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December 27, 2020 - January 29, 2021
Paul continues to speak of what the believer is to chosen to become when he writes, “He predestined us (“the faithful in Christ”) for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ,” (vs. 5). According to Paul, believers “wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23), because that is what believers have been predestined to become. Believers are not fully adopted until they take up residence in the home of the one who has adopted them. Until that point, they look forward with great anticipation to their “adoption,” for which they have been predestined. Does Paul
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Yes, i agree with this!
Did Paul ever actually say that God has chosen particular individuals to be effectually placed in Him, or does it simply say that “believers in Him were also chosen?”
The main point of contention between Traditionalists and Calvinists is how one comes to be in Him.
Paul states in v. 13a, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation”
Were individuals included in Christ before the foundation of the earth? No, Paul wrote it was “when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” He continues, “When you believed, you were marked in Him…” (emphasis mine).
The first chapter of Ephesians is not about God predetermining which individuals will be in Christ. This passage is about God predetermining the spiritual blessings for those who are in Christ through believing the word of truth (vv. 1-3).
God has invited all to come to Christ and enter into His rest (Matt. 28:19; 11:28; Mark 16:15; John 12:32; 2 Cor. 5:19–21; Col. 1:23) and He genuinely desires all to come (2 Pet. 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:4; Ezek. 18:30–32; Matt. 23:37; Rom. 10:21). All who come will be trained (sanctified, conformed to His image, Rom. 8:29) and guaranteed a place (adopted, glorified, Rom. 8:23), because that is what God has predetermined for all who are in Him.
Since Christ is the elect One, “those who hear the gospel and respond to it in faith are then declared to be [God's] people, His elect.”[72]
Paul means that believers know, from observation of God’s past dealings with those who love Him, that he has a mysterious way of working things out for the greatest good.
God can take whatever evil may come our way and redeem it for good. Believers can know this because God has been doing it for generations.
And he [Paul] is not talking primarily there about salvation. He is talking primarily about the way God is healing the whole creation.
The point is not that God causes everything for a good purpose, but that God redeems occurrences of evil for a good purpose in the lives of those who love Him.
This passage does not mean that the truth being revealed is not applicable to those of other nations. Rather, it means that what is proven to be true of God by observing His dealings with those called out from Israel throughout history must also be true of anyone who comes to follow and love the God of Israel.
Romans 8:30 And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.
Notice the apostle’s use of the past tense in this verse. If Paul intended to speak about the future salvation of every elect individual, then why would he use these past tense verbs? When writing these words, Paul and his readers had not yet been glorified, so there is no explicit reason to use the past tense. Thus, there is no reason to assume Paul has in mind the future glorification of all believers.
The past tense suggests that Paul is referring to former generations of those who have loved God and were called to fulfill His redemptive purpose. They were known in the past generations and predestined by God to be made in the very image of the One to come, “the firstborn among many brothers and sisters,” which is something already completed in the past through the working of God in former generations. These are the individuals whom God called, justified, and who now, even as Paul was writing these words, are already glorified in the presence of God.
Calvinists must explain away the use of the past tense verbs in order to maintain their interpretation of Paul’s intent.
Is the reader to believe that Paul shifts from speaking of glorification as a future hope for those who persevere, to speaking of it as a past and already-completed act for those who have not yet been glorified?
In fact, if one can objectively back away from their presuppositions and approach this passage with fresh eyes, I believe they will discover the utter simplicity and clarity of this perspective.
So, there is a benefit to being a Jew, but not every Jew has been chosen for that benefit.
Is it fair that God had chosen to entrust some unfaithful Israelites to bring His Word, while blinding other equally-unfaithful Israelites from seeing it in order to fulfill His redemptive promise?[95] Paul writes Romans 9–11 to explain to his audience why this is not only just, but abundantly merciful (Rom. 11:32).[96]
For the early church, the term “amen” does not bring an end to a thought but declares a hope that the thought never ends.
Confusion over some of Paul’s writings is not new. The apostle Peter warns that some of Paul’s teachings were difficult to understand and could be misinterpreted (2 Pet. 3:16). If an inspired apostle, known to be associated with the church in Rome, came to this conclusion about Paul’s teaching, it would be wise for all Christians to tread carefully.
Despite what some suggest, Paul does not appear to be answering the question, “Since most Jews remain in unbelief, has the word of God failed in effectually saving the Jews?” Instead, he is more likely asking, “Has God’s Word failed since those chosen to carry it are standing in opposition to it?”
God freely bestows His saving grace to whomsoever He chooses solely because of the redemptive work of Christ brought to pass by His purpose in election.
