Ephesians 1:1-13

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Predestination

 

    The word "predestination" does not need to be a source of controversy.  Does God know everything?  Yes.  Does He know who will accept and who will reject Him?  Yes (Psalm 2, Psalm 139:1-18).  If He is not omniscient (all-knowing) then how could He be God?  So does God pick and choose?  Does He choose one for salvation and one for damnation before they are created?  He does have the right to do that.  He is the potter.  I am the clay (Romans 9:20-21).  But praise God, Romans 10:13 and II Peter 3:9 (among other scriptures) states that God is longsuffering, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." and "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."  Ephesians chapter 1 talks specifically about predestination.  In chapter 1:1-12 Paul talks about "us."  Verse 12 identifies "us" as the first believers, (though his statements certainly apply to all believers).  Verse 13 then includes the Ephesians who "also trusted."  Paul continues through ch. 2 to explain how the Gentile Ephesians are now equal heirs of salvation with Jewish believers, and explains their new relationship to God and other believers.

       Paul goes on in ch. 3 to explain his personal relationship to the Gentiles, and how God revealed to him that the Gentiles were of the same body (3:6), a startling revelation in that day.  He tells how he was called to minister the gospel to the Gentiles, leading to a key point:  Paul was called to preach "among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery..."(v. 8-9).  All.  Not a select group.  All.

       Ephesians 1:1-12 state that believers are predestined for redemption and adoption.  Before I was born, God had a plan for my life.  We can see examples of this all through the Old Testament.  Verse 4 says we were chosen before the foundation of the world.  We are predestined to be holy and without blame.  Verse 11 says we are predestined to have an inheritance with Him and to fulfill God's purpose for our lives.

       "Destine" means to appoint to a purpose, or to design.  The prefix "pre-" means before.  We were designed for a purpose before we were born.  Will we all fulfill our predesigned purpose?  No.  Some will reject God's plan and live their lives according to their own plan (II Kings 17:14, Matthew 23:37, John 12:44-48).

       So what about those like Judas Iscariot.  His actions and destiny were prophesied long before he was born.  Was he predestined to go to hell?

        Judas is called the "son of perdition."  That word "perdition" has some varying shades of meaning.  At its harshest, it means "hell" or "damnation."  But it also means "loss" and "ruin."  Sin is sin.  Somehow the sin Judas committed, betraying Jesus to be arrested, is thought to be an almost unforgivable sin.  But it is not.  Peter publicly denied Jesus 3 times, but when he realized what he had done, he went out and wept bitterly in repentance (Matthew 26:75).  So far as he knew, it was too late to make amends.  Yet it is clear that he was forgiven.  

       In John 17:12 Jesus says He kept the disciples safe, except for Judas.  What did He keep them safe from?  In verse 15 Jesus is asking the Father to keep them from evil.  This is confirmed in Luke 22:31-32 when Jesus tells Simon how He has protected him from Satan.  But Judas was not protected, "that the scriptures might be fulfilled" (John 17:12), and Satan entered him (Luke 22:3).

       When Judas betrayed Jesus, he apparently did not realize the consequences of his actions.  He may have thought that he would make a little money and Jesus would walk away from His accusers as He had done in the past.  When Judas realized that Jesus was condemned, he, like Peter, repented (Matthew 27:3-5).  So was he forgiven?  Was his prophetic ruin eternal, or a physical ruin on this earth?  If he did repent, would not God have forgiven and saved him?  If he truly repented of his sin, (and there is no way to know that until we get to heaven), the answer must be that he was forgiven.  If he could not be forgiven, what hope could there be for any of us?

       God said He does not want anyone to be lost (II Peter 3:9; I Timothy 2:3-6).  But people have a choice (Deuteronomy 30:15-19; Joshua 24:15; Acts 2:26-41).   The misconstrued idea of predestination implies that people do not really make a choice.  The choice is "predestined" to happen.  If so, then II Peter 3:9 is referring to only the "predestined."  God is therefore not willing for any of the predestined to be lost, implying that some can in fact be lost (Matthew 24:42-44; II Peter 3:10).  But that doesn't make sense.  If some are predestined to be saved and others are not, is it possible for some of the predestined to be lost?  If so, then it follows that they were not predestined (as in "destiny pre-determined") after all, which means the decision of salvation has not been determined beforehand.  It is rather an individual's choice to accept or reject Christ.

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       This leads to the other side of the predestination debate and the often argued question: "How can a loving God allow bad things to happen, much less send a relatively good person to hell?"  Prideful human nature tends to want to create God in our own image, what we want Him to be, and what seems logical to our human understanding.  But God is Who He is, even though we cannot understand all of His character, and some of Who He is may make us uncomfortable.  We cannot put God in our nice little box.  He is GOD. 

       The Apostle Paul, before he was saved, did some pretty terrible things.  Was the persecution of Christians part of God's plan?  Was Paul "predestined" to do these terrible things, to help kill Stephen among many others not named?  Was the stoning of Stephen God's will?  Is God in control or isn't He?  These are hard questions because our human nature rebels at the thought that a loving God would allow, even appoint, "bad" things to happen.  But God's plan is not our plan.  We are vessels.  He is the master designer.  He does not ask for our approval (Romans 9:20).  We have no right to judge God.

       We only see a fraction of the here and now.  We grow in faith when we come to understand that both good and bad in our eyes is in God's control.  Joseph was sold into slavery and spent significant time in prison because of a false accusation.  But this "bad" thing was part of God's plan and He took care of Joseph through it all.  Jesus said the man born blind was created that way to bring glory to God (John 9:2-3).  Jesus died on the cross, the most horrible way to die imaginable.  But it was part of God's plan.  We can trust Him to work all things for our good (Romans 8:18, 28).  

       Romans 9:20-21 tells us that the potter uses the clay to make both vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor.  This seems to imply the concept of predestination, i.e. that some people are just destined, created, to remain in their sin and go to hell.  But this metaphor is clarified in II Timothy 2:20-21.  First, verse 21 encourages believers that regardless of how "dishonorable" we are, we can become vessels of honor if we "depart from iniquity" (II Timothy 2:19).  The second point is this: a great house has both honorable and dishonorable vessels.  God uses both (I Corinthians 12:18-27).  Both belong to Him.  A believer may not have glory in this life.  This life may be filled with trouble and hardship.  Our lives, our circumstances, our character, our experiences, are "predestined" according to God's sovereignty. 

        Salvation is based on faith in Jesus and His work of redemption, not on our works.  Predestination is God's plan for our life.  We choose to accept the gift of redemption and follow His plan, or we reject His plan and try to do it our way.  Because He is God, He is able to orchestrate the actions even of those that reject Him.  But acceptance or rejection of salvation is an individual choice.

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Here is what is important.  Jesus said there will come a time when the door to salvation will be shut (Luke 13:24-29).  Before that day, Jesus is calling and knocking on our heart's door.  He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).  Regardless of your understanding of "predestination," listen to His voice and open the door of your heart.  Accept His gift of salvation before the door is shut.

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