Ephesians 1:5 – the place of a son

…beforehand for the place of a son for Him through Christ Jesus…

The term ‘the place of a son’ (we read it five times in the New Testament), is in mainstream translations rarely displayed clear. For example, one of the Dutch translations speaks consequently about ‘adoption of children’ and that’s definitely not the subject.

“The place of a son” refers to the phenomenon that a child, at some point, is placed in the position of son (Galatians 4: 1-7). In Judaism a boy becomes a “son of the law” when he is 13 years old (bar mitzvah). He’s no longer a child, but charged as an adult. Most of all, a son is an inheritor (Galatians 4: 7), i.e. he has the position to receive the heritage effectively.

Already now we may go in the spirit of sonship (Romans 8: 15). But our effective sonship takes place when “we deliver our body (Romans 8: 23). From that moment we have the position to receive our heritage. Mind you: that heritage isn’t less than all in the heavens and on the earth (1:10, 11). That heritage is given to “the Son”, but therewith also to them who share his position. The place of the son determines us to the unimaginable task that waits us.

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