1 Thessalonians 1:2-5 - God's Choice - Errors

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

Target Date: Sunday, 9 January 2022

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

4 – know – this participle (knowing) is in the active perfect tense. This means it was accomplished in the past and continues in effect.

4 – beloved – this verb (participle) is in the passive voice and the perfect tense. It is passive because it is something God does for them. It is a perfect tense because is it fully-realized.

He doesn’t refer to them as those who God is loving, nor as those who God loves. He chose this tense to indicate that God had loved them, and that His love is complete, not growing in their regard.

The participle in the present verse lays more emphasis than the adjective on the active exercise of God’s love as already consummated and resulting in a fixed status of being loved (perfect tense).

4 – He has chosen you – chosen=election.

By election is meant that act of free grace by which God destines individuals to become believers in Christ. Thus the Thessalonian converts were chosen or elected by God from among their heathen countrymen to become Christians. The ultimate reason of their Christianity was their election of God.

It is the relationship initiated by God to bring you from being an enemy of His to adoption as sons and daughters. What He did, He did when the only thing certain about you is that you were guilty in Adam – He saved you through the sacrifice of His Son.

??? The third descriptor follows quite closely from the second: God chose them (1 Thess 1:4). The focus here (eklogē) is not a kind of one-sided election (i.e. “predestination”), but more a testimony to how precious they are in God’s eyes. Imagine a couple passing by an alley and noticing a poor, homeless child lying on the ground half-dead. Their heart goes out to the child and they rush over and carefully scoop her up and find her care, later adopting her into their family. They were not forced to shelter her, but they went out of their way to rescue her and she becomes precious, one-of-a-kind, an object selected through persistent attention and interest. No doubt, in the midst of their trials and tribulations, the Thessalonians felt ignored by God. Perhaps they felt rejected. Paul responds tenderly: he chose you then, he loves you now.

??? No man is elected to be destroyed. You take the fatherhood out of God, you take the crown off the majesty of God, when you suppose that he could fore-ordain or elect any soul to wander in darkness. If he did I should abandon his altar and hate him. This word “election” is always used in relation to the temporal, and the immediate, and the superficial, always in the sense of setting in a certain direction, investing with certain responsibilities, and giving chance of certain destinies.

Calvin - “By faith,” say they, “we obtain salvation: there is, therefore, no eternal predestination of God that distinguishes between us and reprobates.” It is as though they said—“Salvation is of faith: there is, therefore, no grace of God that illuminates us in faith.” Nay rather, as gratuitous election must be conjoined with calling, as with its effect, so it must necessarily, in the mean time, hold the first place.

We should observe how Paul uses this concept here. It seems that Paul has two goals in using this doctrine of election in his prayer of thanksgiving. First, Paul is saying that God’s choice of these Thessalonians was the reason why they had faith, love, and hope. If we believe in the importance and reality of grace, we would not want it any other way! We would never want to say that God’s choice of these Thessalonians was based on their own faith, love, and hope. If we do that, we turn these virtues into works that gain God’s favor, and we certainly do not want to do that. So Paul was thankful that God chose these Christians and that God’s choosing them produced the fruit of faith, love, and hope.

Paul is using the doctrine of election to bring them assurance! How odd that is, at least to our way of thinking. The doctrine that often causes disputes in the Christian church is used by the Apostle Paul as a source of comfort. But remember, it is not comfort because we know the eternal plans and decrees of God. It is comfort because we see that plan unfolding before us in history. The Holy Spirit has brought the gospel to us, and we are following Jesus as disciples.

Thoughts on the Passage:

Geneva Bible: Knowing, beloved brethren, that ye are elect of God.

The NIV mistakenly places a paragraph break at this point despite the fact that vv. 2–4 string together three adverbial participles (“mentioning,” “remembering,” and “knowing”) that all modify the verb found in the main clause of v. 2, “We always thank God for all of you.” Therefore we should understand v. 4 as part of the sustained thanksgiving of the opening section of this book.

