Paul's revelation of the Gospel (the Good News) begins with powerful words of praise. He wants those reading or listening to experience the joy and power of the blessings now available in Christ. Though writing to believers, Paul is concerned that a lot of them still need a revelation of the full grace and peace that has come to them from their Father. How about you? Are you living by confident faith in all three themes of the Gospel of grace?

Both the brief greeting and the opening long sentence are about the grace coming to us from our ‘Father’, who is also ‘the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Med.#9). Yet Paul is not initially talking about forgiveness of sin and redemption; for God's grace and favor is first and foremost about our receiving the ‘placement as sons’ [Gr. huiothesia]’—the coming of age in the Father's family. This ‘blessing’, that has now been fulfilled through Jesus (‘the One he loved’), has always been his ‘will’ and destiny for us. Before the foundation of the world our Father, in Christ, ‘chose us’—human beings and not any other creatures—to be his sons and daughters. And his will for us involved a two-stage process: of living ‘for a little while lower than the angels’, then one day being ‘crowned with glory and honor’ (Med.#7). First living under ‘guardians’ until ‘the planned-in-advance placing by the Father’—a ‘placement as (adult) sons’ within the family (Med.#4 & #5). This coming-of-age, and not redemption, is the first theme of the Gospel. And Paul repeats this first reason for praising ‘his glory’ when he goes on to write about us receiving the Spirit, as ‘the deposit of guarantee on our inheritance’.

In his second expression of praise, Paul turns finally to the way the Father's grace came to us in the redemption we have through Christ. Because of our sin, ‘we all’—both Jews (‘we’) and people of other nations (‘YOU’)—were in a place of death and dishonor in relationship to our Father (Med.#44). And we were all in the dark—to one degree or another—concerning the Father's mysterious purposes (Med.#6)—until Jesus came. Thus the second theme of the Gospel is how the Father's grace was ‘lavished on us’ through the reconciling death of our Eldest Brother (family-Redeemer) on the cross. Redemption and reconciliation, though not the primary demonstration of God's grace to us, nevertheless came to us ‘according to the riches of his grace’—by which in the first place he chose us out of all his creatures to grow up as his sons and daughters.

Though Adam and Eve were created good and had a childlike level of intimacy with their Father, they were not yet ‘spiritual adults’. At creation Adam and Eve became ‘living beings’ by the breath (Spirit) of God, but their destiny and ours was always to receive something more ('placement as sons')—through Jesus as our Eldest Brother becoming a ‘life giving Spirit’ after he received the ‘Spirit without limit’ (Med.#58). Also, the mortal bodies they were given were vulnerable to sin and death. These would still need to undergo a transformation before they could ‘inherit’ the pre-destined ‘kingdom’ (Med.#94).

Finally, Paul introduces the third theme of the Gospel. In Christ we all can now know the Father's mysterious purpose. The reason he created all kinds of diversity—including the diversity of nations in their separate territories—was so that in the ‘fullness of the times’ he could ‘gather together as one, all things’ under Christ as Head. This coming together of all the nations [Gr. ethne] ‘in Christ—as fellow-citizens (Med.#44) and co-heirs—was not obvious, even to the Jews who had intensively studied the Scriptures; for God had kept it hidden (Med.#6).

Yes, Paul says, Israel (‘we’) was the ‘first to hope’ in the destiny that was to come in the Messiah. They were indeed set apart as a ‘holy nation’ of ‘priests’ to other nations (Med.#C). But, in Christ, believers of all nations—including those of Israel—have equal access to the Father. The Law was given to Israel only as a righteous ‘tutor until Christ came’ (Med.#4); no one could be ‘made fully mature’ by it.[ii] Only the Spirit could do that. And though circumcision was a kind of ‘seal’ of belonging for Jews (Rom.4:11), believers of other nations ('YOU') now only need to be ‘sealed' by the Spirit—without having to submit to Jewish laws and customs (Med.#28). In Christ and by the Spirit, all nations now have equal access to the Father. And all dominance, hostility and ethnic separation has been destroyed, by the cross (Med.#44).

When you can honestly praise your Dad first for the intimacy and inheritance you enjoy with him and with people of all nations in the Spirit, then you've truly experienced Paul's revelation of the Mystery of the Gospel, in all its three themes.