He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

The phrase “in love” may belong to the previous sentence about being holy and blameless, or it may belong with verse 5. Either way, all of the things that God has accomplished on our behalf were carried out because of God’s great love for us, his creatures made in His image.
In verse 5 we are told by Christ’s emissary, that God predestined us for adoption. He designated, or appointed something to happen ahead of time. What did he predestine? That we would be adopted as sons of God through Jesus Christ and his saving work on our behalf. Don’t just read past this. God was determined to have adopted children, who, we learn in Romans 8:17, are co-heirs with Jesus Christ. If you’ve trusted Christ, you are one of those co-heirs!

The last part of the verse tells us that God did this according to the purpose of his will. In other words, because he wanted to. God can do what he wants, and this is something he wanted to do, to adopt a group of people to be his children along with his son, Jesus Christ. And, since God doesn’t change, if this is something He wants to do now, then it’s something He has always wanted to do.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 5:10 PM September 13, 2020.