God’s love letter
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved. – Ephesians 1:6
Jeremiah 31:3 I have loved you with an everlasting love. With unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself.
Love letters are written to express love and affection. A love letter is one of the most romantic ways to express your true feelings about a person you cherish. It can be a short, simple message or a lengthy explanation of your endearment and fondness. Love letters are a special treat for the beloved who receives them to cherish and enjoy.
Exquisitely written love letters often bring joy to your beloved, strengthening the connection. They usually start with a statement of purpose of the letter. They express your love and commitment to the recipient.
The Father is in love with every child of the King. Ephesians is His love letter to each child of the King. Ephesians expresses His great love and affection by sharing His love and affection for each of us. Our natural response is amazement, almost unbelief that we could be loved so much. When we finally understand and believe how much He loves us, our hearts are filled with wondrous love and affection for Him.
1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called childrenof God; and such we are.
The Father has become our father by adopting us into His Forever Family. We are not merely called children of God; we are the children of God.
Under Roman law and custom, there was a very elaborate process for adoption. “The ritual of adoption . . .. was carried out by a symbolic sale. Twice the biological father sold his son, and twice he symbolically bought him back; finally, he sold him a third time, and at the third sale, he did not buy him back.”
“After this, the adopting father had to go to the praetor, one of the principal Roman magistrates, and plead the case for the adoption. Only after all this had been gone through was the adoption complete. When the process had been completed, the adoption was indeed complete. The person who had been adopted had all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family and lost all rights in his old family.”
“In the eyes of the law, he was a new person. So new was he that even all debts and obligations connected with his previous family were abolished as if they had never existed” (Barclay).
Roman adoption is displayed in the story of Ben Hur when Quintus Arias, the commander of the Roman fleet, adopts Ben Hur.
“That is what Paul says that God has done for us. We were absolutely in the power of sin and of the world; God, through Jesus, took us out of that power into his; and that adoption wipes out the past and makes us new.” (Barclay).
REFLECT & PRAY
Your lovingkindness is better than life itself; how I praise you! – Psalms 63:3
Father I am amazed and humbled to realize that You love me in the same way You love the Lord Jesus Christ, Your beloved son. Thank You for accepting me just as I am. How magnificent and astonishing!
INSIGHT
ESV Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
KJV Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the supreme object of the Father’s love (O’Brien). He is the Son of His love. The Father God has done something marvelous and remarkable. He has joined and fused us with His Beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).
The Father has placed every child of the King in Christ. We are in the Beloved.
Because every child of the King is in Christ, the Father’s Beloved Son, the Father has totally and completely accepted and blessed us. He loves us the same way He loves The Lord Jesus Christ.
The Greek word translated as blessed or accepted is echaritosen. Echaritosen is the aorist tense of the Greek verb charitoo. Charitoo means showing kindness, blessing, and manifesting graciousness toward others. It presupposes graciousness on the part of the one showing kindness.
Charitoo is derived from charis – grace, unearned and unmerited favor. Charis is a noun derived from the Greek verb chaíro – to rejoice. Grace has the sense of that which causes joy, pleasure, gratification, favor, acceptance, for a kindness granted, or gratitude.
Providing grace is an actdone without the expectation of return. The Father has graced every child of the King in the beloved. It is the free expression of the loving-kindness of the Father God to the children of the King.
When the Father pours out His grace on us, it is joyful and pleasurable for Him as the Giver (Zodhiates).
It may be translated as grace, showing kindness, blessing, freely giving, or greatly favoring. A literal translation would be that He has graced us or conferred grace on us.
Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is not deserved. Grace cannot be earned.
Ephesians 1:6 NKJ – he has made us accepted in the beloved.
A literal translation is “to the praise of His glorious grace which He ‘graced’ to us.” Grace refers to goodness or unmerited favor. In
How is it possible for God to grace us freely?
In Christ, God has graced us. God’s grace is poured out on the children of the King because of what Christ has done for them. Through His death, our history of sin and unrighteousness has been purged.
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the supreme object of the Father’s love (O’Brien). He is the Son of His love. He is theFather’s Beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).
The Greek term translated as beloved is a perfect passive participle of agapao. Agapao is the verbal form of the well-known Greek noun agape, God’s unconditional love.
God has done something remarkable. He hasplaced us in Christ, His Beloved Son. He has accepted us and poured out His grace upon us.
“We cannot make ourselves acceptable to God, but He, by His grace, makes us accepted in Christ. This is our eternal position which will never change. . .. Because of God’s grace in Christ, we are accepted before Him. Using the same argument, Paul wrote Philemon to encourage him to accept his runaway slave, Onesimus, ‘If he owes you anything, I will pay it. Receive him as you would receive me’ (Philemon 1:17-19, paraphrased). The parallel is easy to see” (Wiersbe). Paul is asking Onesimus to put Philemon’s debt on Paul’s account.
The Father accepts and blesses us as He does His Beloved Son.
What a marvelous, incredible love letter from the King to all His children!
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© Dr. H 2022
Dr H Reflections 