God’s divine purpose in all that He does from eternity past and on to the eternal future, is toward the attainment of praise for His own glory. Here in verse 6, the word ‘glory’ is used adjectivally to describe one particular aspect of God’s presence, namely His grace. It may be accurately translated, “to the praise of His glorious grace.” To say that God’s grace is glorious, means that it is a reflection of His glory, that is, His revealed character. To praise God’s grace then is to praise Him.
Our text in Ephesians drives us on with a relative clause which emphasizes another aspect of God’s glorious grace – by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. This reminds us once again that all of God’s blessings, including most of all His grace, come only in Christ, “the Beloved.” With these words, the Holy Spirit declares one of the most beautiful and comforting truths in all of Scripture, the fact that there is an inviolable, immutable union between Jesus Christ and His people. This union is entered into upon the initiative of God who “accepts” (in Greek the verb is, charito-o) literally, “favors” or “graces” us. The verb, e-charit-osen (from the noun charis which means grace) is an aorist indicative verb, which describes a past tense single action taken by God, which in turn, changes our position. This positional change initiated by God comes as He has graced us in the Beloved. Chosen from all eternity to be the bride of Christ, when we come to faith in Him and are born again, we enter into a marriage covenant – a vital union whereby everything that is His is ours. To be “graced in the Beloved” means that as objects of His love, we become highly favored just as Christ is
