“In love” in Ephesians 1:4 may modify “having predestinated” in verse 5. God the Father predestinated us in love that we may be His many sons. The divine love is His motive to have many sons for the fulfillment of His divine economy.
Ephesians 1:5 reveals that God predestinated us unto sonship. This means that the goal of God’s predestination is sonship. Because we were predestinated to be sons of God even before we were created, we, as God’s creatures, need to be regenerated by Him so that we may share in His life to be His sons. Sonship implies both life and the position of a son. God’s marked-out ones have the life to be His sons and also the position to inherit Him.
According to Ephesians 1:4, God chose us to be holy. However, to be holy is the procedure, not the goal. The goal is sonship. God has chosen us to be holy so that we may be His sons. Therefore, to be holy is the process, the procedure, whereas to be sons of God is the goal. God does not merely want a group of holy people; He desires many sons. God has chosen us to be holy for a purpose, and this purpose is that we may be sons of God.
Ephesians 1:5 also tells us that we have been predestinated unto sonship through Jesus Christ. “Through Jesus Christ” means through the Redeemer, who is the Son of God. Through Him we were redeemed to be the sons of God with the life and position of God’s sons.
Finally, we were predestinated unto sonship by God the Father according to the good pleasure of His will. God has a will in which is His good pleasure. God predestinated us to be His sons according to this pleasure, according to His heart’s delight.
After we were foreknown, chosen, and predestinated by God in eternity, we were created by Him in time. Acts 17:26a says, “He made from one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.”
Zechariah 12:1 says that God stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him. This indicates that in the universe there are three important matters: the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man. The heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man has a spirit for God. Therefore, man is the center of the universe, and the center of man is his spirit. As far as God is concerned, if there were no spirit within man, man would be an empty shell. If there were no man on earth, the earth would be void and the heavens would be useless. In God’s creation, the heavens serve the earth, the earth serves man, and man has a spirit to receive God.
We were created by God through Christ (John 1:3). All believers realize that we have been saved through Christ. We also need to see that we were created through Christ. Christ is the active instrument through which the creation of mankind was processed.
Through Christ we were created by God in His image (Rom. 5:14b; 2 Cor. 4:4b). Strictly speaking, the image of God is Christ. Second Corinthians 4:4 speaks of Christ as the image of God. For man to be created in God’s image, which is Christ, means that we were created not only through Christ but according to Christ. God’s intention in creating us in this way was that one day Christ, according to whom we were created and through whom we were created, would come into our being. This means that, having been created in the image of God, we were created as vessels to contain Christ. Hence, we were created through Christ and according to Christ that we might contain Christ.
In time we were not only created but also became fallen. Romans 5:12 says, “As through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin; and so death passed to all men because all have sinned.”
Within every fallen person there are two striking things. The first is that we are in Adam and have the Adamic nature. In the sight of God there are only two men—Adam and Christ. All fallen ones are in Adam. Furthermore, those who are in Adam are part of Adam.
In Adam there are three main things: sin, death, and being constituted sinners (Rom. 5:19). In Adam we inherited death, we were under the reign of death (Rom. 5:12, 14), and we were constituted sinners.
The second striking matter concerning mankind in the fall is that all fallen people are of sin. Through the disobedience of Adam, sin, the evil nature of Satan, entered into mankind. After entering into the human race, sin made its dwelling place in the fallen body of man (Rom. 7:17, 18, 21, 23). Because the element of sin was injected into man, fallen man is now of sin, that is, a constitution of sin. For this reason fallen people are sinners by constitution. This means that in the fall we are sinners by nature.
In time we were not only created by God and then became fallen; we also became dead in offenses and sins. Ephesians 2:1 reveals that in the past we were dead in our offenses and sins, and 2:5 says that “we were dead in offenses.” Furthermore, Colossians 2:13 says that we were dead in the offenses and the uncircumcision of our flesh. Offenses are acts which overstep the limit of right, and sins are evil doings. Before we were saved, we were dead in such offenses and sins. The word “dead” in Ephesians 2:1 and 5 and Colossians 2:13 refers to the death of our spirit that pervades our entire being. Through Adam’s transgression sin entered into the world and death through sin. Now death reigns over all men (Rom. 5:14, 17). Therefore, “in Adam all die” (1 Cor. 15:22).
In eternity we were foreknown, chosen, and predestinated by God. Then in time we were created by God. However, we became fallen and eventually became dead in offenses and sins. This was our situation in the past.
By being dead in offenses and sins, we lost the function that enables us to contact God. Spiritual death has annulled the function of our spirit. No matter how active we were in our body and soul, we were deadened in our spirit, unable to contact God.