Paul is able to reinforce the connection between their new Christian way of life and the certainty of their salvation at the parousia or public manifestation of Christ.

In what is literally the first sentence written in the New Testament, the full responsibility of God in salvation, through His election, is confirmed and demonstrated.

In telling this to the church at Thessalonica, Paul and his partners were also reaffirming the hope they have in Christ, built not on how good they were, but built solely out of God’s election.

They were thankful to God for His election of the saints in Thessalonica.

They recognized that election through the evidences listed before, but that is because we cannot see the heart.

Like when you place a seed in a pot to germinate, you cannot see the work in the seed directly. But when you see the root or stem emerge from the soil, you know the work inside the seed has been a success. And yet, it is not due to anything you did other than putting it in the dirt – God caused the growth.

The Thessalonians had begun well in the gospel, but these evidences proved that they were growing well.

The election of God was in the distant past, rather than in the recent past:

Some would locate God’s choice of the Thessalonians at their conversion or thereafter by defining the elect as “those who are continuing in faith and who are persevering in obedience” (Arnold E. Airhart, “I and II Thessalonians,” Beacon Bible Commentary [Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1965], 9:443). Yet Paul speaks of their election as a thing of the past, not as dependent on any human response, whether initial faith or subsequent faithfulness.

Knowledge of this prior choice by God was the root of Paul’s thanksgiving.

If this had been election based on their choice, the word would have been “confirmation” rather than election.

Matthew Henry - Observe, [1.] All those who in the fulness of time are effectually called and sanctified were from eternity elected and chosen to salvation. [2.] The election of God is of his own good pleasure and mere grace, not for the sake of any merit in those who are chosen. [3.] The election of God may be known by the fruits thereof. [4.] Whenever we are giving thanks to God for his grace either to ourselves or others, we should run up the streams to the fountain, and give thanks to God for his electing love, by which we are made to differ.

From the word translated chosen (eklogēn) comes the English “election.” That God has chosen to bless some individuals with eternal life is clearly taught in many places in both the Old and New Testaments (e.g., Deut. 4:37; 7:6–7; Isa. 44:1–2; Rom. 9; Eph. 1:4–6, 11; Col. 3:12; 2 Thes. 2:13). Equally clear is the fact that God holds each individual personally responsible for his decision to trust or not to trust in Jesus Christ (cf. John 3; Rom. 5). The difficulty in putting divine election and human responsibility together is understanding how both can be true. That both are true is taught in the Bible. How both can be true is apparently incomprehensible to finite human minds; no one has ever been able to explain this antinomy satisfactorily. This task transcends human mental powers, much as seeing angels transcends human visual powers and hearing very high-pitched sounds transcends human auditory powers. The Thessalonians’ response to the gospel message proved that God had chosen them for salvation.

We will not know, this side of heaven, WHY God has chosen us, but we can be assured of His choice when we persevere.

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, 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 1:26-30

The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers - Deuteronomy 7:7-8

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy 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 will - Ephesians 1:4-5

join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity - 2 Timothy 1:8-9

God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. – Romans 8:28-30

we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, - Ephesians 1:11

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14

When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. - Acts 13:48

Note that the evidences of this election were the work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. No “special” evidences were given, such as tongues, healings, or other miraculous events.

Even in the next verse, the fact that their conviction came in “power and in the Holy Spirit”, this gives no indication to any charismatic gifts that were in evidence. Those who wish to see that will, no doubt, assume it, but if those “spiritual gifts” were given as evidence, specific mention would have been made of them, at least in example.

If Paul’s (et al) intention was to detail the reason for their confidence in the salvation of God given to those chosen Thessalonians, it would be odd indeed if ecstatic manifestations of the Spirit were omitted if they had been present.

Not everyone we pray for will be saved, but, anecdotally, I see a great many that do become believers.

Sermon Text:

Last week we began to consider the implications of the fact from verse 4 that salvation represents the choice, the election of people, by God – what we call the Doctrine of Election.

