What It Means To Be Elect In The Son (2 of 2)
Ephesians 1:3-14 c of (a-e)
Turn to Ephesians 1:3-14; Ephesians 1:3-14. A few weeks ago, as we continued to analyze Ephesians 1:3-14 we began looking at the great doctrine of Biblical Election. Ephesians 1 is a beautiful section of God's word, that declares much about election, predestination, adoption, and our positional identification with Christ in the sphere of being in Him in His New Covenant church. God thinks we need to understand these things because God wants us to know details about His sovereign plan, sovereign process, and sovereign presence, concerning the fullness of our salvation. When we understand Biblical Election (BE), we have an enlightenment that raises us to greater heights in the true knowledge of God, but we also have a sobering reminder that reduces us down to that point of reality, where we humbly realize that our salvation is based completely upon God's determination and enabling. How many of you know that we do not impress God with anything about ourselves? We do not do a good deed of merit, such as elect God first, and then based upon that good deed, God elects us. We are all wretched sinners, born in sin, tainted by sin, and doing sin as part of our human natures. According to God's election, we have always been, and will always remain, completely at His mercy in the grace of His kind intention. These revelations from God leave us in total awe and praise concerning the fact that we are saved. In reverential fear and trembling, we recognize that we would have been lost forever if left to ourselves and overlooked in God's electing purpose. We do well to continually keep these facts in mind as we go about the daily grind of this temporary life on earth. Each day you must keep in mind that God elected you for a purpose. To be a spiritually mature Christian in the midst of the daily grind, we need to constantly be consumed with the purpose of God in this great privilege that we enjoy, and at times, even take for granted. This morning, we continue with some more important truths that apply to us concerning this great blessing-privilege of being elect by going into Ephesians 1:3-6 in more detail. Please read Ephesians 1:3-6 with me at this time,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He elected us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be set apart 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 determination, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the loved One." Ephesians 1:3-6
As we continue with this section of Ephesians, in which Paul is bursting forth with praise to God for how gracious God is, I want to remind us that, in the last sermon, we approached the subject recognizing that theology and doctrinal matters are oftentimes somewhat like the picture of a jigsaw puzzle. Each bit of truth is like a puzzle piece that fits with others to give us the picture that God intends for us to have. We touched a bit upon the fact that God does indeed elect all who are eternally spiritually saved to be eternally spiritually saved. We also touched upon the fact that God does all of this according to His sovereign omniscience in what He knows to be best, wise, and perfect. We saw that though the puzzle pieces concerning these facts are clear and evident, and fit together in precision that reflects the perfection of sovereign design, sometimes the doctrine is rejected, because it is not considered to be palatable. So, the doctrine of election is either put on the self, on one hand, or it is attacked, on the other. The attack upon God's complete sovereignty in this area is typically based on the philosophical premise called synergism. Synergism is a word that means, in a rather concise nutshell, that God will not, and can not, save you without your help.
In the first sermon we went about the task of practicing, as Paul says, in Philippians 1:7, "the defense and confirmation" of these things of the gospel. We have been ready to make a defense of our hope, as Peter says in 1 Peter 3:15. In 2 Timothy 2:25, Paul said to correct those who are in opposition, and so true to my marching orders as a preacher of God's word, that is what I am setting out to do. We have been studying this subject for teaching, reproof, and correction, 2 Timothy 3:16. We corrected some wrong thinking on this subject last week. We saw that God is not controlled by the future. In actuality, the truth of the matter is that God is the One who controls the future. We also looked at some passages of scripture, and concepts that help us to understand how not to make some interpretational mistakes in this area. We spent a great deal of time looking at passages of scripture that seemingly have a universal styled language used in them, such as the word "all" when referencing "all" in respect to people. Our primary passage we satellited from on that focus was
"5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time." 1 Timothy 2:5-6