When some hear the word election they immediately think that individuals were chosen for effectual salvation before creation, but even Calvinistic scholars must admit that not all biblical references to election are rightly understood in this manner.
When approaching the Scripture one must seek to discern what kind of divine choice is being referenced, without merely assuming every choice of God is about individuals being elected unto effectual salvation.
Otherwise, they have the dilemma of explaining why the same individually-hardened Israelites who are stumbling have not stumbled beyond recovery or the hope of being grafted back in for salvation (Rom. 11:11–23).
They wrongly assumed that being the elect people of God secured their own individual salvation.
Israel was elected to carry the word of God so that anyone might believe and be blessed. Israelites were not guaranteed salvation on the basis of being a descendant of Abraham.
In other words, not every individual descendant of Abraham is chosen to accomplish what the nation of Israel was chosen to accomplish.
Moreover, not every descendant of Israel is chosen to carry out the purpose for which God elected Israel.
God shows mercy to whomever He desires to show mercy, and He desires to show mercy to those who humbly admit they cannot earn righteousness by works, regardless of their nationality. He does not desire to save anyone based upon his or her relationship to Abraham (Rom. 2:17-29).
If one presumes this choice is about individual salvation, then one promotes the view that God chooses effectually to save people based on promises made to their parents rather than upon their own response to the revelation of God, which denies individual responsibility and promotes fatalistic rationalizations of being born a victim in the wrong family.
The choice of Jacob over Esau was for the purpose of fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham (the promise to bring a blessing to all, not a promise to save some of his children and damn the rest of them unconditionally).
The word logizomai (“regarded”) indicates what God is presently and continually doing (since it is third person singular present deponent middle). That is, He is reckoning, counting, or choosing children based on their faith connection to His promise.
God is counting individuals as His children based upon their faith in His promise, just as He has done throughout all of human history.[107]
The Calvinistic interpretation would undercut Paul’s expressions of self-sacrificial love and patient long-suffering for all the descendants, including those being hardened. Likewise, it would bring into question every biblical expression of God’s longing desire for all to come to faith and repentance (Rom. 9:1–3; 10:1, 21; 2 Pet. 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:4; Ezek. 18:32; Hos. 3:1).
such an interpretation pits God’s desires against the desires expressed by the apostle in Rom. 9:1–3 and in 10:1. In other words, consistent Calvinists must conclude that God’s desires are in opposition to the desires expressed by Paul while writing under divine inspiration.
Wow. Never thought of that before!
Calvinistic interpretation introduces a supposed secret divine desire that stands in direct opposition to the clearly-expressed desires of the inspired apostle and God Himself.
the Calvinistic interpretation not only undermines Paul’s opening premise of self-sacrificial love for one’s enemies, it even goes so far as to undermine God’s love for the unborn children of someone He supposedly loves and vows to bless. This simply does not fit with the nature of God as revealed in Christ (Matt. 5:43–48) or in the other writings of Paul (Rom. 12:14).
The promise given to Abraham is to bring the Word through his lineage so as to bless all those who believe.
Jacob and his descendants (Israelites) are chosen to fulfill that promise, and God is just to make this choice despite the fact that all three are direct descendants of Abraham.
God does not select individuals or nations to carry out His promises based on how impressive they appear. In fact, Scripture reveals just the opposite.
God often chooses the weak, unimpressive, and lowly through which to accomplish His purposes and plans.
Jacob was the weaker, or lesser, of the two brothers and certainly not more deserving to carry out this noble purpose.
The point is that God did not choose to save one of them and condemn the other prior to their birth, as some attempt to read into this text. Instead, He chose to make His power known through the weaker, less likely candidate (just like He did with young David, 1 Sam. 16:7). We must understand that this gracious Potter most often chooses spoiled clay to fulfill His promises.
This text does not teach that God hated an unborn baby for no apparent reason, as some interpret it to mean.[111] Paul quotes from Genesis in Rom. 9:11–12 then quotes from Malachi in Rom. 9:13. Between these texts, from the first and last books of the Old Testament, is a period of more than 1500 years. Paul was providing a before and after statement, not a new interpretation of the Old Testament.
Malachi recorded this curse hundreds of years after Jacob and Esau lived on earth. Both Malachi and Obadiah reflect on Edom’s attacks against Israel throughout their writings, giving a clear cause for God’s declared hatred for Esau, which was directed against his posterity, the Edomites. It is also clear from the original references that individual salvation was not in view, but national blessing (because of the references to Edom’s land and inheritance, rather than an individual’s eternal destiny).
Then, going on to reveal the final outcome of Edom’s rebellion and God’s subsequent declaration of hatred. Never once is God’s hatred expressed toward the unborn.[112]