Many of you may recall that last Sunday we looked at what it means to be the “elect of God”. And you may remember that I put before you three vital elements to understanding this doctrine:

1. Salvation of man is initiated by God’s choice and is God’s work in its entirety.

2. Salvation is given particularly to persons called by God and made alive by Him for God’s own reasons.

3. Salvation is entirely independent of the works or merit of the people God elects.

Those, drawn with a broad brush, are what we looked at last week.

I remind you of those things because there are many out there who would dispute these points in spite of the overwhelming Scriptural unity on this point – that salvation, particularly what we would call “justification” is solely God’s sovereign choice.

Justification being simply that point where, prior to justification, you are dead in your trespasses and sin.

And after that point in time, you are alive in Christ.

Justification is that point where all your sin and all your guilt, past, present, and future, is put onto Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, and His righteousness is put onto you.

Last week we looked at many of the positive statements of Scripture that provide overwhelming evidence defining this doctrine.

And while the totality of Scripture teaches this doctrine plainly,

there are many who have serious and heartfelt objections or misunderstandings of points in this doctrine.

I would not characterize these people, on the whole, as opponents, although some may defend their opinion against this doctrine vigorously.

Often they are struggling with this doctrine in much the same way many of us have struggled with it in the past.

Some, to be sure, may try to offend those of us who believe and love this gracious doctrine for its truth and praise of the love of God.

But we should never let our responses to them be combative or offensive, but always striving to speak the truth in love, we try to bring them gently to the truth.

So this morning, I would like to begin to address some objections and misunderstandings of this doctrine, and by doing so perhaps help all our understanding of this great doctrine.

This doctrine is so crucial, I intend to spend at least three, perhaps four, weeks, God willing, addressing these major objections and misunderstandings in detail.

2.1 The objection of “Whosoever will may come.”

If you have ever heard or read any theological objection to the doctrine of God’s election, it has probably begun with the words “whosoever will may come.”

Before I look at this objection in detail, please understand this: these words NEVER appear in Scripture.

This is not even a verse that is being cited – it is the chorus to a hymn that even the Southern Baptists, to my knowledge, have not included in a hymnal since 1991.

It was a hymn written by Philip Bliss, raised a Methodist in a time when that denomination denied the doctrine of election (as they do today).

He became a “singing evangelist” at the behest of DL Moody in the late 1800’s.

It became the anthem of Armenianism in the crusades and meetings of the two, being used often in the novelty Moody introduced – the altar-call.

The closest verse I can find for it is Acts 2:21 where Peter quotes the prophet Joel (2:32):

And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

But even in the context of Peter’s Pentecost sermon, this was not intended to convey the message that salvation was anywhere other than in the provision of God – that is the meaning of his entire sermon.

Summarized, the sermon is giving example after example of God’s promise of the Messiah, and all of them point to no one else but Jesus Christ.

It is a recital of God’s promises and God’s acts, culminating in God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Other verses use the term “whosoever” (in the KJV), but in all cases they point to the result of salvation, not the acquisition of it, including John 3:16.

It is a logical fallacy to say, with regard to John 3:16, that “whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life” necessarily implies the universal ability of all people to believe.

It would be like if I told you “whosoever can run a mile in under 3 minutes 40 seconds will hold the world record”, but you took from it “everyone in the world is capable of running a 3:40 mile.”

Those simply are not equivalent statements, and although the first statement is true, the second is in both cases quite false.

The idea at the heart of this belief is, with some variation, that there is enough of the image of God in each person that can respond in their own will to the call of God.

They, thus, understand justification to be a collaboration, a partnership or an agreement, between God and man, not a transaction secured solely by God.

That is why in many, although not all cases, you will find that churches and people who hold this belief will also reject the doctrine that for those who are saved, God will cause them to remain in Him.

Often believing that someone who is saved may lose their salvation through sin, error, or apathy.

This morning, I would like to first look at the errors in this thought.

Then I would like to address the misunderstandings people have about the doctrine of election that may lead them to this error.

And then, finally, I would like to look at important truths to be found in this line of thought – points of agreement.

These are things we must remember are not part of the errors, and so we must likewise embrace them as truths.

