READING TIME: 4-7 MINUTES
February 10, 2010
Does Ephesians 1:4 teach unconditional divine election? What does predestination mean in Ephesians 1:5? Part 1 of 2.
Ephesians 1:4-5: 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will (NASB).
SIMPLE ANSWER
These verses are very often and unfortunately used to supposedly prove an unconditional, pre-creation election to eternal salvation. These verses don’t teach this, but they simply specify that God designated in eternity past that those who are known to be in Christ would be able to attain holiness and blamelessness. The Bible doesn’t teach that present/progressive/practical sanctification is guaranteed or automatic, but God does desire us to walk in His Spirit, abide in Him, and obey His commands by His grace. Praise the Lord that all of us will be 100% holy when we receive our glorified bodies at the Rapture. If Bible students would stick to what the text says, no teaching of unconditional election for eternal life would even be supposed.
MORE DETAILED ANSWER
“Unconditional divine election” according to Calvinism is since man can do nothing in response to God, God chooses who will be saved and effects that salvation.
Here’s is a more detailed explanation of this doctrine from a reputable Reformed theologian:
“God’s choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world rested solely in His own sovereign will. His choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response or obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc. On the contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He selected. These acts are the result, not the cause of God’s choice. Election, therefore, was not determined by or conditioned upon any virtuous quality or act foreseen in man. Those whom God sovereignly elected He brings through the power of the Spirit to a willing acceptance of Christ. Thus, God’s choice of the sinner, not the sinner’s choice of Christ, is the ultimate cause of salvation” (Steele 6c, quoted in Badger 118).
Calvin and Augustine (the father of the Roman Catholicism) both taught “double predestination,” which isn’t biblical. This simply means, in their view, God determined before creation that Group A of his creatures would spend eternity in heaven, while Group B would spend eternity in hell. Unfortunately, Augustine’s influence on Western Christianity was so major that double predestination has been taught non-stop since about A.D. 800. After the Reformation, the line went from John Calvin to Theodore Beza to William Perkins to the Westminster Confession to the English Puritans to America.
What’s interesting is that the word “predestinated” never refers to the ultimate destination of a human soul when it is used four times in Ephesians 1 and Romans 8. In none of these cases is a destination in the sense of an ultimate place of residence, either heaven or hell.
Important points about Ephesians 1:4-5:
• Paul begins the epistle of Ephesians with information about himself and the believing recipients. Paul gave his “thesis” statement in Ephesians 1:3, that believers would be blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. Then, in Ephesians 1:4-14, Paul proceeded to expand on those spiritual blessings (Selected by the Father in 1:3-6; Saved by the Son in 1:7-12, and Sealed by the Spirit in 1:13-14). He listed the first spiritual blessing in Ephesians 1:4, that the purpose or intention of God’s choosing believers (who are already “in Him”) was that they be holy and blameless. MORE DETAIL FOR THOSE FAMILIAR WITH GREEK (from my friend Dr. Tony Badger). Paul, in this passage, indicates that God chose those who would be believers for His purpose (εἶναι = infinitive of purpose), i.e., so that believers could be holy and blameless in His presence. The lack of the use of ὥστε (= so that) indicates that the infinitive should probably not be taken as an “infinitive of result” or as a guaranteed result in this passage because it is not introduced by ὥστε. By recognizing it as an infinitive of purpose one might infer that it suggests an expected result, however. But the language doesn’t require a guaranteed result. The holiness or blamelessness in a believer’s present life is certainly God’s desire. Believers are elected or chosen for potential holiness. The infinitive of purpose in 1:4 (εἶναι) shows God’s intention for every believer (i.e., for everyone who is by position justified by faith in Christ and is therefore who is “in Him” by faith) to ultimately stand before Him in a perfected holy and blameless state.
• In Christ signifies that whatever Jesus Christ is before God the Father, the believer shares His identity, because he or she is within the Savior.
• Paul does not say that people are unconditionally chosen for eternal life. He says believers are chosen to be holy!
• To be “in Christ” or “in Him” is Paul’s way of referring to the positional status of a believer who is already justified by faith and who has everlasting life, very similar to the doctrine of adoption (see below for more details on “adoption” in Ephesians 1:5) and resulting sonship as expressed in Galatians 3-4.
