Eph. 1:3-6
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." - ESV
Last time we focused on the phrase, "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world..."
Today, I would like to outline the doctrine of Election and then next week we will discuss the foreknowledge of God and then move on to answer the questions: What did God elect us to be? What was His purpose in election?
The doctrine of Election starts in the Old Testament. We know that God chose Abraham to be the father of a new nation (
Gen. 12:1-3). We see God choosing the nation of Israel to bring about his purposes (
Deut. 7,
Isa. 42). In the New Testament, Jesus chose 12 men to be his disciples (
Jn. 15:16). Here are just a few New Testament references where we see God choosing or electing:
Romans 9
Acts 13:48
Titus 1:1
1Peter 1:1-2
2Peter 1:10
In Ephesians 1, Paul is speaking of election unto salvation. I know that the Bible refers to Israel as the "elect" nation of God (
Deut. 7:6). I know that we see God choosing a sort of vocational election in
Acts 9:15 and
Rom. 1:5, but that's not in view here, and I think the context of the passage makes that abundantly clear.
What makes this whole doctrine confusing is the act of reconciling it to the fact that we make real, free decisions. We are called to believe in Jesus (
John 3:16), right? And that's my choice right?
So do we have a free will? It depends on how you define it. Here is my definition of free will:
"You can do what ever you want." --- Seems simple enough, right?
The next question you have to ask yourself is: what do I want? (when you ask that question, you have to simultaneously ask the question, what does the Bible say that I want?) How you answer this question will lead you down two very different theological paths. One will lead you to what we call Reformed theology (or I simply like to call it biblical doctrine). The other will lead you to Humanism.
Do you know what the Bible says about you?
Romans 3:12 - "All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; NO ONE DOES good; NOT EVEN ONE.
Isaiah 64:6 says "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away."
The "polluted garment" mentioned have in view the disgusting, infected garment of a leper. Leprosy, in very simple terms, is a gross bacteria that grows in and on your body and many times causes gross deformity to the skin. Below is a picture of a man from Norway infected with leprosy. He is 24 years old in this picture. When I googled "leprosy" most of the images I saw were much worse.
I'd say I've given you a pretty clear picture of what the Bible compares your "good" works to, wouldn't you?
Romans 6:17 helps us understand that before regeneration, we are SLAVES to sin.
So this brings us back to my definition of free will - "you do what ever you want to do." What does the Bible say you want to do? It doesn't say you want to do anything that is good, but rather it says you can only do what is BAD, EVIL, and WRONG.
Continue reading in
Romans 6 and you find out that when God comes in and regenerates the soul, your desires change, so you now WANT TO obey God.
All that to say, if you understand that the freedom of the will is only the ability to do what you desire to do, and what you desire to do is always sin apart from God's regenerating work in your soul, then you will be able to understand how the doctrine of Election complements your ability to choose, instead of contradicting it.
You might say, I don't know if this doctrine is Biblical...well, I would respond to that by giving you some passages to read in Scripture:
2Timothy 1:8-9 says, "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus BEFORE THE AGES BEGAN..."
Acts 13:48 says, "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and AS MANY AS WERE APPOINTED TO ETERNAL LIFE believed."
2Thes. 2:13 says, "But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because GOD CHOSE YOU as the firstfruits TO BE SAVED, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth."
Romans 8:30 says, "And those whom he predestined HE ALSO CALLED, and those WHOM HE CALLED he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."
2 Timothy 2:10 says, "Therefore I endure everything for the SAKE OF THE ELECT, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory."
Let's not get Election confused. Election and justification are not the same thing. When God elects one to be saved before the foundation of the world, it means that He has chosen an individual to be justified and adopted before time began and before the world was created, to be his son or daughter. Justification and adoption actually take place at some moment in time. You weren't saved before the world began, you were chosen to be saved before the world began, and you chose to be saved because God regenerated your heart (
Rom. 6:17).
So yes, you did choose God at a moment in time by believing that he is the Lord of your life, but in order to do that, you had to die (spiritually) and Christ had to then resurrect you (spiritually) so that you could make that choice (
Rom. 6:1-14). God declared you righteous (justification) (
Gal. 2:16) and he adopted (
Gal. 4:5;
Eph. 1:5) you as a son or daughter into his family and calls you his own (
Rom. 8:15;
Gal. 4:6) and made you a co-heir (
Rom. 8:17) with His son, Jesus. He promises to conform you to the image of His son (
Rom. 8:29), and some day glorify (
Rom. 8:30) you so that you will never be plagued by sin again. He has given you eternal life (
John 3:36;
5:24).
This is what God decided would happen to you before the world was created, and
God's decision that he would do all of this to you is the Doctrine of Election. Soli Deo Gloria.
Be Edified.
