His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
—Saint Paul (Ephesians 1:5 NLT)
The apostle Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians with a shout of praise that doubles as a summary of the truth. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”1 Paul sees that something breathtaking has happened in Jesus. In him we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. If you are like me, “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” seems rather vague. But notice first that Paul uses the past tense. He doesn’t say that we will be blessed, but that we have been. The Father has blessed us. The blessing has come in Jesus and it has already taken place. But what is the blessing?
The next time Paul speaks of “heavenly places” is when he is narrating Jesus’ ascension to the Father’s right hand,2 and after that he uses the term again when he tells us that we were seated with Jesus.3 While Paul did not have a worked-out vision of the Trinity, he begins all of his letters by referring to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he of all the disciples believed in the ascension of Jesus; it was burned into his conscience on the Damascus road. In that moment, something in what the glorified Jesus said to him imprinted his mind: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” When Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” the answer came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” It was shocking enough for Saul that Jesus was the Lord, but Jesus’ identification with the ones Saul was persecuting was even more shattering. Jesus is so close to the persecuted that he regards himself as the one attacked. Not surprisingly, then, the idea of our being “in Christ” or “in him” became the core of Paul’s understanding of the truth. And it lies at the heart of the meaning of “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” The blessing the Father has blessed us with is Jesus himself, and all that Jesus is and has at the Father’s right hand.
In the next two verses Paul fills out what he means with two beautiful images.4 The first is the phrase “before Him.” Paul says that we were chosen “to be holy and blameless before Him.” Some translations take “before Him” to mean “in His sight,” but this is too pale and distant and impersonal for what the apostle has in mind. “Before Him” moves us into the world of face-to-face fellowship, of being in his bosom. It is intimate. Here is what one commentator says:
“BEFORE HIM” denotes the immediate presence of God to man and the closest proximity of man to God. The image suggests the position and relationship enjoyed by the cream of society at a royal court, by children to their father, by a bride to a bridegroom…5
Here again we come to relationship. The commentator refers to “the immediate presence of God to man,” and “the closest proximity of man to God.” Paul is not thinking about our being mere objects in God’s sight, like my computer and desk are objects before me. He is thinking about our being the honored guests in the Father’s house, about fellowship around his table in an atmosphere of warmth and intimacy. We are highly valued in the Father’s presence, adored and treasured friends welcomed with open arms. And we are not alien to the Father’s world; we are meant to be there, and perfectly suited for his love. I like the way Eugene Peterson translates Ephesians 1:5: “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.”6
It is not surprising that Paul’s line of thought then turns to adoption. He is desperately trying to communicate to us the breathtaking gift given to us all in Jesus. He sees that it involves our being uniquely cherished and lavishly loved by the Father himself, and made right for him, such that his presence is not a foreign world to us but where we belong—home. Now he adds the idea of our being included in the family life. The cream of society at a royal court, children in their father’s arms, and a bride with her groom don’t sit beside one another in a frozen stare. They share life. As Jesus says to Mack, “It’s all about relationships and simply sharing life” (178).
Many years ago I met a man in Scotland named Francis Lyall who had done extensive research on the ancient idea of adoption. He pointed out that in the Roman world a natural son or daughter could be cut out of the family estate, but an adopted child could not. Once adoption had taken place, the child could never be rejected; it was a permanent position. So it is with us in Jesus: we are included forever. But Paul’s focus is not only the fact that our position is eternally stable; rather, he is enamored with the nature and purpose of the gift given to us in adoption—that is, not merely legal standing, but inclusion in the life of the family. Inconceivable as it may be, in adoption we are made heirs, joint-heirs with Jesus, and what we inherit is not rights and privileges and position, but the Father himself.7
Paul is talking about being included in a family fellowship, about being given a place not just at the table, but in a shared life. Adoption is inclusion in the family itself, so that the love and joy, the interests and burdens of the family become ours, too. We are not only wanted and welcomed, but known and accepted, and so embraced as to taste and feel and experience the family life for ourselves. It’s about relationship, about communion, about the sharing of souls, about knowing and being known, loving and being loved—oneness—with the Father.
The Father’s dream is for us to be brought into his house, and not just brought into his house but honored as family members at his table, and not just at his table but at his right hand. And not just at his right hand but into conversation with him. And not just into conversation with him but into fellowship with the Father himself. Paul is talking about being ushered into a fellowship with the Father that is so close and personal, so real and intimate, that everything the Father is and has is shared with us personally through Jesus in the Spirit. Adoption means to be included in Jesus and in his shared life with his Father and the Holy Spirit. Such a dream is almost unbelievable. But there is more.
The truth is that our adoption has already happened in Jesus. Paul sees Jesus’ ascension as the moment when we were included. “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” is the beautiful life of the blessed Trinity itself. And the Father has blessed us with this life in Jesus, just as he planned it long ago. In Jesus we have been adopted into the life of the Trinity. We have been given a place in the love and laughter, the abounding life and joy, the music and creativity, the peace and freedom and unspeakable oneness of the Father, Son, and Spirit. This is the dream of the blessed Trinity, and it has now come to pass in Jesus. But, yet again, there is more.
For Paul is telling us that this was the plan from before the foundation of the world. Let me quote the three verses together so we can see his point:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself.8
Paul is setting before us the astonishing point that we were chosen before the foundation of the world, and predestined to adoption. Don’t let the baggage of the word predestined put you off. It means that you were known and loved in the Father’s heart, treasured from eternity, and that you are not here by accident, but by his plan and purpose.9
Notice the two phrases “in Him” and “through Jesus Christ.” It is thrilling to think that we were so known and loved, and destined to be included in the trinitarian life of God. It is even more thrilling to hear that now it has come to fruition in Jesus. Now Paul is telling us that this was the plan before the creation of the world, and that there and then our adoption was placed into the hands of Jesus Christ. “Predestination means that we were eternally found in Jesus before we were ever lost in Adam.”10
Chosen in Him, predestined through Jesus Christ. What could this mean but that, before Creation, the blessed Trinity agreed upon the incarnation of the Son as the way our adoption would be accomplished?11 Jesus was chosen first, and we were chosen in him. It was Karl Barth in recent times who saw what this means.12 Chosen in him, predestined through Jesus, means that Jesus Christ—and what became of us in him—was not an afterthought, but the first thought, the original and only plan of the triune God. The astonishing dream of the blessed Trinity was predestined to be accomplished in and through the incarnate Son.13 Before the creation of the world, our adoption through Jesus was raised as the banner of all banners in heaven. In the ascension of Jesus—and of us in him—we see the “purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”14
Here in Jesus we at last find our proper bearings, the Light of the World, the true framework within which the story of Creation and human existence is understood. From the beginning it is all about the coming of the Father’s Son, and through him the exaltation of the human race into the life shared by the blessed Trinity. For Jesus is not “Plan B,” which the Father, Son, and Spirit quickly thought up and implemented after the failure of “Plan A” in Adam. Jesus is “Plan A,” the first, the original, and only plan. As Papa said, “Creation and history are all about Jesus” (194). He is the Alpha and the Omega,15 the beginning and the end. The ascension of Jesus, and ours in him, is not an afterthought, but the goal of creation. Jesus “in his Father” and “us in him” is not a half-time adjustment, but the dream of the blessed Trinity from before the foundation of the world.