• God chose that whoever was in His Son would be “blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places” and “holy and without blame before Him in love.” The error of the Calvinists is in assuming the verse made mention of getting “in Christ.” Ephesians 1 is not about God predetermining which individuals will be in Christ. This passage is about God predetermining the spiritual blessings for those who are in Christ through believing the word of truth (Ephesians 1:13). It is only those individuals who are connected to Him by faith who are the appointed or chosen ones. Christ is the corporate head of the Church and only those who have a relationship with Him by faith can in any sense be called His chosen people.
• One is not a believer because he/she is the result of God’s choosing. Rather, as a believer one is intended and destined to be analogous to God’s nature, i.e., holy and blameless. This is the idea in Philippians 1:27 where Paul exhorts the believers to “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”
• The proper interpretation of this verse can be found by noting the “according as” (or “even as” or “just as”) at the beginning of the verse which connects it with the previous one. I agree with my friend Dr./Pastor John Clark that this word in the Greek NT describes how God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. God did this through a vehicle (through a position or location), by being “in Christ.” “In Him” is where God would secure and be able to guarantee the blessings He desired to bestow on believers. This is the manner or means by which God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. BTW, I would encourage you to listen to John’s excellent sermon on Ephesians 1:1-14 (see my “Sources Consulted” at the end for the YouTube link).
Please read tomorrow’s post for Ephesians 1:4, Part 2.
READING TIME: 3-5 MINUTES
February 11, 2020
Ephesians 1:4-5 Part 2
Important Points about Ephesians 1:4-5 (continued)
• This verse does NOT say that God chose us “before the foundation of the world,” but it says He chose us “In Him before the foundation of the world.”
• The choosing/election has nothing to do with salvation but rather concerns our position in Christ. This is confirmed by reading Ephesians 2:6. This is not future and neither can it be figurative, for the same thing is said of Jesus Christ in Ephesians 1:20.
• God’s choice was made “before the foundation of the world” of individuals that were already “In Him,” and the purpose of this choice was not for salvation, but that those so chosen would “be holy and blameless before Him in love.” All this is “according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace.” As far as God is concerned, we are seated “before Him,” holy, without blame, and blessed with all spiritual blessings. This is because we are part of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:17; Ephesians 5:30). Once a man gets “in Christ” he gets in on the choosing.
• According to Reformed Theology, these individuals are not chosen In Him but chosen to be in Him. This distinction is crucial. To be chosen In Him is to be chosen as a believer. Chosen to be in Him is to be chosen as an unbeliever. In other words, the choosing is said to be “that we should be holy and without blame,” not that we should be “in Christ” or saved. When the second half of Ephesians 1:4 is commented on, it is usually thrust into the future since Christians are not presently “holy and without blame.”
• Those chosen were chosen in Christ and not outside of Christ.
• Those chosen in Christ for holiness, blamelessness, and love were according to Ephesians 1:5 predestined to adoption as sons. They were not predestined to salvation as non-sons to be sons. They were predestined to adoption as sons. Adoption in this context does not bring a non-family member into the family but a family member into his full inheritance.
• MORE DETAIL ABOUT ADOPTION FROM DR./PASTOR JOHN CLARK’S SERMON POWERPOINT:
o In the Roman culture of Paul’s day, you adopted your BIOLOGICAL children NOT someone else’s biological child.
o You did NOT adopt someone INTO the family, you adopted someone ALREADY IN the family.
o Adoption was the way you officially conferred an INHERITANCE upon one of your children.
o It generally happened after a “probationary” time which included observation of the child’s life, and an arbitrary decision by the Father – It was NEVER GUARANTEED!
o This is something God has pre-determined for every believer in Jesus Christ – How can He do this? – Notice the phrase “by Jesus Christ to Himself,” it is BECAUSE of Jesus Christ.
o Paul says in Galatians 3:26 we are ALL “sons (In the Greek, huios and NOT just teknon – full heirs) of God through FAITH in Christ Jesus.”
o Paul also says in Romans 8:17 that if we are children (in the Greek, teknon – i.e., born into the family) then we are HEIRS with a full inheritance (this is a huios or son)!
o So, if God is pre-determining that each believer will receive the adoption, i.e. their inheritance, what phase of our one salvation is He speaking of here? It is the THIRD phase of our salvation, i.e., our glorification NOT our justification.
