4 For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He did this by
predestining us to adoption as his legal heirs through Jesus Christ,
according to the pleasure of his will— 6 to the praise of the glory
of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved
Son.
-- Ephesians 1:4-6
We are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. This is a major teaching in the church, and especially in the Reformed denominations.
But who are "we"? For that we need context. We do. We, not just Tommy, Allen, Beth, Sara; but "we" the group of people who are reading this.
In verse 1 Paul tells us that he is writing "to the saints [in Ephesus], the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
He, of course, doesn't point out any individaul saints by name. He wouldn't necessarily have to, to be fair. But he clearly is writing to a church, not to individual people. About individual people within the church -- for I don't mean to be taken wrongly here: Paul is not just writing to Ephesus, but to all churches through Ephesus; this message is not just for Ephesus, but to be taken by all of the Church.
Let's take the scripture that I started with and go on in the bible.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
our offenses, according to the riches of his grace.
-- Ephesians 1:7
Redemption through the blood of Christ.
The Redemption
Can we talk a little bit about the redemption?
24 In all your landed property you must provide for the right of
redemption of the land. 25 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished
and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you
and redeem what his brother sold. 26 If a man has no redeemer, but
he prospers and gains enough for its redemption, 27 he is to
calculate the value of the years it was sold, refund the balance to
the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property. 28 If he
has not prospered enough to refund a balance to him, then what he
sold will belong to the one who bought it until the Jubilee year,
but it must revert in the Jubilee and the original owner may return
to his property. Release of Houses 29 “‘If a man sells a residential
house in a walled city, its right of redemption must extend until
one full year from its sale; its right of redemption must extend to
a full calendar year. 30 If it is not redeemed before the full
calendar year is ended, the the house in the walled city will belong
without reclaim to the one who bought it throughout his generations;
it will not revert in the Jubilee.
--Leviticus 25:24-30
Verses 24-25: If someone sells land, their nearest relative has the right to redeem it to keep it within the family.
Verses 26-28: If the seller becomes able to redeem it themselves, they can do so by calculating the time since it was sold and repaying the amount to the buyer. If the land is not redeemed, it returns to the original owner during the Year of Jubilee.
Verses 29-30: Special rules apply to houses in walled cities. The seller can redeem the house within a year of its sale. If not redeemed, it permanently belongs to the buyer and does not revert during Jubilee.
So the details of the home sale are not important for our discussion. What is, is the concept of redemption. If the property is sold, the family has the right to redeem the property and keep it within the family. The redemption is a future event that is dependent on the fanily's ability to pay the redemption price.
In like manner, Jesus is our redeemer. We have been sold to sin; but Jesus is our redeemer and has paid the redemption price at the cross to keep us in the family of God. Redemption of the property, though, is a future event. Jesus will come for his redeemed property.
For we know that the law is spiritual—but I am unspiritual, sold
into slavery to sin.
--Romans 7:14
And because we were sold to sin, sin works in us, and we don't know what we should do; so we tend to do the evil that is within us, instead of the good that we know we should do. (Romans 7 is a great read on this internal struggle that we all have with sin.)
67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and
prophesied, 68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has
come to help and has redeemed his people. 69 For he has raised up a
horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, 73 the
oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham.
--Luke 1:67-69, 73
We see here that Zechariah is prophesying about the coming of Jesus. He is speaking of the redemption of his people. The people through the house of David; the people of the promise given to Abraham.
This is speaking of Israel (as in Rom 11:26, 'and all Israel will be saved'). The Church does not exist at this time; the Gentiles are on the outside of salvation. Later, when Israel rejects Jesus as Savior, the Gentiles will be brought in and grafted into the olive tree (Rom 11), and will partake in the promises of Abraham as adopted children.
This redemption is speaking of Israel as a people. Not all Jews, mind you. But the people of the promise. And the redemption is a future event, when Christ comes back to redeem his people.
Not individuals. Not Abraham individually. Not David individually. He is redeeming Israel. That is how scripture speaks of the redemption. It is a corporate event, not individual.
Corporate, not Individaul
It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those
who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, 7 nor are all the
children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your
descendants be counted.” 8 This means it is not the children of the
flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise
are counted as descendants.
--Romans 9:6-8
Here we hear Paul explain who are the promised ones. It is not all descendants of Abraham. While this may be national Israel, it is not truly Israel (what some call spiritual Israel). But rather through Isaac the seed shall come. Through Isaac we have the people that are biblically called the Jews. But again, not all of these descendants are Israel.
