Charles Ellicott Commentary Ephesians 1:5

"having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will," — Ephesians 1:5 (ASV)

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.—The idea of election depends on the union of the sense of actual difference between people, as to privilege and spiritual life, with the conviction of God’s universal sovereignty.

Hence, in all cases, it leads back to the idea of predestination, that is, of the conception of the divine purpose in the mind of God, before its realisation in actual fact. On the doctrine of predestination, see Romans 9.

It will suffice to note that here:

1. Its source is placed in God’s love.
2. Its meritorious cause is the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Its result is adoption, so that He is the firstborn of many brethren, who are conformed to His image, and redeemed by Him from bondage to sonship (Galatians 4:5). (It is clear that the adoption here is not the final adoption of Romans 8:23, but the present adoption into the Christian covenant, there called the firstfruits of the Spirit; )
4. It is in itself the expression of the good pleasure of His will on which all ultimately depends.
5. Its final purpose is to display God’s glory in the gift of His grace.

In a few words, the whole doctrine is summed up with that absolute completeness so eminently characteristic of this Epistle.

According to the good pleasure of his will.—In our version, “good pleasure,” there is an ambiguity, reproducing the ambiguity of the original. The word used may signify (Luke 10:21; Philippians 2:13) simply God’s free will, to which this or that “seems good,” or (Romans 10:1; Philippians 1:15) “His good will towards us.” Even the old Greek interpreters were divided upon it, and either sense will suit this passage. But the close parallel in Ephesians 1:11, according to the counsel (deliberate purpose) of His will, turns the balance in favour of the former rendering.