Ephesians Series - Part 3 - Adopted By God! Series

Review

Just as He chose us in Him - Wuest: “He hath chosen”, “to pick out, choose” is in the middle voice where the subject of the verb acts in his own interest, “to pick or choose out for one’s self.”

...before the foundation of the world... - The word “foundation” is katabole, kat-ab-ol-ay', which comes from two Greek words: ballo - “to throw” and kata, - “down”.

The word katabole means “a throwing or laying down”. It describes the act of a transcendent God throwing down a universe into space, speaking a material universe into existence which had no existence before.

...that we should be holy and without blame before him

Last time we learned that Ephesians 1:4 is a positional statement. Paul describes how God views us “in Him [Christ].” God sees us as “holy and blameless” because Christ our Savior is holy and blameless. His purity is credited to our spiritual bank account. That’s because God made Christ “who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Last time we saw that the word chose implies the taking of a smaller number out of a larger.

Before the foundations of the world were laid, God had determined that all who believed on His Son should be saved. These become His own, to be used for a certain purpose. (Wuest)

Now we venture into new material found in verses 4-6.

The book “Great Doctrines of the Bible” explains the difference between the words election (the word “chose” that we looked at in verse 4) and predestination:

* Election looks back to God’s choice of certain individuals to be His children

* Predestination looks forward to the destiny He has planned for them

Remember, the Apostle Paul is eulogizing or speaking well of God for His plan for the saints of God in Christ Jesus. In verse four, we get a look into eternity past as God conferred picks out for Himself a people for His own possession. In Christ, God saves all those whom He has chosen and makes them positionally holy and blameless.

Now we get a look forward into eternity and see the destiny of believers in Jesus Christ; how God not only delivered the believer from sin, but how He adopts the follower of Jesus Christ into His own family, making them His children (sons)!!!

Eph 1:4c In love,

Eph 1:5 Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

In love... - Notice the words “in love” are found at the end of verse four but many Bible students believe it should be found at the beginning of verse five. Since the verse numbers in the Bible are not inspired, theologians have wondered for centuries about the proper placement of these two words.

If truth be told, the words “in love” make sense tacked on to the end of verse four as well as in the beginning of verse five.

* The use of the words, “in love” at the end of verse four could telling us that it was God’s love that motivated Him to choose us before the foundation of the world and graciously seeing us as holy and blameless

* But we could also place those words in the text at the beginning of verse five and conclude that the motivating factor in God’s act of predestination was divine love.

Which is the correct interpretation? One commentator says that we will have to wait until we see the Apostle Paul in heaven before we will really know with certainty.

Predestined - proorizo, pro-or-id'-zo; The Greek word is made up of pro, a preposition, and the simple verb horizo. It means, to limit in advance, i.e. (fig.) predetermine:--determine before, ordain and “to mark out the boundary or limits of a place, thing or person previously, thus “to predestine.” In other words it means “to determine or decree beforehand” (Cremer)

The word proorizo is used in the New Testament to describe God’s predeterminate actions:

* He decreed “hidden wisdom” before the world was even created (1 Cor 2:7)

* He determined beforehand what His enemies would do to His Son (Acts 4:28)

* He foreordained those who would be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29)

In Ephesians 1:5 Paul is thus far telling the Ephesian believers two things:

God determined beforehand to do something

Divine love was the motivating factor

Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself

Adoption means the placing of a son. It is a legal metaphor and was originally a Roman word, for adoption was hardly, if at all, known among the Jews.