Ephesians 1:1-14: Predestination

Introduction

Have you been chosen for something? How did it feel?

As a boy, sandlot baseball games always started the same way. There was the ritual of throwing the bat. It was tossed to another, and hands began stacking on the handle until one boy got to be the one who picked first.

Then, in turn, the captains would pick their teams. The most miserable position is one of the last two chosen because it indicated they did not think much of your baseball skills.

In the religious world, the concept of “predestination” is a prevalent idea. The question is about its validity Does God really predestine people or not? And everyone wants to know, “am I predestined?”

This is a confusing idea that Paul covers as he opens his letter to the Ephesians. While many have an idea about what predestination is and who is predestined, Paul writes clearly about it.

This morning, let’s open Ephesians where we meet a church as Paul speaks to them about their identity.

Discussion

Ephesus: City and Church

Before we launch into the book, it is best to know something about the people who read it the first time? What were they like? How did their environment influence who they are?

Ephesus was an important town, one of the more important of the Roman Empire. It sat on the west coast of Asia Minor. It has been rebuilt several times in the ensuing centuries after numerous earthquakes leveled the town. Today, it is a town in Turkey named Izmir.

That location made it a major port city across the Aegean Sea from Greece. Its position allowed the free flow of goods and people, with an estimate of the city’s population at 250,000 citizens.

Its population was mixed. It became a place where the Jews of the Dispersion settled and started businesses. It grew more and more Jewish until it alarmed Roman authorities. They transplanted 80,000 Romans to balance the town to keep it from becoming too monotheistic.

Acts 19 tells the story of Paul coming to Ephesus. His preaching hit a sore spot with the silver merchants. They made their livings selling silver statues of Diana to pilgrims. The worshippers came to pay homage to the goddess of sensuality whose rites were more immoral than religious. It was anything but monotheistic.

The silversmiths convened a town meeting in the amphitheater, which seated thousands. As with most, it soon devolved into a riot, requiring the town magistrate to break up the meeting under threat of arrest.

Christianity and culture clashed in a most visible and angry degree.

Paul cared for Ephesus. He sent his trusted lieutenant, Timothy, to serve as their evangelist when he wanted them cared for. Paul stayed in the town for three years, longer than anywhere else during his ministry. When he came back through on his way to Jerusalem, he knew it was for the last time. He met with the Ephesian elders to deliver a final charge and left with flowing tears.

When Paul writes Ephesians, he is in jail, probably at Caesarea Phillipi, awaiting passage to Rome. It was here, far from Ephesus, that he writes this letter for a particular reason. He has appealed the trumped-up charge offered by jealous Jews.

He wants to address the issue of unity.

Being the melting pot that it was, Ephesus found the same expression in the church. The Jews, with their heritage of God’s chosen people, looked askance at the Gentiles. The latter bore no bloodline heritage and inheritance.

For Paul, his letter addresses a fundamental issue. How do you put Jew and Gentile, slave and free, and male and female into the one church of the living God? How does God take different and divergent groups and make them one?

He starts with giving them an idea of their identity and its obligation.

The Idea of Predestination

When you open the letter to Ephesus, you are met with vaulted language as Paul breaks forth in blessing.

The blessing begins in verse 3 of chapter 1. Here it is, but pay attention to something.

“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 to himself 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. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:3–14, ESV)

While we will dig into this section in more depth, I want you to note that this one section is a single sentence. In fact, it is the longest sentence in the New Testament and one of the longest of Greek literature in general.

While English versions break it into various sentences for readability, the one sentence is about one idea—who Christians are.

So, before we start, let me ask, “do you believe in predestination?”

For many, the knee-jerk reaction is “of course not.” But be careful because apparently, Paul does.

Look at verses 3-5:

“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 to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,” (Ephesians 1:3–5, ESV)

Three concepts stand out in this section.

Chosen

Paul says we are “chosen.” God selected his people much like he selected Israel to be his “chosen” people.

But upon what basis does he choose? Does that mean some are specifically chosen while some are passed over? How does God decide?

Before the Foundation of the World

This provides the time frame.

Long before the creation of the world, God made choices. Does that mean that aeons ago, before mankind was created that God took your name out of a hat to be one of his?

