Our Spiritual Blessings in Christ
Predestination, election, and adoption: such words scare some of us, conjuring up ideas that carry theological baggage. Has God elected to save some and chosen to damn others? Is Christianity a mere fatalistic religion? And what does it mean to be adopted by God? What does it mean to be God’s chosen people, His elect?
These questions are particularly important for Arminians who have not always addressed these issues sufficiently. How does our theology account for these doctrines and encourage us spiritually? In Ephesians 1:3-14, the apostle Paul uses terms like predestination, election, and adoption to describe the spiritual blessings believers receive in Christ. Specifically, Paul explains four ways in which these doctrines are centered in and accomplished through Christ’s redemptive work.
(1) We Are Chosen In Christ.
First, we receive every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm inasmuch as God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Paul’s reference to the “heavenly realms” indicates the dimension of existence where we experience God’s spiritual blessings [1]. This does not mean that we fail to experience these blessings on earth. Rather, these blessings are otherworldly, being received through earthly means.
Furthermore, these blessings take place in Christ. Paul continually uses phrases like “in Him” or “in Christ” to show that these blessings are only located in Christ. In other words, these blessings go to those who are found within the boundary markers of the living Christ [2]. Thus, it is only inasmuch as we are identified with Christ that we receive these spiritual blessings. Jacob Arminius concurs: “The love with which God loves men absolutely to salvation…has no existence except in Jesus Christ” [3]. Christ is the source of all blessing, because in Him we receive the Gospel’s blessings, which comes by faith.
Consequently, when Paul says that God chose believers as His people, He chose them in Christ (1:4). This way of understanding election is unique to God’s people under the New Covenant. Under the Old Covenant, God used the Mosaic Law to mark out His people and reveal them as His elect. Now, Christ functions in this way for Christians under the New Covenant.
Not only does Christ mark us out, but He is also the means by which we are chosen. God’s choice is an eternal one, since it took place “before the foundation of the world” (1:4). Again, Paul says that God blessed us with His glorious grace in “the Beloved,” which is Christ (1:6). So for Paul, all spiritual blessings, including our election as God’s people, take place in Christ.
What does this tell us about the way in which God sought to elect His people? Robert Picirilli answers rightly: “God’s eternal decree to save, then, was not a sterile one that logically preceded the plan of redemption in Christ. Instead, it is grounded in the plan of redemption by Christ and grows out of it” [4]. God’s decision to elect some and condemn others was not an arbitrary choice that is known only by God and unknown to us; rather, God’s decision to provide salvation for believers finds its basis in our union with Christ.
The centrality of Christ is prominent in God’s election. God saw believers in Him and chose them as His own. As Arminius states, “God can ‘previously love and affectionately regard as His own’ no sinner unless He has foreknown him in Christ, and looked upon him as a believer in Christ” [5]. Therefore our election does not happen apart from Christ and only applies in Christ.
This is encouraging. If we are in Christ, we are God’s chosen people. In a world that rejects us for our faith we have assurance that God has not because we are His chosen people. There is no need to fret over whether we are God’s elect or not. We are His, and in Him we are secure. And still, there is yet another reason to praise God.
(2) We Are Redeemed In Christ.
Secondly, our redemption comes in Christ. Verse 7 says, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” Here Paul focuses on the application of our redemption. Christ’s blood bought our redemption, resulting in the forgiveness of our trespasses. All of this was based upon God’s sovereign grace, “which was lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight” (1:8). Here we understand the great extent of God’s grace.
Along with our redemption, however, comes revelation as well. Verse 9 tells us that Christ made known to us the mystery of God’s will. Without special revelation, God’s will is unknowable, yet it was God’s will to make it known to us. God did not begrudgingly save us from our sin. No, it was God’s intention from the beginning “as a plan for the fullness of time” (1:10). Our redemption through the Gospel of Christ was God’s means of making this known. Redemption was costly, but God willingly provided it.
Why is this? Verse 10 says that this was done to unite all things in Christ, both in heaven and on earth. The purpose of our redemption is to show that Christ reigns supreme and that all things are subject to Him. Christ’s death and resurrection secured this. Now Christ has power and dominion “above every name that is named” (1:21) and is made head over the Church (1:22). As such, the purpose of our redemption finds its goal in this: that Christ is Lord over the entire cosmos. Our redemption as sinners is the means by which God brings this to pass.
(3) We Obtain Our Inheritance In Christ.
Thirdly, our inheritance is in Christ. This inheritance was predestined (another oft-misunderstood term) according to God’s purpose (1:12), as mentioned a third time. Though it can be argued that the Church serves as God’s inheritance or portion (as Israel did under the Old Covenant), it seems likely that inheritance refers to believers being heirs in Christ. This thought coincides with Paul’s reference to adoption in verse 5. God predestined us for adoption—adoption referring to adult-sonship. We then are inheriting our right as adult-sons, thus becoming heirs with Christ. This is similar to Paul’s thoughts in Romans 8:16-17: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” Our adoption leads to our status as heirs.
Our adoption, says Paul, was to the praise of God’s glory (1:12). Here we learn an important truth about the doctrine of predestination: it refers to our status as sons and heirs as obtained in union with Christ, not to God’s sovereign choice to save certain people and not others. We then are to praise God for the spiritual status we have received in Christ. Our new status allows us to experience the full extent of God’s redemptive blessings that had been planned all along.
Our job as God’s sons and heirs is to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But not only do we proclaim it, our union with Christ also allows us to mediate God’s presence as we live out His Gospel through both word and deed. We are God’s representatives and, as such, we establish His reign over both the heavenly and earthly realms.
(4) We Are Sealed by the Spirit In Christ.
Finally, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Christ. We should not understand the word “sealed” as meaning an unqualified assurance regarding salvation. Rather, the Holy Spirit is the down payment for our eschatological inheritance. The Spirit seals God’s people for the final redemption that takes place in the “fullness of time” (v. 10). God will complete His redemptive work for those who are in union with Christ. The Spirit guarantees this.
The sealing of the Holy Spirit, however, comes upon the condition of faith. This is the only verse in this passage that links faith with God’s salvific work. Faith is how God applies all of these spiritual blessings. Picirilli states, “Paul indicates that salvation flows from faith (vv.12, 13). Since the experience in time has already been seen as the way of understanding the decrees in eternity, one feels confident in drawing the conclusion that the decree in eternity was one to administer salvation conditionally (by faith)” [6]. Belief in the Gospel is what allows the Holy Spirit to seal us with His work, not only now, but our future redemption also.
In Ephesians 1:3-14, we understand the purpose of God’s election, predestination, and adoption with more clarity. Paul shows us that these blessings are only characteristic of God’s redemption, which finds its fulfillment in Christ. In Christ, we are God’s elect; in Christ, we have redemption; in Christ, we obtain our inheritance; and in Christ, we are sealed with the Spirit. Paul’s point to us is that apart from Christ, God’s redemptive work is null and void. For Christians, there is no Gospel apart from Christ.
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[1] Frank Thielman, Ephesians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010), 47.
[2] Thielman, 47.
[3] Jacob Arminius, Works, I:230.
[4] Robert Picirilli, Grace, Faith, and Free Will: Contrasting Views of Salvation: Calvinism and Arminianism (Nashville: Randall House Publications, 2002), 69.
[5] Arminius, Works, III:314.
[6] Picirilli, 70.
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