Saturday, February 27, 2021

Ephesians 1:5 and "the good pleasure of his will" (τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ)

Eph 1:5 in the KJV reads as follows:

 

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

 

In the Douay-Rheims, the verse is rendered as follows:

 

Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto himself: according to the purpose of his will.

 

On the meaning of “good pleasure of his will”/”purpose of his will,” Robert Sungenis wrote the following, showing that it is not arbitrary or does not take into account free-will action of human agents, etc:

 

7 “purpose of his will”: Gr: τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ:, perhaps better translated as the more subjective “good pleasure of his will” (as in vr. 9) rather than the objective “purpose,” since εὐδοκίαν is normally used as such in the NT (cf. Gl 1:15; Cl 1:19; 1Th 3:1; 2Pt 1:17). Paul does not say “according to his will” but what is ‘pleasing to’ or the ‘good pleasure’ of his will. As such, the election is not procured in an absolute sense (e.g., the Calvinistic or Lutheran concept of supralapsarianism) wherein God saves or damns without regard of man’s free will response. Neither does God have a “secret will” wherein the criteria for the election is hidden since, as vr. 9 indicates, God already made “known unto us the mystery of his will” in the Gospel, and the Gospel certainly includes man’s free will as an integral part of salvation. (Robert Sungenis, The Epistles to the Ephesians and Hebrews [Catholic Apologetics Study Bible VIII; State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2019], 5 n. 7)

 

In his excellent book on justification, Sungenis also noted that:


Paul uses three different words to describe man’s quest for God: The first word, ζητειν (“to seek”), is the ordinary word the New Testament uses for seeking God (e.g., Mt 6:33; 7:7-8; Lk 12:31; 17:33; Rm 2:7; Cl 3:1), and is used here as an infinitive of purpose, i.e., it is the purpose of God for men to seek him. The second word, ψηλαφησειαν (“reach out for him”), appears three other times in the New Testament in reference to feeling or touching God or Jesus (e.g., Lk 24:39; Hb 12:18; 1Jn 1:1). The third word, ευριεν is the ordinary word for “find.” Both ψηλαφησειαν and ευριεν are optative verb forms through which Paul is expressing a clear and distinct expectation from men. Paul reinforces this expectation by καιγε ου μακραν απο ενος εκαστου ημων υπαρχοντα (“though he is not far from each one of us”) preceded by the strong conditional ει αρα γε (“so that” or more emphatically “if then” or “if therefore” (as αρα γε is used in Mt 7:20; 17:26), and by the strengthened και with the addition of γε to read “even being not far from each one of us”). Also, the expectation of the each individual to seek God, not merely men as a group seeking God, is made emphatic by Paul’s addition of “each one of us.” (Robert A. Sungenis, Not by Faith Alone: The Biblical Evidence for the Catholic Doctrine of Justification [2d ed.; Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2009], 398 n. 483)

 


Further Reading

 

An Examination and Critique of the Theological Presuppositions Underlying Reformed Theology