Freely bestowed (5487) (charitoo from charis= grace) means to cause one to be the recipient of a benefit. It means to bestow grace or favor upon or to show kindness to someone. Charitoo can also convey the sense of to make one agreeable or possessed of grace. To be sure Paul's use of this verb demonstrates that man can take no credit for this bestowal of grace -- it was unearned and unmerited favor and that is why it was freely bestowed. Ralph Earle writes that "The verb charitoo comes from the noun charis, "grace." It means "to endow with charis," or "to cause to find favor". The idea here is that God has extended His favor or grace to us in Christ." (Word Meanings in the New Testament) Thayer says charitoo means to "pursue with grace, compass with favor, to honor with blessings." It is interesting to observe the only other NT use of charitoo is by Luke who records the angel hailing Mary... And coming in, he said to her, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." (Luke 1:28) Comment: "Favored one" is charitoo in the perfect tense which speaks of the abiding nature of this bestowal of grace Paul says more literally that God has begraced us with His grace. Christians are those who have been graced by God in the Beloved, the Son of God. John explains the relationship of grace with the Beloved Son writing that... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him, and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. (John 1:14-17) Comment: Grace certainly was present in the OT but it was fully and abundantly realized when Jesus Christ came. In the Beloved - To Whom does Paul refer? To Christ of course. He is our sole (soul) Source of acceptance with God. Take a moment to prayerfully ponder this incredible truth that we as the children of God (see 1Jn 3:1-note, 1Jn 3:2-note) are now and forever in Him (See in Christ ), in identification with Him, in covenant oneness with Him (See The Oneness of Covenant) and Oneness Notes), in an eternal bond with Him, in an indissoluble union with Him! In Christ forever we are accepted by the Father for He is forever pleased with His Beloved Son in Whom we live and breathe and have our being eternally! Amazing grace indeed that in the Beloved, the Father of glory now calls us "Beloved" (1Th 1:4-note, Ro 1:7-note, Jude 1:1), now and forever His "beloved children" (Eph 5:1-note) Hallelujah! Ruth Paxson comments on the incredibly important preposition "in"... "In" -- Can we ever grasp fully the meaning of this little word to us? In Him Whom the Father loves supremely we are. In the Beloved whose righteousness and holiness satisfy every demand of the Father's justice and holiness we stand. The Beloved Son is our divine rainbow, God's pledge to us who are made accepted in Him that we will never again be cast out from His presence. In the Son of His love the Father receives us as He receives Him and loves us as He loves Him. It would be impossible to believe such an apparently incredible statement did not Christ Himself declare it. Then we must believe it and rejoice in it. Comment: Beloved, in our old nature, we all strive for "acceptance" with our fellow man, and many of us have been soundly rejected by those closest to us, and we have great difficulty "accepting" the truth that we truly are "accepted in the Beloved." So take a moment to mediate on the prayer Jesus prayed for us which contains His requests which are so transcendent and incomprehensible that it will surely take eternity to fathom their depths but which can just as surely in this present life bring solace and comfort to our souls and satisfy our hunger for acceptance... I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me (!!!). "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:23-26) I'm forgiven, because You were forsaken I'm accepted, You were condemned I'm alive and well, Your Spirit is within me Because You died and rose again. Amazing Love, how can it be, That You, my King should die for me? Amazing Love, I know it's true It's my joy to honor You in all I do to honor You (Amazing Love) Spurgeon observes that... God’s love of His dear Son covers all believers, as a canopy covers all who come beneath it. As a hen covers her chickens with her wings, so God’s love to Christ covers all the children of promise. As the sun shining forth from the gates of the morning gilds all the earth with golden splendor, so this great love of God to the Well-beloved, streaming forth to Him, enlightens all who are in Him. God is so boundlessly pleased with Jesus that in Him He is altogether well pleased with us.... Much went before this, but, oh, what a morning without clouds rose upon us when we knew our acceptance and were assured thereof. Acceptance was the watchword, and had troops of angels met us we should have rejoiced that we were as blest as they. Understand that this acceptance comes to us entirely as a work of God--“He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” We never made ourselves acceptable, nor could we have done so, but He that has made us first in creation, has now made us new by His grace, and so has made us accepted in the Beloved. That this was an act of pure grace there can be no doubt, for the verse runs thus, “Wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved,” that is, in His grace. There was no reason in ourselves why we should have been put into Christ, and so accepted; the reason lay in the heart of the Eternal Father Himself. Can we get a step farther? Will the Holy Spirit help us while I say a few words by way of enlargement? 1. If we are “accepted in the Beloved,” then, first, our persons are accepted: we ourselves are well pleasing to Him. God looks upon us now with pleasure. 2. Being ourselves accepted, the right of access to Him is given us. When a person is accepted with God he may come to God when he chooses. He is one of these courtiers who may come even to the royal throne and meet with no rebuff. No chamber of our great Father’s house is closed against us; no blessing of the covenant is withheld from us; no sweet smile of the Father’s face is refused us. 3. And, being accepted ourselves, our prayers are also accepted. Children of God, can you sincerely believe this? When God delights in men He gives them the desires of their hearts. 