According to Ephesians chapter 1, the reason why a holy God chooses sinners has nothing to do with the sinners, and everything to do with God.  In a moment this will be explained — first, let us get some context to the chapter.

Most Bible translators divide the first chapter of Ephesians into three sections: verses 1-2, 3-14 and 15-23.  The first section, comprising of only two verses, is a greeting that introduces to us both the author and the recipients of the letter.  The last section (verses 15-23) is a prayer Paul prays for the Ephesians, asking God to grant them wisdom, revelation and a deeper knowledge of God.  To answer our question, we will have to focus on the middle section (verses 3-14).  This section can be summoned up in one verse:  “Blessed/praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places” (vs. 3).  The rest of the verses (4-14) actually explain to us what it means to be blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  It might be helpful to understand what this means before we answer our question.

To be blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places means that:

• God the Father chose us/predestined us unto holiness (vs. 4)
• He adopted us and made us his sons (vs. 5)
• He redeemed us and forgave our sin (vs. 7)
• He has made known to us how the future will unfold—the mystery of his will (vs. 8-9)
• He gives us an inheritance and a guarantee that we will one day acquire that inheritance (vs. 11-14)

Question!  Are the first two on the list separate blessings or just one?  In other words, is verse 5 (“…in love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ”) an explanation of what it means to be chosen “in him before the foundation of the world”?

Each one of these things listed above can be unpacked at length, but our purpose here is rather to answer the question, “Why does a holy God choose sinners?”  Ephesians 1 suggests at least two answers.  Firstly, “he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ…to the praise of his glorious grace” (vs. 5) (italics mine).  He chose Jews “ … to the praise of his glory” (vs. 12) (italics mine) and Gentiles “to the praise of his glory” (vs. 14) (italics mine).  In other words, he chose every one for the same reason: “to the praise of his glory.”

Secondly, verse 4 tells us “…he chose us in him…that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

Those two things, our holiness and the praise of God’s glorious grace, are not unrelated.  In other words, our blameless and holy walk brings praise to our God.  That is why in 4:22-24, Paul calls the Ephesians to “put off your old self…and to put on your new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

The appropriate way to respond to what God has done for us is to praise him (vs. 3).  We do this best by living a holy life – a life worthy of the calling we have received (4:1).