What an exclamation coming from the pen of the apostle Paul, every word pregnant with meaning, the sum of which is a high response to deep theological truth. The blessings outlined in verses 3-5 evoke praise. Here is one excited apostle! And we should be as well, when we consider the blessing of being adopted by the Creator God of the universe.

A figure of speech called a metonymy is used in praising “His grace,” where a characteristic of a person is used in place of the person himself. In this case the praise for God is expressed as a praise for His grace. We are wonderful beneficiaries of His unmerited favor, His simply choosing us by an inward motivation that flows out of His character. He is not gracious because His gracious acts make Him that way, as though He were not gracious before He acted graciously. No, that would mean He became gracious.  Rather, He acted graciously toward us because He is by character gracious.  So it is natural that He acts toward us that way, because that is the kind of Deity He is. He didn’t become that way, He was and is and will always be that gracious.

Literally speaking, it is the “glory of” His grace that Paul is praising. The term “glory” comes from the idea of solidness, weightiness. It was originally used by the ancient Greeks to describe a weighty structure, like a Corinthian column.  It was heavy, substantial. In time the word came to be used in describing a person’s character and the verb form (“to glorify”) was used to reveal or show a person’s true  character. So Paul is saying that God showed the weightiness, the real character, of His grace in adopting us as His children.  When we consider how unworthy we are, it speaks volumes about His actions and the greatness of His character of grace!

As if that wasn’t praise enough, the apostle goes on to write that God’s choice was entirely free, He was not compelled by anything outside of Himself, certainly not by any works of righteousness we might have done that would indebt Him to us. He freely blessed us as a pure choice of His sovereign will.

Does this choice of God in predestining us to adoption (as verse 6 puts it) negate our free will? No. Paul is not addressing that topic which so fascinates and confounds arm-chair theologians today. Elsewhere he makes clear that we are responsible for our choices, in particular, our choosing to confess Christ  (see Romans 10:9-10). However, God’s choice is dimensionally different than our choices. Praise God that it is so, for His grace is our assurance!