Friday: Further Thought ~ God’s Grand Christ-centered Plan

Further Thought:

Does Ephesians 1:3-14 teach that God predetermines the futures of human beings, predestining some to everlasting life and others to everlasting death?

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

Many people, unfortunately, believe this. Consider, however, these ideas:

In the passage, the role of Christ is determinative, since the divine choice to adopt us occurs “through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:5, ESV) or “in him” (Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 1:11). This suggests that God’s election and predetermination are exercised toward all who choose faith in Christ rather than selecting who will be saved or lost on a case-by-case basis even before people were born. God’s decision is the studied, predetermined, divine response to those who exercise faith in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3-14 also contains vivid relational language about God’s work of salvation. God is “Father,” and we are His “adopted” children (Ephesians 1:3-5), who receive His blessings in bountiful measure (Ephesians 1:8). We must understand the language about God’s choice and predetermination in the light of this rich, relational language. God is not a distant, unfeeling judge who makes decrees from afar but the caring Father of all His children (see Ephesians 3:15).
That God honors human choice is reflected in Ephesians 1:3-14 (especially Ephesians 1:13, where “hearing” and “believing” are judged to be important), elsewhere in the letter (Ephesians 2:8, Ephesians 3:17, Ephesians 4:1-6:20, all of which emphasize or presume the exercise of choice and the response of faith), and in other passages in the New Testament (e.g., 1 Timothy 2:4, Acts 17:22-31). Or, as Ellen G. White expressed it: “In the matchless gift of His Son, God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace as real as the air which circulates around the globe. All who choose to breathe this life-giving atmosphere will live and grow up to the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus.” — Steps to Christ, p. 68.

Discussion Questions:

What arguments would you add to those given above supporting the idea that God does not pick and choose before we have been created who will be saved and who will be lost?
Whose choice ultimately decides whether or not a person has salvation in Jesus?
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7, NKJV). How does this verse reveal the reality of salvation by faith alone and not by the works of the law?

<–Thursday

Amen!