made an inheritance,” and I believe they are accurate. To those who think this nuance removes us from inheriting anything, let me just say we have plenty of other scriptures that make it clear we are heirs to all God is and has (i.e., Romans 8:17, Galatians 3:29, Ephesians 3:6 & Titus 3:7). In actuality, stating that we have been made an inheritance to God only amplifies the certainty of being His fully favored sons and daughters and thus receiving His eternal inheritance!

For God to send His Son to suffer hell on a cross to redeem us from the curse of sin so that we could “be a people for His own possession” (Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 2:9) shows that God is not under some sort of annoyed, “I guess I have to” obligation to allow us into His family, but that He literally orchestrated it! God executed a plan to bring me into His family because He wanted me. He chose us in Him (Ephesians 1:4).

I’m a prize to God, not in some sort of narcissistic achievement but because He values me so much. He values me more than all of creation! God wants me more than I have ever wanted Him, so much so that in bringing me into His family, He wants me to inherit all that He is and has! He looks at me with genuine and sincere love. He sees me as the most precious inheritance He could receive.

Every parent should understand this. The moment I first held my three children, I was overwhelmed with a sense of blessing and even pride in what I had been given. I was given the blessing of getting to be their parent. With eternally more purity and love, GOD sees us the same way! WOW!! Therefore, if God sees me that way, then I have even more reason to know that all He has promised me is not only mine but also that I never have to feel awkward about it! I never have to feel like God really doesn’t want me around, or that He only let me in because He was obligated to do so by my repentance. All of those perspectives are fundamentally flawed! God so wanted me to be His kid that He put a plan in place that involved His eternal Son suffering the wages of our sin for us, then He pursued us when we had no desire to be pursued by Him!

“One would not guess from rsv that the truth of God’s people as God’s ‘possession’ was taught in this paragraph, but it almost certainly is. The apostle employs two Greek expressions whose Old Testament background strongly suggests this meaning. The first is translated by rsv ‘destined’ (verse 12). It is the verb klēroō, which can mean to give or to receive a klēros, an inheritance. The question is to what inheritance Paul is referring. It could be ours, a gift which we have received. So neb: ‘In Christ … we have been given our share in the heritage.’ Alternatively, it could be God’s because he has taken us to be his own. rv understands it in this way: ‘in whom also we were made a heritage’. So does Armitage Robinson: ‘We have been chosen as God’s portion.’ Linguistically, this translation is more natural. But, more important, the Old Testament background seems almost to demand it. Israel was God’s klēros, his ‘heritage’. Again and again this truth was repeated. For example, ‘The Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage,’ and ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.’ Paul’s use of the verb klēroō in this paragraph seems to indicate his conviction that all those who are in Christ, Gentiles as well as Jews, are now God’s klēros, as only Israel was in Old Testament days. This is confirmed by the second term he employs, which is also rich in Old Testament associations, and which comes at the end of the paragraph (verse 14). The av translation is literal but unintelligible, namely ‘until the redemption of the purchased possession’ (eis apolutrōsin tēs peripoiēseōs). The question we have to ask about this ‘possession’ is the same question we asked above about the ‘inheritance’: is it ours or God’s? rsv assumes it is ours: ‘until we acquire possession of it’. But J. H. Houlden goes so far as to call this ‘a loose and tendentious translation’. It seems more probable that the possession (like the inheritance) is God’s and that it again refers to his people. So niv ‘until the redemption of those who are God’s possession’. The main argument for interpreting it this way is once more the Old Testament background. For the noun peripoiēsis (‘possession’), or its cognate adjective, occurs quite frequently in lxx as a description of Israel, e.g. ‘You shall be my own possession among all peoples,’ and ‘The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession.’ Certainly this phraseology is taken up in the New Testament in relation to the church which Christ has purchased for himself.9 Putting these two Greek expressions together, with their clear Old Testament background, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that Paul is alluding to the church as God’s ‘inheritance’ and ‘possession’. These words used to be applied exclusively to the one nation of Israel, but are now reapplied to an international people whose common factor is that they are all ‘in Christ’. The fact that the same vocabulary is used of both peoples indicates the spiritual continuity between them. This teaching, though entirely hidden by rsv and obscured by most of the English versions, is nevertheless basic to what Paul is writing in this paragraph. God’s people are God’s ‘saints’ (verse 1), God’s heritage (verse 12), God’s possession (verse 14). Only when that has been grasped, are we ready to ask two further questions. First, how did we become God’s people? Secondly, why did he make us his people? Paul answers the first question by reference to God’s will and the second by reference to his glory. And he states each truth three times.”

