His beloved Son, for He "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all"

(Rom. 8: 32). What is our response to such love so wonderfully expressed?

Having considered the greatness of the Father's choice of each member of the Body of

Christ, His object, that we should be holy, His motive, love, we pass on to 1: 5, "having

predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to

the good pleasure of His will". As in verse 4, we have three great statements brought

before us to believe and rejoice in; the Father's predestination--US; the Father's

object--ADOPTION;  the Father's motive--GOOD PLEASURE.

The Father's

predestination obviously balances His election of the previous verse. It is unfortunate

that we have `destiny' in the make-up of the English word. This is not resident in the

Greek which has the thought of "marking off beforehand". Those who form the Body of

Christ have been appointed by the Father in His will to a definite and wonderful position,

that of `the first-born son' with an inheritance in view. "Adoption" brings to our mind

the modern practice of bringing an outsider into the family, one who is not linked with

any blood ties and making him just a member of the family.  The archaeological

researches of Sir William Ramsay have shown clearly that, in Paul's day, adoption meant

much more than this, namely that the adopted child was given the place of the first-born

son, with the right to inherit the property of the father, and moreover, once this had been

ratified, it could never be changed or rescinded (see Gal. 3: 15).

Translated into the spiritual terms of Eph. 1: 5, it means that the Body has been

marked off, in the Father's purpose, for the position of the first-born, with an eternal

inheritance in view, not on the earth, but in heavenly places where Christ is now

enthroned!  Phil. 3: 20 states definitely, in accord with this, that our citizenship, our

homeland, now exists as a present fact, in heaven. That is our great goal and is what our

mind should be centred upon. "If ye then be risen with Christ (a blessed fact as other

Scriptures show) seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right

hand of God. Set your mind (not affection) on things above, not on things on the earth"

(Col. 3: 1, 2). With this glorious inheritance go all the spiritual blessings in heavenly

places that Eph. 1: 3 has described.

All this was in the plan of our heavenly Father when in past eternity He chose us in

Christ, and we need to take time and reflect upon the magnificence and wonder of this

revelation to us, and to respond in practice with grateful hearts. As we have noted before,

nothing of this is seen apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. This predestination is "by Jesus

Christ to Himself", and the only reason we are given for it, is the overwhelming `love' of

verse 4, and the "good pleasure of His will" of verse 5, which only reminds us that there

is nothing in ourselves to merit such a choice. This being so, verse 6 continues, that this

should be "to the praise of the glory of His grace". The whole of this heavenly plan, as