Ephesians 1:5 “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”
Paul again emphasizes the sovereign power, authority, and will of God; using the word “predestinated” which strongly declares the absolute surety of our eternal relationship with God, with all its blessed benefits. It is amazing how great lengths some will go to, to discredit and diminish the blessed Doctrine of Predestination. In this passage’s context, the word “predestinated” is inseparably connected to those that God the Father “hath chosen” in Christ Jesus “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). Those “chosen”, the Elect, are said to be adopted because Jesus Christ is “the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). This predetermined “adoption” declares the sure and eternal binding of the Children of God “to himself”. Furthermore, the adoption was entirely and exclusively “according to the good pleasure of his will”; that is, those adopted were not asked if they wanted to be adopted, were not invited to be adopted, and had no say whatsoever in the adoption. The “adoption” assures us that we have direct access to the Lord God Almighty (Hebrews 4:16), that we have access to fellowship with the Children of God, that there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39), that when our life on earth is done our spirit will return unto the Father who gave it to us (Ecclesiastes 12:7), and that one blessed and holy day He will resurrect our bodies and will take us (body and spirit) to be forever with Him in Paradise (I Thessalonians 4:13-18). It is no wonder that Paul strongly proclaimed, “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us” (Ephesians 2:4)!