5th January 2025

As the young man talked, his audience, who were mostly kids, quietened and stilled. They were gripped by his story, his honesty, and openness. He talked about the time when his parents told him that he was adopted; it was a difficult time. He raged against the idea that he had been rejected by his ‘real’ parents. His pain was palpable. We all felt it and sympathised. None of us want to be rejected, but to be rejected by those who are supposed to love us the most, is even worse. Most of us couldn’t even imagine it.

The young man continued his story. He went off the rails for a time and made wrong choices: choices that hurt him and those he loved. Until the words his adoptive parents constantly told him gradually sank in. Their words soothed his hurt and mended the tear in his heart. ‘We chose you and love you,’ they told him over and over until he believed them. 

This is in essence what God is telling us here in Ephesians, chapter one. We are chosen by God and loved by him. He wants to adopt us into his family, but that is not all, to be adopted into God’s family has always been our destiny, and it is God’s ‘good pleasure’ to welcome us into his very family, through his Son Jesus Christ. Like the young man in the story, we are chosen by, and are of infinite worth to our Father.

At the time Ephesians was written, an adopted child inherited the wealth, social status and benefits of their new parents. It may seem strange to us today, but under Roman law, an adopted child could not be disinherited, unlike a biological child. Therefore, to be adopted meant your future was absolutely secure. We too have this promise, and our future is absolutely secure in Christ.

But there is still more! 

The adoption indicated here in Ephesians is, ‘…unique in that it is not the adoption of an individual but of a people,’ says Susan Hylen Associate Professor of New Testament at Emory University.¹ She notes that the relevant verbs and pronouns in the passage are plural indicating that God has chosen a people for himself. It is not just one child or even a group with one ethnic or religious identity but a whole world full of diverse people. All can be welcomed into the family of God. 

What should our response be? To offer our grateful thanks, praise, loyalty and love to our heavenly Father.

¹ https://thesonnewspaper.wordpress.com/2024/04/02/ephesians-seminar-1/

Local congregation:
Grace Communion International Central Glasgow 
Garnethill Room
Conference Suite
St Andrews West
260 Bath Street
Glasgow
G2 4JP

Meeting time:
Sunday 11:15 am

Local congregational contact:   
Peter Mill
Email: edinburgh@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church