One of the main tasks in a politician’s profession is to win the support of their constituents and there is usually much more focus upon this objective just before an election. You will never experience a more courteous and generous political candidate than just prior to the vote. The election process itself is generally very simple; You are asked to vote for a candidate to represent you in a legislature and in return hope they implement policies that will benefit society as a whole. In recent times, we have also seen a tremendous shift in our politics and politicians. In the past, politicians would attempt to win your support based upon good legislative policies, the promise of low taxes, a healthy economy and perhaps a little charisma. Yet, today, it’s much more focused upon their ideology especially in terms of environmental policies, social reforms and what they can do to further human rights. While seeking these political endeavours seems appropriate to some, it has been pushed in a much more radical form and this has created unnecessary factions among citizens in our country. Political parties have stepped up their intensity and we often see this fiasco played out in our legislative buildings and now in our streets.
In the book of Ephesians, we are introduced to a different type of election. The apostle Paul revealed to his readers, not so much the election of a legislative body, but an election in the form of a blessing. The elector in this epistle is none other than God, and the electees are His people. Paul is expressing praises to God for this divine choosing and those blessings that are interrelated with His divine will.
The Text
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:4-6)
The Blessing of Choice
The first of the heavenly blessings attributed to the great eulogy are based upon two related verbs mainly chosen and predestined. First, Paul introduces us to the biblical concept of election which is arguably one of scripture’s most significant and yet most confused doctrine. The word itself is not so difficult to understand since, as we mentioned above, we use it in our everyday lives as choosing an official to a government position or a committee. To properly understand what God’s choosing implies, we must begin by first identifying it for what it is, mainly a blessing. Yahweh has blessed by choosing a people and in return, it suggests that He has not blessed others. God chose, not in history, but in eternity past, a particular people that He would bless, and that would be His Holy people, and He did so in Christ. Remember, the subject of this verb to choose is God, while the direct object is us.
A Corporate Election?
Of course, not everyone agrees with this understanding of biblical election. Some have argued that God’s act of election is related to a plan of salvation or to save as an open concept. We would humbly disagree with this interpretation since the text explicitly states that He chose a people? The selection is personal and with little vagueness. Still, some have challenged our interpretation by arguing that God’s act of election is corporate. In other words, when we believe in Jesus Christ for our salvation, we enter into Christ and become a group called the elect because He was first the elect One. It is claimed that this concept is similar to that of Israel being God’s elect. In other words, an Israelite was elect because of his association with the nation and similarly we are elect because of being in Christ. While we appreciate those who subscribe to this view, we don’t believe the text above conveys this collective idea. What is often ignored in this interpretation is the Chooser. It isn’t the chosen that determine their election but the One who chooses them. Paul’s desire is to make it quite clear that God elects according to the kind intention of His will (v.6). The only will involved in this election is God’s and no, Paul didn’t fail to mention the inclusion of man’s will.
Another oft remark associated with the argument that this text is teaching a corporate election rather than a personal view of election is what the text doesn’t say. It is said that Paul never had a personal election in mind because he states that we are chosen in Christ rather than that we are chosen to be in Christ. While we agree that this is not the primary meaning, God’s election is still focused upon the individual since the redemption and forgiveness of trespasses are personal, not corporate. It should also be noted in passing, especially if we are focusing upon what the text doesn’t say, that Paul never says that we are chosen because we have chosen to be in Christ. The very foundation of our blessings is Jesus and the reality that what He purchased on the cross was much larger than the forgiveness of sin, but also included our election and predestination. Truly it is by His doing you are in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30). It is through Him that we are believers (1 Peter 1:20-21). The very fact that we are in Christ was by the will of God and through His actions.
The Glory of the Elector
This election is meant to bring glory to God the elector. The intention of God was that we would be holy and blameless before Him. So, it’s purpose is that we may become what we were originally intended to be, like Jesus (Romans 8:29-30). When did this happen? To sway the understanding that the election was based upon anything to do with us, the apostle describes the timeframe of this action as existing outside of time. The election happened before the foundation of the world and hence before creation or our personal existence. The election happens before we were born and it leads to those electees becoming holy and blameless, not the other way around. To be holy and blameless is to be set apart and pure in a moral sense as a people who can approach the living God (Colossians 1:22). While this is something that we currently are growing into, the final state is meant for the great day of His appearing (Parousia) when He returns to claim His bride and to redeem her (1 Corinthians 1:8; Philippians 1:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13). To be holy and righteous is to be like Christ.
The Predetermined Destiny
While in some circles, the doctrine of election can bring about a call for the anathema against you, the most controversial of these blessings, which is linked to the election, is that of predestination. The term predestined (προορισας) is defined as a decision made beforehand. But I don’t believe that this quite gives us the extent of the term. When we think of God’s act of predestination, we must think in terms of our destinies being established prior to the foundation of the world. The term is often used exclusively of a divine action towards others (Romans 8:28-30; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:11; Acts 4:28). We, as believers, have been blessed by God sealing our destiny through the cross of Jesus to become His sons.
