Ephesians 1:4 Chosen in Christ

I remember a friend describing a prominent pastor/theologian this way: "you have to hate him a lot not to love him a little." Since that day I've used that catchy line more than a few times, and never has it been more true than when the discussion turns to the doctrine of Election. If you really understand what is being taught by Paul and others in the Bible concerning the pre-time decision by God to choose some to salvation, then you have to hate the whole concept a lot not to love it at least a little bit.

In Ephesians 1:4 Paul starts the long list of spiritual blessings enjoyed by Christ-followers with this one: "He chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world." Notice several things here before trying to re-define what Paul is saying.

First, Paul thinks this "choosing" is a blessing, a divine enjoyment, a wonderful and delightful action enjoyed by the believer. To be chosen is a good thing, a blessed thing. Paul doesn't see this as something relegated only to shadows and whispers. He starts with it, as though it is that without which none of the other blessings could become ours.

Secondly, Paul doesn't stop to defend it. He doesn't say "now I know some of you think the idea of God choosing some is unfair, and maybe it looks that way, but basically we have to put up with it because the Bible says so." Paul doesn't do any of that. He also doesn't stop and go on for several pages giving a definition and explanation of God's choosing that in the end turns the whole thing on its head and makes God's choice of us really the result of our choice of Him. More on this in a moment.

Thirdly, notice that we were chosen "in Him." That means that the choice by God was vitally connected to our being united to Christ. His choice of us brought us into union with Christ. And it was this union in the mind of God that would mean that Christ's death was also ours, along with His resurrection. Paul talks about this in Romans 6:3-10 and Colossians 2:9-15.

Fourthly, notice that this choice by God was completed before anything was created. Before God spoke the world into existence, we were on His mind, in His heart, and already included in His redemptive plan ... in Christ. And again I remind you, Paul doesn't think this is odd enough, or hard enough to understand so as to demand that he pause here and give a further definition or explanation or defense of God's actions. That's probably because Paul considered this such a great privilege, a great enjoyment, a monumental blessing that every Christ-follower intuitively understands. Of course we owe our relationship to God to his sovereign actions toward us! How else could we, dead in our sins and hostile toward God, ever work up either the desire or the ability to bring our sinful selves savingly to God? He had to initiate the action, and he had to complete it because, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:1ff we were "dead in our trespasses and sins." We were dead, without ability spiritually to reverse the effects of our sin on our will.

Fifthly, don't fall for the humanistic explanation that God's choice of us was really his reaction to the knowledge he had of us, that at some point, we would choose to believe and trust in his Gospel and surrender our lives to Christ. We were chosen because he knew we would choose him. But think about it. If God's choice was really sourced in our choice, how does it qualify as a magnificent blessing? Isn't it really just the obligatory response of God to our actions? And further, doesn't it make us sovereign over God's actions since he chose us only because we chose him? And lastly, does this really solve the supposed problem here? Let me explain.

Those who reject the doctrine of Election seem to think that it isn't fair because it violates man's free will. And without going into a whole long explanation of the Free Will doctrine, just slow down a bit and really think about this: if God looked ahead with his omniscient telescope and saw, down through the corridors of history, that I would one day hear the Gospel, choose to believe it, repent of my sins and trust in Christ, then my decision was already certain. If God knew it, and based his choice of me on the certainty of my faith, then my faith decision was already certain and my personal history could never turn out otherwise. So how in the world can that be a defense of my free will, if long before I was born, my history was already set?

My point is this: Any explanation of Election other than the clear truth that God, according to his own counsel and motivated by nothing outside himself, chose to make some the object of his redeeming love, and did so before creation even began ... Any other explanation fails to really solve the supposed problems, and actually creates many more, not the least of which is that is re-defines God's sovereignty by making his choosing subservient to ours, his will dependent upon knowledge of our actions.

For Paul the simple truth that God, for reasons known only to himself, determined not only to permit sin to ruin his creation, but also to rescue an undeserving, sinful people and make them his treasured masterpieces, is the highest and most spectacular blessing God has ever bestowed on us. And I think our best choice is to join Paul in the rejoicing, and stop trying to defend God for an action that both grants us salvation, and magnifies his glory.

Hope this helps,

David