Ephesians 1:3-6 and the doctrine of Unconditional
Election
By Moses Flores
“Blessed by the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him, in love having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory
of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”
Ephesians 1:3-6
When we think of the grace of God, the last thing that usually comes into our minds is the doctrine of election. For most people, the doctrine of election seems divisive and even blasphemous, but the Bible uses the words “election” and “predestination” and their other synonyms quite freely. What do we mean by the Doctrine of election? And more importantly, is what we mean by the doctrine of election what the Bible teaches. “The final court of appeal for determining the validity of any theological system is the inspired, authorative Word of God. [1].” If reformed theology can be confirmed by the Bible, then it should be received by God’s people; if it cannot stand up to scripture then it must be rejected.
Election defined
What is the doctrine of election? According to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, election is “the gracious and free act of God by which He calls those who become part of His kingdom and special beneficiaries of His love and blessings[2].” According to the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, election is “the doctrine concerning God’s divine choice of some individuals out of all mankind to become His own through regeneration and salvation[3].” Historically, the doctrine has been stated as such:
“God, by an eternal and immutable
decree, out of his mere love, for the praise of his glorious grace, to be
manifested in due time, hath elected some angels to glory; and in Christ hath
chosen some men to eternal life, and the means
thereof…” (
“Election is the unchangeable purpose
of God, by which, before the foundation of the world, according to the most
free pleasure of his will, and of his mere grace, out of all mankind – fallen,
through their own fault, from their first integrity into sin and destruction –
he hath chosen in Christ unto salvation a set number of men, neither better nor
more worthy than others, but lying in the common misery with others…” (Synod of
“Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour.”
(Article 17, of the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England , 1549)
Simply put, election is the teaching that God, before creation existed, determined, in Christ, whom He would save and whom He would not save.
What the doctrine does not mean is that God looked into the future, down the corridors of time, and “saw” who was going to be saved, and then called those whom He saw would be saved His “elect.” This view of Election is known as Arminianism, deriving its name from a Dutch theologian by the name of Jacobus Arminius. The Arminian view teaches that the election of God is conditional upon faith and repentance. That is, those who decide to make the decision of faith toward God and repent of their sins of their own “free will” are the ones whom God elects (not elected). The Reformed Calvinist, and as we shall see, Biblical view, teaches that God’s election is grounded, not upon man’s faith and repentance, but in the free will and good pleasure of God and His purposes.
Election in the
Scriptures
The Bible is rich with the doctrine of election. However, for the sake of study, we will be looking at Ephesians 1:3-6 as Paul expounds the doctrine of election in these short verses.
Its Author
The verse begins with an exaltation of praise to “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Clearly we are to see that God is the source and origin of the “spiritual blessings” that believers receive in Christ which includes the predestination of God’s elect. The doctrine of election, according to the Bible, is not some sort of Fatalism. Our salvation is not left to chance, or even our human decisions, but is rather determined by a God who decided to save. Had we been left to our own decisions and God been left out of determining salvation, then we would have a reason to despair in the hand of “fate.”
Election stated
“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” I think this is the Bible’s best summation of the teaching of election. The clarity of this verse is crystal. Notice that “He chose us”; it would be proper to imply the word “alone” after this phrase. God alone choose. He did not choose in accordance with the will of them whom He chose. Rather, the Bible teaches here that He alone made that choice. The same thought flows through Romans 9:11-13 where Paul is mentioning the election of Jacob over Esau. The passage says, “(for the children, not yet being born nor having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of him who calls), it was said to her, ‘the older shall serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated’ (Italics mine).” Elsewhere, Paul also echoes the same thought as he wrote to the church at Thessalonica: “God chose you from the beginning to be saved…” (II Thess. 2:13).
Notice also the when and where Election is said to have taken place: “in Him” and “before the foundation of the world.” By “in Him” we are to understand that the sphere of God’s choice took place “in Christ.” John Calvin, in commenting on this particular verse believed that being elected “in Christ” proved that God’s choice was free from our actions. “If we are chosen in Christ, it is not of ourselves. It is not from a perception of anything that we deserve, but because our heavenly Father has introduced us, through the privilege of adoption, into the body of Christ[4].” “in Christ” is the foundation of election. Again, there is no scriptural reason to add the actions of man to “in Christ” so we could also imply the word “alone” at the end of “in Christ.”
The time of election should also be proof to show that God did not elect according to our foreseen actions. If the Bible says that we were chosen before time existed (which came into being with creation), how could we do anything “in the future” when the future did not even exist? This idea of being chosen before time existed is not a teaching that is only abundant in Paul’s writings, but came from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Himself. In Matthew 25:34 Jesus teaches about the final judgment and this is His pronouncement on those who are saved: “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘come you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Italics mine).”
