Beginning with a standard greeting, Paul welcomes his readers with “grace…and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He quickly turns the attention of his readers to God “who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Through Jesus Christ, believers have been given His grace and therefore His favor in every area of their life. Apart from the death of Christ there would be no blessing. So, when were we blessed? Paul reveals that we are blessed when “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” In eternity past (before time began) God elected those who would be blessed. If we believe God is sovereign and completely in control of all things we must also believe that He knew those who would accept the sacrifice of His Son by grace through faith as well as those who would not. Does this in any way compromise the responsibility of man in the matter of salvation? Absolutely not. This doctrine of election cannot be viewed with a human mindset; in fact, we must accept that this doctrine does exist, but without claiming to fully understand the mind of the God. When God did choose in eternity past, He desired that Christians would be holy and that righteousness would only be received through His Son, Jesus Christ. In the moment we believe that Jesus is our only hope of being righteous, we are declared righteous before God and are adopted into His family (1:5). When we are adopted into His family, we are given the righteous nature of Jesus Christ and are accepted by the Father. Praise be to God who has provided a way for sinners to become righteous!
Dear God, thank You for adopting me into Your family on the basis of what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross. Now I give You my life…make me holy and blameless before You!