Adoption

In the Greek and Roman world, adoption was significant. It gave the right of inheritance and provided the oversight of a father. A slave, if adopted by a free man, was automatically freed from slavery.

These three ideas are captured in the heavily-laden religious term “predestination.”

What exactly is “predestination?” It is a decision and determination made beforehand. It is much like writing a will. Long before your death, you make decisions about the disposal of your estate. You name the heirs and specify who gets what.

I know this because in our attic is an older white chair. We had a good friend we called “Granny,” who was like a grandmother to our children. One day when the kids were at her house, her granddaughter came. She said, “if there is anything you want, put a sticker on it with your name on it.”

My daughter was not old but thought it a great name. Many years before Granny's passing, she put her name on the chair. Then, when they were selling her things, they came across the chair and brought it to our house.

A decision had been made ahead of time as to what was to happen.

That is the primary sense of predestination.

Personal Predestination

But that has become muddled through the centuries. When Augustine wrote, he believed man did not have free will. After all, if a man had free will, how could God be sovereign. In addition, he thought that we inherited the guilt of Adam and Eve. Therefore, the idea of needing to sprinkle infants arose, lest they die in the sin of their fathers.

As time passed, this view was debated, denied, and refined. Perhaps the most important figure for the concept comes in the Protestant reformer John Calvin.

Calvin codified and distilled the concept of predestination into five key ideas, which can be seen in the acronym “tulip.”

T is total depravity. Man is born in sin because of the sin of Adam. He has no moral goodness in him.

U is unconditional election. This is the word we saw earlier as “chosen.” God chose who he will despite any action or lack of action on their part.

L is limited atonement. While Jesus died on the cross, his death could only benefit the “elect” because they were already saved. If you were not chosen, his blood had no benefit.

I is irresistible grace, a concept meaning that if you are one of the elect, you have no choice or free will in the matter of your salvation. You could not resist God’s grace in the issue.

P stood for the perseverance of the saints. The saved chosen would remain that way, regardless of how they lived their lives. (Mostly, Calvin said they would live their lives for God because they were selected without making decisions.)

This idea of predestination is simple. God selects individuals by name, before birth, to be saved and to go to heaven. If you draw the eternal short straw, too bad. You are out.

It is obvious what this view of personal predestination brings. Any call for general obedience is a silly suggestion because you were made to obey. Evangelism is mute since only the elect responds, and they cannot resist that call.

Free will and human desire to respond are booted out of the model, for they don’t fit the preconceived notions.

Biblical Predestination

Again, Paul speaks of predestination and says we are “predestined.” The question is not whether it is a fact or not. Predestination is a fact. The only questions remaining are “how does God predestine” and “why does he predestined.”

The answer to those questions is found in the context of this lesson. What kind of predestination does Paul present?

First is the how.

When you continue reading Ephesians 1, you come to verse 7.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” (Ephesians 1:7, ESV)

Sins must be forgiven through the blood of Jesus. He lets go of our spiritual lives stepping over the line.

First, Paul’s view of predestination includes the sinful condition of man. Remember what Paul says in Romans 3:23?

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23, ESV)

It’s not just those who are “elect” that are immune from sin. It is all mankind. If all mankind has the same problem, why would God only have a remedy for the sin of some?

But Paul goes on in verse 11.

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” (Ephesians 1:11, ESV)

Predestination has a purpose or a plan behind it. In the same way, God had a plan to create the world or a plan about redeeming mankind. What kind of plan or purpose does God have with his will?

Predestination takes on a different hue if you see it through the lens of purpose rather than a person. When we build houses, we have a plan, a blueprint. Part of that blueprint is “specs” or things that must be included and excluded. This may color of paint or type of break. The builder selects the “type” but not the individual bricks.

On what basis is this purpose created? Continue in verse 13:

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,” (Ephesians 1:13, ESV)

In this verse, Paul speaks of things people do. They hear the word of truth. In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, they heard the preaching of Peter, and some responded, and some did not. It seems apparent that if this is the “gospel of their salvation” that they must hear, they knew nothing of Christ or the gospel before they heard it.

The second part is “believe.” Believing in a volitional idea. You choose whether to believe or not. No one believes anything unless they, themselves, determine it to be believable.

