EPHESIANS 1:3-14
“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him
in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Pt.3:14).
Simply stated, the great blessing of God is perfection; God has chosen the believer to be perfect. But note: the believer’s
perfection is in Christ and in Christ alone. No man—not even a believer—can live a perfect and sinless life. No man is righ-
teous or ever will be. Jesus Christ is the only Person who has ever lived a sinless and perfect life; therefore, He is the only
Person who has the right to live with God. Our only hope of ever living with God is to believe in Jesus Christ—believe so
much that God will take our faith and count it as the righteousness of Christ. This is the glorious gospel: God loves us so
much that He has accepted us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He has taken our faith in Christ and counted it as the righ-
teousness of Christ. Therefore, we are acceptable to God because we trust in Christ and in His righteousness—accepted as
being perfect in the perfection of Jesus Christ. (See note and DEEPER STUDY # 1, Justification—Gal.2:15-16; DEEPER
STUDY # 2—2:16; note—2:19-21 for more discussion.)
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(1:5-6) Adoption—Predestination—Foreordained: the second blessing—God has adopted us as children. How unbe-
lievable—what a glorious privilege to be adopted as a child of God! And note:
⇒ It was predestinated, that is, foreordained (proorisas).
⇒ It was the pleasure of God to adopt us—the good pleasure of His will. And it was His purpose to adopt us,
and His purpose and His pleasure and His will were all good.
This is most striking when we consider how sinful and depraved we are and how much we have cursed, rebelled, and re-
jected God. The fact that God wills and finds pleasure in adopting us and that He counts it as good is too much to believe.
Yet, it is exactly what He says. Now note two significant things.
1. The word “foreordained” does not mean that God chooses some persons for salvation and everyone else for eternal
punishment. Scripture teaches the exact opposite.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn.3:16).
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Ro.10:13).
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim.2:3-4).
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave
himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Tim.2:5-6).
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to
us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pt.3:9).
“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world” (1 Jn.2:2).
The word “predestination” (proorisas) means to destine or appoint before, to foreordain, to predetermine. The basic Greek
word (proorizo) means to mark off or to set off the boundaries of something. The idea is a glorious picture of what God is doing
for the believer. The boundary is marked and set off for the believer: the boundary of being adopted as a child of God. The be-
liever shall be adopted, made just like Christ and conformed to His very likeness and image. Nothing can stop God’s purpose for
the believer. It is predestinated, set and marked off. The believer may struggle and suffer through the sin and shame of this
world; he may even stumble and fall or become discouraged and down-hearted. But if he is a genuine child of God, he will not
be defeated, not totally. He will soon arise from his fall and begin to follow Christ again. He is predestinated to be a brother of
Christ, to worship and serve Christ throughout all eternity. And Christ will not be disappointed. God
loves His Son too much to allow Him to be disappointed by losing a single brother. Jesus Christ will have His joy
fulfilled; He will see every brother of His adopted and conformed perfectly to His image. He will have the worship and
service of every person chosen to be His by God the Father. The believer’s eternal destiny, that of being an adopted brother
to the Lord Jesus Christ, is determined. The believer can rest assured of this glorious truth. God has predestinated him
to be delivered from the suffering and struggling of this sinful world. (See notes, Predestination—Jn.6:37; 6:39; 6:44-46
for God’s part and man’s part in salvation. See DEEPER STUDY # 3—Acts 2:23; Ro.8:28-39; 9:11-13; 9:14-33 for more
discussion.)
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be ho-
ly and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Eph.1:4-5).
“According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom [Chr-
ist] we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him” (Eph.3:11-12).
2. The word “adoption” means to place as a son (see DEEPER STUDY # 2, Adoption—Gal.4:5-6 for discussion).
3. Adoption is by Jesus Christ and by Him alone. God accepts us because we believe and trust His Son Jesus Christ. He
tells us plainly that He wants His Son to have many brothers and sisters who will love, worship, and serve Him both now and
forever. Therefore, when a person wants to live for Jesus Christ—wants to live for Him so much that he entrusts all he is and
has to Christ—God takes that person’s trust and adopts him, makes him a brother or sister to Jesus Christ (see note—
Ro.8:29).
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he
also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glori-
fied” (Ro.8:28)
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