1. The errors in “Whosoever will”.

There are two errors we will look at this morning in this questionable belief of “Whosoever will”.

1st – The problem in ascribing any part of salvation to man’s will.

2nd – The problem of adding works to salvation.

The 1st – There is a big problem, as we saw last week, if we ascribe any part of salvation to man’s effort.

Recall Ephesians 2:4-5 we looked at last week:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

There is in Scripture no idea of “mostly dead”.

It is nonsense itself to proclaim that we were dead to God in our sin, but we still have some ability to reach out to Him.

Dead is dead – finished and done.

It would not go too far to say that someone who is dead is also hopeless.

For those who believe we are not mostly dead, perhaps the reason comes because they believe God was lying or “nuancing” in the Garden when He told Adam:

“From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” – Genesis 2:16-17

Many reason this way – “Adam didn’t keel over as soon as he ate the fruit, so God must have meant something else than ‘death’ or He went back on His word”.

But the death of his body wasn't the worst thing that could happen to Adam and his wife and his descendants.

On that day, at that moment, his spirit died – that part that can conduct any fellowship or communion with God at all.

Some would shrug that off – just their spirit? Why would God consider that “death”?

The tragedy of our natural lives is that we will never know how thoroughly that sinful pair did die that day.

The greatest part of them, that part that shared in unbroken and shameless fellowship with God, was destroyed by a single act, a single choice of man’s will.

From that time on, they are the only two people who could realize the enormity of what they truly lost.

To have the sense of the pleasure of God Almighty, and His abiding presence, obliterated in a single act.

The only analogy left to us would be if one day you awakened, but were unable to see, hear, smell, taste, touch, or move.

Your heart beats, your mind thinks, your bodily processes continue, but you have lost everything that connects you with anyone or anything else.

The loss of all those senses would not be as severe as what our first parents lost in that single moment.

In every way that means anything, they DIED that day.

you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” – Romans 8:15

And that is the reason He gives His people His Holy Spirit, making us whole in Him once again.

Giving us fellowship, not because we could reach out to Him, but because He reached completely to us.

And so we are born naturally with that same fallen will, and the same lack of a spirit of communion with God.

We are as dead in that sin as our first parents were.

And, even worse, our fallen will is entirely unable to choose to follow God.

There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” – Romans 3:11-12

Those who cling to “Whosoever Will” too often forget these universals in this verse.

The glorious doctrine of God’s Election is that He – HE – made us alive to Him in Christ.

Ephesians 2:5 again: even when we were dead in our transgressions, [God] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

That is what makes it grace – it is given by God.

And because it is given by God, it is guaranteed by Him.

There is no thought of losing or forfeiting authentic salvation because He has made us alive together with Him.

Were our salvation, our justification, a mixed-effort, a work of man combined with the work of God, it would forever be suspect and unstable – a mixture of clay and iron.

We could never trust it fully, never build great lives or even doctrines upon it, because the weakness of man would be forever baked into the mix.

And man in himself is always in danger of crumbling.

The only salvation we can trust is the salvation that God gives, God guarantees, and God defends.

Only of that salvation can we say with all faith:

neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39

We are not secure because we cling to Him; we are secure because He holds on to us.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” – John 10:27-30

We who cling to and rely upon this great doctrine of God’s Election, then, should be most of all people proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ both near and far.

While we are never sure who may heed the call of the gospel to repent from their sin and be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ,

We stand forever certain that God will use that very proclamation to bring His people, those He has chosen, in.

Consider it this way: When we proclaim the gospel and call for all men everywhere to repent, we are not CREATING followers of Jesus,

We are not primarily seeking to change a person’s mind or opinions;

We are seeking to bring in those who God has called from the very beginning.

Even more than that, if our hearts are burdened for someone that they may know the gospel and follow Jesus,

we are not left at the mercy of our ability to explain to them nor to sway them to our understanding:

We have the power to take their case before the One who calls – to God Himself,

And plead for them before God, who changes hearts and brings the dead to life.