This is why Paul then writes, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,”

“having been” is an aorist passive, indicating that the determination was made and applied to us in the past by somebody else, which in this case is God.

“Predestined” means this was predetermined by God, not just in choosing so that it’s something God hopes for, but in the actions to ensure what He wants is accomplished.

The basis of the process is that it is done, “according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”

“The translation reads “in whom we were made an inheritance, having been previously marked out (for this) according to the purpose of His will.” Expositors comments: “The panta (παντα) (all) has the absolute sense, and is not to be restricted to ‘the all things’ that belong to divine grace and redemption. The foreordination of men to a special relation to God is connected with the foreordination of things universally. The God of the chosen is the God of the universe; the purpose which is the ground of our being made God’s heritage embraces the whole plan of the world; and our position as the heritage and possession of God has behind it both the sovereignty and the efficiency of the Will that energizes or is operative in all things. … The word “counsel” is boulē (βουλη) which has in it the ideas of intelligence and deliberation. The word “will” is “a desire that springs from one’s emotions.” Here the emotional nature is governed by reason and deliberation. Expositors says: “Here, therefore, the will of God which acts in His foreordaining purpose or decree, in being declared to have its boulē (βουλη) or ‘counsel,’ is set forth as acting, not arbitrarily, but intelligently and by deliberation, not without reason, but for reasons, hidden it may be from us, yet proper to the Highest Mind and Most Perfect Moral Nature. ‘They err,’ says Hooker, ‘who think that of God’s will there is no reason except His will.’ It is also implied in this statement that the divine foreordination, whether of things universally or of men’s lots in particular, is neither a thing of necessity on the one hand nor of caprice on the other, but a thing of freedom and of thought; and further, that the reasons for that foreordination do not lie in the objects themselves, but are intrinsic to the divine Mind and the free determination of the divine Will.”

“Neither fate nor human merit determines our destiny. The benevolent purpose—that we should be holy and faultless (verse 4), Sons of God (verse 5), destined to glorify him forever (verse 6, cf. verses 12 and 14)—is fixed, being part of a larger, universe-embracing plan. Not only did God make this plan that includes absolutely all things that ever take place in heaven, on earth, and in hell; past, present, and even the future, pertaining to both believers and unbelievers, to angels and devils, to physical as well as spiritual energies and units of existence both large and small; he also wholly carries it out. His providence in time is as comprehensive as is his decree from eternity. Literally Paul states that God works (operates with his divine energy in) all things. The same word occurs also in verses 19 and 20, which refer to the working (energetic operation) of the infinite might of the Father of glory, which he wrought (energetically exerted) in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Hence, nothing can upset the elect’s future glory. … Moreover, although everything is included in God’s universe-embracing plan and in its effectuation in the course of history, there is nothing in this thought that should scare any of the children of God. Quite the contrary, for the words clearly imply that the only true God, who in Christ loves his own with a love that passes all understanding, acts with divine deliberation and wisdom. All his designs are holy, and he delights to reward those who trust in him. Human responsibility and the self-activity of faith are never violated in any way. There is plenty of room for them in the decree and in its effectuation. Scripture is very clear on this (Luke 22:22; Acts 2:23; Phil. 2:12, 13; 2 Thess. 2:13).”

The second important question Ephesians 1:11-14 answers about our inheritance is,

Why we got it: That we would be worthy of Him being praised. (1:12)

12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

Some commentators and teachers make the mistake of shifting the subject in this sentence. “We” are not the subject, but the direct object, meaning we are not the one doing the work, but the one receiving its benefit. Everything in this sentence is done, “In Him,” that is, in the person and work of Christ. It is all done by “him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”

His grace is also not a license or excuse to live in sin (Romans 6:1-2), and we are indeed called to trust and obey God; in fact, anything less than fully trusting and obeying God is totally unacceptable. However, the fact remains that we will always fall short, which is why we are always reliant on His grace! But that entire conversation is void of the subject of this sentence. Ephesians 1:12 has nothing to do with what we do but what God has done, is doing, and will do! In this verse, Paul makes it clear that God’s plan and work in and through Christ are so that we might “be to the praise of his glory”; in other words, it’s His will that it be done, and it is His work doing it! Calvin noted,

“… for we must eventually become illustrations of the glory of God …”

“In the OT the most common Hebrew word for “glory” (kabod) was originally a commercial term (which referred to a pair of scales) which meant “to be heavy.” That which was heavy was valuable or had intrinsic worth. Often the concept of brightness was added to the word to express God’s majesty. He alone is worthy and honorable. He is too brilliant for fallen mankind to behold. God can only be truly known through Christ (cf. Jer. 1:14; Matt. 17:2; Heb. 1:3; James 2:1).”

