By Mark W. Christy, PhD
In Ephesians 1:4, Paul states that God “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.”[i] Among the Calvinists and Arminians, debate exists over whether or not Paul is declaring a doctrine of election where Christians are chosen by God even before creation itself existed. To determine Paul’s intent, this article will offer evidence to support a correct interpretation of Paul’s meaning.
Basically, one can either understand Paul to be saying that all Christians have been elected unto salvation before creation (this would include the collective incorporation of all individuals by default) or Christians as a corporate group were elected unto salvation in a more impersonal way whereby their identities are not made clear until after they responded to the gospel. This second view, preferred by Arminians, fits well into their theology because they prefer to understand Christ’s atoning work as a somewhat impersonal sacrifice for sin. In other words, they maintain that Christ sacrificed Himself personally at the cross for sin, but His sacrifice at the cross was not personally applied to anyone at the time of His death (much less before creation itself) because any such application, in their view, awaits the personal response of the believer. Again, Christ’s death for them becomes personal for the believer only upon the believer’s profession of faith in Christ’s atoning work.
Given their theological position, the Arminians come to Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:4 with a preconceived determination that Paul could most certainly not be saying that God’s people were chosen before time began. One Arminian (of the Traditional persuasion) points out that Paul “never says that certain individuals were predestined to believe in Christ.”[ii] For him, Paul is speaking about what Christians, as a corporate group, are “to become, not about God preselecting certain individuals before the foundation of the world to be irresistibly transformed into believers.”[iii]
To contend with this view, one must return to the context of the passage itself. Beginning in Ephesians 1:3, Paul repeatedly mentions the recipients of “every spiritual blessing” as those who are in Christ (Eph 1:3-14). Among these blessings are redemption, forgiveness of sins, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit, all of which are clearly personal and individual in nature (Eph 1:7, 14).
When Paul says in Ephesians 1:4 that God “chose us in [Christ],” he certainly means that God chose Christians as a corporate group, but he also is suggesting that the members of this group were personally selected as well given the personal nature of the characteristics mentioned in the previous paragraph. Further evidence that Paul is intending to argue that Christians were personally elected by God in eternity past can be found in v.5 where Paul mentions Christians’ “adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself.” This adoption, Paul clarifies, was “predestined according to the kind intention of His will.” In other words, the adoption of Christians into God’s family happened before time began and occurred at the behest of God Himself.
To further support this view, one should look to the broader corpus of Pauline theology. In 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5, Paul discusses God’s personal “choice” of believers noting that the gospel came to them not just in word “but also in power and in the Holy Spirit.” In Romans 8:29-30, Paul states that God “predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son” “those whom He foreknew” and those who have been predestined by God to receive salvation have been “called,” “justified,” and “glorified”.
In conclusion, it would seem that Paul is teaching in Ephesians 1:4 that Christians are personally elected by God unto salvation before creation even began. While this interpretation may be uncomfortable for Arminians, faithful exposition of the text reveals the personal nature of those chosen in Christ given their adoption into God’s family among the other characteristics mentioned in this article.
[i]All Scripture references are taken from NASB1995.
[ii]Leighton Flowers, The Potter’s Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology (Coppell, TX: Trinity, 2017), 77.
[iii]Ibid.