In Acts 16, the Philippian jailer is told to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” It was not forced onto him. There was not a spiritual gun put to his head, but he had to make that own determination. He had to decide whether to put his life in God’s hands or not.

The final idea in that verse is the idea of the Holy Spirit. Paul calls him the “seal.”

The seal signified a downpayment made. It meant a person was good for the rest of the money. In our day, the concept of earnest money in real estate comes closest to conveying the idea. The pledge, backed by something of value, is that the future is certain.

Yet, how does God give the “seal of the Holy Spirit?” It comes because someone hears and believes. It is not something a person has as its birthright. No newborn has the Holy Spirit. Instead, God gives the indwelling Holy Spirit to that baptized as seen in Acts 2:38.

What kind of conclusion can we draw from the evidence Paul gives in this passage?

God does not predestine individuals. He predestines a plan by which man can be saved.

The plan of God came about before the creation of the world as he saw the coming plight of humanity. Jesus, his son, would come, die on a cross, be raised to life that whoever believed and obeyed would become a child of God.

So who is predestined? It is anyone who accepts God’s plan. We are predestined because we have followed the command of God, not because our name was drawn in a heavenly lottery.

The Why of Predestination

Why would God go to all of this trouble? With any plan is a purpose.

In verse four, one purpose is given.

"even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love" (Ephesians 1:4, ESV)

Paul's language echoes the Old Testament selection of Israel as God's chosen people. God set them apart to show the nations his love and care. They were to obey him, keeping away from the stains of the pagan culture. All this was to show God and his glory to bring people to Him.

God produced a plan to take the worse sinner and transform him. It demonstrates there is power and grace in powerful ways nothing else can. If he can change the worst, there is hope for me.

The second is what he is doing in Ephesus.

Paul's focus in the letter is the strong Jew/Gentile demographic with the accompanying tension. In verse 10, we see another reason for God's plan.

"as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." (Ephesians 1:10, ESV)

The world is in pieces, disparate and disintegrated. The plan of God is to take all of creation and bring them back to unity.

How does he show this best? He takes those who have the greatest chasm between them and brings them together as family brothers and sisters.

It is apparent in our own recent history that man's attempts to bring about unity have failed miserably. Negotiation after negotiation between Jews and Gentiles has faltered. Treaties are broken. Unity is not found in a political solution. It comes only because the blood of Christ unites all people under the umbrella of God's family.

Predestination, according to Paul, does not separate into two groups. That is the failing of the theological theory of predestination. God's idea is to bring together, not separate.

Ultimately, the predestination by plan brings something greater.

Three times Paul states the ultimate reason for God's plan of salvation.

"he predestined us for adoption to himself 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." (Ephesians 1:5–6, ESV)

And again in verse 12:

"so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:12, ESV)

It echoes again in verse 14:

"who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:14, ESV)

A repetition of this time is not to be overlooked. It creates a fixture as reliable as the North Star to a sailor lost at sea.

God's ultimate purpose is to have the world focus on him and what he does. Such is the drawing power of the gospel.

It is in error to focus predestination on individuals. That is the opposite of God's will, which is to draw attention to himself and for man to focus on what he can do for them rather than some particular class above others.

Conclusion

Paul would do more than scratch his head at the popular Christian conception of predestination. Instead, he might pound the table and say, “No, you have it all wrong.”

We find three great truths about predestination to implant in our minds to understand and live from this passage.

God predestined a plan, not people.

Those who are saved obey the plan of God, predestined before the beginning of time. As Paul told the Athenians, all men everywhere can be God’s children.

God’s predestination demonstrates God’s love and grace, not our importance.

Tragically, the modern conception of predestination is about elevating human beings to the “chosen status.” If we learn anything from the Old Testament, God chose Israel, not because of who they were but because of who he Is. In fact, God’s offer of salvation to those so unworthy is a marvel.

Instead of asking, “am I predestined, “ ask, “have I responded to the loving command of God?”

God’s predestination imparts a demand for a holy life.

Inevitably, people will judge God by his children’s responses. God creates the condition for being distinct through his plan. To focus on the status of election rather than the obligation election gives is to misunderstand it and even disdain it.

So Paul wants us to know that God has given us the plan by which all of us can be God’s child. The only question for us is, “have you obeyed it?”