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In marked contrast with Rom. 9:, where "the adoption" is the exclusive prerogative
of "Israel according to the flesh", we have "the adoption" of Gal. 4: which pertains to
the seed of Abraham who are not considered "after the flesh" (23), who are associated
with "Jerusalem which is above" (26), and which is composed of both Jew and Greek
made one in Christ, and consequently heirs according to the promise. Yet, further, those
to whom the adoption pertains according to the teaching of Ephesians, have no
relationship with Israel at all, they have no connection with the promises made unto the
fathers, they were aliens and strangers, without hope, and without God. These were
chosen before the foundation of the world, and in Christ are raised and seated far above
all principality and power. Consequently the logical result of admitting the contextual
teaching of Paul's epistles regarding "adoption" is to admit three distinct spheres of
blessing.
A man can only have three first-born sons, if he has had three families. This
application of the teaching concerning adoption will be found to be an irrefutable proof of
the existence of "three spheres of blessing". There have been many adverse criticisms of
our contention that there are "three spheres of blessing", and this criticism has been based
on a number of Scripture passages, but no one has ever dealt with the "proof" that there
are "three spheres" based upon the fact of a threefold adoption, and until they do, they are
but wasting words.
#18. The Muniment Room (1: 3 - 14).
The Threefold Charter of the Church.
"Highly Favoured."
pp. 221 - 224
The section before us, Eph. 1: 3-6, we have called "The Will of the Father", for it is
occupied with choosing, predestinating, placing and with sphere and purpose.
The emphasis upon "will", especially the will of God, associated as it is with such a
term as "predestination" can easily conjure up in the mind some of the awful and
cramping paralysis that the Calvinistic doctrine of the "Decrees" has many times induced
in the mind of the believers.
One reader, years ago, under the pseudonym Bereana, wrote a booklet entitled
"Under Calvin's Yoke", in which he says:
"There are, we know, numbers of the Lord's people who are burdened by the harsh
Calvinistic creed . . . . . they believe or imagine themselves to believe--that God by His
irresistible decree, determines, before they are born, that by far the greater number of His
creatures shall be effectually damned in the World to Come, Disguise it, and gloss it
over, as so many try to do, that is their real teaching."