• Please forgive me for repeating myself, but the text doesn’t speak of the unregenerate being predestined to be children of God through regeneration. Rather, this text refers to those “in Him.” If they are “in Him,” they are already regenerate children of God that are predestined to adoption as sons.
• Predestination here relates to those who first trusted Christ.
• It’s important to point out that the word election doesn’t occur in Ephesians 1, and it also is not to be found in the entire book of Ephesians. This is unconscionable since this is supposed to be one of the premier proof texts of Calvinists for Unconditional Election.
• Ephesians 1:5 never says that predestination is a “decree of God.” It also doesn’t say this took place before the foundation of the world, and it also doesn’t say anybody is predestined to eternal salvation.
• Believers are predestined insofar as they are “in Christ” and so share His identity. That is how predestination relates to “in Christ.” You are not individually elected from all eternity. The group is. The Body of Christ is. And you are put “in Christ” when you believe in Him.
Summary of the Bible’s teaching on unconditional election
I believe that God chooses individuals for salvation, but He did not choose them apart from their own choice to believe in Him. In other words, nowhere in Scripture does it say He chooses people to believe or predestined them to believe. Rather, He chooses to save those who place their faith or trust in His Son. Since God is omniscient and has always known all things, there was never a time when He did not know that we would believe and so it would have been impossible for Him to choose us apart from His knowledge of our choice to believe in His Son. I don’t believe His foreknowledge was causative as Calvinism teaches (i.e., He didn’t make us believe); however, it is exhaustive (i.e., He must have foreknown all those who would believe in Christ) (I’m thankful to Pastor/Dr. Tom Stegall for this statement on divine election; personal correspondence December 14, 2017).
Conclusion
Dr. Tony Badger’s conclusion is appropriate when he wrote, “A person comes to be ‘in Christ’ by faith, not because of some supposed unconditional, pre-creation election unto salvation. Ephesians, taken at face value and without reading a Calvinistic theological perspective into it, doesn’t even remotely suggest that God elected anyone for everlasting life” (p. 168).
Sources Consulted
Anderson, David R. Position and Condition: An Exposition of the Book of Ephesians. Grace Theology Press, 12-13.
Badger, Anthony B. Confronting Calvinism: A Free Grace Refutation and Biblical Resolution of Radical Reformed Soteriology, 164-168.
Bryson, George. The Dark Side of Calvinism: The Calvinist Caste System, 329-330.
Bulow, Caleb. How the Bible Defines: Election: Clearing the Muddied Waters of Calvinism.
Clark, Dr./Pastor John Clark. Ephesians 1:1-14 Sermon at Duluth Bible Church Fall 2019 Bible Conference.
Constable, Dr. Thomas L. “Notes on Ephesians.” 2019 Edition.
Flowers, Leighton. The Potter’s Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology.
Hixson, Whitmire, Zuck. Freely by His Grace: Classical Grace Theology. Chapter 5, by Charlie Bing. Grace Gospel Press.
Lazar, Shawn. Chosen to Serve: Why Divine Election Is to Service, Not to Eternal Life. Grace Evangelical Society, 204-212.
Olson, C. Gordon. Beyond Calvinism & Arminianism: An Inductive Mediate Theology of Salvation. 3rd Edition Expanded, Revised, & Updated. Global Gospel Publishers, 336-340.
________. Getting the Gospel Right: A Balanced View of Salvation Truth. Global Gospel Publishers, 21, 282-284.
Steele, David N., Curtis C. Thomas, and S. Lance Quinn. The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, and Documented.
Swindoll, Charles R, and Roy B. Zuck (general editors). Understanding Christian Theology. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Vance, Laurence M. The Other Side of Calvinism. Pensacola, FL: Vance Publications, 1999, 357-360.
Wilkin, Robert N. Is Calvinism Biblical? Let the Scriptures Decide. Grace Evangelical Society.