Accepted – Ephesians 1:6

A Note from our Pastor:

“To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” ~ Ephesians 1:6

Good Morning Dearly Beloved,

Now in verse six of Ephesians one, the Apostle is going to conclude the thought (and sentence) he began in verse three. The building blocks of his argument being:

• We have been given blessings in heavenly places (vs 3);
• Those blessings are in accordance with God choosing us before the foundation of the world (vs. 4); and
• In doing so he predestinated us to be adopted by Jesus Christ to himself (vs. 5).

With those building blocks the Apostle reaches this ultimate conclusion — you, a child of God, have been made accepted in the beloved.

It is key to note here that the Apostle doesn’t conclude that we have been made acceptable. Conceivably, one could argue that if we have been chosen by God, if we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, and we are fully adopted into the family of God then we must be acceptable. The line of thinking though is laced with dangerous toxins as it opens the mind to the view that we are worthy of our eternal inheritance. We may not intend that, but the mind often goes to places that we do not intend it to go.

Instead, the Apostle avoids those pitfalls and says that we have been made accepted in the beloved. We should highlight that the word accepted is past tense. What we infer from this is that we were made accepted at the time Jesus Christ completed the sacrifice. At that moment, the price was paid and all of the elect children of God were accepted in the sight of God through Jesus Christ.

Thus, the conclusion that Paul is reaching is not just a conclusion of thought but a conclusion of argument. The argument being this — the blessings you have in heaven are because God chose you before the foundation of the world, predestinated you to be adopted, and made you accepted through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The entire work of your salvation is presented in this argument.

Our Prayers are with you daily,

Brother Jeremiah