Exploring Ephesians: Inheritance (1:18)

I'm studying the letter to the Ephesians in a bible study group at my church. I'm going to write about interesting things I observe in the text, and my attempts to piece together details that were new to me and are perhaps less obvious to other readers. These are meant to be brief and exploratory, not exhaustive or dogmatic; they're intended to drive further pondering and study, not deeply cover an entire topic. While I tend to write assertively, take my assertions with a grain of salt. As I opened my previous post with, I write mostly to myself but with an eye toward an audience that like me may want to be challenged and spurred on to greater understanding and application of their beliefs. I'm tracking my thought processes in this way to get them out "on paper" so I can wrestle with them further. So use these musings to grow in critical thinking about life and faith--that includes being critical of where I'm not quite right either.

Other posts in this series:

• Gifts (4:11-12)

This first exploration is on Ephesians 1:18, and is actually in contemplation of a question brought up during my bible study discussion that no one had a clear answer to. Here's that verse for reference:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his [Christ's] calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:18 CSB)

Previous verses say that "we" (the saints) have an inheritance in Christ:

In him [Christ] we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will [...] The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11,14 CSB)

So why does verse 18 specifically say that the inheritance is "in" the saints, vs. something like "for" or "with" instead? Isn't it our inheritance in Christ rather than Christ's inheritance in us?

The following verse from the Old Testament sheds light on the directionality of the inheritance that has been in place since God first chose Israel to be His people:

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance
and divided the human race,
he set the boundaries of the peoples 
according to the number of the people of Israel. 
But the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob, his own inheritance.
(Deuteronomy 32:8-9 CSB)

So His people are His glorious inheritance and portion. God through Christ redeemed us as His inheritance; we don't inherit Christ, at least not in the same way.

And 1 Peter (among other places) shows that if we are in Christ, all people--not just Israel--are chosen to be His possession, His people:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10 CSB)

But the language of adoption as heirs and the promise of inheritance for believers is is also clearly present in Ephesians. So I think there's an element here of: We are each gifted an inheritance (the Spirit), so that we--collectively as His people--can be God's chosen inheritance/portion.

God's inheritance is to once again have His people, His images, ruling the earth with Him alongside as Father and Creator. Our inheritance is the sealing of the Spirit to mark us as heirs, and empower us to walk once again at God's side, following now after Christ whose example and sacrifice paved the way.

I think this challenges me in my culture of entitlement. God's gift is valuable because I am in need of extraordinary mercy for my failures and shortcomings, and I need hope that my life can have purpose. Materialism and consumerism deceive my heart to think that I can do good on my own, and work or buy my way into comfort and purpose. And so God's generous inheritance can feel like an entitlement to live my life my way since my salvation is "sealed".

But God made me in His image to walk with Him. And Christ walked ahead and said, "Follow me." I am in a way "depriving" God of a piece of His portion for His people on His earth when I squander the gifts He gave me on myself instead of on being His hands and feet. As Paul writes a couple paragraphs later in Ephesians:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10 CSB)