having fore-ordained us (he had already decided) [a past participle which should be interpreted as the time frame of when it took place]
to be adopted [infinitive clause of the purpose of the fore-ordaining]
through Jesus Christ [prepositional phrase of means or instrument, the means whereby the adoption was brought about]
to Himself [this element ties the purpose of it all back to God the Father i.e. through Christ to God the Father]
according to the pleasure of His will [a rather complicated (deep) phrase especially when linked with what follows and the will of God] (Eph 1:5)
This thought packet goes with the one before it. We were fore-ordained and chosen at the same time. And when was that? Before the world was made. Double wow! We were set apart and chosen to be His. Read the gem I wrote when looked at this concept in Romans (Gem 194). It is not fatalism
When we looked at the 153 fish in John 21:11 (Gem 125) I made the following comment “God knows the final number of his redeemed and that final number will be absolute perfection according to God’s foreknowledge. None will be lost. All destined for salvation will be saved. He knows the number of people that are truly His.” This is not fatalism. Or at least it oughtn’t be. It is not that I am destined for salvation because God has chosen me therefore there is nothing I can do to change it. I.e. don’t resist the will of God. Neither is the idea “well then I don’t have to do anything to seek God, I can just sit back and wait for it to happen because I am pre-destined.” The notion of predestination here is that God has complete knowledge which stands outside of time. Thus knowing the end from the beginning He knows how you will respond at a time in the future. Everyone is given equal chance to choose Him or to respond to salvation. It is just that God knows your choice before you make it. Before He created the world He could look down through time and know that Ian would respond to Him for the first time on August 19th 1973 at 10.30 pm. In God’s mind it was all sorted back then. Now that is a mind blower!
There is another wonderful spiritual blessing which Paul lists for us. It could also be translated “when he fore-ordained us to be adopted . . . “. You want another example of His amazing blessing to you – well what about when He fore-ordained you to be adopted as His child in Christ. That was a pretty awesome moment, don’t you think? For sure a major spiritual blessing in Christ. Take some time before we develop this thought to think through the implications of the choices involved in adoption. We will explore the thoughts related to this in the Gems to come. Take some time to check it out beforehand. Simply let your mind ponder on matters related to adoption and its significance to what Paul is talking about here. What does Paul mean by we have been “adopted through Jesus Christ”? Was it God the Father who adopted us or Jesus the Son?
More the next Gem after you have done some thinking and investigation. These are important concepts to dig on. Hence me saying to you “dig here”. You know what to do by now. You might want to want to look back over the last time Paul dealt with adoption and pre-destination in Romans. Romans 8:17-18 (adoption – Gem 194) and Romans 8:29-30 (pre–destination – Gem 200). But also use the resources available to you in E-Sword as well as anything else you may have. These are important concepts to explore.
My relationship with God is only as deep as my relationship to His Word.
Robb Thompson
There are 2 great days in a person’s life: the day we’re born & the day we discover WHY.
William Barclay