We saw from scriptural examples such as Acts 21:28, 1 Corinthians 9:22, 1 Corinthians 10:33, Romans 16:19, 1 Corinthians 9:19, 1 Timothy 2:1 demonstrate to us that "all" does not necessarily have a universal application, and must be properly interpreted according to contextual and doctrinal considerations to get at what the writer meant. We saw that Jesus defined Himself as the ransom. A ransom is the payment price that releases particular people from a previous bondage. Jesus gave himself as a ransom for "many," rather than the ransom for all men everywhere. Jesus is the one who defined the amount as "many" in Matthew 20:28, and conveyed, in dramatic detail in Revelation 7:9, with Revelation 5:9-10 just how many the many really are. The many are a great multitude from every nation which no one can count, which includes God's elect from places like Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and Syria. We also recognized that the many are not all people from every nation that have ever existed, and will ever exist, but, they are, in fact, many. We looked at a secondary passage that is often thought to undermine the great doctrine of God's election of certain people to salvation. The second passage we looked at was Hebrews 2:9,
"9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation ..." Hebrews 2:9
We analyzed what it means to say that Christ tasted death for "everyone." We saw that the universal sounding term "everyone" means everyone of a specific group, which is the "many" of the "all" from the one Father. We found this by simply continuing to read through the context of that same passage in Hebrews 2, by going on to the next two verses,
"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation [who is Christ]. 11 For both He who sets apart and those who are set apart are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers," Hebrews 2:10-11 emph. mine
"Everyone" then, that Jesus tasted death for is the "many" of the "all" whom are set apart from the Father in election. We saw that Jesus effectually purchased, ransomed, bought, paid for, and redeemed certain people in the business deal of the cross, according to Hebrews 9:15, Acts 20:28, Revelation 5:9, Galatians 3:13; Galatians 4:5, Titus 2:13-14, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 1 Corinthians 7:23.
This leaves the third passage, we need to look at, which we did not have time to get to last Sunday. It is 1 John 2:1-2. We will look at it this morning along with our Ephesians passage and much much more in this sermon titled,
"What It Means To Be Elect In The Son" (part 2) [pray]
I will quickly read that third verse that is sometimes wrongly used in a universalist sense. In 1 John 2:1-2, we read,
"... He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the 'whole world.'" 1 John 2:1-2
To be the propitiation according to God's sacrificial requirements that are seen in the pattern given and practiced in the Old Covenant, and the fulfillment in the New, is to be the actual wrath absorbing stand-in for those who deserve God's wrath. Propitiation is best understood to be complete "wrath absorption." In other words, the propitiator, is the one who takes your punches for you. Christ does not propitiate for everyone's sin everywhere. Christ has not absorbed the wrath for sin for everyone everywhere. If Christ has done this, then everyone everywhere is saved. Though the fact that Christ does not absorb everyone's wrath is a clear principle in the Bible, it can somehow be missed; or maybe I should say, it can be misunderstood. According to the writer of Hebrews, Christ is the great high priest who offered up Himself for His people as the great propitiating sacrifice. Christ is the one who did this in the stead of the elect. The important detail that we need to recognize, is that when Christ, (the great High Priest) offered Himself as the propitiating sacrifice for His people, Christ did it in the more perfect way than the Old Covenant high priest offered up the propitiating sacrifices by faith for the people of the Old Covenant. When we recognize God's definition of propitiation, we recognize that Christ did not absorb God's wrath for every single human in existence. How many of you recognize that those who remain lost in their sins absorb God's wrath when they die and perish in eternal damnation? Part of the error of the synergist can be further traced to applying another universal definition to another term. The term is "world," translated from kosmos in the Greek, or "whole world," which is translated from the Greek holos kosmos, as we find in the 1 John 2:2 passage we are looking at. This error (equivocation) is the same problem as the one we talked about last time with the universal sounding word, all. Before I go any further, you need to know what the word, "world" means when it is translated from kosmos. World means the area; it means the realm; it means the sphere, as in a certain sphere of existence; a well ordered and definable group, and so forth. The term, world does not necessarily mean every single person everywhere. If I tell you that I am going to the area, what I have said, does not necessarily mean that I said that I am going to every single person everywhere. In like manner, realm, does not necessarily mean every single person everywhere. Sphere, does not mean every single person everywhere. In the same way, world does not mean every single person everywhere. To understand more of what I mean, and to sharpen our understanding of God's revelation in glorifying Him, let me show you how one particular author, by the name of Robert Shank, who disagrees with Biblical Election (BE), interprets 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. Please follow along with me as we work through the passage, and I will point out Shank's area of error;
"17... if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
[The fact is that Paul just described saved people, in their regenerated newness "in Christ." Paul goes on]
"18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us ..."
