Week 4 - Unconditional Election

Ephesians 1, 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.

Okay, so try to shift it. It's not about who is going to be in Christ, but the predetermined blessings for those who are in Christ. Now, I think there's a number of problems with that, and we could go through Ephesians 1 and really try to deal with it that way. In the interest of time, I want to kind of jump right to what I see as a more obvious critique of this, which would be passages like in Acts 13, verse 48. It says of Paul's preaching, how he's He's preaching, and then he turns to the Gentiles, and he's preaching to them, and it says, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Okay, so these Gentile hearers hear Paul's preaching, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. So, I think it's pretty clear there. There's individual people who were appointed to eternal life. And in fact, they were already appointed to eternal life before they even believed because it was because they were appointed to eternal life, they were the ones who believed. So I think that's one of the places where it's really, it just doesn't work to try to reduce election to this group level only. There seems to clearly be an individual component to it. So that's one of the reasons I don't think it works to come to Ephesians 1 and try to read it the way those proponents want to. Now the other non-reformed alternative to the traditional Arminian view is called Molinism. And this one is not just a variant within Arminianism. Molinism is kind of its own system that has its own five points. It's sometimes touted as this middle way between Arminianism and Calvinism, and especially its proponents will kind of want to convince you, well, this preserves the best of both worlds. And so I'm bringing it up in part because you might meet someone that's, oh, no, there's this middle way that, you know, is so much better than both. And basically, the Molinist is going to agree with the Calvinist over against the corporate election view that election is personal and individual, okay? So they're going to agree, yeah, you can't just reduce it to only being corporate. The Molinist is also going to agree with the Calvinist over against the traditional Arminian view that election, that that view doesn't work from Ephesians 1 because there has to be some sense in which God choosing us precedes us choosing God. If God chooses us before the foundation of the world, it has to be saying God is taking initiative. God's choice comes first. So they're going to agree with that. But the Molinist is going to agree with the Arminians over against the Calvinist that at the end of the day, the reason why God doesn't choose everybody comes back to free will. You know, it's kind of the assumption, well, of course God would choose everyone if he could, but he doesn't want to interfere with our free will. And so in order to give us free will, God sort of can't save everybody. that their election is limited because of us and our resistance, our free will. So that's where the Molinists is really more like the Arminian at the end of the day because that's what they want to hold to, even while agreeing with the Calvinists on these other points. So how does the Molinists kind of put this together? Well, I'll try to, I'll attempt to sort of explain the thought process. Like the traditional Arminian, the Molinists is going to say, well, Well, God foreknew who was gonna choose him when he created the world. Okay, so he makes the world, God already knows which of us is gonna freely choose to believe, which of us isn't. But the Moses is gonna say, wait a second, God knows more than that. Because God also knew if he had made a slightly different world, who would have chosen? Or if he made a different world, who would have chosen? In fact, God knows all of the possible worlds he possibly could have created, and he knows exactly which of us would have chosen him in each one of all those possible worlds. And so what the Molinus is going to say is, you know, God also made a choice to choose to actualize this particular world. Now, why does God do that? It might depend on which Molinist you talk to. A lot of times it's something like, well, presumably this was the world where the highest percentage of people became Christians. Surely that would be what God would want to optimize, right? They have to pick something. But the idea is that by God choosing to create this world, well, he chose you because this is a world where you chose him. Because surely there are other worlds God could have chosen where you didn't choose Christ. And so that becomes the way by which they're going to read Ephesians 1 and say, look, yeah, God chose us before the finish of the world by choosing to create this kind of world, this particular world where you chose Christ. And so in the words of one of their proponents, William Lane Craig, he says,

it is up to God whether we find ourselves in a world in which we are predestined, but it is up to us whether we are predestined in the world in which we find ourselves.

