The Relationship of Adoption - To Himself

Ephesians 1:5

“…having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,…”  

Once again, we need to note that the grammar is so significant here.  It is God the Father Who is in view; He is the “Himself” in the phrase in question.  It is a reference back to the beginning of verse 4 and to the actions of the Father, Who, by means of election, initiated the entire process.

“To” is a preposition once again, one that denotes proximity or nearness to the thing or person referred to.  “Himself” is a pronoun, whose antecedent we have already addressed.  The intent of the phrase then, is that God used the mechanism of election and adoption to bring the elect, those who would believe, into some close proximal relationship with Himself.  We would be amiss if we did not note that this is the central and, really, the entire aim of Adoption (and election for that matter).  That is, the bringing of men into a close and personal, functional relationship with Himself.

It is a close relationship in that it is a family relationship described as a Father/Child relationship.  We are adopted into God's family so that we can be His very children.  We are not placed as servants, or as workmen in His household, or as mere subjects in His Kingdom.  We are His sons and daughters - members of His very family.  And no strange and dysfunctional family this!  God is the perfect Father and He arms and prepares us to work and walk with him in perfect harmony and bliss.

It is a personal relationship in that it is a relationship that is with him, not with His representative or with a go-between.  We relate to God by Jesus Christ - not by a priest or by some other human agency or mechanism.  Our spirits are united to His by means of the direct connection of the Holy Spirit who comes to dwell within us.  Our connection with the Father is real and deeply, deeply personal.

It is functional in that it works; it functions and serves the purpose that God determined for it to serve.  God designed it to make it possible for sinful men to be a part of His family and to serve and live as sons, fully acceptable and holy, blameless before Him in love.  This, adoption does as nothing else can do. 

By the work of Christ we are adopted into God's family, into a close, personal and functional relationship with the Living and True God of the universe.  This was the kind of relationship that God had designed man to enjoy with Him in the garden, but that was destroyed by Adam's sin.  Adam, in fact, enjoyed this quality of relationship for an unspecified period of time before the fall.  He dwelt in perfect harmony and fellowship with the Father until the entry of sin into the world and he fell from God's grace into the state in which we presently strive.

By election and the predestination to Adoption that follows that great decree of God we are places as full sons into the family of God - and we enjoy the blessing and benefits of such a position - all “By Jesus Christ” unto Himself - that is, with regard to a right relationship with the Heavenly Father.

Hallelujah!