Ephesians 1:4 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ephesians 1:4

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God’s blessing is in accordance with his sovereign election, his sovereign choice. The Father has chosen us in Christ, ‘before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.’ This choosing is not only in reference to living a holy life on earth and more perfectly afterwards in heaven. It is to all of salvation, and the purpose of salvation is that we should be set apart and without blame before God. God exercised a choice, and it was before the world was made, let alone before we were born or had lived. Now these are mighty things and amazing things, and also things that cause some consternation in the mind for various reasons. First he chose you, then he called you; there is an order. The choosing was before the foundation of the world; the calling by the gospel follows it in time. Now there are many who suppose that this can be explained in the following way: that God chooses before the foundation of the world only because he foresees who it is who will choose him, who will turn to him and repent of their sin. So the freedom of choice is entirely with people, and God foresees which way they will go. And on the basis of what they choose, he chooses them and elects them. That is a rather strange way of looking at it, but that commends itself to many people and many good Christians, and they refer to Romans 8.29, ‘For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate.’ ‘There it is,’ they say, ‘God predestinated on the basis of who he beforehand knew would choose him.’ So we do the choosing, not God, and God only chooses us because he foresees our choice. But the problem with this interpretation is that the word ‘foreknow’ does not only mean ‘know beforehand’; it means something much more decisive than that. In Acts 2.23 we read this interesting text: ‘Him, being delivered [put on Calvary’s cross] by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.’ Now foreknowledge there is used in a very active sense as an equivalent to the determinate counsel. Christ was crucified, and yes, the Romans did it at the behest of the Jews, but God intended that is what should happen. He predetermined it because Christ was going to die as our substitute and it was by the predeterminate plan and foreknowledge of God – God setting his mind on doing it. Foreknowledge in the Bible often has that sense. What was the objective? Well, one is that we should be holy, separate from the world, striving for holiness in this life and made perfect in the next. This is how you tell a Christian. Sanctification is the great goal. I strive for holiness, because that is what he wants of me. Holiness is not only an objective; it is a sign. Is that person really saved, or not? There can be periods of backsliding, which we must allow for, but is the person really saved, because God has saved for holiness. Does that person have a conscience? Does that person struggle against sin? We all sin, of course, but is that person challengeable, concerned, anxious to improve?

Application

When we heard the gospel, it came to us as a surprise. There came a time when we understood it and felt our great need. We had a sense of being unclean and condemned before God, and we were amazed that Christ, the Son of God, should come and die for people like us. But sometimes repentance is at first insufficient and we do not fully let go of the world, while at the same time yielding to Christ. As the Spirit works in us, we become whole-hearted and earnest, and mean those prayers for forgiveness and for life. We are drawn to him, light and understanding flood in, and we become assured that our sins have been forgiven and that we now walk with him. At that point we might very well think, ‘Well, I have done the right thing. I have heard the gospel and I have responded to it and I have yielded to Christ.’ Then, as I read the word, the explanation comes. ‘Do you know what lies behind that experience of yours?’, the word of God says. It wasn’t you, who just heard and made that sensible response. It was God the Holy Spirit working in your heart, otherwise you never would have done it. Now I am more profoundly grateful to God. I was grateful at the death of Christ and his redeeming love, but now I understand that he woke me up in the first place, or I would never have repented and turned to him. Then the word of God tells me more. It wasn’t only that the Spirit of God worked in your heart; it was that God determined that it should be so, even before the world began. What? Do you mean there was a time in the eternal council that God determined who should be saved? Yes, says the Scripture, that salvation is about who would belong to Christ. It is all to do with him.

There are advantages and disadvantages of having lived a long time. You see many people come to Christ and in their subsequent lives God has blessed them and used them mightily, and every year that has gone by has seemed to prove that they really came to Christ and they are on the road to heaven. Then there are others and you have to say, ‘I know that person and when they were young, early 20s, late teens, they came to the Lord and they seemed so happy and they mixed so well with the people of God and you wouldn’t have suspected that there was anything wrong. Then suddenly there was a big temptation and this one and that one fell into sin and there seemed to be not much struggle and not much resistance and they left the people of God and now they have no worship, no love for Christ. In fact some are almost viciously against him. Well, they were never saved.

Questions

Why did God choose some and not others? Was it to do with any good in us, so that God foresaw that we would deserve it more than others? No! In this chapter, as we shall see, over and over again, the words are repeated ‘for his good pleasure, his will.’ It’s unconditional. Those who God determined to save – there was no good in them, no difference between them and the lost. It was just in the unsearchable will of God. Why? Because if God had not done that, there isn’t a single person who would be saved. So bad is the human race, so rebellious is the human heart, so much against God are we, that everybody who hears the gospel would refuse the Lord, unless God determined that there would be an irresistible work of grace. God therefore overruled billions of stubborn hearts in his amazing mercy, so that there would be a great people for Christ to possess throughout the everlasting ages.

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Ephesians 1:4 Commentary and Bible Study

Explain meaning of Ephesians 1:4