Ephesians 1:7-10

⁷In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace ⁸that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, ¹⁰to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

Paul continues to praise God the Father in v7, for in Christ “we have redemption through His blood.” Paul is praising God the Father for His eternal plan and purpose, for His most costly grace, which included the redemptive work, the life, death, burial, and resurrection, of His Son, Jesus Christ. Praise God for redemption in Christ. Now redemption is essentially defined here as “the forgiveness of sins” – Calvin says, “We are redeemed, because our sins are not imputed to us” – but Paul has in mind a deliverance by paying a ransom. William Barclay, in The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians, Revised Edition (Westminster John Knox Press, 1976, pg. 81), says redemption “is the delivering of a man from a situation from which he was powerless to liberate himself or from a penalty which he himself could never have paid.” This costly grace, this redemption, the forgiveness of sins, came freely to the called “through His blood” – the blood of Christ (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22, 10:4) – “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us.” We didn’t have to pay for it; we couldn’t have. The message of praise to God here is all about the riches of His glorious grace (v11-12) lavished (overflowing) on us bought by Jesus’ blood.

Paul goes on in v8-9 to say that in His infinite wisdom (philosophical / theological knowledge) and understanding (practical application of the knowledge), God the Father has made known to the saints the mystery of His will; God’s revelation, bestowed to His people in superabundant grace, is sufficient for a correct (Biblical) worldview. As the Holy Spirit instructs us from within on the Scriptures, we are thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:17). Paul is talking here about our calling, which follows foreknowledge and predestination (election) in the golden chain of salvation (Romans 8:29-30).

For Paul, a mystery is simply something revealed that was once concealed, and he will elaborate on this concept in Ephesians 2-3. Paul tells us in Romans 1:18-32 that all men know that there is a God; all men know that that God is to be worshiped; all men know something of the attributes of God; all men know that God has a right and a wrong, and that He will judge the wrong and He will reward the right. But Paul also tells us here that not everyone knows the fullness of God’s redeeming plan. That is something that God in His grace and mercy has revealed in the gospel, and as Paul proclaims the gospel, it falls upon ears that could not have understood it apart from the grace of God in announcing it and making it known (the doctrine of calling). Understanding salvation is a blessing, to see the truth of God’s redeeming plan revealed in the gospel, learned through the Holy Spirit. Vincent Cheung says, “Faith is not something by which you obtain the benefits of the atonement, but faith is something by which God applies the benefits of the atonement to you.”

One aspect of the mystery of God’s will revealed in this letter to the Ephesians is that process of salvation; another is that the Gentiles are being welcomed into God’s family along with believing Jews. The revealed mystery here in v10, according to Paul, is God’s grand purpose to bring all things under the headship of Christ, that God’s wisdom, understanding, will, purpose, and pleasure find their unison in making Jesus Christ the head of all things in heaven and on earth. This will “be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment.” God, in His good and kind purposes, which must be all the answer we require when confounded by these high doctrinal truths, has brought His saving plan to pass at just the right time, at just the right place, in just the right way (Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 9:15). The battle was won with Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection (Christus Victor), and so there is an already sense of Christ’s kingdom; but the not-yet sense of His kingdom (“Thy Kingdom Come”) will commence with His return in glory (see Galatians 4:4; Colossians 1:15-20; Acts 2:32-36). It is a grace to know that no matter what is going on in your life in any of its circumstances, the grand purpose of God is the exaltation of Jesus Christ, and the bringing of all things under His rule and under His headship. That truth is life re-orienting. For His glory, God is bringing this whole universe under the orderly and perfect, eternal rule of Jesus Christ. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!