Now, if it's not already obvious, maybe you can see why this view tends to appeal to philosophers. Some of you, your head might be spinning. This is more confusing. And there's a lot of specifics, you know, if we had unlimited time, it'd be interesting and fun to get into all the details about this. But let me just try to give a very general high-level assessment about Molonism and would be glad to talk to you more about it offline. I personally think this is probably the weakest view exegetically. Because I don't think there are texts of scripture that you can just point to and positively build this from. I think this is more like a philosophical construct that we bring from outside the Bible. And then it's sort of attractive because it, you know, especially if you're a philosopher type, it kind of gives you ways to harmonize some difficult passages. But I think it often lacks sensitivity to like the passage itself. It's hard to kind of make the case, okay, this is why, this is what Paul meant when he wrote this. And so that's where I think it really is kind of weak exegetically. And I don't think that's what Paul's talking about in Ephesians 1. It's not just that God kind of had to pick from this range of options of which world would work. In fact, if you look ahead to verse 11, Ephesians 1 verse 11, notice how it talks about, you know, God is working all things together according to the counsel of his will. It's not just that this was the world where everything kind of worked out the best. This is the world that God is working all things together according to the counsel of his will, bringing things to pass exactly how he purposes, exactly how he intends to do it. So the moldless view almost has something in common with deism. It's almost like God is sort of the master, like, sets things up and then they play out a certain way. Where I think the biblical view is, no, God is much more active. He's working this world together according to the counsel of his will. Well, that brings us now finally to the reform view. So again, why does God choose some for salvation from before the foundation of the world? And the answer the Reformed view gives is, well, it's unconditional with respect to us. It's not based on our faith that God foresaw that we would choose him. It's not based on our works. It's not based on what we do. It's based ultimately and solely on the free and sovereign will of God and for God's own glory. And as we think about that, look again at Ephesians 1 and especially the end of verse 5 and the beginning of verse 6. Because right after Paul talks, it says, blessed be this God who has chosen us from before the foundation of the world, this God who in love has predestined us for adoption as sons to himself through Christ, I think he gives the reason why. He says,

according to the purpose of his will and to the praise of his glorious grace.

So in other words, why does God choose us? Well, it's not according to the purpose of our wills. It's not because we chose him. Paul says it was according to the purpose of his will. God chose us because He wanted to choose us. He chose us so that his purpose according to election might stand. And what is that purpose? Well, it's to the praise of his glorious grace. In other words, God's purpose is so that we might see the glory of his grace and praise him for it. He chooses who he does for his own glory and to display the beauty and magnificence of his grace. And that means sometimes God chooses the very worst of sinners, the chief of sinners, like Paul, who's actively trying to kill Christians. And then Paul can say, why does God choose me as the chief? Well, it was so that I would be an example of his perfect patience for all who believe. You know, other times we see God choosing to save someone like Cornelius, a man who seemed to have been relatively upright, a God-fearing man, one who prayed often, perhaps praying that God would send someone to show him the way of salvation. And then God sends Peter to come and preach the gospel so this man can be saved. And I think it's showing us that he is a God who rescues the poor and needy who calls out to him. In Romans 11, Paul talks about God saving Jews and how God is faithful to preserve a remnant according to grace. That even people who had been so unfaithful, will God save some of them? And then we think about God choosing to save Gentiles. So the wideness of his mercy might be shown to us and we can see that God is making his name great among all nations. But at the end of the day, we can't say specifically why God chooses to save this individual and not that individual. That's why we say it's unconditional. But what we can say is that God saves whomever he does for his own glory and to display the beauty of his grace. I think that's the just the straightforward thing that Ephesians 1 is teaching us. If we had time, I would love to turn to Romans 9, and Paul really grapples with objections to that and makes this case there, I think, even more developed. But I'd argue that those who resist this idea that election is unconditional, I'd argue that ultimately they do so not really motivated just by a plain reading of the text, But really because there's some objection to it, right? There's something else that's making us uncomfortable with that. And I think there are legitimate questions to address. It is a hard question. Why does God create people that are not saved? And if God is sovereign and he has the ability to just override our rejection of him and save us, why doesn't he? I mean, these are legitimate questions. And, you know, if you're wrestling with that, I would encourage you, especially Romans 9, I think is particularly helpful to turn to and read. And, you know, these are good conversations for us to have. But I want to suggest to you that, you know, at the end of the day, the more you and I grow to trust the Lord, The more comforting it is to know that our eternal salvation and the eternal salvation of others is ultimately in his hands, not ours. To think that God chose us before the foundation of the world. That God's love for you didn't originate in the past 20, 30, 50, 80 years of your life when you made certain decisions or you chose certain things or you did this or you did that. God's love for you, his purpose to save you originated before the foundation of the world. What amazing security, what amazing comfort. And if we trust the Lord, that's where we rest on his goodness. even when we look out and know that there are some who are not saved. And we know that he is a God who is just, and at the same time, he's a God who loves even people like that far more than we do. And so even though we can't explain all the whys, we can rest in trusting him. And I think we should be able to find comfort knowing that salvation is in God's hands, not ours. And then also I think the more we understand our own sin and we just realize how deceptive and self-deceptive and hard our hearts have been and can be, I think the more clearly we see that we would never have chosen Christ had he not chosen us. I want to read the words of a hymn that we sing in this church on occasion. It says,

