{8} Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ {h} to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

(8) Another plainer exposition of the efficient cause, and also of eternal election, by which God is said to have chosen us in Christ, that is, because it pleased him to appoint us when we were not yet born, whom he would make to be his children by Jesus Christ. So that there is no reason for our election to be looked for here, except in the free mercy of God. And neither is faith which God foresaw the cause of our predestination, but the effect.

(h) God respects nothing, either anything that is present, or anything that is to come, but himself only.

People's New Testament

1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. Foreordained that we, the church of Jesus Christ, should be adopted as his children. The whole line of argument is general instead of particular. God foreordained a church which should be composed of those adopted as his children.

According to the pleasure of his will. The act of predestination was due simply to God's sovereign will. His will was the cause.

Wesley's Notes

1:5 Having predestinated us to the adoption of sons - Having foreordained that all who afterwards believed should enjoy the dignity of being sons of God, and joint - heirs with Christ. According to the good pleasure of his will - According to his free, fixed, unalterable purpose to confer this blessing on all those who should believe in Christ, and those only.

Scofield Reference Notes

[1] predestinated

Predestination is that effective exercise of the will of God by which things before determined by Him are brought to pass. See Election,

See Scofield Note: "1Pet 1:2"

Foreknowledge, See Scofield Note: "1Pet 1:20"

[2] adoption

Adoption (huiothesia, "placing as a son") is not Song much a word of relationship as of position. The believer's relation to God as a child results from the new birth Jn 1:12,13 whereas adoption is the act of God whereby one already a child is, through redemption from the law, placed in the position of an adult son. Gal 4:1-5.

The indwelling Spirit gives the realization of this in the believer's present experience Gal 4:6 but the full manifestation of the believer's sonship awaits the resurrection, change, and translation of saints, which is called "the redemption of the body" Rom 8:23 1Th 4:14-17 Eph 1:14 1Jn 3:2.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. predestinated-more special in respect to the end and precise means, than "chosen" or elected. We are "chosen" out of the rest of the world; "predestinated" to all things that secure the inheritance for us (Eph 1:11; Ro 8:29). "Foreordained."

by Jesus-Greek, "through Jesus."

to himself-the Father (Col 1:20). Alford explains, "adoption . into Himself," that is, so that we should be partakers of the divine nature (2Pe 1:4). Lachmann reads, "unto Him." The context favors the explanation of Calvin: God has regard to Himself and the glory of His grace (Eph 1:6, 12, 14) as His ultimate end. He had one only-begotten Son, and He was pleased for His own glory, to choose out of a lost world many to become His adopted sons. Translate, "unto Himself."

the good pleasure of his will-So the Greek (Mt 11:26; Lu 10:21). We cannot go beyond "the good pleasure of His will" in searching into the causes of our salvation, or of any of His works (Eph 1:9). (Job 33:13.) Why needest thou philosophize about an imaginary world of optimism? Thy concern is to take heed that thou be not bad. There was nothing in us which deserved His love (Eph 1:1, 9, 11) [Bengel].

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:3-8 Spiritual and heavenly blessings are the best blessings; with which we cannot be miserable, and without which we cannot but be so. This was from the choice of them in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that they should be made holy by separation from sin, being set apart to God, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, in consequence of their election in Christ. All who are chosen to happiness as the end, are chosen to holiness as the means. In love they were predestinated, or fore-ordained, to be adopted as children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and to be openly admitted to the privileges of that high relation to himself. The reconciled and adopted believer, the pardoned sinner, gives all the praise of his salvation to his gracious Father. His love appointed this method of redemption, spared not his own Son, and brought believers to hear and embrace this salvation. It was rich grace to provide such a surety as his own Son, and freely to deliver him up. This method of grace gives no encouragement to evil, but shows sin in all its hatefulness, and how it deserves vengeance. The believer's actions, as well as his words, declare the praises of Divine mercy.