Graduate 178: Advent & Ephesians, Day 6

"...to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. "

Paul's presentation of the various blessings that we receive through Jesus Christ is interspersed with comments about the purpose of those blessings. We are told that He chose us "that we should be holy and blameless before Him." And in v. 6 we are told that He predestined us to adoption as sons "to the praise of the glory of His grace".

What is the proper result of the great blessing of adoption that we have received? Praising and giving thanks and glory to God. Again, I think that as Paul is contemplating God's incredible generosity, he is just driven to greater and greater wonder at God's goodness.

Not only are we called to marvel at His generosity, but also at His power. Remember that grace is about more than just being saved from punishment for sin. Grace can refer to all the ways in which God moves in our lives and interacts with us. From creation, to redemption and salvation, to glorification--all of these are works of the grace of God. He doesn't owe us anything. He's not obligated to treat us kindly or well--especially given our rebellion. But He has chosen not to remain distant.

In fact, He went so far as to send His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ--"the Beloved"--, in human flesh, into the world to be our savior. Not only is that a clear manifestation of God's generosity but also of His power. Again, God was not constrained to do this. Rather, He did so "freely".

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One of the things that I'm coming, more and more, to appreciate, is the close connection between Christ's Incarnation and our adoption as sons and daughters of God. Jesus is the model or the paradigm or the perfect example of how God wants to be related to us, and it involves His Spirit indwelling our human bodies. This is why the doctrine of Christ's dual nature--that Jesus was fully God and fully man--is so important. When people talk about that doctrine, they tend to focus on Christ's sacrifice. Jesus had to be fully man or His death could not atone for the sins of human beings. He had to be God because only in that way could His sacrifice be effective for all people. And that is certainly right. But there is so much more that is going on in Christ's dual nature.

If Jesus had not been both fully man and fully God, then He could not serve as that model for us of fellowship with God. Jesus' death is not the only source of hope for us. His life is also a source of hope, because in His life he demonstrated that these human vessels were capable of deep and intimate fellowship with God. Does that boggle your mind? It should. God has created the human body in such a way that it is actually capable of interacting with the Spirit and power of God. When we are saved and receive the Spirit of God, it's amazing that our bodies don't just overload--like sending all the power from a nuclear reactor through a 40-watt light bulb. Jesus showed that we could enjoy the very deepest relationship with our heavenly Father and He opened the way for us to do so. His grace and generosity really are amazing.

[This and the next couple entries are being posted late because I was incapacitated by the flu bug. I'm doing better now, but am not fully recovered, so I'm working on catching up.]

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.