Ephesians – Free Will and Predestination

Ephesians provides us with a heady mix of easy to grasp ideas and big chunks of dense prose that get you scratching your head. Today Paul, in passing, talks about predestination – something that has gone on to split the Church for centuries. Let’s read what he has to say in verses 1:3-14.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 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 predestined us for adoption to sonship 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. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

¹¹ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.

Meaty stuff. Despite all the punctuation the translators put in, this is one sentence in the Greek and is considered to be the longest sentence in ancient Greek literature.

And the actual content is pretty meaty too.

“He chose us…”

“He predestined us for adoption”

“having been predestined…”

This message is clear  – we were chosen and predestined for God’s kingdom.

Some people react that positively to that news. “Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.” is how the Psalmist wrote about this in Psalm 139. God has a plan and we are on track with Him.

But for others this makes life meaningless. “If I was already predestined for God’s Kingdom – why should I try?” If we are predestined for Heaven then why bother sharing the Good News. People will already be “in” or “out” – so what is the point? God dealt the hands before I was even born. He is the heavenly dealer seeing and knowing every card. So much for freewill. This game is fixed.

Nothing could be further from the truth in my opinion. I do not believe that Paul is talking me or about you as individuals. Every reference is in the plural. He is talking about us when we come together as the body of Christ. Even before time began, God had decided how he would bring His people back in to relationship with. How you and I would become one in union with Christ Jesus. We, who make up the body of Christ, were predestined to be adopted into God’s family.

But we have a choice. I can join God’s family. We each have a personal invitation to become part of this from Jesus. And then if we accept it, we too are then predestined for the riches that the relationship with Christ has in this life….and the next.

You can think of the Kingdom of God as being a train that is destined for a far way location. Even before it sets off, the tracks are laid, the points are set and signals clear the way. But while the train is predestined for London – are you? Did you get on board?

In fact the idea of the train of salvation is at the heart of many of the Spirituals – Christian songs created by those who were sold into slavery. Songs of hope in the face of crippling and cruel adversity.

“Yes Lord, the people keep on coming, but the da train is done gone” from Mary had a baby, traditional spiritual.

“People get ready, there’s a train a-comin’
You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin’
Don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord” Curtis Mayfields “People Get Ready”

So as we start out in the Ephesians we are being encouraged to get on board and enjoy the ride. You got a choice whether you want to be adopted into this body of Christ, but if you do, the destination is called, the whistle has blown and the train is a rolling. Toot toot!