Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
Ephesians 1: 11 (NLT)
Scripture: Ephesians 1: 1-14
Predestination is a complex subject. It is especially confusing when free will is added to the mix. This devotion, the last in the Children and Heirs of God series, explores a suggestion as to how election, predestination, and adoption along with free will impacts salvation.
Cliff Notes
- God elected us to be saints – holy and blameless.
- If God has predestined us, we are being predestined from the penalty of sin (death) to eternal life through redemption.
- When we are adopted by God, we get protection and provision as well as eternal life.
Devotions in the Children and Heirs of God series
In the last devotion, we began looking at Ephesians 1: 11. We left the “predestined” section to this devotion.
Now, I have just been able to scratch the surface of what all this means. I would love to be able to dive into it more deeply, but it won’t happen for this devotion. This is just my take on it.
Let's Put It into Context
In the first part of Ephesians, Paul establishes the themes of election, predestination, and adoption. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1: 3-6 NKJV).
God made us acceptable through the salvation He provided through His grace. It amazes me that He freely provided the way for our relationship to be restored to Him, knowing how pig-headed we humans can be.
This was done freely. Man didn’t have to do anything to earn it.
Instead, all of our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus. He paid the penalty for our sins.
So, let’s take a look at the different concepts in this passage. At first glance, they seem contradictory, especially when we add free will to the mix.
God Chose Us
God elected us to be saints – holy and blameless. He chose us to be in the world but not of the world (Jn. 17: 16). He did this because He loves us.
To read How Are We to Be In the World But Not Of the World?, click the button below.
God chose the Abraham with whom to make His covenant. He chooses to extend that covenant to Gentiles (us).
It just amazes me, also, that God always knew that He would offer this covenant to pig-headed us before He even created the world. This was not Plan B. It was Plan A. When Peter wrote his first letter, he addressed it to “… God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood …” (I Pet. 1: 1-2 NIV).
Jesus has always been the focal point. “He has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (II Tim. 1: 9 NIV).
God chose us to give us eternal life. Acts 13: 48 says, “When the Gentile head this, they were glad and praised the Lord’s message; and those who had been chosen for eternal life became believers” (GNT). That leads us into the next concept: predestination.
Are We Predestined?
The “predestined” part of the verse is a puzzler. Some translations chose to use in this verse. “We have also received an inheritance in Him, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will” (HCSB). NIV, ESV, NASB, and KJV also use this word.
Other translation use some sort of “He chose us” wording. NLT, CEV, and GNT are translated this way. For example, John 15: 16 says, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name” (NLT).
Predestined means Someone else has made the decision and it can’t be prevented or changed. But what is man being predestined from and to? If God has predestined us, we are being predestined from the penalty of sin (death). We are predestined to eternal life through redemption.
Proverbs 16: 4 says, “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (ESV). Romans 8: 28-30 says, “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose. Those whom God has already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers. And so those whom god set apart, he called, and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his gory with them” (GNT).
What About God's Plans for Our Lives?
In the last devotion, we talked about God having a plan for each of our lives. Each of us has a purpose to fulfill in His kingdom. His plans are unchanging. God’s plan for what we would accomplish for Him was developed long ago. Some may think this is another form of predestination.
God Adopted Us
When you think about a child being adopted, you usually think – if it is a younger child – that they don’t have a lot of say in whether they want to be adopted or not. Young babies cannot adequately give their opinion.
The thing is, sometimes we feel so unworthy that God would want to adopt us. But He does adopt us and saves us from Satan’s grasp. (Oh, yes. Satan keeps trying to grasp. Nothing is going to take us out of God’s hand.)
Just think of all the wonderful things that we get when we are adopted by God. We get protection and provision as well as eternal life. We have been set free: “So if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed” (Jn. 8: 36 NIV).
How Does Free Will Fit In?
So, where does free will it into the equation? Free will means we get to choose.
Acts 2: 21 says we have to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. John 3: 16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (KJV). We call on the name of the Lord because we believe.
We previously talked about what it meant to come after Jesus. We’ve also talked about believing and repenting.
To read
What Does It Mean to Come After Him,
Does Believe or Repent Come First?,
and
Does Repent or Believe Come First?,
click on the appropriate link below.
We have our part to do in salvation. We have to accept God’s gift. We have to change our lives to live how He wants us to live. Romans 10: 9-10 says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (NIV).
Making the Connections
Do these terms have to be mutually exclusive? Mankind was predestined to worship God because that was what we were made to do. But according to the definition, that can’t be predestined because it changed.
Adam and Eve screwed that up because they did of their own free will. God developed the plan of salvation, hoping that all mankind would accept His free gift – knowing not all of them would. However, He has predestined that everyone get the opportunity to turn to Him.
The worldview wants us to believe that some people are predestined to not be chosen by God. That is not correct. Remember what we said the definition of predestined was: Someone made a decision, and it can’t be changed.
God’s decision was to create people. His preference was that people would live a life that is holy. He knew that would not happen – not by His choice, but by ours. That choice to disobey God condemned mankind until Jesus redeemed us.
What if we defined election as God’s plan to bring salvation to us? He made the choice to devise the remedy for man’s fall. But that is for mankind as a whole – every single person.
God calls each of us individually. He does call each and every one of us. Some are too entrenched in this world and quench the Holy Spirit (the one unpardonable sin) that they do not hear His call.
Those of us that do hear the call of the Holy Spirit, accept the gift, and do our ABCs are pardoned and justified. We are adopted into God’s family with Him as our Father and Jesus as our Brother.
What if the predestination is also that we are called for a specific purpose? Romans 8: 28 says, “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” (KJV). He has a purpose for each of us – and our purposes are different.
Wow! That was a lot. I don’t know about you, but my head is spinning. We just have to remember that God’s Word is true and that His ways are higher than our ways (Isa. 55: 8-9). We may not figure some of this out until we get home.
Father. We humbly bow before You. You are Sovereign God. Yet You developed the plan of salvation for us before You even created us. You call us Your children and love and protect us. You have a purpose for each of us. Help us to live that purpose. Amen.
What do you think? If someone asked you about predestination and free will, what would you tell them?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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