“Specially Chosen”
REVIEW
Paul wrote to a special group of people striving to live for the Lord in a hostile and pagan environment. He gave them the truth tools to succeed in a walk worthy of their high calling.
He masterfully summarized three years of daily training in what we know as the six chapters of his letter to the Ephesians.
The identity, privilege and responsibility of the Church.
I. Our Wealth and Worth In Christ 1-4
A. Paul blessed God for blessing us with every spiritual blessing 1:3-14
After his brief introduction and greeting, Paul broke out into a three stanza doxology celebrating the significance of what it means to be "in Christ" and the wonder of the blessings freely conferred on those in Christ by God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He introduced his theme with a grand doxology providing an overview of his subject.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ!
1. Specially Chosen 1:4
Many of us can remember a time in school where the jocks were appointed as team captains and told to each alternately chose up teams. Of course the popular and athletic students got chosen first down to the agonizing last one to be chosen. If they had their way we would not have been chosen at all. Some remember times when you were passed over all together for something. Rejection is a gruesome debilitating experience. Many psychological maladies can be linked to childhood rejection. To be accepted and chosen is divine. To be rejected and passed over is devastating. The first blessing Paul chose to highlight from the warehouse of blessing granted EVERY genuine believer is one of the most difficult truths of the Bible to.
One way you can identify a difficult truth is how many songs get composed about it.
There are few songs that highlight this truth which is unfortunate because this can be a most powerful truth for us to grasp. We will start with this verse and then we will add some other to broaden our understanding.
just as
He chose us
in Him
before the foundation of the world,
that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
Always look for the primary subject and verb in the sentence or clause. This verse answers some basic questions as did the previous verse. Who? What? When? Why? How?
a. God chose (Who?)
The one carrying out the action is none other than God Himself. The sovereign God. Only God enjoys absolute sovereignty. Only God can choose to do whatever He wills. Only He has true free will. Everything else is limited by ability or insight. This all powerful, all knowing, ever present, eternal God chose something. The term is not a complicated one. It is a common action. It indicates the section of a specific thing or things out of a larger group. Most of the controversy surrounding this teaching comes not from the fact of people being chosen but the criteria by which they are chosen. We are familiar with the concept of elections and making choices. This teaching is also known as election. It is often confused with the Biblical concept of predestination. They are not the same and we will take up “predestination” in a couple weeks.
God elects Israel, individuals, particular people for a specific purpose (apostles). This passage is God’s choice or election related to salvation. This is a point-in-time action reflexive verb. That means it was an action carried out in the past with personal implications.
b. God chose us for Himself. (Why?)
God is the primary focus. He didn’t choose us to enhance our life or His. He chose us for reasons found only in Himself. Whatever the reason, it was for “His praise and glory” (vs 5).
c. God chose us (Who?)
Who did God chose? Some try to reconcile the difficulties attached to this teaching by limiting God’s choice to the group. God elected the church as a group. He chose the church and all who would believe become members of that elect group. It is clear from this and other passages that God chose individuals.
d. God chose us in Christ (How?)
We are placed in the body of Christ by God’s choice. Our “in Him” relationship is due to His sovereign action. Jesus spoke of the fact that the Father would gift certain individuals to Him.
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. "But I said to you, that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. JOH 6:35
"And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. JOH 6:39
"No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. JOH 6:44
Here is the process. The Father ordains some to come to Jesus. Those who don’t come haven’t been chosen. Only those given and drawn by the father believe and come.
Those who come will not be lost or refused. All those who come will be resurrected or changed.
e. God chose us before the foundation (When?)
It is clear here that God’s made His choice not only before we were born but before the creation of the earth. That fact has glaring implication for the ground on which we were chosen. Did He choose us on the basis of our actions? We weren’t born yet. Some hold to the teaching that He chose us on the basis of foreseen faith. We must discern from Scripture whether election is the cause of faith or the result of our faith. If God chose on the basis foreseen faith then faith is the cause of election. If God chose on the basis of His own free will, then election is the cause of faith. If I am able only to choose to be friends with those who choose to be friends with me it is not really a choice at all. If God can only choose those who would eventually chose Him, the choice is not base on His sovereign choice by my eventual choice to believe in Him.
A study of other Scripture indicates that foreknowledge does play a role in election.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. 1 Peter 1:1-2
We have to ask, “What is foreknown?” It is clear that people are foreknown not faith. The concept of foreknowledge must transcend the simple idea that God knew beforehand.
God knows everyone and everything. “Foreknowledge” has more of a relational component.
Jesus will say to some at the judgment, “I NEVER knew you!” He doesn’t mean he had no awareness of them. He means that He had no personal relationship with them. The teaching of Scripture, as difficult as it feels, is that before the foundation of the earth, God decided to establish relationship with some and not others.
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 2 TH 2:13
We love, because He first loved us. 1 JO 4:19
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. ACT 13:48
f. God chose us to enjoy a perfect loving relationship with Him. (Why?)