[Contextual exploration demonstrates that "us" here is primarily Paul talking about himself and the apostolic band. When Paul says "us" here, he means saved people. Paul goes on,]
"18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, ..."
[Paul is still describing truly saved people here, and his distinctive point is that in salvation, which is in Christ, people are reconciled to God. This evangelistic thrust to reconcile unbelievers is the ministry that Paul is called to do. Now, pay special attention because this is where the errant interpretation, shared by Shank, creeps in. Paul says,]
"19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the kosmos-world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."
[There are people, such as Robert Shank, who suggest that Paul is saying that reconciliation is not the same as salvation! But, clearly at the fundamental level of New Covenant theology according to God, reconciliation is the same as salvation. So, with their errant presupposition under their belts, they say that Paul, in universal terms, asserts that God reconciled all men everywhere to Himself, but they say this does not mean that God saves all men everywhere. They suppose their theory from the statement where kosmos-world is used; "God was in Christ reconciling the kosmos-world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them." This is an important point for us to know, because some of us here may have been, or may be in that wrong interpretational groove of the synergist ourselves. In other words, there is a view that says that God does not elect people to salvation, and the reason is because God reconciled the "whole world to Himself," which is said to mean that God reconciled every single person everywhere to Himself. The problem with this view is the failure to recognize that being reconciled to God is a classic definition for salvation. Folks, you will go off into a bizarre interpretational error if you think that reconciliation is not the same as salvation. Here's what happens when people take that view. The presupposition is that God reconciles everyone everywhere in Christ, and then later on, the way that some of the people make their so-called reconciliation, turn into salvation, is in taking another step by believing in Christ for salvation. The problem is that the only way anyone can believe this theory is to give reconciliation a non-reconciling definition, which is to create a completely wrong, absurd, false, and dishonest definition of the word. Keep this in mind as we continue to read Paul finishing his immediate point, ironically, with an appeal that devastates the philosophical theory that God has somehow reconciled the world apart from actual salvation. We clearly find it in what Paul urges the unsaved people to do. They are the unsaved that he expects to be influenced by this important doctrinal letter. Basically, he tells the unsaved to be reconciled to God,]
"20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we would become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 emph. mine
Okay, if we have a universal presupposition of defining world and whole world as meaning everyone everywhere, then this 2 Corinthians passage would provide us with a problem puzzle piece. Do you see why? After Paul makes the statement, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, Paul then goes on to urge people to be reconciled to God, of which, is supposed that Paul just said was a reconciliation that they, being part of "the world" already had. Either this is a problem puzzle piece to universalism, based upon the confusion of a wrong interpretation, or Paul is confused. Let's look at the passage again to see that Paul is not the one confused. The passage states that those who are "in Christ" are new creatures. New creatures are born again people in Christ, which means that they are saved people--old things have passed away, all has become new, verse 17. Then Paul says that such action is from God, who already reconciled "us" Christians to Himself through Christ. Christians are given the ministry of reconciliation, verse 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. To not have your trespasses counted against you, is to be saved. Therefor, to be saved in Christ by God not counting your trespasses against you, is to be reconciled. What this means is that in this context, the particular realm, which is the particular sphere that Paul is talking about, is the world of those who are elect to salvation. Now remember what the primary problem is with passages such as these. Because of the way we English speaking people see things, it is tempting to think that "the world" here must mean every single person everywhere, which is a definition that, if were correct, would mean all people everywhere are saved. On the other hand, there is the correct way to view this passage, and that is that in this particular context, "the world" here is a reference to those who are in Christ who are new creatures who do not have their trespasses counted against themselves any longer in salvation. According to the context, and the rest of scriptural doctrine, we rightly understand that Paul goes on, and says he is an ambassador for Christ who implores the unsaved (unreconciled) people of Corinth to be reconciled to God in salvation. How does this happen? The actual puzzle piece is really very easy to recognize when one is not seeped in traditions of men, as Robert Shank is, as we see in verse 21:
"21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we would become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21
Verse 21 is the definition of salvation, which is what the reconciliation actually is that we urge people to in evangelism. I want you to know that the reason I walked us through this passage was to demonstrate the problem, but I also want to demonstrate that there would be no problem if kosmos-world was not given a false universal definition at the outset. You see, the easy way to understand all of this, at the outset, is to recognize the fact that "world" has a limited application in this passage. I am also wanting us to understand that this is the way the word kosmos-world, and holos-kosmos as whole world is used all throughout the Bible. Sometimes kosmos has a very broad application, but sometimes it does not. Each parameter needs to properly be discerned based upon context, and doctrinal considerations. God let's us know these things in very clear and easy to understand ways through His word, like for example, in 1 Corinthians 11:32. In 1 Corinthians 11:32, the kosmos-world is a reference to unsaved people. But, we just saw where Paul uses it in 2 Corinthians 5:19 as a reference to those who are saved. Let's look at how it is used for those who are not saved in 1 Corinthians 11:32,
