August 8, 2025 - Ephesians 1:5,6 - "Adoption as God's Children"

Ephesians 1:5,6

"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

The apostle Paul, writing this Spirit-inspired Word, lifts our thoughts to the eternal counsel of God and the glory of His sovereign grace in Christ. These words bring before us the eternal purpose of God the Father, accomplished in the finished work of Christ on the cross, and revealed in time by the Holy Spirit to those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.

From eternity, God determined to bring a people into His family—not by merit, decision, or worthiness on their part, but solely “according to the good pleasure of his will.” This adoption is not a process of trial or probation; it was accomplished fully and irrevocably at the cross, when the Son of God, in the place of His elect, satisfied divine justice and reconciled them to God. There, the legal right to sonship was sealed in His blood, and every hindrance to their acceptance was forever removed.

Yet, though adoption was accomplished once and for all at Calvary, its comforting reality is made known to each child of God in time by the effectual call of the Spirit. At the time of regeneration, the Spirit of adoption enters the heart, bearing witness that the sinner is no longer a stranger and foreigner, but a son and heir of God through Christ. It is in that gracious revelation that the adopted one begins to cry, “Abba, Father,” (a term of endearment that means 'daddy') and to live in the liberty of a child who has been made “accepted in the beloved” (Christ).

What then are the effects of God’s sovereign grace in Christ for the adoption of His elect?

The adoption of God’s chosen people rests entirely upon the unchanging purpose of His predestinating grace in the LORD Jesus Christ. Paul declares: “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:5–6)

This eternal purpose was legally accomplished at the cross. In the fullness of time, the eternal Son of God took on our nature, placed Himself under the law, and by His redeeming work secured for His elect the full right of sonship: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Galatians 4:4–5)

Though adoption was finished in Christ’s death, it is graciously revealed in time by the Holy Spirit. Those whom the Spirit draws are brought out of bondage into the liberty of children, knowing God as their Father through the inward witness of the Spirit of adoption: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” (Romans 8:14–16)

This adoption is purely a privilege of God's sovereign mercy and grace—undeserved, unearned, and entirely the work of God in Christ: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God...” (1 John 3:1)

With this sonship comes an eternal inheritance, for all of God’s children are heirs of the Father and joint-heirs with Christ: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16–17)

In this glorious work, we see the unshakable foundation of adoption in God’s sovereign will, the finished accomplishment of it in Christ’s death, the personal revelation of it by the Spirit, and the eternal blessings that flow from it—all to the praise of the glory of His grace.