Chosen By God
CHOSEN BY GOD – Part I
“CHOSEN BY GOD,” AN ABBREVIATED INVESTIGATION OF THE DEEP DOCTRINE of election in two parts from Ephesians 1:4…
NAS Ephesians 1:3-4 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, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love
“THE SWEEPING BLESSINGS OF V. 3, WHICH ARE SAID TO BE ‘IN CHRIST,’ are now amplified through the ‘just as’ (better translated in NET and NIV as “for,” to emphasize the causal nature of the verse) clause of v. 4 and the following 10 verses. Paul elaborates throughout the rest of this decidedly Jewish introduction (I believe Paul has formulated his introduction along the lines of the Jewish berakah or standard blessing; it goes like this: “בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה” (ba-rook a-tah a-do-nai): – “Blessed art Thou, O Lord” – TAR)” – O’Brien… The first of these “sweeping blessings” Paul relates is that we are “Chosen by God,”
NOTE IN V. 4 THAT WE ARE CHOSEN “IN HIM”… “In Him” is “In Christ,” the title of a recent blog from Ephesians. You may remember from that study that I said that Paul uses the term “In Christ,” or its equivalent such as “in Him,” some 11 times in his introduction (scholars consider 1:3-14 Paul’s introduction)…
“’IN HIM’ INDICATES THE SPHERE OF ELECTION, as He is the Head and Representative of spiritual humanity (vv. 10, 22; Col. 1:18). “Sphere,” it might be said in the context of this blog, the domain or scope. The time of election is in eternity past, and the purpose of election is that believers will ‘be holy and blameless in His sight’ for eternity. What God has begun in the past will be accomplished and completed in the future. – Hoehner/TAR…
“VERSE 4 EXPRESSES THE REASON WHY GOD THE FATHER IS BLESSED.” – NET Notes… He is blessed, for one reason, because He bestows such great spiritual blessings on His creation; number one in Paul’s list is that He has chosen believers…
PAUL, I BELIEVE, FOLLOWED THIS SAME TYPICALLY JEWISH BLESSING in his second letter to the Corinthians, as well…
NAS 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
AND PETER, WHO WAS AS DISTINCTIVELY JEWISH AS PAUL, began his first letter the same Jewish way…
NAS 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
I HUMBLY BELIEVE IT IS CORRECT AND MOST HELPFUL TO VIEW THE BIBLE as fundamentally a Jewish book… Certainly I do not imply by that statement that there is no distinction between the two Testaments or between the nation of Israel and the church. There most surely is a marked difference between the Old Testament and the New (especially when it is understood the N.T. actually begins not with Matthew 1 but with Acts 2), and the nation of Israel is not the same as the church.
“GOD THE FATHER IS TO BE BLESSED (or praised; to bless is to praise or honored – TAR) because He has bestowed on His people ‘in Christ’ every spiritual blessing.” – Bruce…
IN EPHESIANS 1:3, GOD IS TO BE BLESSED, THEN, BECAUSE HE HAS BLESSED believers “with every spiritual blessing in Christ”… The reason we are to bless or praise God is because He has blessed us, and the first blessing Paul enumerates is that we have been “Chosen by God”…
“CHOSEN”: A LITTLE WORD THAT COVERS A LARGE FIELD OF MEANING… Some students of the Bible may say it is the deepest, most difficult doctrine in the entire Bible. Because of these facts, and the fact of the length of this study, I have thought it best to present this blog in two parts: Part II – unless the dear Lord decides to come back for the second time in the interim – will be next week…
“THERE ARE TWO MAJOR ELECTIONS OF GOD IN SCRIPTURE: Israel and the Church. The first is national and public; the second is personal and private. In Israel’s election an individual Jew, though belonging to the elect nation, did not have personal election assured him.” – Chafer…
“CHOSEN” IN EPHESIANS 1:4 IS THE GREEK WORD εκλεγομαι (ek-leg-a-my)… This is the Greek verb that gives us our English word “elect” and “election.” Chosen means elect. When we speak of being chosen by God we are at the same time saying elected by God…
εκλεκτσ (ek-lek-tos), THE NOUN FORM, IS USED IN A VARIETY OF WAYS in the N.T. but it essentially and simply means chosen, elect, selected from a number of others… It basically means what our derived English words mean…
“CHOICE,” BOTH BY GOD AND MAN, IS FOUND THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE… It is used both in a deep theological sense, and a common practical sense… Here are a couple of examples…
NAS Exodus 17:9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
GOD HAS CHOSEN ISRAEL AS HIS LAND…
NAU Psalm 132:13-14 For the LORD has chosen Zion (Zion here is Jerusalem; it can also refer to Israel or to Mount Zion [Mount Moriah] – TAR); He has desired it for His habitation. “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.”
