Featured Ephesians 1 Clarified

Are adopted children of God not saved out of their orphaned life of rebellion? Is God's choice, predestined before the foundation of the world, not enough to save us, who are God's children in Christ? Must the word "salvation" be written down and if not are we therefore not adopted children of God?

Utilyan, are you unable to see how silly you are being?

 

' through ' why didn't you highlight THROUGH ? . Chosen you to salvation THROUGH . THROUGH what ? Through a divine eternal decree, arbitrarily chosen to BE saved later in time by an 'awakening 'experience? No from the beginning these believers were not those who although experiencing great persecution and suffering had not missed the return of Jesus as a false letter had reported. No they were chosen through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
From the beginning God had chosen the vehicle in which belivers will be saved . And its not to be appointed to wrath as these believer's had thought was happening to them .
1 thes 5 The context that no calvinist ever bothers to check . Context never matters to a reformed thinking. He's got his proof text with his system.

8But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11¶Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

 

There are 2 callings: Gospel and vocational, not inward or outward or effectual or ineffectual, etc… (2 Thess. 2:14; Eph. 4:1; Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 5:20)
And every time you see 'us ' its a normative use . We use this all the time . It doesn't mean its exclusive .

 

They were dead in their trespasses and sins, but God made them alive. Why was it that God made them alive with Christ? Ephesians 1 gives a crystal clear explanation.

 

Is that what it says or does your theology require it?

 

It's not future tense. You also misquote. In Ephesians 2 God says he made them alive, which is exactly what he has done for us as well.
They we're chosen and made holy, because God chose to redeem them.
utilyan, you continually preach God as less than and man as more than.
Paul tells us that it is all God. Why do you insist on lifting up the work of man and reducing the work of God?

 

He chose dead people...before the foundation of the world...to make them alive with Christ. Do you see how that works? Do you see how the entirety of scripture fits together and God gets all the glory?

 

The "us" is...Adopted people who were once dead in our trespasses and sins.

If you must have the word "salvation" or "saved" for your brain to comprehend, then read this:

Ephesians 2:4-9 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

utilyan, you are fighting against God and His word. When will you stop fighting and accept what God tells you?

 

Not sure what you are questioning? Are you saying we could be chosen individually before creation and be "not a chosen people" when we are conceived? Are you saying 1 Peter 2:10 does not absolutely preclude Ephesians 1:4 from being an individual election, therefore a corporate election?

Many times the meaning of a verse or passage is ambiguous, with well studied people holding differing views as to its meaning, but 1 Peter 2:10 is not one of them. Its meaning is crystal.

You made reference to "my theology" as if it differed in some way from biblical theology. It does not.

 

utilyan, the readers can determine if I understand what God has shared in Ephesians 1.

What I don't understand is you. And you are not the spokesperson for God and Ephesians 1. If you cannot speak with clarity that is simply your problem.

What I can see is that you agree with me when I state:
"The "us" is...Adopted people who were once dead in our trespasses and sins."

 

But that's exactly what you're doing here. One cannot argue--logically--that Ephesians 1:4 says God chose us after we chose Him. The passage tells us--in simple grammar--"He chose us." Chose is in the middle voice, meaning God chose us for Himself (ie. His own reasons, His own good pleasure, etc.). That choice happened at a time in the past--before the foundation of the world. The language is quite clear. Yes, we were chosen to be holy and blameless, but holy and blameless is something we could never have chosen to be ourselves.

So, Ephesians 1 is really talking about God's initiating intervention in our salvation, not our response to Him.

The Archangel

 

Sounds Catholic

 

I have no idea what stumbling block lies before you. We all know that our righteousness is found in Christ, not in ourselves. We all know that God chose us and predestined us to be brought to life, in Christ. We echo Paul's words in Galatians 2:20. "For I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless not I, but Christ lives within me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."

I honestly have no idea why you are so hung up on thinking Calvinists don't believe their entire existence is found in Christ. Every Reformed person I have ever met knows they are found in Christ and apart from Christ they are wretched.