PODCAST
The Spirit, Our Guarantee
September 23rd, 2017
Ephesians 1:1-14
Ephesians 1 declares that God decided before creation that humanity would be “predestined . . . for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ” (v. 5). By God’s gift of grace (v. 7), these adopted children have received redemption through the death of Jesus Christ. Further, they have been “marked in him with a seal,” the presence of the “promised” Holy Spirit (v. 13), who is our guarantee of the inheritance God has promised to them (v. 14).
Adoption plays a major role in my family. My father was adopted as an infant, and I have two adopted grandchildren. Recently, my (adopted) granddaughter summed up her experience by saying that adoption has taught her real love.
While parental adoption gives a child a name and a future, God’s adoption gives us the presence of the Holy Spirit ,who is with us until the day of redemption (v. 14). This passage teaches that adoption is not an iron-clad guarantee of salvation, but that the work that began in Christ before creation will be completed in the day of redemption (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-28).
Author: Robert W. Smith
