Faith without religion.
Predestination and Election: Insights from Ephesians 1
In a recent teaching, we delved into the profound themes of predestination and election as presented in Ephesians chapter 1. These concepts, often associated with Reformed Theology or Calvinism, have sparked much debate and interpretation over the years. The discussion began with a reflection on Ephesians 1:3, which emphasizes that God has blessed believers with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. This suggests that the true rewards for believers are not of this world but are spiritual and heavenly.
The teaching explored the five points of Calvinism, encapsulated in the acronym TULIP: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. Each point was examined critically, highlighting the logical coherence of the system but also questioning its implications, particularly the deterministic view of God’s sovereignty.
The discussion acknowledged the awe and respect Reformed theologians have for God, yet also noted a tendency towards arrogance and a lack of empathy for those perceived as unelected. This attitude, it was argued, stems from an overemphasis on certain theological points, leading to a disconnect from the principles embodied by Jesus.
The teaching concluded with a call to consider the broader context of scripture when interpreting passages related to predestination and election. By examining the entirety of biblical teachings, rather than isolated texts, a more nuanced understanding of God’s will and human agency can be achieved. This approach encourages believers to seek a balance between acknowledging God’s sovereignty and recognizing the role of human choice and responsibility in the journey of faith.
Teaching Script:
WELCOME
PRAYER
SONG
SILENCE
Okay – predestination – election – big stuff – and big here in Ephesians chapter 1.
So last week we read:
Ephesians 1.1-12
Part I
August 4th 2019
MILK
Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
I think that last line is important to remember as believers, which, speaking of God and the Father of Christ, says:
“who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”
Since the Kingdom is not of this world, and since our citizenship is of that kingdom, to me – though the name it and claim it people say otherwise – this world is NOT the harvest place for sold out believers in Christ Jesus.
So much so that God, according to Paul here, “has blessed us with ALL SPIRITUAL blessings in HEAVENLY places in Christ.”
I think this because this same God blesses the evil and the good here, giving life to all, and causing the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
I say this because of Eve and what tempted here, Jesus and what tempted him, and John sizing these temptations up when he wrote:
All that is in the world, the LUST of the flesh, the LUST of the eyes and the PRIDE of life is NOT – is NOT of the Father, but is of this world.
If it is NOT of the Father, the things of this world that are lusted after and desired and esteemed and causes pride, and SINCE God, according to Paul here openly claims that God blesses his own with spiritual blessings in heavenly places – I am personally convinced that those who are sold out for Him will not, cannot thrive in this world in the same way that those OF this world thrive in it.
The two worlds are mutually exclusive.
Of course, there are always always always exceptions to every rule – but generally speaking, its impossible to serve to masters and this is proven true in the cases of believers in this world.
I suppose its sort of like becoming an Olympic Champion – typically speaking it does not come about casually in a person’s life – there are thousands and thousands of hours sacrificed to the sport of choice and very few have more in their lives than a total focus on perfecting themselves in it.
Because of the intensity of the focus, there isn’t much time for Olympic champions to also succeed in running a business, or getting an advanced degree, or other things that require time and attention.
If someone is a casual participant in some Olympic sport lifestyle – fine – its possible, just like its possible to be a casual Christian.
But those who have sold out, bought in, and have eyes single, there is no getting around the price – which is why I think Paul describes the blessings of such as being heaven-centered and not earthly based.
And with that as a preface we enter into the verses on predestination and election.
I have to admit few points going in to this.
First of all, I have to admit a personal distain for what is called Reformed Theology or Calvinism.
I detest the very fabric of such and consider it to be a heinous interpretation of scripture.
Because of this prejudice I have to admit that I might be blinded to some of the more glaring proofs that appear to endorse the theory. Its only natural.
That being said, I also admit to trying to pull the scales off my eyes as a means to see where I am wrong and prejudiced as often as possible – whatever that means.
Secondly, we cannot escape the Biblical fact that God does, in-fact, do things – prescribe, elect, choose certain people and certain things to occur in this world.
We cannot get around this fact because the scripture clearly intimates this to be so.
The QUESTION that remains is WHOM has God elected and WHAT has He elected them to do?
The problem with Reformed theology is that it will take some singular proof texts – like the one we are about to read – and apply or assign it to all people and every situation rather than stepping back, and looking at the contents of the whole book, they see several passages to support their theories, and then construct a system of religion based on those few passages alone when there are hundreds of passages and stories that refute their conclusions all together.
We MUST understand therefore the context of what is being said here and why it is being said before we simple read the passages at hand and allow them to validate a view or theory that we have been taught.
We can benefit from this approach to God and scripture in life in other ways as well as a means to try and build a case for truth. For example, suppose that there is a family of believers who visit a public park and the toddler in the family is approached by a kidnapper, who snatches up the toddler, runs to his car, and tossing the child in the back, goes to speed away.
