What a blessed God we have, as Paul says in v3. His plan for us is that we be holy and
blameless before Him in love. To bring
this about He determined beforehand that we would be adopted as His sons. Further, given our sinfulness, God has
provided in and through Christ for our redemption and forgiveness that we might
be holy and blameless. And God has
blessed us, His sons, with an inheritance.
Praise God for His blessings. But
wait: there’s more!
We must first
ask, how does a person come to be the recipient of these blessings from the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? It
is through faith in Christ. In v12 Paul
refers to those who “first trusted in Christ” and then of the Gentiles at Ephesus as those who
“also trusted, after you heard the
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (v13).
The gospel is
the truth that Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead declaring
His Lordship with great power (1 Cor. 15:3-4; Rom. 1:1-4). When a person hears this they are being given
an opportunity to trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior. Those who believe on Christ, declaring His
Lordship (Rom. 10:9-10) are giving evidence that they are among those who have
been called by God to be holy and blameless.
They have become His sons (Jn. 1:12).
The Bible
teaches that this redemption has been fully provided for by Christ at the cross
when He paid the ransom price for sinful man.
But the experience of this redemption is not fully realized until the redemption
of the body, or the resurrection (1 Jn 3:2).
Romans 5:1-5 and 8:18-30 develop this great theme.
8:19: For the earnest expectation of the creation
eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
8:23: Not only that, but we also who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly
waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Believers in
Christ are growing in likeness to Christ daily.
But the full realization of our sonship
awaits a future time when the redemption is complete. Until that time God assures us of our future
fullness by the work of His Spirit.
Romans 8 and Ephesians are in full agreement.
·
When one places his faith in Christ he is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise
(Eph. 1:13). God places on the believer
His mark of ownership.
·
Thus the Holy Spirit becomes the guarantee of
our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession (Eph. 1:14).
In summary,
God the Father planned our blessings from the foundation of the world (v3-6),
provided for them through the Son (v7-12), and protects them through the Spirit
(v13-14). God has done all this to the praise of His glory!
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