Ephesians 1:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Since a lot is a matter of chance, not of free will or merit, and since it cannot be foreseen but depends on a convergence of circumstances, so that often virtuous men do not receive it, while men who deserve no attention are brought onto the scene, notice how the Apostle completes this. "Having been predestined," he says, "according to the purpose of Him who works." That is, we did not simply "become heirs," just as He did not simply choose us.

Since the One who chose is God, we do not owe our election to chance. Since the One who made us heirs is God, we received the inheritance not by chance, but according to foreknowledge. In the Epistle to the Romans, reasoning about this, he says: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined. And whom He predestined, these He also called. And whom He called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified" (Rom 8:29-30).

Having first spoken of those who are called according to foreknowledge, and meanwhile wishing to show something greater concerning the others, he also speaks of inheritance by lot, so as not to take away God's sovereign authority. In this way he affirms what especially bestows blessedness. For an inheritance by lot is not a reward for virtue, but, so to speak, a matter of chance, as if someone were to say: He chose us by casting lots.

In reality, everything here was done intentionally. Having chosen those predestined according to foresight, He set them apart for Himself, because He saw us beforehand before He made us heirs. Wondrous is the divine foreknowledge, which sees all things before their fulfillment.

Moreover, notice how the Apostle everywhere tries to explain that all these deeds were not arranged because of repentance, but were predestined precisely thus from of old. Everything was accomplished by Him in accordance with this predestination, so that in this respect we are in no way less than the Jews.

But how, you will say, does Christ Himself say: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 15:24)? Again, He said to the Apostles: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans" (Mt 10:5). Paul himself also said: "It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you. But since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46).

All this was said so that no one might think this was done as an unnecessary addition. "According to the purpose," he says, "of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." That is, He predestined all things from the beginning and did nothing apart from this. Thus He acted to the end according to the counsel of His will. This means that He did not call the Gentiles at all because the Jews did not obey Him. He was not brought or compelled to this by them.

He says, “according to the good pleasure of His will,” to show that the Gentiles were not called by chance because the Hebrews did not believe.

Rather, this had been predestined from eternity, and this counsel of God and His will existed from the beginning.

For although Christ said, “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles” (Mt 10:5), and, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt 15:24), these words were spoken for the admonition of the Jews.

They were meant to draw them in as children inclined to deception. In truth, the calling of the Gentiles had been predestined from before the ages.

Having indicated this advantage of the Jews by the words, “we were made heirs,” that is, brought into the inheritance, the Apostle then points to the foundation and goal of their election.

The foundation lies in the free decision and decree of God, “Who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” The goal is that they should first serve for the glory of the manifested Messiah, the Savior.

And this they did, by being the place of the Savior’s manifestation and the point of departure for His glorification. For where did the Savior appear? Among the Jews.

Where was His saving activity revealed, or where was the economy of salvation accomplished by Him? Among the Jews. Where did His glorification begin, and whence did it go forth?

From the Jews, through the first heralds of the Gospel, or preaching concerning the Savior, the holy Apostles. They appeared as such because God had first chosen them for this work from among all nations.

After this election there followed special dispositions of God, preparing them for the proper fulfillment of their purpose. Therefore they had previously hoped in Christ and awaited Him.

When He came, they served as the soil for the growth of the Kingdom of Christ. They also became the instrument for drawing other nations into it.

The election of the Hebrew people for this work depended on the will of God. It was pleasing to God, and He chose them.

One may point to certain traits in the character of the Hebrews, from which one may judge that they were more fitting than others for this work.

Yet one may also suppose that any nation in their place would have proved fit for it, if so many direct divine benefactions had been bestowed upon it.

The Apostle does not point to anything of that sort. He says only, “according to the purpose of God,” in Greek προθεσιν, according to the proposal, decision, and decree of the divine will.

So God was well pleased. Did the Jews fulfill this appointment? They did. Among them the first Church blossomed. And it then spread its branches throughout the whole inhabited world.

That Christ was not received by the nation as a whole may not have belonged to the features of the predestination. A chick, conceived in an egg, takes into itself all that is fit from it.

Some remnants and the shell are then scattered here and there, while the chick flies freely over the face of the earth. So it was with the people of God.

All that was fit in it entered the Kingdom of Christ, the Church. What was unfit was scattered over the face of the earth.

Blessed Theodoret writes: “Having predestined us in the beginning, He appointed us to life, He Who does all that is pleasing to Him. The Apostle then indicates more clearly to what lot we have been predestined.

It is ‘that we should be to the praise of His glory.’ For all, looking upon us who have believed in the Lord, hymn Christ, the cause of these blessings.”