The Born-Again Identity
In his letter to the Ephesian church, the apostle Paul was writing to believers who have lost their identity. Paul stayed for 2 to 3 years in Ephe-sus, longer than any other city he had been. Sadly, a few years after he left, they began to go back to their old ways. They have renewed hearts but their lives were not transformed. That’s why Paul had to remind them of their identity. For if you really know who you are in Christ, then something should change in your character and behavior.
What is our new identity in Christ? In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul uses 3 images to describe this. First is the image of adoption (vv. 4-5). Paul was writing to a Roman culture where child abandonment was a common practice. A new-born baby could be rejected by his or her own father simply because of gender preference or birth defects. The rejected child would be abandoned or exposed to the elements, as if to let the gods decide their fate. Some of these abandoned babies would be taken in by passersby who would raise them as slaves or prostitutes. Paul was writing to such people who may have been abandoned as a child and raised us slaves. He is reminding them: your identity is not defined by who abandoned you but by who adopted you. God chose us even before we were born. He adopted us not to become slaves, but made us His children. Therefore, we are loved and accepted.
God chose us even before we were born. He adopted us not to become slaves, but made us His children.
Second is the image of redemption (vv. 7-8). To redeem means to buy or to purchase. Ephesus was the center of slave trade in the Roman Empire. In the Ephesian church, there were believers who were once bought and sold as slaves. Paul was reminding them that in Christ, their primary identity is no longer that they are slave to certain people, but that they were bought by Christ. Oftentimes, we say something is worth how much someone is willing to pay for it. If the God of the universe is willing to redeem you with the life of His own Son, then how valuable you must be! So the next time someone tells you that you are worthless, remind yourself that you are precious in God’s sight (Isaiah 43:4) and are called His treasured possession (1 Peter 2:9)! How can a treasure be worthless?! We are valuable enough for God to consider us worth dying for. That’s our new identity.
Third is the image of sealing (vv. 13-14). A seal is a mark of ownership. During Roman times, slaves and soldiers were tattooed with the seal of the family or the emperor to whom they belong. In the same way, when you came to faith in Christ, you receive God’s seal of the Holy Spirit upon your life. And because you now belong to Him, you are now co-heirs of His riches in Christ Jesus. God adopted me (I am accepted). He paid for me (I am valuable). He sealed me (I am His). That is our born-again identity in Christ. We are now defined by what happened at Calvary. And that will never change!