And suppose that the family sees this, and while screaming and shouting and running after the man, the mother cries out and says, “Oh please God, don’t let this man take my baby!”
And the man turns the ignition and the car is dead. And the family apprehends him and gets the baby back – to the joy of all involved right.
While God may have answered their prayer and was able to insert himself in this rescue, can we say that he is absent or indifferent in the cases all around the world where the kidnapper is successful?
Does he love the child of the first family more than the children of the rest?
Did He preordain the saving of this child? Perhaps? Did he elect the others to perish or was their demise the product of this world?
There are SO VERY MANY Factors to consider when we are trying to understand God’s involvement in human affairs – so many that are overlooked, undervalued, or assumed as not being important.
All of these factors MUST be taken into consideration when we speak of God and His predestination, which is described here.
Also mindset, and preconditioning, play a huge role in how we will understand a text so when we read what we are about to read if you have a pre-suppositional stance that God determines everything, and there is nothing that is left to chance or the freewill of human beings, that will go a long way in how you will personally choose to understand and interpret sets of passages.
So, what I want to do is to do what we always do – read through our text – verses 4-11. I want to do this as a means to get you to hear the text in the face of all of you presuppositional prejudices.
Let’s just get them out in front of ourselves like cancer in a pan. And then we will take a breath, step back, and use the scripture to set the stage of what is being said here, and why, and to whom, which will help us align the passages that seem to so obviously support five point Calvinism and Reformed theology.
Now, I want to begin this particular study by presenting you with some information that may lend to your presuppositional thinking and that is to cover the points of Reformed Theology.
I am not going to sell you on the points presented – and we must admit in the realms of human logic and reason there is a lot to sell with each principle shared, but I am going to give you the brass tacks of the points – meaning, what I am going to share are points that remain true before and after any sales job relative to Reformed theology. They are points that cannot be skirted around once everything has been said and sold and done – and I share them because of this reason – I want you to fully understand the implications of these man-made points called Five Point Calvinism.
Point Number 1:
TOTAL DEPRAVITY
This point says that when it comes to choosing or picking the things of God in our life, man is utterly incapable.
It does not mean he is incapable of choosing to get his mom flowers on mothers day. It means that God has his person, his ways, his light and goodness and human beings are SO utterly depraved (due to the conditions of the Fall) that nobody on earth has the natural power in themselves to choose God on their own. Can’t happen – we are too depraved.
Now, of all the five points, I tend to agree most with this one – but not in the same way. I see God as Good, and being so He has created a world/kosmos/creation that constantly speaks of Him.
I also believe that he has given human beings conscience, he has given us natural laws, and the ability to reason, and the like – and so where I agree that man in and of himself would never elect to choose God ABSENT of these things – God has created us in and around such things as a means to reach into our selfish hearts and make Himself known.
Therefore in the end, Man DOES reach out to seek God BECAUSE God has provided reasons to do so.
Would man naturally do this absent these wonders God has given – like if we were all living in a dystopian mudhole without evidence of a creator, without God giving us the ability to reason – I doubt it very much. So I therefore concur with the premise of Total Depravity of the Tulip acronym.
The next letter U represents a phrase, Unconditional Election and what it means is that when God elects or chooses a person to be His, therefore he is being elected to have his total depravity removed by the unction of the Holy Spirit, it is on account of God and his unconditionality of the elect – in other words, it has nothing to do with the depraved choosing Him.
To the Calvinist, if a person is Totally Depraved, and incabable in any way to choose God, then the only response available to him for being saved is God stepping in and unconditionally electing him to be His son or daughter.
In this we are beginning to realize that when it comes to reformed theology all the letters must be present and at work in order for the true meaning of the doctrine to shine.
In other words, there is no such thing as a partial Calvinist or a four or three point – it not longer is Reformed theology unless all five points are present just like Einstiens theory of relativity remains in tact if we remove the E, the =’s, the M, the C or the squared.
The next point is the L in the TULIP which means a limited atonement. Since Man is completely depraved, insomuch that God must elect to pick him out and choose him to be his (since human beings have zero ability themselves to choose) God only had his Son suffer for the sins of those whom he chooses to elect.
There would be no reason for Jesus to pay for the sins of a world that God is NOT going to choose to elect out of their total depravity. (see how they all lead and link to each other?)
For this reason, Calvinist teach that Jesus did not suffer unnecessarily for the unelected but only for those who God will elect (of his own freewill and choosing and never for any merit on the individuals part because remember, the individuals are totally depraved.)
The implication of this point called limited atonement are that IF or since Jesus paid for the sins of the elect some 2000 years ago, and he obviously can’t go back and pay for anyone new as an afterthought, then those who have been redeemed by Jesus are set, those who have not been redeemed by Jesus some 2000 years ago are all damned, and there is nothing anyone can do about it to make things any different.
