WHO ARE THE CHOSEN IN GOD’S GRACE?
The plan of salvation is important and therefore we should be sure to understand it according to the Scriptures. It is only from the Scriptures that we even know that God has a plan to save us. But when it talks about “us” in Ephesians 1:4-5, which says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will,” who does it mean? This is the question that we have to ask because different church denominations preach different views of this. Some believe that the gospel is an announcement for those of mankind to come to God by believing in his Son, Jesus Christ, and they will be saved. Others teach that God has chosen some to salvation and will call them specifically through an effectual calling and they only will be saved. And some believe in universal restoration in which God plans through Jesus Christ to bring about the salvation of the entire world, as the early church believed in the first five hundred years of its history. What does the Bible say?
CHOSEN FOR A PURPOSE
Ephesians 1:4 says that those chosen were chosen to be holy and blameless in his sight. And further in verse 5, it says “God predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his will.” From what we learned above, this is still about the whole world receiving these blessings from God choosing mankind in Christ, the chosen one. We are members of the mankind of the world that he loved, and therefore “us” refers to all of mankind made up of both believers and unbelievers who will ultimately benefit through the rest of God’s plan of universal salvation. Romans 8:29 in its immediate context is referring to the blessings of believers, but when mentioning those whom God foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son has to be referring back to the Creation when God foreknew and predestined mankind to be ultimately in the image of God. God’s plan in the beginning was for mankind to be ultimately in his image (Genesis 1:26-27; 5:1-2). Churches which preach that God gives a general call to all mankind but only an effectual call to those chosen ones also believe that only those effectually called can come to Christ and salvation. But what do the Scriptures say about the calling? John 12:32 says that Christ will draw all people, not just a chosen group of mankind. Why wouldn’t God in Christ call all mankind when it is his will to save all people for whom Christ atoned and for them to come to a knowledge of the truth (First Timothy 2:4). Verse 5 of First Timothy 2, says that there is only one mediator between God and mankind and that it is Christ. He is the mediator to the world of mankind for whom God loves and for whose sake he sent his Son to be sacrificed, not some specially called group of mankind. Verse 6, in referring to Christ, says that he “gave himself as a ransom for all people,” which constitutes mankind. Ephesians 1:4-5 should be understood as saying that God “chose us [mankind including believers and unbelievers] in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us [mankind] for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” And from Genesis 1:26-27, we know that God planned, or predestined, mankind to ultimately be in his image. Then Ephesians 1:11 says that we were chosen having been predestined to be in conformity with the purpose of his will, which is stated in First Timothy 2:4 as God wanting all people to be saved. This was the original plan at Creation. God wanted mankind to become holy, blameless, righteous, and the adopted sons in his family who would bare his image. Christ will work this out after his Second Coming and will ultimately bring all to a loving relationship with God through knowing Christ. First Corinthians 15:22-27 says Christ must reign until he has put down all authority, power and dominion, and has destroyed death Hebrews 6:2 tells us that unbelievers will have to go through an age, or long period, of judgment (κρίματος αἰωνίου) to come to know Christ and repent (transforming their carnal minds to spiritual minds) accepting this great news of salvation that has already been accomplished for them too. Once they do, they will be able to join the rest of the changed immortal saints in the everlasting kingdom. God the Father had previously put everything under Christ to bring all to salvation in the kingdom. When this is accomplished Christ will have consummated the kingdom of glorified humans in his image, and then the end will come and he will turn the kingdom over to the Father, and Christ himself will be made subject to the Father, and God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) will be all in all.
MUST PERSONALLY ACCEPT THE GOOD NEWS
God has already saved us from our sins and from perishing through his Son’s death and resurrection objectively, but now we are to subjectively accept this good news announcement through faith and repentance (a change of mind). With our personal acceptance of what God in Christ has done for us in forgiving our sins and the promise of resurrection, we are than able to begin to personally experience the risen life in Christ. Since God in Christ has already secured our salvation, then our faith and repentance in no way brings about our salvation. It just informs God that we want to live the way he wants us to live and thereby are saying that we are ready for him to change us at the Second Coming so that we will never be tempted to sin again. We then will truly be in his image thinking only morally as God thinks.
THE CONCLUSION
The conclusion that we have to take from this is that the “us” in Ephesians 1:4 can mean a chosen group of mankind who only will receive salvation only if:• Christ is not the mediator between God and mankind (First Timothy 2:5).• All people have not been ransomed (First Timothy 2:6).• All peoples’ sins have not been forgiven and paid for (First John 2:2).• All people are not reconciled by God in Christ (Second Corinthians 5:18-19).• Christ did not come to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).• Christ did not come to save the world (John 12:47).• Christ the Lamb of God did not take away the sin of the world (First John 1:29).• All who in Adam die are not the same ones who in Christ will be brought to life (1 Corinthians 15:22).• And all of the following scripture texts are not true: 1Timothy 4:9-10; John 3:17; John 4:42; John 12:32; Romans 5:18; Romans 11:32; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Colossians 1:19-20; Hebrews 2:9; Titus 2:11; 1 John 4:14 and 2 Peter 3:9.