Ephesians 1:14

The Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence is a pledge of all that God will give us as His children. This pledge is not just a promise but the first part of our inheritance, the down payment, so to speak (cf. Genesis 38:17-20 LXX). The fact that we possess Him now (the "already" aspect of our salvation) assures us that the rest of our salvation (the "not yet" portion) will inevitably follow. An engagement ring is this kind of pledge.

"The content of the inheritance here is life in heaven with God." [Note: Joseph C. Dillow, The Reign of the Servant Kings, p. 90.]

The redemption in view here (Gr. apolytrosin) is a different aspect of our salvation than the redemption mentioned in Ephesians 1:7. Here it is not release from sin’s guilt (Ephesians 1:7), but release from sin’s presence (cf. Romans 8:23; Philippians 3:20-21). In Ephesians 1:7, justification is in view, but here glorification is, the final aspect of our redemption. We experience redemption in three stages: we have been redeemed in Christ (Ephesians 1:7), we are being redeemed as the Spirit makes us more like Christ (Romans 8:1-4), and we shall be redeemed when Christ returns and we become sinless, as He is. God’s possession is the believer whom He has chosen (Ephesians 1:3-6), redeemed (Ephesians 1:7-12), and sealed (Ephesians 1:13-14) "to the praise of His glory" (cf. Ephesians 1:6; Ephesians 1:12; Ephesians 1:18). Another view is that the inheritance in Ephesians 1:11 as well as the possession in Ephesians 1:14 is the church. [Note: E.g., Stott, p. 47.] However, the context seems to be describing blessings that every individual Christian enjoys rather than blessings that God enjoys.

"This beautiful phrase needs to be unpacked. The glory of God is the revelation of God, and the glory of his grace is his self-disclosure as a gracious God. To live to the praise of the glory of his grace is both to worship him ourselves by our words and deeds as the gracious God he is, and to cause others to see and to praise him too." [Note: Ibid., p. 50.]

The nine spiritual blessings Paul identified in Ephesians 1:3-14 are election, predestination, adoption, grace, redemption, forgiveness, knowledge, sealing, and inheritance. Stott summarized them as three: past election, present adoption, and future unification. [Note: Ibid., p. 36.] The recurrence of the phrase "in Christ" and equivalent expressions emphasizes that all these blessings come with our union with our Savior (Ephesians 1:3-4; Ephesians 1:6-7; Ephesians 1:9-10; Ephesians 1:12-13 [twice]). Likewise the repetition of "His will" and its equivalents emphasizes that the sovereign God is responsible for all these blessings (Ephesians 1:5; Ephesians 1:9; Ephesians 1:11). These verses (3-14) contain a compact statement of every believer’s spiritual riches. The passage is similar to a bank statement because it lists every Christian’s spiritual assets.

"We have been listening to an overture of the hallelujahs of the blest, and it closes, as it began, on the note of the praise of God’s glory, the highest of all themes. . . . False and true theology may be discriminated by a simple criterion. Do they magnify God or man?" [Note: Simpson, p. 36.]