Its objects
Who or what has God “chosen” from before the foundation of the world. The object is “us” here in this verse. Notice that the Bible does not say “everybody” is chosen from before the foundation of the world. “This pronoun ‘us’ must be explained in the light of its context. Paul is writing to ‘saints and believers’ (verse 1)[5].” “Us” is exclusive language. Paul, in no way, says that the unbelieving world was chosen to be adopted into God’s family and redeemed in Christ. In Romans 8:29-30, Paul also shows the exclusiveness of the election. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified these He also glorified.” Notice that only those who were “predestined” are the only group that is called. The group that is also called is the same group that is going to be justified and glorified. That is, the group that is “called” is not going to be a different group that is glorified. They are the same. Clearly, God chose “believers” before they were “believers” to be “believers” (don’t get confused there).
It should also be noted that God chose people (“us”) not a plan to save. There are some that believe that God predestined a plan of action for redemption. While this is somewhat true, the Bible does not teach that God “elected” a plan, but rather that He elected people.
Its purpose
Finally, the purpose of election is so that “we should be
holy and without blame before Him.” This
is especially important in several ways.
First, it shows that we were not holy (or even disposed to being holy)
when God elected us. We know that the
Bible teaches that men are sinful in their nature. Clearly we were elected to desire the things
of God, not because we previously did desire them. Second, we are predestined to salvation but
that does not mean that we may live any way that we want to if we are
“predestined.” The
goal of our election to be holy unto the Lord. Again, the purpose of election is to make us
holy. As Romans
God’s reasons for election
“in love having predestined us…According to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” God’s two motives for electing a people unto salvation are revealed in these verses; they are God’s love and God’s good pleasure. We are not to suppose that the doctrine of election is God going through the “eternal phone book” and randomly picking and choosing, or even rolling dice and choosing arbitrarily. No, the people teaches that God choose those whom He loved “in the Beloved.” Notice that we are not chosen “because of what we did” – again, the election is not based on our efforts or merit, but only in Christ alone. “Any attempt to base God’s election and predestination upon human merit, whether foreknown or otherwise, in unscriptural and futile. The cause of God’s choice of us is not to be found in us, but in him alone (cf. Titus 3:5; Eph. 2:8,10). The will of God is the determining factor.[6]”
Notice also that election is grounded in the sovereignty of God: “according to the good pleasure of His will.” Election in salvation is God exercises His sovereign right to give what is His to whom He will. Jesus taught this same principle of God’s sovereignty in the distribution of His mercy in the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20: 1-16). In the parable, the workers felt that they had been treated unfairly with their wages, but the owner (representing God) says, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? (v15), and then Jesus concludes the parable by saying “many are called but few are chosen (or elected).” Because God is God, He may do as He wishes with what is His. In this case, both creation (humans) and salvation are His. He may give each as He pleases, for we deserve none of them in our sinful state.
Concluding thoughts on election
I will admit that the doctrine of election is one of the most divisive doctrines among Christians today. However, this is not a reason to avoid the subject and not make mention of it. The apostle Paul exhorted the Ephesians to unity (Ephesians 4:1-6) after making mention of the doctrine of election (1:3-13). It is obvious that Paul saw the doctrine as something that we be a part of bringing Christians together, not dividing them. It is also noteworthy that in the scripture that we just examined, predestination is a reason to praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and not a reason to object to the teaching.
In
conclusion, we must ask, is the Reformed Calvinistic teaching of Election in
accord with the scriptures. I believe
that it is as this brief overview of Ephesians 1:3-6 has proven. The scripture have given us no clear evidence
to believe that God chose us according to how He saw we would be in the
“corridor of time”. Neither do the
scriptures give us a reason to denounce or not mention the doctrine when its teaching are evident from Genesis to Revelation in the
choosing of Noah, and Abraham and his descendants, to
I have my own opinion that there is no
such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what
nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism
is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel if
we do not preach justification by faith without works; nor unless we preach the
sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the
electing unchangeable eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I
think we can preach the gospel unless we base it upon the special and
particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out
upon the cross. (Autobiography: 1, The Early Years, p. 168)
Spurgeon believed in the doctrine of election because it was from the scriptures alone and had no problems equivocating Calvinism with the Gospel because He believed that the teaching known as Calvinism were submitted to scripture. The responsibility is no less with us to believe all that the scriptures teach and submit to the full counsel of God in salvation.
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[1] Steele, David N and
Thomas, Curtis C., The five points of
Calvinism: defined, defended and documented, Presbyterian and Reformed
Pub.,
[2] Youngblood, Ronald
F., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible
Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Pub., Nashville, Tennessee, 1995, pg. 389
[3] Pfeiffer, Charles
F, Vos, Howard F., Rea, John Wycliffe
Bible Dictionary, Hendrickson Publishing, Peabody, Massachusetts, 1975, pg.
511
[4] Calvin, John,
trans. William Pringle, Calvin’s
Commentaries : Galatians-Philemon, volume XXI, Baker Book house, Grand
Rapids, Michigan, 1979, pg. 198
[5] Hendriksen,
William, New Testament commentary:
Ephesians, Baker Book House,
[6]
Harrison, Everett
F, and Pfeiffer, Charles F. Editors, Wycliffe
Bibel Commentary, Moody Press,