"... we [Christians] are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the kosmos-world" 1 Corinthians 11:32
The world is condemned in this contextual usage of the word, because the world here is lost. Christians are neither condemned, nor lost. Christians are the elect. Folks, we must get this fundamental point early on as good Bible interpreters. God doesn't want us confused about the definition of "the world", and He does not want us to be confused about the scope of the term. If we are confused about this, we may foolishly write a book exposing our foolishness to the whole world. Now let's do a brief overview of the usage of kosmos in the Bible to be securely grounded in the fact that kosmos does not necessarily mean everyone everywhere. In Romans, Paul says,
"First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the holos-whole kosmos-world." Romans 1:8
Paul did not mean that the faith of his immediate audience was being proclaimed in North America, Siberia, or the Philippines in the early decades after Christ's death and resurrection when these saints became manifest. Yet, Paul clearly says, "throughout the whole world." Obviously "whole world" has a limited and specific meaning to a narrower area than everyplace and everyone everywhere. Paul says to the Colossians,
"5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world ..." Colossians 1:5-6
Had the gospel been preached "in all the world" in respect to every single continent, culture, and nation, among every single human everywhere? The answer is no, so we recognize that "all the world" must have a narrowed and specific application to a certain group and certain area. John, in his gospel, uses kosmos in much the same way, saying,
"9 There was the true Light which, coming into the kosmos-world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the kosmos-world, and the kosmos-world was made through Him, and the kosmos-world did not know Him." John 1:9-10
Here we have to deal with the word "every" in much the same way we are looking at "all" and "world." Christ did not come into the world and enlighten every single solitary man in the first generation of Christianity. Christ only enlightens certain ones in the world. In a few more verses, John uses kosmos-world again, saying,
"The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the kosmos-world!'" John 1:29
Everyone everywhere does not have their sins taken away. Only certain people have their sins taken away. The certain people are God's elect who are in Christ, also known as saved people. John continues,
"... we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the kosmos-world.'" John 4:42
Clearly, "Jesus is the Savior of the world." Does this mean that Jesus actually saves everyone everywhere? The answer is no. The correct interpretation of what the Samaritans are confessing is that Jesus is the Savior of certain people of the world, who, in the context, are more than just Israelites. Speaking of the Holy Spirit, John records Jesus saying,
"And when He [the Holy Spirit] comes, He will convict the kosmos-world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:" John 16:8
Everyone everywhere in the whole world (as defined in a universal term as all people on the planet), were not experiencing godly conviction concerning their sin, God's righteousness, and judgment. Only certain Jews and Gentiles experienced, and are experiencing, this godly conviction concerning their sin. It is so vitally imperative that we, as God's adopted children, understand the way the kosmos-world is used in scripture. It will keep you from thinking that God reconciled everyone everywhere, propitiated for everyone everywhere, or loves everyone everywhere in the same manner and in the same sense. Now, when we go back and dissect 1 John 2:1-2, we find some other details concerning holos-kosmos whole world that give us more help in putting the right puzzle pieces together. Remember John says,
"My little children, [Christians] I am writing these things to you [Christians] so that you [Christians] may not sin. And if anyone [any Christian] sins, we [Christians] have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our [Christians] sins; and not for ours [Christians] only, but also for those [other Christians] of the whole world." 1 John 2:1-2
John is writing his letter to a specific group, and he is talking about Christians all through his point. Once we recognize the proper contextual identification of who John is talking about, we recognize that John is talking about Christ propitiating for "those" who are the rest of the truly saved of the whole world when he uses the pronoun "those" in saying, "those of the whole world." But, there is something else about this verse that we all need to recognize. We must realize that Christians would also be part of the humanist-universalist's definition of "the whole world" too. Taking the definition that "the whole world" must necessarily mean everyone everywhere, whether saved and unsaved, we recognize that the term is presupposed to mean everybody everywhere, which means that Christians are part of "the whole world." To deny that Christians are part of "the whole world," would be to deny that the definition of "the whole world" is every single person everywhere. 1 John 2:1-2 causes a problem for this definition, if we were to remain consistent, and honest, with this kind of universal definition of the term, "whole world." The problem arises in a couple of chapters where John uses the phrase, "the whole world," again in such a way that Christians can not possibly be included. Pay attention, because John speaks of saved people in 5:18 as those who are born of God, and are being kept by Christ who was born of God, saying,
"... He [Christ] who was born of God keeps him [saved person born of God], and the evil one [Satan] does not touch him [saved person born of God]."
