             in whom
               we also have received
                    an inheritance
                      determined beforehand
                      according to the purpose
                              of the One working all things
                      in accord with the purpose (agreement)
                                of His will
                      so that we should be
                             to the praise of His glory
                          those who had previously
                                  trusted in Christ //
              in whom you also having heard
                          the word of truth
                          the good news
                            of your salvation
              in whom having also believed
                  having been sealed
                        in the Spirit of Promise
                         the Holy One
                            who is a pledge
                                 given in advance
                                      of our inheritance
                                      to the redemptionÂ
                                        of the purchased possession
                                      to the praise of His glory.
I thought it would be helpful if I zoomed out from the minutiae of the detailed analysis for a moment to enable you to take in the grandeur of what Paul is writing here. Below are the last few Gems I have written for you.
- Bible Gem 627 – Some answers to your inheritance questions (Eph 1:11)
- Bible Gem 628 – that we should be . . . what? (Eph 1:12)
- Bible Gem 629 – Embracing the Word of Truth (Eph 1:13)
Following this Gem we have the following Gems:
- Bible Gem 631 – Sealed in the Spirit of Promise
- Bible Gem 632 – An Advanced Pledge (down payment) of Our Inheritance
Do you see that all of the above flows together? That is the way Paul writes. Remember this is all one sentence with participles and relative pronouns linking everything together. Paul has spent the first half of the sentence laying out Who this great God is and what His marvellous plan for the redemption of mankind is all about. Ultimately all the features of our inheritance which I laid out for you in Gem 627 will be to the praise of His glory. Notice that Paul repeats that phrase twice – once in verse 12 and again in verse 14. But some translations switch the intent of the phrase.
- ISV that we might live for his praise and glory (12)
- redeems his own for his praise and glory. (14)
- NLT that we bring praise and glory to God (12)
- so we would praise and glorify him. (14)
I could select more examples but two will suffice; you could find other examples among the versions. Do you see that although the construction is exactly the same in each verse the intent has been changed. I told you in Bible Gem 628 there was a puzzle for you to solve.
How is it that we, who have previously trusted Christ, end up being to the praise of His glory?
What is it in all of this that results in God’s glory? It is time for you to work it out.
Take the threads of Paul’s thought and put it all together.
How do we end up being to the praise of God’s glory and what does that mean anyway?
Allow me to spell it out for you if you haven’t had the time nor the inclination to work it out for yourself. How do we bring praise and glory to God? By either praising Him and glorifying Him ourselves because we recognise all He has done for us through the magnitude and scope of the inheritance He has left us. Or because we have heard and believed (trusted) the Good News, the Word of Truth, which will result ultimately to the praise and glory of God. How much more so when we live in an age of relativism where the majority of people don’t believe God’s Word to be true anymore. Rather they say, “There is no absolute Truth, all truth is relative! You have your truth and I have my truth.” We have reached the time when even the facts can be disputed. You have your facts and I have mine. No dear ones, the facts are incontrovertible, not in dispute. What is in dispute is our interpretation of the facts.
You will reach the point of gaining your inheritance, which currently is sealed in the Spirit of Promise (The Holy Spirit) given as a pledge that all God has promised is indeed true. That moment will come when you step out into the Life of the Age to Come, the moment when you will obtain your inheritance from God. Yes all that is listed as your inheritance in Gem 627 will be reality because you believed and trusted the LORD to fulfil His promise to you. It will all be yours because you [trusted / believed] in Him who told you that was the case and you hung on to the promise, believing and keeping on believe until the day you received it – to the praise of His Glory!
- Your praise raised to His glory,
- All the witnesses praise raised to His glory (Hebrews 12:1),
- Along with all the angels praise raised to His glory.
Yes dear reader, there will be a whole lot of praise to God going on and you will be a part of it all, because you endured to the end.
My relationship with God is only as deep as my relationship to His Word.
Robb Thompson
In The Economy Of Man There Is Nothing Cheaper Than Words.
Robb Thompson
In God’s economy it is the (gold) standard where by all other things are judged. It will never pass away.
Anon