All blessings past, present, or future, realized or anticipated, are according to, and in

subservience to, His will. If we count the number of occurrences of the word will

(thelema) in Ephesians we shall find that it is seven, the number always connected with

spiritual perfection. The seven occurrences are as follows:--

A1 | 1: 1. Apostleship.

A2 | 1: 5, 9, 11. Doctrine.

A3 | 2: 3; 5: 17; 6: 6. Practice.

It will be seen that doctrine and practice are equally related to this mighty will.

A2 | a | 1: 5. Good pleasure of His will.--Predestination to sonship.

b | 1: 9. Mystery of His will.--The fulness of the seasons.

a | 1: 11. Counsel of His will.--Predestination to inheritance.

Such is the blessed doctrine; what shall the practical answer be? Shall we be blessed

with sonship and inheritance, shall we contemplate the heading up of all things in the

Christ without at least a desire to "walk worthy"?  The remaining references seem

designed to answer the question.

A3 | c | 2: 3. Doing the will of the flesh.--"Once."

d | 5: 17. The will of the Lord.--Present rule.

c | 6: 6. Doing the will of God.--"Now."

Let us look again at the three doctrinal references. We have the "good pleasure," the

"mystery (or secret)," and "the counsel" of His will. This is the will of One Who is

infinitely gracious, this is the will of One Who is seeking the blessing of His people. The

first qualifying term "good pleasure" is the one we will pause to consider here. The word

translated "good pleasure" is the word eudokia, which occurs nine times in the N.T. In

Matt. 11: 26 and Luke 10: 21, "So it seemed good"; Rom. 10: 1, "My heart's desire";

Luke 2: 14 and Phil. 1: 15, "good will" as opposed to envy and strife, and in conjunction

with "peace"; Phil. 2: 13 and II Thess. 1: 11,"good pleasure." These last two passages are

helpful by reason of the light which they throw upon the relation of good pleasure to the

will of God. Phil. 2: 13, "For it is God Who worketh in you both the willing and the

working on account of (His) good pleasure"; II Thess. 1: 11, "And fulfil all the good

pleasure of (His) goodness and the work of faith with power." What depths of grace and

graciousness are here! "This," as Blackwell observes, "is the shortest and most charming

emphatical representation that is anywhere to be found of the immense graciousness and

admirable benignity of God, which no words or thoughts can fully express as here."

Eudokia comes from eudekeõ, "to think well"; dekeõ, "to think," also means to decree or

determine (see "dogma," "dogmatic"). "It seemed good to me"; dekeõ supplies the idea