4. It follows, as a pleasant sequence, that our gifts are accepted, for those who are accepted with God find a great delight in giving of their substance to the glory of His name. Then let us try what we can do for Him. Here is a great lump of quartz, but if the Lord can see a grain of gold, He will save the quartz for the sake of it. He says, “Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it.” I do not mean that the Lord deals thus with all men. It is only for accepted men that He has this kind way of accepting their gifts. Had you seen me, when a young man, and an usher, walking through the streets with rolls of drawings from a boys’ school, you would have guessed that I considered them of no value and fit only to be consigned to the fire; but I always took a great interest in the drawings of my own boy, and I still think them rather remarkable. You smile, I dare say, but I do so think, and my judgment is as good as yours. I value them because they are his, and I think I see budding genius in every touch, but you do not see it because you are so blind. I see it since love has opened my eyes. God can see in His people’s gifts to Him and their works for Him a beauty which no eyes but His can perceive. Oh, if He so treats our poor service, what ought we not to do for Him? What zeal, what alacrity should stimulate us! If we are ourselves accepted our sacrifices shall be acceptable.... “Accepted in the Beloved.” May not each believer talk thus with himself--I have my sorrows and griefs, I have my aches and pains, and weaknesses, but I must not repine, for God accepts me. Ah me! How one can laugh at griefs when this sweet word comes in, “accepted in the Beloved.” I may be blind, but I am “accepted in the Beloved:” I may be lame, I may be poor, I may be despised, I may be persecuted, I may have much to put up with in many ways, but really these troubles of the flesh count for little or nothing to me since I am “accepted in the Beloved.” Is not this a word to die with? We will meet death and face his open jaws with this word, “Accepted in the Beloved.” Will not this be a word to rise with amidst the blaze of the great judgment day? And now I wish to finish with this one practical use. If it be so that we are “accepted in the Beloved,” then let us go forth and tell poor sinners how they can be accepted too. "Accepted in the Beloved - What a healing balm is there here, for a weary, heavy-laden sinner!" - Hedley Vicars Spurgeon asks... Why is that peculiar title ("the Beloved") here used? It might have been said, we are accepted in Christ, or accepted in the Mediator; there must be some motive for giving Him this special name in this place. The motive is declared to be that we may praise the glory of divine grace. God did not want for a beloved when he made us His beloved: His heart was not pining for an object; His affections were not lone and desolate. His only-begotten Son was His delight, and there was room enough in Him for all the Father’s love; it was we that needed to be loved, and so the Beloved is mentioned that we may remember the unselfishness of divine grace. He makes us His beloved, but he had a Beloved before. We are also reminded that we are “accepted in the Beloved” to let us know that God has not shifted His love-His first Beloved is His Beloved still. We have not supplanted His dear Son, nor even diverted a beam of love from Him. The Lord has called us beloved who were not so, and made us a people who were not a people; but He has not withdrawn a grain of love from Jesus, Whom He still calls “mine Elect. in Whom my soul delights.” All the infinite love of God still flows to Jesus, and then to us in Him. It pleased the Father that to Him a fullness of love should be given, that out of it we might each one receive. God's love to us is His love to His Son flowing in a hundred channels. For His sake He makes the wedding-feast, and we are the happy guests who sit at the table. Not for our sakes is this done, but for Jesus’ sake, that so it might be all of grace. His perpetual acceptance with God is our acceptance, that nothing legal, nothing whereof we might boast, might be mingled with the work of sovereigns grace. (Ephesians 1:6 Accepted on the Great Father) Steven Cole also asks... Why does Paul use that designation of Jesus Christ (Beloved) here? There could be several reasons. The eternal love that exists between the Father and the Son is a perfect love. When the Father adopts us into His family, we are drawn into this circle of infinite, perfect love (John 15:9). In Jesus’ great prayer for His disciples just before the cross, He prays (John 17:23), “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” What a staggering thought, that the Father loves us even as He loves His own Son! So Paul calls Jesus “the Beloved” to show that we are now in this relationship of love with the Father and the Son. Also, Paul may call Jesus “the Beloved” to show the great price that God paid to adopt us as His children. Jesus was supremely God’s beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased (Matt. 3:17; Col. 1:13; Luke 20:13). Yet the Father and the Son were willing to interrupt this perfect relationship of love so that the Son could go to the cross and endure the wrath of the Father on our behalf! As Paul writes (Rom. 8:32), “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Rainsford... He (God the Father) hath made us His Hephzibahs (Hebrew = "my delight is in her" - This is God's heart for Zion, who will once again be called "My delight is in her!" = Isa 62:4)--made us dear to Him in the Beloved--made us His delights, a joy to Himself in the Beloved....And yet there are multitudes of professing Christians who do not trust, or know, or believe that they are accepted in Him, and who do not enjoy the blessedness and rest of looking up into their Father’s face and recognizing the love bestowed on them in the Father’s Beloved, and the security that that love has surrounded them with! They think they are only accepted according to the measure of their prayers, their merits, their good works, and their faith, instead of according to the measure of the Father’s everlasting love for His Son. Yes! we are here plainly taught that our acceptance in the first place was not even on account of Christ’s own merits, or prayers, or blood, or sacrifice, much less ours, but solely and only on account of our relation to His person as God’s Beloved One; and the subsequent interference of sin only brought out the resources of redemption, forgiveness, salvation, and adoption in Him “in Whom all fulness dwells.” (Col 1:19-note, cp Col 2:9-note) Lehman Strauss... Verse six teaches us that every true believer has been foreordained to be such a trophy of the grace of God as to cause men to praise the glory of His grace. Spurgeon writes... What astounding grace does the Lord display—in accepting our poor, imperfect offerings! What rich merit abides in our Lord Jesus! What sweet fragrance beyond expression dwells in Him—to drown and destroy our foul sulphurous offerings, and to make us accepted in the Beloved! Glory be unto our glorious High Priest, whose perfect life and sin-atoning death, is so sweet—that the Holy Judge is well pleased with us for His righteousness' sake—and accepts us in Him, even with our sulphurous incense! NET Note... God’s grace can be poured out on believers only because of what Christ has done for them. Hence, he bestows his grace on us because we are in his dearly loved Son. In the Beloved accepted am I, Risen, ascended, and seated on high; Saved from all sin thro' His infinite grace, With the redeemed ones accorded a place! —Martin