Creator, Father, King #290

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

WHEN YOU WERE IN elementary school, you learned all sorts of important grammar lessons: noun and verb usage, proper punctuation, capitalization, passive vs. active voice, etc.

You also learned about run-on sentences. This is when two or more independent clauses are joined together without a word or punctuation to separate them.

In Ephesians 1:3-14, the apostle Paul penned one of the Bible’s greatest—and longest—descriptions of the triune God’s sovereign plan of salvation, using more than two hundred words in the original Greek language! One of the highlights of this glorious (and epically long) passage of Scripture is today’s verse. Read it again and digest its sacred truth: “Before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ.”

What’s It Mean?

God’s divine choosing—known as the doctrine of election or predestination, because he elected or predestined those whom he will save—is astounding. At some point in eternity past, before creating the universe, God chose everyone whom he would redeem by his grace through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Because God’s election occurred before Creation itself, every Christian’s salvation is completely a work of divine grace—God’s unmerited favor. Salvation cannot be by human effort since we were chosen “in Christ” before we were even born! Yet this doesn’t negate our responsibility to respond to the gospel call in repentance and faith (Mark 1:15).

Herein lies the beautiful mystery and tension of election—divine sovereignty and human responsibility wonderfully at work together. Both are biblical. How exactly they perfectly interplay in God’s cosmic design falls into the category of “the secret things [that] belong to the LORD our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29, ESV).

Salvation is a work—from start to finish—of God’s beautiful, sovereign grace. Every human is a sinner worthy of eternal condemnation (Romans 3:23; 6:23). But God has mercifully chosen to redeem many. Why did he do this? Because it was his sovereign will and good pleasure to pour out his amazing love on his children.

Do you see why Paul needed more than two hundred uninterrupted words to explain it?

Now What?

Prayerfully meditate on these other passages on God’s sovereign election: Acts 13:48; Romans 8:28-33; Romans 9; 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 1:9; and Revelation 13:7-8.

Did You Know?

Revelation 13:8 and 17:8 speak of a “Book of Life” featuring the name of every true believer “before the world was made.” Is this a literal or metaphorical book? Perhaps Christians will find out in heaven!