Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Ephesians 1:8

"which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence," — Ephesians 1:8 (ASV)

Paul proceeds to list some of the blessings that flow from the matchless grace of God. It may be that an early Christian confession of faith underlies this text. These blessings are all “in Christ”; he is not only their source but also their sphere (cf. Colossians 1:14). They are enjoyed by the believer in the present.

“Redemption” (GK 667) has to do with the emancipation either of slaves or of prisoners. The term implies the payment of a ransom price, a factor frequently reflected in its usage. Here it is specified as being “through his blood” (cf. Colossians 1:20). The price paid for our redemption from bondage to sin was costly beyond measure; it was the very lifeblood of Christ himself, poured out in his death on the Cross. What was foreshadowed in the Levitical system of sacrifices was realized at the Cross when the Son of God laid down his life in death and ransomed us from sin.

“Forgiveness” (GK 912) means loosing a person from what binds him or her; it stems from a verb meaning “to send away” (GK 918). When God deals with our sin, it is dispatched into the wilderness like the scapegoat (Leviticus 16:20–22). Here, however, the reference is not to “sin” (GK 281), as in Col 1:14, but to “sins” (GK 4183). The first term denotes a sinful condition; the second, sinful acts or deviations from the right path. Forgiveness deals with both. The magnanimity of God displayed in redemption and remission of sins is in proportion to “the riches of God’s grace” (a Pauline expression that also occurs in 1:18; 2:4, 7; 3:8, 16).

These riches of grace have been “lavished” (GK 4355) on us; God always gives generously. Paul then enumerates further blessings: every kind of “wisdom” (GK 5053; i.e., knowledge which sees things as they really are) and “understanding” (GK 5860; i.e., discernment that leads to right action).