9 For this is what the promise declared: “About a year from now I
will return and Sarah will have a son.” 10 Not only that, but when
Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac— 11
even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that
God’s purpose in election would stand, not by works but by his
calling)— 12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,”
13 just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
--Romans 9:9-13
And here we see the fruition of the lineage: Jacob. Jacob who would later be renamed to Israel, and be the patriarch of the twelve tribes of Israel. And we see that God chose Jacob over Esau. Not because of anything that they had done, but because of God's purpose in election. God chose Jacob over Esau. And this is the beginning of the chosen people of God. The people of the promise. The people of the covenant. The people of the redemption.
Oh, you say. Look! Individuals. Jacob and Esau. But no. This is not about Jacob and Esau. This is about the people of the promise. The people of the covenant. The people of the redemption. Verse 13 says: "just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." This is a quote from Malachi 1:2-3.
“I have shown love to you,” says the Lord, but you say, “How have
you shown love to us?” “Esau was Jacob’s brother,” the Lord
explains, “yet I chose Jacob 3 and rejected Esau. I turned Esau’s
mountains into a deserted wasteland and gave his territory to the
wild jackals.”
--Malachi 1:2-3
Here in Malachi, God is speaking of the nations, the descendants that will come from these two. Not the individuals. The nations. God is going to redeem Israel. He speaks of "Esau" and talks about his mountains. Do individual people have mountains? No. This is speaking of the nations that will come from Esau and Jacob.
The inclusion of the Church
So we see in Romans 11 the following important points:
I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!
--Romans 11:1
Israel has not been cast aside. It has not been "absorged" into the Church. It has not supernaturally turned into the Church. Israel has not been cast away.
Paul goes on to say:
7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect
have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
--Romans 11:7
Israel has been blinded. The elect (the Church now) has obtained the blessing. But remember, Israel has not been cast aside. They are simply blinded.
What does that mean? It means that they cannot respond to the Gospel message. The Gospel has been taken to the Gentiles since Israel has rejected the Messiah. They will watch God work from the outside. They will take note, but they will not be able to believe. They will not be sad or feel abandoned by it, because they are blinded. They will not be able to see the truth.
And not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the
redemption of our bodies.
--Romans 8:23
The Gentiles have been adopted into the family of God. We are now partakers in the promises to Abraham. We are now going to take part in the redemption of God's people: Israel and the Church.
7 Then he came and took the scroll from the right hand of the one
who was seated on the throne, 8 and when he had taken the scroll,
the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw
themselves to the ground before the Lamb. Each of them had a harp
and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the
saints).
9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation
--Revelation 5:7-9
Most scholars agree that the twenty four elders in verse 8 are the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles or the Church (let the games begin about Judas, etc. That's another discussion.).
Pulling it all Together
What we have shown here is that the redemption is a corporate event, not an individual one. Jesus is coming back for his Church (his return and ultimate saving of Israel is coming, but the bible does not offer the mechanics of that--just the truth that it will happen. You can debate until you are blue in the face and will not get any further than deciding if Adam and Eve had belly buttons.)
The redemption is not individual.
Thus the election is not individual. Sally and Tim, Johnny and Beth are not individually elected. The Church is elected. Israel is elected. Corporately as a group.
If you are being taught that people, individually, are chosen before the creation of the earth for salvation or damnation, then you are being told a falsehood. Note, I don't believe they are lying. They are just misled.
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy
and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[a] predestined us for
adoption to sonship[b] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his
pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he
has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the
riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us.
--Ephesians
1:4-8
If you see that these verses are talking about the Church: he chose the Church in him to be elect and be redeemed; he predestined the Church for adoption.
If you were elect before the foundation of the earth, elect if so chosen, then why, pray tell, does God tell us through Paul (read each word) --
because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness
and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.
--Romans 10:9-10
You must confess with your mouth. You mush believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. And after you do this: thus (THEN) you have salvation. You are not saved because of some pre-creative election of you as an individual. You must confess with your mouth, and believe in your heart. Paul could have saved his breath here and simply said: "if you are elect, then welcome to the club! If not, bye bye." But he didn't. Why?
Why doesn't Paul just tell us outright without mincing words: you are saved if you are elect.
Final Thought
Everywhere salvation is spoken of, it is because you have to believe and confess.
Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell down trembling at
the feet of Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them outside and
asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe
in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”
--Acts 16:29-31
The jailer asked: "How do I get saved?" Paul and Silas replied: "Don't worry about it; if God elected you, you're safe."
Nope. That is not what Paul teaches. Paul told him: "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." Believe. Not, count on the election.
He said "Beleive, then you will be saved." In other words, believe and then you will be added to the election within the Church.
It is your choice.
19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I
have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore
choose life so that you and your descendants may live!
--Deuteronomy 30:19
God set before you life and death. He didn't pre-choose you. Then he tells you that you must choose. He didn't pre-choose for you. And he gives you a hint: Choose Life. Your choice.