Ephesians 1:6

To the praise of the glory of his grace - His glorious, free love without any desert on our part.

To the praise of the glory of his grace,....

We cannot be thus accepted of God, but in and through Jesus Christ. He loves his people for the sake of the beloved. Remission of sins, and redemption through the blood of Jesus,

5:15). in the beloved--pre-eminently so called (Mt 3:17; Greek, "Son of His love." It is only "IN HIS BELOVED" that He loves us (Eph 1:3;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

GOD is essentially glorious. Even were there no eyes to behold Him, no lips to hymn His praise, no intelligent creatures to obey Him, He would be infinitely glorious in Himself. Yet, nevertheless, God chooses to exhibit His Glory that He may get praise out of the hearts of intelligent beings, who, beholding the varied and wonderful manifestations of the exceeding riches of His Grace, may be compelled with joy and gratitude, to glorify Him. In this sense, also, God is glorious—that is, Glory is given unto Him—He is admired, He is beloved, He is adored.

NO Truth of God is more plainly taught in God's Word than this, that the salvation of sinners is entirely owing to the Grace of God. If there is anything clear at all in Scripture, it is plainly there declared that men are lost by their own works but saved through the free favor of God. Their ruin is justly merited, but their salvation is always the result of the unmerited mercy of God. In varied forms of expression, but with constant clearness and positiveness, this Truth is over and over again declared.

Even in the long winter when idolatry had withered the garden of the Lord, her Prophets found space to cease from uttering the thunders of judgment, to lay aside the burden of the Lord for a little season and to say, as Isaiah did, "Now will I sing to my Well-Beloved a song of my Beloved touching His vineyard."

Even in the long winter when idolatry had withered the garden of the Lord, her Prophets found space to cease from uttering the thunders of judgment, to lay aside the burden of the Lord for a little season and to say, as Isaiah did, "Now will I sing to my Well-Beloved a song of my Beloved touching His vineyard." Though the saints had never seen His face, though as yet He was not made flesh, nor had dwelt among us, nor had man beheld His glory—the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father, full of Divine Grace and truth, yet He was the consolation of Israel, the hope and joy of all the chosen, the Beloved of all those who were upright before the Most High. Brethren, in the summer days of the Church, let us not fail to call Christ our Beloved. Both in our prayers, and public songs, and in those nearer and dearer approaches which we make to Him in private—when we may use more tender epithets than we would venture to do in a mixed assembly, we are likely to speak of Christ as the best Beloved of our soul—and to feel that He is to us very precious, the "chief among ten thousand and the altogether lovely." So true is it that the Church loves Christ, and claims Him as her Beloved, that the Apostle dares to defy the whole universe to separate her from the love of Christ, and declares that neither persecutions, distress, affliction, peril, or the sword, have been able to do it.

NO Truth of God is more plainly taught in God's Word than this, that the salvation of sinners is entirely owing to the Grace of God. If there is anything clear at all in Scripture, it is plainly there declared that men are lost by their own works but saved through the free favor of God. Their ruin is justly merited, but their salvation is always the result of the unmerited mercy of God. In varied forms of expression, but with constant clearness and positiveness, this Truth is over and over again declared. Yet, plain as this Truth is, and influencing as it should be in every part of our doctrinal belief, it is frequently forgotten. Many of the heresies which divide the Christian Church, spring from a confusion upon this point. Were that word "Grace" but fully read, marked, and learned, the great evangelical system would be far more firmly held, and plainly preached. But forgetfulness that "by Grace you are saved," is a common fault among all conditions of men. Sinners forget it, and they seek salvation by the works of the Law. They refuse to surrender to the Sovereign Grace of God, and entrench themselves behind the tottering fence of their own righteousness. And saints forget this, too, and therefore their minds become dark, their spirits fall into legal bondage, and where they ought to rejoice in the Lord unceasingly, they become despondent and full of unbelieving dread. Brethren, I am incessantly preaching here the Doctrines of Grace, they are growingly dear to me—and as often as I preach them, I trust they are not wearisome to you. And if they should be, that sad fact would not induce me to be silent upon them, but rather urge me to proclaim them more frequently and fervently! Your weariness of them would be a clear proof that you required to hear them yet again, and again, and again, until your souls were brought to delight in them.

A FEW Sabbath mornings ago I spoke to you upon those memorable words of the great Father, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" [The Voice from the Cloud and the Voice of the Beloved—Sermon #1727.] We now go a step farther and see how the love of God to His beloved Son overflows and runs like a river of life to all those who are in Christ Jesus.

A FEW Sabbath mornings ago I spoke to you upon those memorable words of the great Father, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" [The Voice from the Cloud and the Voice of the Beloved—Sermon #1727.] We now go a step farther and see how the love of God to His beloved Son overflows and runs like a river of life to all those who are in Christ Jesus. To Jesus He says, "This is My beloved Son," and then He turns to all who are in union with Him and says, "These, also, are My beloved for His sake." As Believers we are assured by the text that we are "accepted in the Beloved," to the praise of the glory of God's Grace! Why is that peculiar title used here? It might have been said we are accepted in Christ, or accepted in the Mediator! There must be some motive for giving Him this special name in this place. The motive is declared to be that we may praise the glory of Divine Grace. God did not need a beloved when He made us His beloved—His heart was not pining for an object—His affections were not lonely and desolate. His only-begotten Son was His delight and there was room enough in Him for all the Father's love! It was we that needed to be loved and so the Beloved is mentioned that we may remember the unselfishness of Divine Grace. He makes us His beloved, but He already had a Beloved. We are also reminded that we are "accepted in the Beloved" to let us know that God has not shifted His love—His first Beloved is still His Beloved. We have not supplanted His dear Son, nor even diverted a beam of love from Him. The Lord has called us beloved who were not so and made us a people who were not a people. But He has not withdrawn a grain of love from Jesus, whom He still calls, "My Elect, in whom My soul delights." All the infinite love of God still flows to Jesus and then to us in Him.