THE HEBREW WORD FOR “CHOSEN” IS בָּחַר (ba-kar)… It is used 164 times in the O.T. One lexicon (Holladay) gives as its base meaning, to take a keen look at. The word can mean to show preference to. The Hebrew word means to elect, to choose.
BUT THESE DEFINITIONS ARE LIMITED IN THAT THEY DO NOT DESCRIBE the
theological dimension the Bible almost always gives the word… The words mean more than their lexical meanings. Context ultimately defines what words mean. When we think of God’s sovereign choice or election of believers in the Bible we must not think of randomly choosing or selecting the best, as we might select the best apples from a basket. We know that God does not choose this way because we know that God is not a respecter of persons…
NKJ Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.
THEOLOGICALLY THE WORDS HAVE TO DO WITH GOD’S SALVATION… Theologically the Hebrew and Greek words have to do with God’s relationships with human beings on the most significant level. Understanding the doctrine of election opens our eyes to some of the mystery that is God…
SOME MORE EXAMPLES OF “CHOSEN”…
NAS Deuteronomy 1:13 ‘Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’
DEACONS ARE AN OUTGROWTH OF THIS O.T. PRECEDENT…
NAS Acts 15:22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas– Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren,
NAS Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
NAS Deuteronomy 12:5 “But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the LORD your God shall choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.
NAS Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
NAS 1 Kings 18:25 So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
JESUS HIMSELF WAS “CHOSEN” BY GOD THE FATHER…
NAS Matthew 12:18 “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
NAS Matthew 22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
AND ALTHOUGH THE ACTUAL WORD IS NOT USED, WE KNOW JESUS CHOSE His disciples…
NAS John 1:43 The next day He purposed to go forth into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.”
BASICALLY THE WORD “CHOSEN” MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS…
LET ME EMPHASIZE, “CHOSEN” IS THE SAME THING AS “ELECTION” in the Bible…
We need to get that straight: chosen = election; to be chosen is to be elected. The subject of God’s election of believers (referred to as the Doctrine of Election – doctrine means truth or principle) is difficult. It is deep theology. Even its studied understanding can leave one with difficult questions unanswered…
THE BIGGEST EXAMPLE: “IF GOD CHOSE SOME, WHAT ABOUT THE REST?”… “If God is a loving God, why didn’t He just choose everyone to be saved?”…
THERE IS SOMETHING IN ALL OF US THAT RESISTS THE IDEA of God selecting some but not selecting others… There is also something within us that struggles with the idea that God is in complete control and that we are not. I personally think that this fact lies at the heart of the reason why most Christians resist and stay away from the doctrine of election…
AT THE SEMINARY IN THEOLOGY CLASSES, the subject of election is discussed for hours at a time. I freely acknowledge that I am unable to include everything about election and apologize for those things I had to leave out due to time and space. And yet I humbly feel that the things discussed in these two studies – when considered in the light of the upcoming blogs on predestination and adoption – will help the serious Bible student considerably in his or her quest to know God better…
THIS WEEK I LOOKED THROUGH MY OLD NOTEBOOKS from when I took theology as a student some years ago… Here is the theological definition of election I had written. It is written in the stiff prose of a seminary student, but I want to read it to you as first composed in hopes that, if nothing else, it will impress upon you something of the depth of this tremendous doctrine…
“ELECTION IS THAT ASPECT OF THE DECREE (the subject of our message for next week) whereby God, before the foundation of the world, sovereignly chose some human beings to be recipients of His gracious plan of salvation, allowing all others to pursue their own devices. This sovereign election of God does not prohibit any person who is not of the elect from coming to salvation, nor does it preclude man’s responsibility to respond to God’s command to be saved”…