Now let’s look a little deeper at what Paul is telling us that God is doing in this sentence. God is accomplishing His will in us so that we would “be to the praise of his glory.”

At first, this might sound complicated, but it’s really not. Have you ever done something you’re not proud of? Have you ever done something you hoped no one would find out about because you knew it didn’t represent who you are? I’m not even speaking of something morally wrong, but rather something you made or did that just wasn’t up to par with the kind of work you are capable of and the kind of work you want to be known by. For instance, my wife’s older brother is a freakishly good video editor. He’s so good at it that he’s been able to earn a very good living for himself and his family by doing it. However, because this is what he does for a living, it adds to his motivation not to have anything publicly seen that doesn’t properly demonstrate his professional ability. He doesn’t want anyone to see anything that may turn them off from hiring him. He wants everything he does to properly represent the talent God has given him and his professionalism to do everything with excellence, no matter what. He doesn’t want his name to be on something that doesn’t represent who he is and what he’s about!

This is precisely what God is proclaiming through Paul here. Paul is saying it is God’s purpose and work to so transform us in a way that when people see us, they see something truly worthy of being credited to God’s glory, to His magnificence; something that can ONLY be credited to what God alone can do; something that matches the eternal weightiness and awesomeness of who He ALONE is and thus to the praise of HIS glory! God is doing something in us worthy of all He is being praised for forever!

The third important question Ephesians 1:11-14 answers about our inheritance is,

How we keep it: The HOLY SPIRIT in us! (1:13-14)

Note: 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him,

“In him” is once again the location of all of this. The significance of our belief is not our belief but that it’s in Christ. That doesn’t discount that we must believe, but the focus isn’t on the power of our belief but the power and work of the One our belief is in!

We also see that salvation and the gospel are inseparably linked. Paul said, “… when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him …” The doctrine of the exclusivity of Christ, that is, salvation by grace through faith in Him alone, is all over the New Testament.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:13-15)

John Stott wrote, “Not that we were ourselves inactive, however. Far from it. In this very context, in which our salvation is attributed entirely to the will of God, our own responsibility is also described. … Let no-one say, therefore, that the doctrine of election by the sovereign will and mercy of God, mysterious as it is, makes either evangelism or faith unnecessary. The opposite is the case. It is only because of God’s gracious will to save that evangelism has any hope of success and faith becomes possible. The preaching of the gospel is the very means that God has appointed by which he delivers from blindness and bondage those whom he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world, sets them free to believe in Jesus, and so causes his will to be done.”

So in short, Paul says when you heard the good news of your salvation, that is, when you heard about all that God has done in Christ to save you, and as a result of hearing it, your heart was moved to repent and surrender to Him (the Biblical teaching of what faith and belief is), you were then sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. I could not believe it until I heard, and the Holy Spirit did not seal me until I repented and surrendered my life to Him.

What’s the significance that we, “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory”?

Once again, don’t miss that all of what is being done and how it’s being done is worthy of being associated with God’s glory, that is who God is and what He’s about, so much so that nobody else could get credit if they tried!

The two keys to understanding what this verse is ultimately about, that our inheritance is totally secured and unable to be lost, are seen in the words “sealed” and “guarantee.”

To be “sealed” is to be officially marked as belonging to somebody. Whether it’s a letter from a King whose seal assures its authenticity or a cow that receives a brand that proclaims who its owner is, both have a marking that communicates belonging. The Holy Spirit in us is an unmistakable, incomparable mark that cannot be counterfeited outwardly or inwardly! You might be able to fake it in front of some for a while, but you can never fake it in front of God, and odds are you will eventually be unable to fake it in front of others as well.

Note: “A seal—not stamped on but attached to an object in ancient times—was used a. to guarantee the genuine character of a document, etc. (Esther 3:12), or, figuratively, of a person (1 Cor. 9:2); b. to mark ownership (Song of Sol. 8:6); and/or c. to protect against tampering or harm (Matt. 27:66; Rev. 5:1). The context (see verse 14) would seem to indicate that the first of these three ideas, that of authentication or certification, is basic in the present passage. The Spirit had testified within their hearts that they were children of God (Rom. 8:16; 1 John 3:24), and “if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17), people whom nothing can harm, and to whom “all things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28). It is immediately apparent that in such matters the three aforementioned purposes for which a seal is used combine: authentication implies ownership and protection.”

The word “guarantee” refers to the deposit a person makes to ensure they will complete the purchase. The Holy Spirit in our life is the deposit God has made into our lives that He would have otherwise never made unless He had called me to Himself and made His own; unless I had been adopted as His child and belonged to Him! The Holy Spirit in our lives is the outward seal and the internal deposit, the very present, tangible evidence that our adoption as a fully favored child of God has been finalized forever!

