Paul launches into what Charles Erdman calls a “Hymn of Grace” in Ephesians 1:4-14.

1.  Our salvation was planned by the Father (vv. 4-6), we were chosen and adopted into His family.

-God chose or “called-out” a people for Himself, to be His unique precious possession.  God does the choosing, we are the object of His choice.

-God chose before the universe was created, before time

-God’s purpose was that we might be holy (set apart to God) and blameless (used of proper sacrificial animals in the Old Testament.  This is true of us already positionally, and should be the goal of our lives experientially (we are to be different, we are to live sacrificially)

-In adoption we were released from the bondage of sin and death of our former lives, we are given a new status as God’s own in which we have access to the Father, communion with the Father, and an inheritance from God the Father.

2.  Our salvation was provided by the Son (vv. 7-12), we were redeemed and forgiven. 

-the six words used for redemption in the New Testament all have the idea of being in bondage, the payment of a ransom, and release from that bondage.  Jesus came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45).

-as a result of our redemption, our sins are forgiven (that is “carried away” from us)

3.  Our salvation was applied by the Holy Spirit (vv. 13-14).  The Holy Spirit has been given to us both as a Seal over our lives (we are thus secure in our salvation) and as a down-payment guaranteeing that God will complete in us that which He has begun.