Some Thoughts

From this morning’s reading:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:3-12, ESV [show] [3]Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [4]even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love [5]he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6]to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. [7]In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, [8]which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight [9]making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ [10]as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. [11]In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, [12]so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

I love the personal, “particularism” of the gospel. There is the joy of being singled out, mixed with the humility that I don’t deserve it and did nothing to merit it — on the contrary, did everything to demerit such favor. (Grace is not “unmerited” favor – there is no such thing as ‘unmerit’ — grace is the favor of God in the face of utter demerit.) I remember hearing someone describing election (based on 2 Peter 1:10 [show] [10]Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. (ESV)
) as something “we do…we elect ourselves.” Were I a little more brave, I would have said out loud what I was thinking to myself in outrage and utter befuddlement: “Why, then, didn’t he Holy Spirit pick words like ‘volunteers’ and ‘the choosers’ instead of ‘the elect’ and ‘the chosen’? Considering the sheer number of times words like these and their kindred are used from Genesis to Revelation–what the heck are you saying about the inspiration of Scripture?”

The vision of a God who “doesn’t interfere,” who stands back all gentlemanly-like, who patiently waits for people to choose him…it seems so–dare I say it?–effeminate. Elisabeth Elliot has written much about the idea that “the essence of masculinity is initiation” and “the essence of femininity is response”. Surely God the Creator is the great initiator, and we creaturelings are the responders. (We are, after all, the bride of Christ, not the groom.) A God who responds to our initiation, more than being merely a perverse idea, is simply not the Creator-God of the Bible. The a se, independent, ultimate, self-contained, self-sufficient, absolute, eternal Creator cannot be in any way whatsoever dependent on that which is derived from him and sustained by him. That which is created, dependent, derived, and temporal does not and cannot be determinative of the course of history. “History cannot serve two masters”: either the plan of the eternal God is ultimately determinative of history, or chance is. The former is the Christian view; the latter is thoroughly pagan.

“…having been predestined acording to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will…to the praise of his glory.” I don’t know how anyone could, or why anyone would want to, argue with that. (Then again, perhaps I do.)