1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus [a]by the will of God,
To the [b]saints who are [c]at Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before [d]Him. In love 5 [e]He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will," Ephesians 1:1-5, NASB
Paul here praised God for giving us every "spiritual blessing in Christ" verse 3. The spiritual blessings are not the same as material blessings. Nor does it say that it will be easy for us or that we will be wealthy in material possessions. Paul himself was often in prison and in need. It is the spiritual blessings that God has lavished upon us. The idea of lavish is that our cup runs over. Some of those blessings Paul will then go on to mention in the early part of this chapter such as the redemption through his blood and the adoption as children of God vs.4 also see John 1:12
The word "adoption" implies an inheritance as a part of the family of God. This idea is through the New Testament. The word adoption is used 5 times besides here it is in Romans 8:15,23,9:4 and Galatians 4:5. He saved us not because we deserved it or because of how great we have done but because of his will and good pleasure. Wycliffe said it this way, "The cause of God's choice of us is not to be found in us, but in Him alone." The determining factor is not in something we have done, but also as Wycliff says, "The will of God is the determining factor". This choice of God occurred before verse 4 "the creation of the world". Literally before you had the chance to do anything good or bad.
There is something about the word predestination that may rub us the wrong way. It is humbling to think that there is nothing that you could do to earn God's favor. The Bible though always uses the word "chosen" or eklegomai in the greek as a positive. It is to be chosen, much like choosing to adopt a child, that God chose you to be blameless and holy before Him. This holiness does not come as a result of our works, but in verse 7 it says taht it is because of his redemption of us by his blood. In other words, Christ death on the cross was a ransom paid for our sins that we could not pay ourselves for forgiveness of sins or trespasses (paraptoma) to fall beside, a lapse or deviation.
There is something about human nature that is a deviation from what God intended. Even though we still care the image of God in us it is marred by sin. It's kinda like when a foundation on a house is built. If you ever noticed how long builders spending making sure everything is measured correctly and level before building on the foundation. If the foundation is not correct, then nothing that is build on it will be true. That is what sin did to the human nature. It corrupted the foundation of our spirit and we need to be redeemed. It is something only God can do for us and we cannot do ourselves.
John Courson Ephesians 1 https://www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/courson_jon/Eph/Ephesians.cfm#Ephesians_1_1_5
Chuck Smith media on Ephesians 1
https://www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/smith_chuck/5000/Eph/Verse_by_Verse_Study.cfm#Ephesians_1_1982_85_Audio
Dr. J Vernon McGee messages on Ephesians
https://www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/mcgee_j_vernon/Eph/Ephesians.cfm#Ephesians_1_1_2
Charles Spurgeon sermon on Ephesians 1:7
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2207.cfm?a=1098001