My Lord, I did not choose you. for that could never be. My heart would still refuse you had you not chosen me. You took the sin that stained me. You cleansed me, made me new. Of old you have ordained me that I should live in you. Unless your grace had called me and taught my darkened mind, the world would have enthralled me. To your glories I'd be blind. My heart knows none above you, for your rich grace I thirst. I know that if I love you, you must have loved me first.

I think that's well said. We have just a couple minutes to entertain questions on this. I know we won't get to all of them, but I just want to give an opportunity for anyone who has a sort of a burning question before we close. Yeah. I don't know who first articulated that. I know there's a guy, Brian Abasciano, I'm probably butchering his last name, who's a big kind of proponent. There's a guy named Layton Flowers that pops up a lot, like he's just constantly pumping out videos anti-Calvinism. But he also takes that view, so probably more people stumbled across him. But those would be a couple of names that I'd be familiar with. Well, I mean, I think the, it is true, like, I think the scripture can talk about the church, right, as sort of the people of God collectively. So, you know, I think there's room to kind of think in those terms. But I do want to emphasize that election, I mean, is personal and individual, that God chooses us as individuals for salvation. Yeah. Yeah, I think I mean, off the cuff, I feel like John Piper has been helpful there in talking about really what's the most loving thing God could do. And if he himself is the sort of the greatest gift and seeing his glory is actually the best thing he can give to us. Well, there's not really like a contradiction. It's not like God seeking his glory is like to our detriment, but actually you know, coincides with our greatest good. So I think that point, he articulates it much better than I can on the fly, but that's sort of an initial thought. Yeah? You mean just like the doctrines of grace in general? You know, it's one of those that can really fall anywhere on the spectrum. I mean, I think they should be kind of in the secondary to tertiary kind of range. And I think there's lots of room, even within this church, like I made a big point at the beginning, we don't all have to agree. And so, in that point, it's tertiary. I think there are those that kind of beneath the differences is sort of a heart posture that can be much more problematic, right? If I'm clinging to, I chose Christ because, you know, I contributed to my salvation. And these people out there are lost because, you know, they're just foolish. They're not as smart as me. That's pretty concerning. Whereas there's somebody that may not agree, you know, they don't subscribe to unconditional election, but it's more kind of driven by this, you know, concern for, as we're thinking through, like, but I want to make sure that we're preaching the gospel to lost people, you know? And so there can be kind of a good desire that even though I kind of think, well, I don't think that contradicts this, but I can see how, like, that is a very biblical, you know, godly desire to want to uphold. And so if that's the reason we disagree, like, that feels like a much less important issue, whereas, you know, when it comes to the point of people saying, look, if you believe this, then you're making God worse than the devil kind of rhetoric, that starts to feel much more significant. So, yeah. Well, initial time. I'll talk, let's talk after and let's go ahead and pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you again that we can meet together and talk about issues like this. Lord, we praise you for your grace, that you freely, unconditionally, sovereignly choose to save us. Lord, I pray that as we grapple with this, Even in things we don't fully understand, it wouldn't stir up consternation and frustration or doubt, but Lord, it would stir up worship and praise. That with Paul, we would be able to say, blessed be you, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing, even as you chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. In Christ's name we pray, amen.