Not just the power and the ability, but the command to do just that:

To storm the throne of grace, relentlessly taking our prayers before our King who is always listening and is ever-ready to provide grace and life to all those who call upon His name.

To return before Him day after day, pleading for the soul of that sinner still trapped in their sin.

Like the faithful woman who continually stormed the house of the unrighteous judge, we make our voice heard day after day until we see His grace pour out upon them.

O Christian, never be lax in your prayers for the lost around you.

Never be guilty of declaring someone to be beyond God’s call.

We do not choose – we are the party sent out to retrieve those whom God has chosen.

That is the work of the church; that is the work of the follower of Christ.

Proclaim and Pray; Pray and Proclaim.

The 2nd – It is a major error to add any kind of works of man to God’s salvation.

Even in the most innocuous examples, those who would deny God’s election add works of people to justification.

One commentator, commenting on our primary text this morning, “that He has chosen you”, said this:

The focus here is not a kind of one-sided election (i.e. “predestination”), but more a testimony to how precious they are in God’s eyes. Imagine a couple passing by an alley and noticing a poor, homeless child lying on the ground half-dead. Their heart goes out to the child and they rush over and carefully scoop her up and find her care, later adopting her into their family. They were not forced to shelter her, but they went out of their way to rescue her and she becomes precious, one-of-a-kind, an object selected through persistent attention and interest. No doubt, in the midst of their trials and tribulations, the Thessalonians felt ignored by God. Perhaps they felt rejected. Paul responds tenderly: he chose you then, he loves you now.

How sweet. How wrong!

The problem for this commentator, as for others who hold this belief, is why some are saved and some are not.

So they add something to God’s gracious choice to explain in their limited understanding what has happened in the infinite heart of God.

If we are to take this commentator’s explanation (or erasure) of God’s election in 1 Thessalonians 1:4, we turn salvation into some sort of cosmic accident.

This child was not sought, but happened-upon.

Pity for this child’s situation was what bent the compassion of her rescuer, not a love that had begun from the foundation of the world.

Her rescuer didn’t even KNOW her before their encounter.

Ephesians 1:4-5 says:

He [God] chose us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy 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 will

But others might say that God’s foreknowledge was at work, determining that we would call out to Him, so He “chose” us.

Again, this places the work onto man to, in some way, merit God’s salvation.

To be, in some way, worthy.

That is precisely why God gave the Law – to prove no one but Jesus Christ is worthy.

if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. – Galatians 3:21-22

Ok, so not those who would have merit under the Law, but what about if God “foreknew” those who would have sufficient FAITH to follow Him?

Let’s just put a pin in all that. I remind you of Ephesians 2:8-10:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship

I included in this passage the beginning of verse 10 because it puts to flight any thought of our own work – WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP.

Our salvation is not OUR work; we ourselves have been designed and built from the very beginning to be His people.

Predestined to be remade in His image through Jesus Christ.

I think that is where I will need to stop this morning. In the two errors we looked at this morning, I hope you have been helped to see the abiding truth of the doctrine of God’s Election.

Next week, if God is willing, we will look at the misunderstandings people have regarding the doctrine, and then look at some points of agreement we have with those who do not yet fully believe in this biblical doctrine.

2. The misunderstandings of “Whosoever will”.

1st – That we deny the idea of man’s will.

2nd – The universal preaching of the gospel vs. universal effect.

3. Important truths – points of agreement with adherents of “Whosoever will”.

1st – Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

For that reason, it is important to actively preach the gospel both at home and in missions to foreign places.

2nd – The gospel is preached to everyone, calling them to the salvation delivered through Jesus Christ.

Those who are called will be saved – the call will be effectual.

Those who are not called will not respond – but they will be responsible for their rejection.

2.2 Reprobation.

But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. – John 10:26

Man deserves salvation.

What about where God used Pharaoh?

2.3 Why stop sinning?

2.4 “You must believe this doctrine to be saved.”

God’s election is a deep doctrine, and can cause difficulty for the young believer.

It can also be used by the enemy to confuse someone who is seeking the truth.