Charles Ellicott Commentary Ephesians 1:11

"in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will;" — Ephesians 1:11 (ASV)

On verses 10-11:

Even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. We have here (in the repetition, “even in Him”) an emphatic transition to the truth most closely concerning the Apostle and his readers. The word “we” is not here emphatic, and the statement might be a general statement applicable to all Christians; but the following verse seems to limit it to the original Jewish believers—the true Israel, who (like the whole of Israel in ancient times) have become a people of inheritance (Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 9:29; Deuteronomy 32:9), so succeeding to the privileges (Romans 11:7) which their brethren in blindness rejected.

Possibly this suggests the particular word used here (and only here), meaning either “we were made partakers of a lot” in God’s kingdom (to which Colossians 1:12, who has made us meet for a part of the lot of the saints, closely corresponds), or “we were made His lot or inheritance.” The latter perhaps suits the Greek better, certainly accords better with the Old Testament idea, and gives a more emphatic sense.

A third possible sense is “were chosen by lot.” This is adopted by the Vulgate, supported by the only use of the word in the Septuagint (1 Samuel 14:41). Chrysostom and Augustine explained it as signifying the freedom of election without human merit, while the following words show it not to be really by chance, but by God’s secret will. However, this interpretation seems quite foreign to the character of the passage.

Being predestinated . . . that we should be to the praise of his glory. This is an application of the general truth previously declared (Ephesians 1:5–6) that the source of election is God’s predestination, and the object of it the manifestation of His glory.

After the counsel of his own will. The expression evidently denotes not only the deliberate exercise of God’s will by determinate counsel and foreknowledge (Acts 2:23), but also the guidance of that will by wisdom to the fulfillment of the Law Eternal of God’s righteous dispensation. Hooker, in a well-known passage (Eccl. Pol. i. 2), quotes it as excluding the notion of an arbitrary will of God, “They err, who think that of God’s will there is no reason except His will.”

On verses 11-14:

Ephesians 1:11–14 form the third part of the Introduction, applying the general truth of election by God’s predestination in Christ, first to the original believers (the Jews), and then to the later believers (the Gentiles).