Now, when systems of religion are most seamless, and make the most sense to the logical mind, they tend to stay around longer than the non-sensical ideas floating around.
This is the case with Mormonism (which has a plan of salvation that is pretty seamless) as well as Calvinism, which though seamless is really quite disturbing when we really think about it because at the basis of this theory (if you haven’t already caught this) is determinism – or the idea that man is incapable of doing anything outside of what has already been determined for her or him.
Within Calvinism, the determinism is predicated on whom they call the sovereign God, and His will and ways determine EVERYTHING. Everything, but especially who he will redeem from their totally corrupt state and who he will choose to leave in their filth.
Interestingly, atheism is often deterministic too, but instead of a sovereign God determining everything for the individual involved they are determined completely by nature, experience and nurture – but never choice. Instead their choices are a product of how they have been determined.
Thus far we have seen that human beings are without a choice, a sovereign God must therefore elect those whom He wants to be His completely, and that Jesus paid only for those whom God would choose to elect.
The I of TULIP stand for irresistible grace, and what this is saying is that since God has decided to elect a person to salvation (because they cannot choose that on their own) then His election, the grace that is extended to his fortunate creation, is not resistible. It cannot be refused. Like Balaam’s talking donkey, when God want to elect a person to join him they will – and this is the effect of a Sovereign God working in the life of the elected individual.
I have spent quite some time in and around Reformed theologians – and have watched and listened to them carefully in both professional settings and in casual affairs like lunches or entertaining events.
And without exception I find the following observations to universally hold water:
They unitedly have a deeply rooted awe and respect for God – which is often missing in some other types of believers. I mean, they are committed mentally and emotionally to the Sovereign God, and respond to him with utmost respect and adoration. I can honestly say this about every true Reformed Theologian I have ever met.
This devotion and allegiance makes great sense when we consider the four points we have already covered, doesn’t it? And admittedly, their honor and respect for God is IN AND OF ITSELF a beautiful thing because it is genuine:
They see themselves as having done nothing to choose Him.
They see themselves as having BEEN chosen by Him out of his own will and ways.
This means that Jesus has paid for their sin and they are one of the fortunate who will not burn eternally in hell, and
Since they are incapable of making a choice toward Him, they are utterly beholden to God for forcing them (for lack of a better tern) to receive Him.
So what these views do in the cumulative, in my estimation, is they take God and put him high high high on his throne (which is the place He should be) and they make Him the sole focus of EVERYTHING the Reformed person says and does – because He is genuinely responsible for all that they are in Him, and this not only leads to utter adoration for God it also leads to a very unfortunate side-effect:
They are generally obtuse, arrogant, perhaps we could say mean in some cases, cold toward the human condition, and quite antithetical to the principles that Jesus embodied when he walked the earth.
They tend to hate the word love, they tend to love the word, justice, and because they had nothing to do with anything relative to their status before God, they tend to, how do I say this, see themselves as special relative to the rest of the world, kind of like entitled passengers on a cruise ship, who will engage with the riff-raff, but are not hesitant about correcting them, mocking them, and even castigating them – somehow forgetting that its not their fault that they are idiots – its Gods – after all he chose to not elect them.
Solid man- made systems of religion do two things –
First, they last because they have good results in the lives of those who embrace them (like the true Calvinist allegiance to God) and second, they always help produce something that is antithetical to God and his ways – always, which in this case, is hubris – never toward the one they call the Sovereign God – but to any and all they feel deserves to be maligned, attacked, ignored or ridiculed.
In my estimation this negative reality in the face of such a positive allegiance is a direct product of over-emphasizing the first four Tulip Points.
In making all human beings totally depraved those who are not elected are then seen as 1, continually depraved, 2, incapable of being anything but depraved, kindling for an eternal hell, and therefore worthy of distain.
In making God the Sovereign who elects them unconditionally, they seem to see themselves as unconditionally protected and loved and chosen by the Sovereign God, and since they did nothing to gain his approbation, they seem to feel that they can do nothing to earn his anger, so they treat others (especially those who are apparently unelected) badly.
In believing Jesus paid for the sins of only the elect, of whom they are part of, why would they ever need to appeal kindly with those who oppose them and their beliefs? They have had their sins paid for, those who are not like them have not, therefore all the more justification for hubris and meanness.
And then we come to the last two points of Five Point Calvinsm, which also lend to the make up of most reformed believers
The first is the I which represents Irresistible Grace. And here is where what I call the BIG TITLE FOR God comes into play – with that title being that, “God is a Sovereign God.”
The word sovereign plays right into the mindset and the five points of Calvinism because what the word really means is that God is an
ALL POWERFUL, ULTIMATE AUTHORITY, CAN DO ANYTHING GOD, ALWAYS GETS HIS WAY GOD.