[The "evil one" does not touch the saved person. The evil one does not have power over him. John goes on,]
- "19 We [saved people] know that we are of God, ..."
[The evil one does not touch we who are born of God, and who are of God. Now comes the problem for the wrong interpretation,]
"... and that the whole kosmos-world lies in the power of the evil one [Satan]" 1 John 5:18-19
John just said that Christians (who are saved, purchased, propitiated for people) do not lie in the power of the evil one. The "evil one does not touch" Christians. But, on the other hand, "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." John is making the classically biblical distinction between the saved and the unsaved. The saved have been rescued by God by being transferred out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son (cf. Colossians 1:13). Therefore Christians are not part of, and can not possibly be part of the term "the whole world" that John is talking about in 5:19. This simple exercise in comparing scripture with scripture demonstrates that the presupposition that the whole world must mean everyone everywhere is wrong. This demonstrates for us that John's usage of the phrase, "the whole world" is a phrase that is limited to certain people, yet certain people in the realm of what he calls the holos-kosmos; the whole world. In John 3:16, we see John quoting Jesus as saying that,
"God so loved the kosmos-world"
John says in 1 John 2:15,
"If anyone loves the kosmos-world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15
If we try to define the phrase, "the world" from the universalist's error, then we will say,
"Why can I not love the world according to 1 John 2:15? After all, God loves the world according to John 3:16; and isn't His love supposed to be in me according to 1 John 2:15?"
Remember the phrase, "the world," must have a specific meaning in each context, but the meaning is not the same for every context. In 1 John 2:15, what John means is that if you love "the world" of the lost sinful rebellion against Christ, in the sense of John's immediate point, then you are lost. Once again, we see John giving other examples of this type of thing in His gospel, In John 9:39, John records,
"Jesus said, 'For judgment I came into this kosmos-world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.'" John 9:39
Clearly Jesus said He came into this kosmos-world for judgment. But then John records Jesus saying later on,
"If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the kosmos-world but to save the world." John 12:47
I am simply demonstrating to you my dear Bible students whom I love so deeply, that you must be careful when interpreting what is being meant when the term "world" is referenced in scripture. Now, focusing intensely upon the section of our Ephesians text that deals directly with election, we read a statement which is intended to be a wonderfully crafted puzzle piece that is designed to fit into the overall picture in a tight and perfect way, where we read that God
"... has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He elected us in Him before the foundation of the world," Ephesians 1:3-4
It seems so simple and straightforward, but there is yet another objection. It has been suggested that Paul is speaking of some type of election that is really the election of Christ instead of the election of individuals. It is suggested that the only elect one is really Christ himself, and that God had determined that whoever would freely elect to be in Christ by faith would be those included in Christ's election, and so personally electing to be in Christ, means that they now partake in God's election of the Son. Now you need to know that contextually this theory does not make sense. Paul uses expressions in the first chapter of Ephesians concerning Christians in respect to election. Up till verse 13, Paul is speaking of "us" and "we" and "our" in reference to the apostles, who are Israelites. "Us" "we" and "our" in Ephesians 1 are people who are clearly already saved. Paul says that God
"blessed <us>" with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, (cf. Ephesians 1:3);
"He elected <us>," in Christ, (cf. Ephesians 1:4);
"That <we> would be holy and blameless" (cf. Ephesians 1:4);
"He predestined <us,>" to adoption through Christ (Ephesians 1:5);
"He freely bestowed on <us>" His grace in Christ (Ephesians 1:6);
"In Him <we> have redemption" (cf. Ephesians 1:7);
"The forgiveness of <our> trespasses" (cf. Ephesians 1:7);
"He lavished on <us>" redemption through Christ's blood, forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the treasure of His grace. (cf. Ephesians 1:8);
"9 He made known to <us> the mystery of His will" (cf. Ephesians 1:9)
