The Author Of Predestination

THE AUTHOR OF PREDESTINATION
In setting forth the infinite and eternal blessings that God has bestowed upon the believer, Paul begins with the doctrine of predestination.

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 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-6).

One cannot help but to notice the complete lack of any mention of man's involvement in the process of salvation. God is the One who is seen accomplishing salvation; man is seen only as the receiver of such blessings. In the same way in which God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, so also in that same way He chose us. Just as He is the source of our every blessing, so also He is the source of our election. As we did not bring the blessing upon ourselves through our action, so also we did not bring our election upon ourselves. It was God who chose us.

Furthermore, God is said to have chosen us long before we ever chose Him. He chose us before the foundation of the world. When God placed Adam and Eve into the Garden of Eden, He had already determined those who would be in Christ. This was a determination made in the eternal mind of God. This is more than a mere knowledge of future events. This is more than an election and predestination of the plan of salvation as if God merely predestined the plan of salvation but not who would be a part of that plan. This is personal. Paul says that God chose us. God predestined us.

Why? For what reason did God predestine us? It was certainly not because of any merit on our part. Paul says that it was according to the kind intention of His will (Ephesians 1:5). God is the reason that God chose us. This is amplified when we come to Ephesians 1:11-12. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11). The Arminian would prefer to read that we have been “predestined according to our faith by the One who works all things after the way His foreknowledge sees that we shall believe.” Instead we see that predestination is according to His purpose and is accomplished after the counsel of His will.