The believer's acceptance in Christ is the work of God alone.
Grace is stamped upon the whole thing.
From beginning to end, the work of our acceptance is God's operation. Our being in Christ and accepted in Christ must be the work of God alone because no one else existed when it was done. God the Father put us in Christ, the Beloved, by his sovereign decree because of his everlasting love for us. All who believe on Christ in time were put in Christ in eternity by the choice and decree of God. Just as the shepherd is responsible for the sheep trusted to his care, so the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily became responsible for the salvation of his sheep in the covenant of grace.