Calvin borrowed the term sovereign from the Kings of the Land who in their own kingdoms were often sovereign meaning they could be benevolent – or not. They could be merciful – or not. They could take their maid to chambers – or not. In other words, a Sovereign is to be seen in either good or bad light – it does not matter- because he is the Sovereign! They have ultimate control, ultimate authority and ultimate power to do as they wish.
And we see such a God reflected in the points of Reformed Theology, don’t we?
To me, I can almost see the Reformed God as a King on a throne over a giant Kingdom who views his subjects as a bunch of blithering idiots incapable of self governance. And so he chooses, looking out over his kingdom to make some his children, and he choose to let the rest rot.
His elected children in turn, become haughty and arrogant, and participate at times in the acts of a sovereign (after all, they are his sons and daughters) and since there is nothing that they can do to disappoint the sovereign, or alienate themselves from him, in fact in the case of the Sovereign king over the Kingdom he actually rejoices in his childrens badness, they never see the need to change.
In Irresistible Grace, God is so sovereign that once he decides to call or elect a person to His side or kingdom there is no rejecting it. He is sovereign for Goodness sakes!
His will MUST occur. And so when he elects to bring someone into his family, they will, they have no choice to receive the call.
The problems with assigning the term Sovereign to God are as follows:
First, it goes against most of scripture – unless we consider what Ephesians 1 says OUT OF CONTEXT for scripture is replete with examples of God wanting or desiring things and them not coming to pass – a Sovereign always gets his way.
Those things include that fact that God cannot lie (a Sovereign King certainly can), God cannot tempt nor be tempted with evil (a Sovereign King certainly can) and in the context of scripture, due to the free will of man, dark forces at work, and a whole host of other factors (including faithlessness) which a Good God will take into account in his interactions with human beings and it seems that God’s hands are often tied where a true Sovereign is free to act.
So, while the false God of Sovereignty created by Calvin is certainly appealing to Reformed theologians on an emotional and/or intellectual lever, this God is not described in scripture in the complete way that a Calvinist would have it.
And in my estimation, these factors (plus much much more) refute the idea of Irresistible Grace.
Our final point – is a P which stands for Perseverance of the Saints, which is another way to say, once saved always saved.
To a Reformed theologian, since God is the one doing the work and his work is not shoddy or failing in the redemption of Man, then when He chooses to elect an individual to salvation, of his own freewill and choice and goodness, and Jesus has actually paid for that individuals sins, and the reception of His grace is irresistible, there aint no way anyone who has been elected or chosen could fall or walk or float way.
Again, we are talking about the will of a Sovereign God. He wills and decides everything and if he has decided to elect a person to himself that person cannot, will not, ever depart.
And in this final phase we have more of the foundation for hubris among those who believe it.
Go back to our fictitious Kingdom with me. Go back to those common peasants who were elected by the Sovereign King to be His family without exception.
Imagine the attitude that will develop in a once mud dwelling peasant who is called, knighted, and unconditionally elected to be a son in the family of the King.
Imagine two things about him. First, imagine what his attitude would be toward the King who made him his!
OF COURSE it would be adoring and allegiant and one of total respect – I mean the Sovereign DID elect them to leave the mud and live in luxury, did he not? So of course the elected children will forever bend the knee to Him.
But imagine their treatment, reception and attitude toward the unelected who remain wallowing in the mud.
Maybe not at first, but in time, those kids of the Sovereign are gonna turn into rat bastards toward those outside the Kingdom walls.
And this is not fiction – it is all founded in the very attitudes of those who believe they too have been elected unconditionally by a Sovereign God.
So now that I have explained the five points in a quick summary, let’s read one of the most potent sets of passages to support this view – and we will see if there is any room in the context of scripture to explain these words in any other way that how the Calvinists explain it. Let’s go with verse 1 again
Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Here we go!
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Just to get supporting passages out of the way that seem to concur with what we read here in Ephesians 4-12, let me add to the mix to sort of try and convince you that the Calvinists are right.
Romans 8 is a biggie too, as it says:
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
That’s pretty convincing, right?
Paul writes in 2nd Thessalonians 2:13
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Listen to 2nd Timothy 1:9 which says, speaking of God:
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Then Peter wrote
1st Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
But I want to wrap our time up today with a passage that might help set the stage in your mind relative to the subject of predestination and election. It’s found in Romans 11:1-2 and its where Paul says:
Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel,
We know that much of the problem Paul and his epistles deal with is between the COI – those who have converted and those who have not – whom he calls here God’s people which he foreknew – and the Gentiles who were coming into the faith as if they were part of God’s chosen people whom he foreknew without blinking an eye.
Let this little hint soak in your mind for a while and next week we will show how it leads to a proper understanding of the true biblical definition of election, predestination and the like.
Questions/Comments Prayers
