What Does God's Blessing of Predestined to Adoption Mean for You?

… in love

He predestined us to adoption as sons

through Jesus Christ to Himself,

according to the kind intention of His will, …

The blessing of Ephesians 1:5 is the focus of this post. A few of the things we will consider are:

• What is this adoption?
• What does it mean to be predestined?
• How is this related to Jesus Christ?

I encourage you to take a moment to reread the doxology of Ephesians 1:3-14.

As it has been several weeks since our previous contribution to this series, let me briefly recap what goes before.

A brief recap

We began this series with five foundational topics as follows (most of the links to previous posts are inserted below):

1.         Image of God: God’s good creation, including making humans in the ‘image of God,’ and some of what that means.

2.         The Fall: How Adam disrupted creation (including our humanity). All of us are now in the likeness of Adam—we are ‘in Adam.’

3.         Incarnation: God took the most amazing and unimaginable action. God became a human being, and his name is Jesus.  

4.         Jesus: By his life, crucifixion, and resurrection, Jesus Christ re-established an unsullied ‘image of God’ and became the prototype of a new humanity—a humanity that is ‘in Christ.’

5.         Conversion: We traced how a person can be transferred from ‘in Adam’ to ‘in Christ.’

This brought us to the question of what it means to be ‘in Christ,’ and from there, we launched into the wonderful doxology of Ephesians 1:3-14. Verse 3 calls us to praise God for his remarkable blessings, the first of which is that those who are ‘in Christ’ are chosen or elected “to be holy and blameless before his sight.”

Now, let’s look at the next of God’s blessings for everyone ‘in Christ.’

Again, our text is Ephesians 1:4c-5 (NASB):

… in love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, …

In love

If you consult various good English translations, you discover that there is a pretty even split between those who include “in love” with the preceding clause of being “chosen in Christ” (KJV, NKJ, NET, NLT, NRS) and those who begin a new sentence, thereby including “in love” with “predestined ... to be adopted” (ESV, CSB, NASB, NIV). So, why is there a difference, and which is correct?

There are scholarly arguments for both positions.

In Greek, Ephesians 1:3-14 is one long sentence of 202 words. Initially, there was no punctuation and often no spaces between words. Certain words and other literary markers help determine the structure of this text. This is how F. R. Barry describes this sentence:

… it rushes like a torrent—a swirl of words with a storm of thought behind them.[1]

Without being dogmatic, I am inclined to read “in love” with the previous clause. One of my reasons is that Paul writes other clauses and sentences in Ephesians ending with “in love” (3:17; 4:2, 15, 16; 5:2, as well as in other letters by Paul). However, we will still be friends if you conclude that it begins the following sentence or want to read it with both statements.

Let’s look at some other concepts contained in this rich blessing.

Adoption

When you hear adoption, what comes to mind?

You might think of an orphan who has no living parents or an unwanted child who is cast off. When such a child is adopted by loving and responsible parents, they are incorporated into a family to be loved, accepted, and secure with other benefits, including close relationships, future hopes, and an inheritance.  

In Paul’s day, the cultural concept of adoption was primarily of an adult male who attained sonship with a prominent or wealthy person. The Greek word is huiothesia—literally, “placing a son,” a word which occurs only five times in the Bible (Romans 8:15, 23; 9:4; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5). One notable example from Roman culture was Julius Caesar’s adoption of Gaius Octavius, who was renamed Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.

The biblical concept of adoption is associated with the new birth of both males and females. It is an adoption in the realm of the Spirit, not the Roman or any other law. Romans 8:15-17 declares to men and women who have received Jesus Christ:

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit [the Holy Spirit] of adoption as sons [huiothesia] by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

These verses identify some of the benefits of being adopted by God:

• receiving the Spirit of adoption or sonship,
• closeness of relationship with the Father, who we can address as Abba,
• assurance we are children of God,
• assurance we are heirs of God with Jesus Christ,
• association with Jesus Christ in both suffering and glory,
• and so much more.

Predestined

As I wrote in a previous post, many misunderstand the meaning of “predestined” or “predestination” and confuse it with other concepts such as election or chosen.

The word “predestined” translates the Greek word proorizō, which is only used six times in the Bible (Acts 4:28; Romans 8:29, 30; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:5, 11). A broader description might be a destination or goal determined beforehand.

As an illustration, when a person boards Lufthansa flight LH4269 in Vancouver, Canada—they have entered an aircraft with a predetermined destination or goal. That aircraft is predestined to end up in Frankfurt, Germany. 

In the same way, upon receiving or believing in Jesus Christ (i.e., John 1:12; 3:16, 36; 5:24; etc.), a person is transferred from ‘in Adam’ to ‘in Christ.’ One of the many blessings of that transfer or conversion is that all those ‘in Christ’ are predetermined or preordained to adoption through Jesus Christ to the Father.  

the kind intention of His will

This adoption of those ‘in Christ’ to Himself is according to God’s “kind intention of His will” (NASB) or “the good pleasure of His will” (KJV, NKJ). This is not something God has done grudgingly or unwillingly.

The New Living Translation captures the idea well:

This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Yes! And it should cause us to praise Him.

Through Jesus Christ

This is the instrumentality of the adoption.

As with the previous blessing, we are not chosen or elected apart from Christ. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are transferred from ‘in Adam’ to ‘in Christ.’ Christ is the Chosen or Elect One, and those ‘in Christ’ are thereby chosen or elect by virtue of who Jesus Christ is before the Father.

In the same way, this adoption is through and by means of the life of Jesus Christ—who he is and what he has accomplished. Apart from him, there would be no adoption.

Three implications for life

We must not lose sight of the purpose of Ephesians 1:3-14. That doxology lays out specific blessings bestowed upon every person ‘in Christ.’ However, the opening statement is:

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, …

We are to bless or speak well of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, speak well of him whenever you have the opportunity.

Three times, the Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is praised (1:6, 12, 14). So, praise him whenever you have the opportunity.

And let’s embrace more fully every blessing that we have been blessed with ‘in Christ.’

What more can you add?

BACK TO What Does ‘Chosen in Christ’ mean?

Note: [1] F. R. Barry, A Philosophy From Prison (London, UK: SCM, 1926), 41-42.

Image credit: John B. MacDonald (c) 2025