Ephesians 1:5-6 NASB95
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, [6] to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
Ephesians 1:3 – 14 is the longest sentence in the Bible. In those 12 versus the phrase “in Christ” is used 8 times, and in verse 6 the Holy Spirit through Paul uses the phrase “in the Beloved.” The Beloved of course is Jesus, and the Holy Spirit wants us to know that our position before God as a son (gentlemen you are both a son and a bride, and ladies you are both a bride and a son) is through our union with the “Beloved.” We get to participate in Jesus’s sonship with the Father, including all the intimacy and favor (privileges) that comes with that. If you and I are in Christ and He is “the Beloved,” then so are we. Once again, let me remind you of the gospel – Our inclusion in the life that Jesus lives, and the favor He lives under. “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!” Galatians 4:6.
Notice that it is the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts that is crying Abba! Father! You and I don’t have to work hard to earn a place of intimacy and favor with God. Jesus has already earned that place for us at the Cross. As Ephesians says, it has been bestowed on us by grace. What others labor for, Christ gives. All religions begin by demanding, Jesus by bestowing. We have obtained, in Christ His place of intimacy and favor because He attained it for us.
Colossians 3:3 is a remarkable Scripture; “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” An alternate and proper translation of that verse could be like this, “For the old self died and your life is hidden or concealed in union with Christ in God.”
You are participating in the life Jesus lives before God. Verse 3 isn’t saying that we, as independent selves are kind of snuggled up next to Christ. It is saying that we have been woven into the very fabric of Jesus’s life. That’s the DNA of the New Creation. We were “created in Christ Jesus.” Eph. 2:10.
“As He is, so also are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17.
Union is a mystery, but it is the mystery of the gospel. This Christian life is a large life indeed. Living from Christ, not for Christ.