AND LISTEN TO THESE WORDS FROM A PROMINENT THEOLOGIAN concerning election: “That some of His creation serve one purpose and some another is itself a matter of divine choice. Human resentment over this doctrine arises only when it is indicated that some are more favored than others respecting destiny. Were God thought to be an ungoverned tyrant, it could be allowed that He might do as He pleases with His own, whether this prove right or wrong; but when it has been clearly disclosed in Scripture that He is infinitely righteous and holy and that He is governed by infinite love, difficulty will arise in the natural mind over how God can elect some and not others. There is no doubt whatever about the Bible teaching that God has chosen an elect people; but the contemplation of all that is involved in this truth reaches out into the realms of existence that can only be known to God, far removed as they are from the human sphere of understanding.” – Chafer…
NAS Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
IT IS ONLY OUR HUMAN ARROGANCE THAT TELLS US we should be able to know what God knows… When we question God’s ways we are in fact placing ourselves above God; we are in fact passing judgment upon Him…
“IT ILL BECOMES THE EARTH DWELLER TO SIT IN JUDGMENT ON GOD respecting divine election – or any other thing for that matter. God’s essential character has been disclosed in Scripture and He is to be trusted where man cannot possibly understand.” – Chafer/TAR…
THE SECTION OF THE BIBLE THAT DEALS MOST EXTENSIVELY WITH the doctrine of election is Romans, chapters 9-11… I spent an entire seminary year teaching Romans 9-11 to my advanced Greek class, in part, for the purpose of clarifying this one word. Listen to this section from chapter 9 of Romans – which, as you know, was also written by Paul…
NAS Romans 9:14-18 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
ELECTION SPEAKS OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY… That essentially means He alone is the Boss. If you have a problem – as sadly many Christians do – with the fact that God is in charge and not mankind, then you probably have a problem with election…
ALLOW ME AT THIS POINT TO INSERT A STATEMENT THAT, I BELIEVE, IS essential if we are to understand the eternal truths about God that Paul is presenting to us in his introduction… The decisive statement is that the deep and difficult doctrines of election, predestination, foreknowledge, adoption, in order to be properly comprehended, must all be seen as descriptive terms for God’s sovereignty. Sovereignty is the umbrella term under which all these deep and difficult doctrines rest. All of these great theological words – and all others that relate to God’s will and purpose – are ultimately simply just other ways of saying that God is sovereign…
“SOVEREIGN” IS THE WORD WE USE TO REFER TO THE FACT THAT GOD IS in complete and uninterrupted control of His creation… Sovereign means that God is the supreme and unchallengeable Ruler of all things – including every human being and every situation – and that He has absolute authority over all things. Authority means that He has the right to His universal rule.
He can do as He wishes and answer to no one…
THE OLDER I GET AND THE MORE I LEARN FROM SCRIPTURE, the more I see the understanding and appreciation of the doctrine of God’s sovereignty as being essential in the life of the serious believer… A “serious” believer is one who is intent about living his or her life by the power of the Holy Spirit to the Glory of God. I suggest that if you are genuinely interesting in as much as possible developing as a believer, in growing closer to God, you must understand, accept, and come to be thankful for God’s sovereignty in choosing some to be members of Christ’s church. The everlasting, all-powerful God who is all loving, entirely righteous, has chosen us for His special purpose to glorify Himself. Without that biblical perspective, one cannot intelligently hope to grow in his or her Christian life…
“SOVEREIGN” SIMPLY AND PROFOUNDLY MEANS THAT GOD ALONE IS GOD and He alone is in control. Again, “Sovereign” means that God is the Boss and we are not!…
FOR FURTHER EMPHASIS, I WILL END PART I ON THAT RESOUNDING NOTE… In order to understand election, being “Chosen by God,” we must understand God’s sovereignty. Lord willing, I will present for your consideration Part II next week…
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
