Ephesians 1:11-12

1:11

In him – in Christ, living in trust of Christ, living already as one united with Christ

we – verses 12 – 13 suggest that “we” here now refers to believing Jews

also – along with, in the same manner as “you” i.e., the Gentiles

were chosen – selected from among others; but in the flow of the passage it seems Paul is picturing the group of believers, the community of faith, as being chosen rather than individual people chosen to the exclusion of others.

having been predestined – God decided in the beginning that the community who trust

in Him—by grace through faith—would be accepted. These are the ones who have been predestined.

according to the plan – again this was the design all along

of him who works out everything – it is incredible how God allows us to have free will and yet all the while He works out everything…

in conformity with the purpose of his will – He planned it with a certain purpose in mind and even with our free will He keeps history moving toward the purpose He determined all along. Generally, this verse seems to echo what was said earlier.

1:12

in order that – for the purpose, to enable/accomplish a goal

we, who were the first – every generation will face this struggle between those who represent established Christian practice (“we who were first”) versus “you” (who came to faith later). In this letter the sides are represented by the Jews who were born and raised in monotheistic religion and received the message of the Messiah first. And on the other side of the equation were the Gentiles who were either non-religious or polytheistic and had not background of teaching about a promised Messiah. Today, the divide may be either or a combination of the following: Christians who grew up in the church; New believers who grew up very secularized; Long-time, well established believers who have grown comfortable with the usual ways of doing church; Restless believers who are tired of business as usual.

first to hope in Christ – In context, God reminds me that my Christian heritage both gives and does not give an advantage. My godly heritage trained my thinking to try to look at the world from God’s perspective—with a Christian worldview. At the same time, it opens me to certain temptations: viz., superior attitude toward later converts, insisting that I know best, etc. I think/pray that God has done pretty well at helping me avoid the extremes of these temptations.

might be – God hopes and intends that I will live…

for the praise of his glory – do we ever hear this reminder too much? It’s not about “we who were first” chronologically; it’s all about Him who is first in importance.