The purpose for election is that God would establish intimate relationship with some of His creatures who He would restore purity and a new core identity.
And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— Colossians 1:21-22
Not only is it God’s plan to make us special and purify us but that we would enjoy a relationship of mutual love. God chose us to be holy and blameless not because we were holy and blameless. Whereas our election took place at a point in time in eternity past, the purpose for which we were chosen is ongoing. He chose us that we should continually be holy and blameless before Him in love. He chose us to now and forever have unhindered access to His presence.
g. God chose us just as He blessed us (How?)
The “just as” indicates that the foundation of our choosing is the same as the foundation of our blessing; grace. Apart from our works.
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 2 Timothy 1:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. EPH 2:8
Further Observation regarding Election
• God is in absolute control of the universe from the beginning of time.
God is Sovereign. He by His own will has chosen to create the universe and to directs its history according to His foreordained plan. He is free to do as He wills, He is God and is under no obligation nor subject to evaluation or judgment by His creatures.
What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH." So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?" On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. Romans 9:14-24
• Man, since the rebellion has been unwilling and unable to choose God on his own.
No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. JOH 6:44
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. ROM 3:9
• God chooses according to His own character and initiative.
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. ACT 13:48
• Not all have been chosen.
And all who dwell on the earth will worship him (the beast), {everyone} whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. REV 13:8
• Salvation is available to all men
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2PE 3:9
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. JOH 3:16
Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." ROM 10:13
My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. 1JO 2:1
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. Revelation 22:17
Election is a cooperative work within the Godhead. The Father sovereignly chose some of His creatures for Himself in His Son and gave us to His Son thorough the sanctifying (purifying, renewing) work of the Holy Spirit on the basis of God’s love and grace not our merit or belief.
Objections to the teaching of Election
• What is the incentive for witnessing?
Because God not only determined the end of salvation but the means.
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. 2 Timothy 2:8-10
Paul labored to bring the good news to the elect so that they would make a choice. Those that the Father determined in eternity past to give the Son will come at a point in time and they will come and believe through the drawing of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the gospel by the preaching and individual sharing of the truth in the context of loving relationships. We don't stop praying because God knows what will happen. Neither should we stop witnessing because God knows who will come to Him.
• Election of only some seems unfair.
This is probably one of the most difficult issues with which we wrestle. Especially when we think of the devastation involved in an eternity in Hell. It is because of this struggle that some have sought to make unbiblical allowances and concessions concerning the judgment and wrath of God. We must allow the truths of the Bible to stand as revealed and not try to cram them into some more pleasing of palatable system. The truth is that all were born in sin and deserving of the most painful of punishments. All of us deserved judgment for how we treated God and failed to respond to Him. It is perfectly just for God, out of His own design and decree, to decide to rescue some for Himself and establish relationship with them.
• What about free will?
It is important to note that the only truly free agent is God Himself. Adam had the greatest capacity for free will. All those following Adam forfeited much of their free will. Here is a tension that will not be fully understood this side of glory. No one has unrestricted choice.
God’s sovereign election and man’s free will coexist side by side in the Scriptures. All that the Father has given me (elected, chosen) shall come (will chose me) and those that come (chose Christ) I will in no wise cast out. All who call upon the name of the Lord (chose with their will) shall be saved. As many as were ordained to eternal life (His election), believed (made a choice). God called us to salvation; we are to work out our salvation.
There will be no one in heaven who did not choose to be there.
There will be no one in heaven who did not choose to be there.
Those who chose to live without God will get their desire. Those who chose to live by faith in the one who loved them and gave His life for them will get their desire, eternal (quality) life.
Feel the tension. It's ok! You are on the right track. We are not alone. Paul struggled with this concept as well and concluded.
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:33-36
We need to be faithful to teach what the Scripture teaches even if we struggle reconciling it in our own minds.
Implications to the understanding of Election (So What?)
• Election is foundational to salvation (Embrace it!)
Election, on the basis of foreknowledge, forms the foundation for a whole list of works that come about from eternity past on through eternity future.
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. Romans 8:29-30
• Election inspires humility (Gratefully accept it!)
Why did God chose me out of millions of other people? If we think it is because He knew we would be such a wonderful servant and great asset to His life we are sorely mistaken. If we accept His grace and humbly fall before Him in gratitude we will then be in a position to better understand our place in the kingdom.
• Election provides a secure foundation for my salvation. (Rest in it!)
God initiated. God continually refines and renews. God completes.
Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; Romans 8:33
• Election provides peace and a confidence in witnessing. (Preach it!)
I am responsible to share the truth in love, not win souls. God draws people to Himself in response to His truth shared by those who have already believed.
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!" However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Romans 10:14-17
• Election inspires godly living. (Live it!)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. EPH 2:10
For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 4:7
You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and {that} your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you. JOH 15:16
And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness... Col 3:12
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13
Jesus gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. Titus 2:14
