Ephesians 1.4a-The Father Elected the Church Age Believer in Eternity Past Because Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday February 28, 2023
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:4a-The Father Elected the Church Age Believer in Eternity Past Because of Christ
Lesson # 16
Ephesians 1:3 The God, namely the Father of the Lord ruling over us, who is Jesus Christ, is worthy of praise. Namely, because He is the one who has blessed each and every one of us by means of each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. 4 For He chose each and every one of us for His own purpose because of Him alone before the act of creating the time, matter, space continuum in order that each and every one of us would be holy as well as uncensurable in His judgment. (Lecturer’s translation)
As we noted in our study of Ephesians 1:3, this verse marks a transition in this epistle from the introduction to the preface of the letter in Ephesians 1:3-14, which marks the beginning of the body of this letter.
This preface begins the first major section of the letter, which ends in Ephesians 3:21, and addresses the unity of the church positionally.
We also noted that Ephesians 1:3 contains two declarative statements.
The first is elliptical and the second is epexegetical and a causal clause presenting the reason for the first, which asserts that God the Father is worthy of praise in the sense that He possesses attributes which are worthy of praise.
The second identifies specifically for the reader why the Father is worthy of praise and asserts that He is the one who has blessed Paul and the recipients of this epistle and all church age believers by means of each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.
Then, Paul in Ephesians 1:4 presents the second reason why the Father is worthy of praise.
He asserts that He chose every church age believer for His own purpose before the act of creating the time, matter, space continuum in order that they would be holy and unblemished in His judgment.
Therefore, a comparison of the contents of Ephesians 1:3 and 4 indicates that the Father is worthy of praise “because” He chose Paul and the recipients of this letter and all church age believers for His own purpose in Christ before creating the time, matter, space continuum in order that they would be holy and unblemished in His judgment.
The adverb kathōs (καθώς), which introduces this assertion in Ephesians 1:4, is introducing a statement which presents the reason why God the Father has blessed Paul and the recipients of this epistle by means of each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.
This is indicated by the fact that this statement as we noted is epexegetical in that it identifies specifically for the reader why the Father is worthy of praise.
Thus, this second statement in Ephesians 1:3 is presenting the first reason why the Father is worthy of praise and Ephesians 1:4 presents the second reason.
Furthermore, God the Father could not logically bless the church age believer until He first elected them and which election manifested itself in time when the Father declared the church age believer justified through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Once, He elected them, then He could bless them.
Therefore, the first reason presented in Ephesians 1:3 is expressed by the participle conjugation of the verb eulogeō (εὐλογέω), which functions as a causal participle and the second reason is marked by the adverb kathōs.
The expression exelexato hēmas en autō pro katabolēs kosmou (ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου), “He (the Father) chose each and every one of us for His own purpose because of Him alone before the act of creating the time, matter, space continuum” refers to the doctrine of election.
It refers to God the Father in eternity past electing those members of the human race who would be declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
He elected them in the sense that He, in His foreknowledge, which is based upon His omniscience, knew before anything was ever created, that they would believe in His Son in time.
In other words, God elected them before the foundation of the world since He knew beforehand that they would accept His Son Jesus Christ as Savior in time.
He elected them to the privilege of possessing an eternal relationship and fellowship with Himself and the other two members of the Trinity.
The doctrine of election is never used in Scripture in relation to the unbeliever since 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9 teach that God desires all people to be saved.
There are three elections to privilege in history: (1) Israel (Deut. 7:6-7; 10:15; 14:2; Isa. 14:1; 44:1; 45:4; 48:12; Isa. 65:9; Ezek. 20:5; Psa. 135:4; Acts 13:17; 15:7; Rom. 11:5, 7, 28). (2) Christ (Isa. 42:1; Matt. 12:18; Luke 9:35; 23:35; 1 Pet. 2:4-6). (3) Church (Rom. 8:30, 33; 9:24-26; 1 Cor. 1:27; Eph. 1:4, 18; 4:1, 4; Phil. 3:14; Col. 3:12, 15; 1 Thess. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 1:9; 2:10; Tit. 1:1; Heb. 3:1; James 2:5; 1 Pet. 1:1, 15; 2:4, 9, 21; 3:9; 5:10, 13; 2 Pet. 1:3, 10; Rev. 17:14).
The referent of the accusative first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “each and every one of us” is Paul and the recipients of this epistle and all church age believers.
As we noted the recipients of this epistle were not only members of the Christian community in Ephesus but also members of the various Christian communities in the Roman province of Asia.
This word not only speaks of Paul and the members of the Christian community and every church age believer as a corporate unit but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
The latter therefore is expressing the idea that God the Father has elected “each and every one of” the recipients of this epistle and the apostle Paul or in other words, “each and every” church age believer.
The referent of the dative masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “Him alone” is Jesus Christ.
It contains the figure of metonymy which means that the person of Christ is put for the church age believer’s faith in Christ and their resultant union and identification with Him.
This is indicated by the fact that in eternity past the Father in His omniscience saw that the church age believer would trust in His Son Jesus Christ as their Savior, which not only results in the Father declaring them justified but also results in the Holy Spirit identifying them with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
In other words, the Father elected them in eternity past because of the merits of the object of their faith at justification, namely, Jesus Christ and because of the merits of their resultant union and identification with Jesus Christ through the baptism of the Spirit.
Furthermore, we noted that the prepositional phrase en autō (ἐν αὐτῷ), “because of Him alone” is marking every church age believer’s faith in Christ at justification as well as their resultant union and identification with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father as the reason why the Father chose them before the foundation of the world in order that they would be holy and unblemished in His judgment.
The Father elected them to possess an eternal relationship and fellowship with Himself and the other two members of the Trinity “because” in His omniscience He saw that they would in time trust in His Son Jesus Christ as their Savior.
This resulted in the Holy Spirit identifying them with His Son in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase en autō (ἐν αὐτῷ), “because of Him alone” is indicating that the election of the church age believer is non-meritorious or in other words, they didn’t earn or deserve it.
They were saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ according to Ephesians 2:8-9.
They were elected based upon the merits of the object of their faith, Jesus Christ and which faith agrees with God’s grace policy towards sinners.
The noun kosmos (κόσμος) refers ot the time, matter, space continuum or in other words all of creation.
The noun katabolē (καταβολή) pertains to the act of creating the time, matter, space continuum or in other words, it speaks of the act of creating creation.
The latter functions as the object of the preposition pro (πρό), which functions as a temporal marker of a point of time prior to another point of time.
In our context, the two points of time are the Father electing the church age believer and His creating the time, matter, space continuum through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase pro katabolēs kosmou (πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου) is expressing the idea that the Father chose the church age believer because of their faith in Christ at justification and their union and identification with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father “before the act of creating the time, matter, space continuum.”