Ephesians 1:5 - Adopted as sons

1:5

“He has predestined us to be adopted to sonship”. It seems that so often when we read this verse our first thought is “how does predestination work”, “how can we have been predestined?”. These are the wrong thoughts! Our first thoughts should be “how wonderful that God has determined to adopt us as sons”! Throughout the Bible there are two primary aspects of God, one is His transcendance, His all surpassing greatness. The other is His relationship with people. God created us to be in fellowship with Him! We need to be asking ourselves “how does the universe work” (not in the physics sense, but in a metaphysical sense), and one of the fundamental drivers is that God, the creator of all things, has determined that we will be adopted as sons. Life can seem very precarious. In the West we normally do not have worries about food and shelter, ie the basics of life, (though financial problems can still be very real), but we can so often feel vulnerable on an emotional/psychological level. We need to realise how secure we actually are in Christ. This determination to adopt us is “through Christ” and “according to His good pleasure and will”. God had not done this reluctantly, but freely and gladly! We can also sometimes see predestination as though before time began God checked box which said you or I would be adopted as a son. This is not the way that the Bible presents it. It is more accurate to look at it as God is working “through Christ” so that we would be adopted as sons.