We Are God’s Adopted Children—Lectionary Reflection for Christmas 2A (Ephesians 1:3-14)

Ephesians 1:3-14 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵ He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹ he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹ In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, ¹² so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴ this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

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                I have good news that we get to celebrate as the Twelve Days of Christmas come to a close. You may have thought Christmas was over, but Christmas Day marked the beginning of the Christmas season, even if the commercial side of the season suggests otherwise. Now, churches, when they meet on January 4th, may skip ahead and celebrate Epiphany Sunday. It’s hard to beat the story of the magi by singing “We Three Kings.” Nevertheless, Christmas still beckons us to stay in the season just a bit longer. The Gospel reading for this Sunday comes from the concluding verses of John’s prologue (John 1:10-18), which declares that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, making known to the world the unseen God.  According to the author of Ephesians, we are God’s adopted children, a message that is confirmed in the Gospel of John. In verses 12 and 13 of Chapter 1, we read: “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,  who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” To believe in Christ is to become a child of God according to the will of God. That is a message worth pondering during the Christmas season and at the beginning of a new year.

                When we read Scripture, it is helpful to know the context of a particular passage's origin. While the Ephesian letter is attributed to Paul, many scholars question this attribution. As for me, I remain agnostic about this matter. I find that both sides of the debate have good evidence for their position. So, for our purposes, I will simply assume Pauline authorship, though questions remain [for more, see my Participatory Study Guide for Ephesians (Energion Publications, 2010)]. Whoever authored the letter, and to whomever it was addressed (could it be a circular letter?), these opening verses of Ephesians are appropriate to the day. What better way to begin a new year than to be reminded that we are children of God?

                Our reading begins in verse 3, skipping over the opening salutation. It begins with offering a blessing on the God and Father of Jesus, “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3). This is good news!  We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing that has heavenly origins. Not only are they (we?) recipients of every spiritual blessing that has heavenly origins, but we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. What were we chosen for? To be holy and blameless before God in love. This is our destiny, we God destined us for adoption in Christ, according to God’s will and to the glory of God’s grace freely bestowed on us through the Beloved.

                This word about destiny requires some thought. Might we read this not in individualist terms but regarding humanity as a whole? From a Trinitarian perspective, this makes sense. In the beginning, as John reminds us, was the Word, through whom all things came into existence, and to those who believed in the Word, who is the light that shines in the darkness, is given the power to become children of God. What Paul envisions here is that we are destined for adoption. This is God’s desire for humanity. It is through Christ’s agency that this takes place. So, in reality, what is destiny is the means of redemption. For in Christ Jesus, we are redeemed from our trespasses through his blood, such that the riches of God’s grace, which includes God’s act of forgiveness, are lavished upon us. This is due to wisdom and insight that is made known through the mystery of God’s will. It is a revealing of something previously unknown. What is revealed is that God has chosen to adopt us as God’s children through the agency of Christ Jesus. In all of this, God is the primary actor, working through Christ to bless, choose, adopt, and redeem us so that we might be children of God. We like to be in control of our own destiny, but Paul suggests that we might not be in complete control, though there is a matter of believing, which might involve choosing to receive this gift that God is offering us in Christ.

                Paul’s message continues in verse 10, where he writes that it is God’s plan for the fullness of time that God will gather up all things in Christ, both things in heaven and on earth. Though Paul doesn’t use the word apokatastasis panton here, what he shares here does carry that sense. In Christ, there is a “restoration of all things.” Jürgen Moltmann notes that this verse and Colossians 1:20 offer a cosmic Christology that envisions some form of universal salvation.

In the cosmic christology of the Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians, not only all human beings and earthly creatures but the angels too - evidently the disobedient ones, since for the others it is unnecessary - will be reconciled through Christ. As reconciled, they will be gathered together under their head, Christ (who must here be understood as the personified Wisdom of Creation), and will thus be perfected. What is meant is nothing other than the restoration of all things, the homecoming of the universe in the form of what Irenaeus called the recapitulatio mundi. [Moltmann. The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology (Kindle Locations 3467-3470)].

As we ponder the cosmic dimensions of this message, we should also remember that Paul (the author of the letter) was first and foremost concerned about bringing together Jews and Gentiles in Christ, such that the dividing wall might be breached (Eph. 2:14). Thus, in Christ, both Jew and Gentile are children of God through adoption. That being said, there is still that cosmic dimension that shouldn’t be missed.

                So, as Paul continues, those who first put their hope in Christ (Jewish believers?) are reminded that they had received an inheritance, which they were destined to receive according to God’s purpose and God’s counsel and will. As such, they “might live for the praise of his glory.” But what is true for those who first put their trust in Christ is also true for those who receive this message (Gentiles?), because they have also heard the word of truth, which is the gospel of salvation. Due to their belief, their trust, in Christ, they  “were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.” This reference to the seal of the Holy Spirit may refer to baptism. If so, this is a good lead-in to Baptism of Jesus Sunday, which is the first Sunday after Epiphany. The Gospel reading for this upcoming Sunday is Matthew 3:13-17, which depicts Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, at which the Spirit alighted on Jesus and a voice from heaven declared Jesus to be God’s Son, the Beloved.

                The reading concludes by noting that this seal of the Holy Spirit, whether baptism or not, serves as a “pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:14). This pledge serves to remind us that God will be true to the promise God makes to us in Christ. This, to the glory and praise of God! Of course, the dividing walls of hostility still exist in our world. Therefore, there is more work to be done so that all might share in the promise of redemption and reconciliation. These are the spiritual blessings that are poured out on us as we embrace our status as children of God by adoption, whether Jew or Gentile, it makes no difference.