My
childhood coincided with the end of the glory years of the King James Version
of the Bible (KJV). At the time, it had been around for just over
three-and-a-half centuries, which meant it was both well-respected, and
vocabularily outdated.[1]
By the late seventies, my experience with Bible College introduced me to the
New International Version (NIV), promising to be an accurate translation, but
with contemporary language. Shortly after this, I discovered that some of my
professors preferred the New American Standard Bible (NASB) as a more precise
translation than the NIV, but with updated vocabulary from the KJV.
After
settling into the use of the NIV for the first couple of decades of my pastoral
ministry, I discovered that there was another new presentation called the
English Standard Version (ESV). This came at the same time as worldly
publishers were watering-down the NIV so that it was no longer a respectable
edition, and were presenting what seemed to be a plethora of submissions that
were not true translations of the Bible at all. The ESV promised to be both
contemporarily readable, and textually accurate. That is where I presently
spend my time searching out the Scriptures and seeking to live by every word that
comes from the mouth of God.[2]
I
present this preface to introduce the reason that, when scriptures pop into my
head, I have to do a bit of searching to discover which translation I am
remembering. When I do a comparison of translations, I sometimes find myself
disappointed that the translation I remember first is not really the best
translation after all.
So it
is with this word that popped into my head this morning. I woke up with the
phrase, “accepted in the beloved,”
ringing in my head.[3]
This idea of being accepted by God in the Lord Jesus Christ is foundational to
my understanding of relationship with God. We are not accepted by God as though
we had auditioned for some “Got Talent” competition, and blew God away with our
hidden gift. Acceptance with God does not look like worldly judges overwhelmed
with shock because someone just presented the most amazing performance in stark
contrast to their age or appearance.
Acceptance
with God through the Lord Jesus Christ is to be just as received by God as a
son through the sheer grace of God as Jesus is accepted as a Son through the absolute
glory of his holiness, righteousness, and all around good behavior. Jesus, the
Beloved, is the Son of God by nature, by existence, by inherent divine identity
and perfection. However we would expand this to try to describe the wondrous
relationship of the Son to the Father, the point is that Jesus deserves to be
the Son of God. It is his right, his inherent reality.
So,
when I wake up in the morning with God reminding me that I am accepted in the
Beloved, and I do a bit of research to find the Scripture that popped into my
head, and discover it is ye olde King James Version wording replaying in my
head (a good sign if this is a memory test), and then I compare this to the
other three translations mentioned above, I find that none of the others
present that same wording. Side-by-side, Ephesians 1:6 looks like this:
KJV
|
NIV
|
NASB
|
ESV
|
“accepted in the beloved”
|
“he has freely given us in the One
he loves.”
|
“He freely bestowed on us in the
Beloved.”
|
“he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
|
What became clear is that the older
wording of the KJV focused on my standing in Christ, while the other three
translations direct attention to what I have received from God because of
Christ. “Accepted” makes me look at
God wrapping his arms around me in that way my soul longs to feel, while “freely given”, “freely bestowed”, and “blessed”, all call me to wrap my arms
and heart around the “glorious grace”
that is the source of all God has given me in Christ.
This
led me to consider whether this picture of being “accepted in the Beloved” is an accurate way of thinking of my
relationship to God. Perhaps there are other places in the Scriptures that say identical
things, or other words that convey the same meaning.
When I
read the whole of Ephesians 1:5-6 in the ESV, I discovered that the thing I was
looking for was right there in the context. These verses read, “In love he predestined us for adoption as
sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise
of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
The
reality of “adoption as sons” is the
glorious expression of what I was looking for. Accepted by God? Yes, but as
sons, not as slaves. God does not accept me just because I am the tag-along
sibling to the one he really wanted to adopt. This is no Jacob barely enduring
the Leah he was tricked into marrying as the necessary process of receiving the
Rachel he truly wanted in the first place.[4]
All
those who have faith in Jesus Christ are adopted as sons through the faith in the
same Savior. All are predestined into the same sonship through the same love.
The purpose of God’s will for one son of God is the same as all the rest of the
sons of God. The grace that saves one sinner into sonship is just as glorious
as the grace expressed in the salvation of every other sinner. The blessing
given in the Beloved is the same blessing experienced by all God’s children.
The
point for me was that I needed this reminder of my adoption as a son of God in
order to orient myself to God’s view of my life and standing with him. This was
for my sake that he wanted to comfort me with the certainty of my place in him.
At the
same time, this was to get me aimed in the right direction for following Christ
through this day. There need not be any diversions into performances aimed at
winning God’s approval. God has approved of his Son’s sacrifice on my behalf.
None other is required.
So,
next time I get an email that tells me to watch some amazing performance where people
honor God with their astonishing talent, and I discover that they actually
dishonor God with their song-choices, and win the approval of judges who dishonor
God with their life-choices, I will remind myself where this true acceptance
and approval really come from.
Those
who have faith in Jesus Christ have been adopted as the sons of God into the
highest, most amazing, relationship in the whole universe, the same relationship
as exists between God the Father and God the Son. The Son of God is not ashamed
to call us brothers.[5]
There are no second-class citizens in God’s family by nationality, sex,
occupation, or any other standard we can imagine, for “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”[6]
Jesus Christ
is the Son of God by nature, but we are the sons of God by adoption “according to the purpose of his will.” Jesus
is the Son of God by his inherent glory, while we are the sons of God by “his glorious grace."
So,
while the exact phrase, “accepted in the
beloved” is not the best translation of the original language, the word of
God does present the reality of what I originally had in mind, that I am accepted,
welcomed, approved, received, as a son of God in every way my heart could ever
desire, and this adoption as a son of God is most definitely the way he “has blessed us in the Beloved.”
So, my
time with God began with this wonderful thought ringing in my heart, and ends
with a whole symphony sounding out the praises of the God who gives us the
desires of our hearts as we delight ourselves in him.[7]
I am beloved in the Beloved. Now, I pray that I will remember that thought all
throughout the day as clearly as it first popped into my head this morning!
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~
in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the
English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright ©
2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1]
My spell-check says that “vocabularily” is not a word, but it conveys the sense
of what I wanted to say here. Since It is not really a word, I don’t know how
to check for synonyms!
[2]
Matthew 4:4
[3]
Ephesians 1:6
[4]
The telling of this historical event begins at Genesis 29
[5]
Hebrews 2:11
[6]
Galatians 3:26
[7]
Psalm 37:4
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