Once again, we should mention that not everyone agrees with our interpretation. Some fellow believers in Christ deem that God predestining us is based upon His foreknowledge, in that He looked from eternity past into the future to see if we’ve placed our faith in Christ. In Romans 8:29, it is contended that foreknowledge of faith precedes the act of predestining as the basis of the giving of the blessing. Again, we are left with a blessing of God that is contingent upon the act of the individual. But Paul explicitly states the opposite in Ephesians 1. The expression by the kind intention of His will serves as the basis for the predestination, not the will of man. The apostle is accentuating the fact that it is God’s freedom to show His kindness towards a people in the act of predestining them to become sons that is the foundation that determines their destinies. All so that He might be praised for His grace and not as a response to the action of another. Even the Romans 8 text says nothing of foreknowing faith. In fact, foreknowledge is also an action by God towards individuals. To know means more than simply to have knowledge but to have loved with intimacy (Amos 3:2). Our election and predestination are the outpouring of God’s love for a people prior to their existence (1 Peter 1:2). Peter could also say that Christ Himself was foreknown before the foundation of the world, which communicates more than simply a knowledge of actions but an intimacy (1 Peter 1:20). This is why the apostle Paul begins this verse with “in love”.
The Adopted
Prior to moving on, we don’t want to skip over a very significant expression in this text. The act of electing and predestining is attributed to believers, in love. Not as a love from a people towards their God but God’s love towards people. This love was manifested in the predestining of individuals to adoption as sons. This means that we weren’t natural sons but were brought into the family of God to receive a privileged position. This was the same advantage that Israel experienced as sons to whom belongs the adoption as sons (Romans 9:4; Galatians 4:5) but now belongs to Jews and Gentiles (Romans 8:15; 9:26; 2 Corinthians 6:18). Receiving this adoption as sons is something that we are given in an already/not yet experience. Prior to this adoption, we were sons of wrath destined for destruction (Ephesians 2:2-3). We experienced it in time and history and currently we are sons of God in this life after being born again. Paul points out that you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:13). But at the same time, just a few verses later, he can say that we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23). Our adoption is so secured in Christ that we can say that we possess it. While we experience it today, it isn’t until we put on our new bodies and death is swallowed up by life that we will truly experience our adoption (1 Corinthians 15:53; 2 Corinthians 5:4)
God’s Intentions
This adoption wasn’t a random, unspecific or even towards an unknown group of individuals, but towards a particular people who God chose to bring into His family. What Paul continues to emphasize is that this adoption is through Christ. It is through the Person and work of the Saviour, the One whom the Father loved and who purchased the blessing of this predestining adoption. As we mentioned above, God elected and predestined according to the kind intention of His will. God was the determiner of the outflow of His grace through election and predestination, and who would be the recipients of this blessing. It wasn’t done with a grumbling heart but with delight! It was God’s delight to grant this adoption. Not as some random open invitation, but intentional and with a purpose.
A Magnificent Kindness
In furthering the emphasis upon God’s choice in distributing these blessings with delight, Paul moves to a more glorious purpose to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved (v.6). He blessed us before the foundation of the world so that He might receive praise in history. The praise that is lifted towards God is not that of an acclamation of a man’s free-will decision in history by making the right decision but of His divinely unmerited favour towards man. He doesn’t grant it to us because of anything in us, but freely bestows it, as an act of unmerited mercy and love. The term bestow (εχαριτωσεν) is interrelated with the term grace (χαρις) demonstrating that it is given as a gift. All these blessings are once again articulated through the beloved One. Because He is the object of the Father’s love (Colossians 1:13), we receive the love of God in these heavenly blessings.
Belonging
I can appreciate that for some this is a challenging biblical teaching to understand and accept. You’re not alone! We simply don’t understand all the intricacies associated with the act of election and predestination. But regardless of this, we must be willing to lay aside our lack of details and receive it by faith. Receiving this teaching has its benefits. God didn’t reveal this reality through His apostle with no purpose.
There are many in the church who are alone and perhaps struggling with their faith during a season in this world. You may sometimes feel like an outcast in a foreign land and even experience depression because of this. You may even feel that Christians are failing you! For those of you who are going through this trial, it is extremely important that you spend time pondering these three verses to understand your position in Christ. You do belong! You are part of a people separated from this world for a purpose and that distinctiveness is because God has chosen you, a unique experience that not everyone will be able to claim. You are the recipient of the rich blessings that God has bestowed according to His kind intentions. But most importantly, you are God’s adoptive son, and you were in God’s mind and in His heart long before this world was even formed. As Christians, we should recognize the beauty of our place in Christ and focus upon that special privilege we have and the assured hope that is to come in the future!
The Moncton Herald 