Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20090927.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Ephesians: Overcoming Our Insecurities In Christ
Part I: The Believer's Secure Position In Christ, Ephesians 1:1-3:21
B. Overcoming The Insecurity Of An Uncertain Destiny
(Ephesians 1:4-5 et al.)
  1. Introduction
    1. Great insecurity often exists over misunderstanding election and predestination: (1) Calvin taught God chose one in eternity past to be saved and enter heaven, but that apart from infant baptism, he could never be sure he was one of the elect (Dave Hunt, "Question & Answer," The Berean Call, August 2001, p. 4). (2) Arminians say God chose to save those He foreknew would trust in Christ, but that if their faith failed before death, they would go to hell! Thus, believers in both camps are afraid for their eternal destiny!
    2. Understanding Ephesians 1:4-5 in its context settles such fears as follows:
  2. Overcoming The Insecurity Of An Uncertain Destiny, Ephesians 1:4-5 et al.
    1. God's election in Ephesians 1:4 was made in the sphere of "in Him," i.e., in Christ, and where "in" ('en in the Greek Testament) modifies Christ elsewhere in the New Testament while describing the believer's position, he is always perceived as already being in Christ, NOT about to be placed in Him, Moulton & Geden, Concordance to the Greek Testament, 1974, p. 331-333. Thus, God's election in Ephesians 1:4-5 is an election NOT UNTO JUSTIFICATION, but unto POST-justification BLESSINGS.
    2. Those post-justification blessings are described as directing believers to "be holy and blameless before Him in love," Ephesians 1:4b, and we describe what those words mean in the Greek Testament as follows:
      1. Only in Ephesians 1:4 and Colossians 1:22 does "before" (katenopion) describing God's view appear with the descriptions of believers as "holy" (hagios ) and "blameless; unblameable" (amomos), and in Ephesians 5:27, the only other New Testament passage where hagios and amomos appear together, they depict believers in heaven; Ibid., p. 53, 11-14; Lewis S. Chafer, The Ephesian Letter, 1935, p. 154.
      2. Now, in Jude 24, the only New Testament passage besides Ephesians 1:4 and Colossians 1:22 where katenopion occurs (Ibid., Moulton & Geden, p. 539), it has the literal meaning of "God's presence"!
      3. As similarities in vocabulary and style suggest Ephesians and Colossians were written about the same time (Donald Guthrie, New Test. Intro., 1971, p. 492-499), implying the same meanings for the words both works used, "holy" (hagios) and "blameless; unblameable" (amomos) picture believers in heaven.
    3. Now, this election of believers to be holy and blameless in God's heavenly presence is based on God's predestining them unto the "adoption" of children by Christ "to himself," Eph. 1:5. This predestination can not refer to God's directing people to be justified as Calvinists and Arminians teach, but it teaches that Christians enter heaven by being predestined to be raptured, and we explain this fact as follows:
      1. The "adoption" in Ephesians 1:5 may picture EITHER positional son-placing when one trusts in Christ (as in Galatians 4:5) OR his experiential adoption at the rapture (as in Romans 8:23)!
      2. Well, if God's election in Ephesians 1:4 teaches that God chose those He eternally perceived as ALREADY BEING in Christ to be raptured, then we should view the Ephesians 1:5 "adoption" as picturing experiential "adoption" of the RAPTURE ITSELF versus one's spiritual position!
    4. Thus, Ephesians 1:4-5 teaches that all whom God eternally foreknew would trust in Christ would reach heaven as holy, blameless and in love, and He predestined them to be raptured to that end! Election and predestination then do not deal with which unsaved folk God chooses and predestines to be justified as in Calvinism and Arminianism, but with the post-justification blessings God planned for Christians!
    5. Finally, the Ephesians 1:4-5 CONTEXT reveals the assurance of the believer's destiny is NOT based on election as in Calvinism or on faith as in Arminianism, but on the seal of the Holy Spirit at one's justification (Eph. 1:13): The Spirit is God's earnest , His pledge that He will get us to heaven, Eph. 1:14.
Lesson: (1) God did not choose and predestine who would be saved like both Calvinists or Arminians in various ways claim. Rather, election and predestination deal with post-salvation plans God made to bless those who trust in Christ! (2) We believers thus should not fear that we are not of the elect as do Calvinists, or that our salvation will be lost if our faith lapses as do Arminians, for our eternal destiny is secured by God's irrevocable sealing of His Holy Spirit that pledges that He must take us to heaven!

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