Ephesians 1:4-6 Community Group Questions

1. According to v.4, what is the first reason Paul gives for blessing, or giving praise to God the Father?  Is this something that Christians do often? Is it something you do regularly? How do many Christians often respond to the idea of God's unconditional election, or of His sovereign choice of individuals to salvation?

2.What is the significance of Paul telling us that God chose us in Christ "before the foundation of the world"?  Does referencing Romans 9:11 help clear this up? Does this validate the Reformed notion that God's election is unconditional? That is, that His choosing of us unto salvation is not based on any of our own merit or good works or worth? Also see 1 Corinthians 1:27-29; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; Thessalonians 2:13 (see variant reading); 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:1-2

3. According to v. 4, what is the reason that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world? How does understanding the "now/not yet" help us with our assurance (i.e. that God will ultimately present us holy & blameless on the last day, cf. Eph. 5:27; cf. Philippians 1:10), while at the same time not giving us an excuse to live unholy lives in the present (Leviticus 11:44; Deuteronomy 7:1-6; 14:1-2)? Does Philippians 2:12-13 help resolve this apparent tension? How does God's objective declaration of us being holy help us in our subjective fight to become holy in practice? This is important to understand, as Paul doesn't start his commands until chapter 4, where we see how we are to live in a holy and blameless way, in love. That is, God's divine indicatives precede His imperatives.

4. According to verse 5, what is the second reason we are to praise God? Put another way, what is another one of the Spiritual blessings we have in Christ? Just as Paul says that God chose us "in Christ", he now says we are predestined "in" something. According to the ESV translation of 1:4b-5a, what is God's motivation for predestining us? Does translating Romans 8:29 as, "those whom He foreloved He also predestined" strengthen this idea of love being the basis of God's predestinating purposes for His elect? (most NT scholars translate God's "knowing" us as something intimate, that is, not just a cognitive knowledge of facts). Does Deuteronomy 7:1-4 help this?

5. Just as God had a purpose for our being chosen in Christ (namely, "to be holy & blameless before Him), what is the purpose of God predestining us? What is the significance of being adopted as a son in Paul's time?

6. According to verse 6, what is the grand purpose of this section? According to this section, what is the primary reason Paul elaborates upon the doctrines of unconditional election, predestination and adoption?

7. As always, how are all of God's Spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms mediated to His people? Or, better, in and through Whom are they (verse 6b)? Is it significant that in every verse of this section where Paul explains why God the Father should be praised that Jesus is also referenced? Is it then safe to say that God the Father is to be praised by His elect for the grace which He shows us in Christ? Is it also safe to say that God's glory is best revealed to us through the grace He has given us through Christ? If this is true, shouldn't we seek to behold more of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:4-6)? If this is true, shouldn't we with Paul endeavor only to testify to the gospel of the glory of God in Christ (Acts 20:24)?

Remember, orthodoxy produces doxology, which results in orthopraxy.