GOD is essentially glorious. Even were there no eyes to behold Him, no lips to hymn His praise, no intelligent creatures to obey Him, He would be infinitely glorious in Himself. Yet, nevertheless, God chooses to exhibit His Glory that He may get praise out of the hearts of intelligent beings, who, beholding the varied and wonderful manifestations of the exceeding riches of His Grace, may be compelled with joy and gratitude, to glorify Him. In this sense, also, God is glorious—that is, Glory is given unto Him—He is admired, He is beloved, He is adored. Every attribute of God has its Glory, not only essential, but Glory through its exhibition of Himself. God's power is glorious, as we all know, in the works of His hands. His skill, His wisdom, His benevolence—all these are to be seen in those works of Nature, as we call them, which meet our eyes every day. God's justice is glorious and we sometimes tremble to think how awfully glorious it is in the lowest pit of Hell. We have, on the present occasion, however, not to talk about other attributes of God, but about this one—"the glory of His Grace"—and while we are doing so, I must remark that we shall have to see, incidentally, how this Grace, in itself glorious, really brings Glory to all the other attributes. When God glorifies His Grace, He glorifies His whole Character—Grace becomes a platform upon which all the perfections of Deity exhibit themselves— and Grace becomes a light which shines upon all the rest, and they, albeit bright enough in themselves, seem to be doubly bright when they glow in its brilliance. Where every place is rich, one scarcely needs to strike out a pathway. Let me, however, ask you first to notice the Glory of Divine Grace as it has been displayed, and then, secondly, I will give you a few words on the qualities for which it is distinguished. I.

I SHALL not attempt to do more than simply bring out the Truth of God and leave it with you. Fine words and gaudy sentences, with such a text as this, would be a vain attempt to "paint the lily and gild refined gold." Let this bell ring and there is a depth of silver sweetness in it which will make the sanctified ear and heart glad with the fullness ofjoy. "Accepted in the Beloved." "The Beloved." We all know to whom this refers. Our Lord is the Beloved of God. God is Love, and Christ is God.

I SHALL not attempt to do more than simply bring out the Truth of God and leave it with you. Fine words and gaudy sentences, with such a text as this, would be a vain attempt to "paint the lily and gild refined gold." Let this bell ring and there is a depth of silver sweetness in it which will make the sanctified ear and heart glad with the fullness ofjoy. "Accepted in the Beloved." "The Beloved." We all know to whom this refers. Our Lord is the Beloved of God. God is Love, and Christ is God. He is One with the Eternal Father and we can never tell—it were impossible for us to guess—what love there is between the Father and the Son, in their essential Deity. Jesus is the Beloved of angels. It is their joy to sing praise unto "Him who was, and is, and is to come." He is the Beloved of all the white-robed band who have washed those robes in His blood and who sing, "Unto Him that has loved us, and washed us from our sins in His blood, to Him be glory." He is the Beloved of His saints, who are still wayfaring and warfaring here below. To Him their highest affections gather. He is dearer to them than all besides, "the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely." "The Beloved." Not only Beloved, but, "the Beloved." This is a name for all the saints—"beloved"—for as John the Divine often writes in his Epistles, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." All the family are beloved, but Christ, the Elder Brother, is "the Beloved." He is especially beloved, the choicest, the Chief, who in this has the preeminence. How many times did God testify concerning Him that He was "the Beloved," when He said, "This is my Beloved Son." These waters of Baptism remind us of the scene on Jordan's banks, when the Holy Spirit bore witness that He was the Beloved Son of God. In later life, even in the depths of His humiliation, the Father testified that this was the Beloved Son.

To the praise of the glory of his grace - This is a Hebraism, and means the same as “to his glorious grace.” The object was to excite thanksgiving for his glorious grace manifested in electing love. The real tendency of the doctrine in minds that are properly affected, is not to excite opposition to God, or to lead to the charge of partiality, tyranny, or severity; it is to excite thankfulness and praise. In accordance with this, Paul introduced the statement Eph 1:3 by saying that God was to be regarded as “blessed” for forming and executing this plan. The meaning is, that the doctrine of predestination and election lays the foundation of adoring gratitude and praise. This will appear plain by a few considerations. (1) It is the only foundation of hope for man. If he were left to himself, all the race would reject, the offers of mercy and would perish. History, experience, and the Bible alike demonstrate this. (2) All the joys which any of the human race have, are to be traced to the purpose of God to bestow them. Man has no power of originating any of them, and if God had not intended to confer them, none of them would have been possessed. (3) All these favors are conferred on those who had no claim on God. The Christian who is pardoned had no claim on God for pardon; he who is admitted to heaven could urge no claim for such a privilege and honor; he who enjoys comfort and peace in the hour of death, enjoys it only through the glorious grace of God. (4) “all” that is done by election is suited to excite praise. Election is to life, and pardon, and holiness, and heaven. But why should not a man praise God for these things? God chooses people to be holy, not sinful; to be happy, not miserable; to be pure, not impure; to be saved, not to be lost. For these things he should be praised. He should be praised that he has not left the whole race to wander away and die. […]