“The bestowal of the Holy Spirit is God’s part payment in the salvation He gives the believing sinner, that part payment guaranteeing the full delivery of all parts of the salvation given. Salvation is in three parts; justification, the removal of the guilt and penalty of sin and the bestowal of a positive righteousness, Jesus Christ, is given at the moment the sinner puts his faith in the Lord Jesus as Saviour; sanctification, a progressive work of the Spirit in the life of the believer, is a present possession in which He eliminates sin from the experience of the believer and produces His own fruit; glorification, the act of God transforming the present bodies of believers into perfect, sinless, deathless bodies. The believer has the first two now. The Holy Spirit, indwelling the believer, is God’s earnest money, guaranteeing to him the future glorification of his body.”

“The first instalment is, accordingly, a pledge or guarantee of glory to come, a glory arriving not only when soul and body part but also and especially in the great consummation of all things at Christ’s return. The fruits which this indwelling and sanctifying Spirit bestows (Gal. 5:22, 23)—such as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control, and their marvelous product: assurance of salvation (2 Peter 1:5–11)—are “first-fruits” (Rom. 8:23). They are a foretaste of future, ineffable bliss. The full inheritance—salvation viewed as God’s gracious and abiding gift, not bought with money, nor earned by the sweat of human toil, nor won by conquest—will one day be the believers’ portion, for them to possess and to enjoy, to God’s glory.”

Challenge

Do you find yourself justifying sin in your life because you feel like you’ve probably ruined your salvation? Do you struggle to believe you belong to God forever?

My belief about how well an airplane will fly and if it will arrive at its destination safely has no impact on whether it will. My belief only affects whether I get on the plane, and in the case of the Gospel, the second I step on the plane, the door is shut behind me, and the plane leaves the terminal!

HOWEVER, the measure of my belief does impact the quality of my experience on the plane! If I get on the plane but then continue to believe the plane is going to crash because I didn’t flush the toilet properly, or sit in the right seat, or buckle my seat belt properly, or even start believing something is terminally wrong with the plane, it could lead to all kinds of terrible decisions and experiences for myself and everybody around me!

Instead of enjoying the ride, taking in the view, and getting to know the people around me, I would instead be locked up in fear and anxiety.

If I don’t believe the plane is going to make it, I may start living as if nothing matters, because after all, if I believe the plane is going to crash and that we are going to die without reaching our destination; then I might as well do whatever it is I desire to do no matter how immoral or unethical it may be.

If I don’t believe the plane is going to make it, I might even find myself getting angry with all the people on the plane who do and possibly even attacking them for believing it!

But no matter how much I choose to believe or not in the plane, it's still going to do what it's made to do and get me to where it's going.

The point, therefore, that I’m making with this limited illustration is that the level of your faith and obedience in Christ is not your assurance; He is your assurance!

But if there is also no evidence that you are on a plane, then it’s time to be honest about your life! If there is no evidence in your life of belonging to God, that is no testimony of the Holy Spirit of God at work in your life, then you need to stop playing games and repent and believe in Jesus; you need to get on the plane!

Discussion Guide

What do you think is God’s purpose in saving any of us?

Ephesians 1:11-14 answers three important questions about our inheritance:

 How we got it: God’s plan in Christ. (1:11)

Recall some of the “In Him” statements in Ephesians 1.  How does this “in Him,” in verse 11, relate to the others?

In Austin’s online manuscript

Main Point 1.C.5:  Do we receive an inheritance or are we made the inheritance?

What are some correlations between ‘inheritance’ and ‘predestined’ in verse 11?

Why we got it: That we would be worthy of Him being praised. (1:12)

How does the end of verse 11 impact verse 12?

What synonyms could we associate with God’s ‘glory’?

What would it look like to be, as Calvin states, “an illustration of the glory of God?

(from intro question above) Reconsider and discuss God’s purpose in saving us

 How we keep it: The HOLY SPIRIT in us! (1:13-14)

From verse 13, prior to the sealing of the Holy Spirit, discuss the significant points of the Gospel, including God’s role and your role

What does the ‘Holy Spirit as a seal’ imply, related to your salvation?  Romans 8:16-17 for further study

From verse 14:

How does the “seal of the Spirit” affect us?

How does the “seal of the Spirit” affect God?

 Challenge

Do you find yourself justifying sin in your life because you feel like you’ve probably ruined your salvation?  Do you struggle to believe you belong to God forever?

What causes you to doubt your salvation?

What would guarantee your salvation, in your mind?