"<We> have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will 12 to the end that <we> who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory" (cf. Ephesians 1:11-12)
Then comes the great "you too," that covers all the Christians reading this letter experiencing the same blessing;
"13 In Him, <you also,> ..." (saved audience)
Paul is talking about what happens to "us" and "we" and "you also" (who are saved) in "our" salvation as saved people by God's sovereign predetermination. The fact that "we," and "you too" who are spiritually saved, are "in Him" positionally does not change this fact; rather it explains this fact. By way of analogy, we recognize that all people are conceived physically and positionally in fallen Adam. Nevertheless, we did not elect to be conceived and born positionally in Adam. In 1 Corinthians 15:22, we read,
"22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive."
In like manner, for the elect to be "in Christ" means that Christ is the Man who is both the covenanter, and spiritual life source of the elect. The statement, "elect in the Son" does not mean that each person could in personal volition, elect to be in Christ, and therefor possibly become one of the elect later on in salvation. Further it does not mean that Christ himself was the object of election to salvation. So then, if these are wrong ways to understand what it means to be elect in the Son, (and we have seen much of what encompasses those wrong understandings), then there must be right ways to understand what it means to be elect in the Son. Well, first of all we must understand that God is the One, by His sovereign determination, who put us there in Christ. We did not do it, and we see this demonstrated in the scriptures. Paul clearly states this in 1 Corinthians, where he says,
"28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has elected, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption," 1 Corinthians 1:28-30
In unequivocal terms, Paul plainly explains that it is completely by God's sovereign doing that "elected" Christians are "in Christ Jesus." God puts the people He elects there. People do not put themselves there. To be elect in the Son is to be elected in the sphere and source of our salvation, which is to be elected by predetermination to be in Christ by God's doing. There, in Christ, we have the "righteousness, sanctification, and redemption" that encompass salvation. Now listen, This does not nullify God's great mandate to His elect people to evangelize the lost. Paul said that he went through his persecution for the sake of evangelizing the lost who have the elect among them. Paul did it specifically so that the elect would obtain the salvation which is in Christ, saying to Timothy,
"10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are elect, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory." 1 Timothy 2:10
Paul equates salvation to being "in Christ Jesus," which makes sense, because as we have seen in 1 Corinthians 1:30 to be in Christ is to be in the one who became to us righteousness, setting apart, and redemption, which is our purchase in salvation. Further, we see that it is God's doing,
"30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption," 1 Corinthians 1:30
This folks is what we find in our Ephesians passage under study this morning. God elected certain individuals to salvation based solely on his will (Ephesians 1:5), upon His kind intention which is His own good pleasure, Ephesians 1:5), according to His grace (Ephesians 1:7), according to His plan Ephesians 1:11), and according to His purpose (Ephesians 1:11). Further, it is election that is always to something, and Paul explains in our Ephesians passage that it is election to be blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ; it is election, so that you would be set apart and blameless before Him; it is election so that you and I would be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, to the exaltation of the mind blowing glory of His unmerited, undeserved, favor. To exalt God because of His election is to talk about it. It means you and I are to like it. It means that we are to proclaim it, but proclaim it as something good, perfect, and wise. All of this loving attention, God freely bestowed on us who are saved, in Christ. Bridgeway, I want to encourage you to fall in love with the Biblical doctrine of God's election of individuals to salvation in Christ. Don't shy away from the doctrine. Learn to love it as part of God's bigness. Learn to love it as worship. As you do, you will realize your own smallness, and then you will truly be able to comprehend the depths of the riches of His grace on you who are privileged to be saved.
