What Does ‘Chosen in Christ’ mean?

Few theological issues are as contentious and divisive as election.

Does this have to be its legacy? Or are we making God’s election or choosing unnecessarily complex and puzzling?

As we examine Ephesians 1:4 and its context, let’s see if we can shed some light on this subject, making it understandable to our minds and thrilling to our souls.

What is election?

Before continuing, I encourage you to pause and re-read the wonderful doxology of Ephesians 1:3-14.

The blessing that leads the rest is Ephesians 1:4 (NASB):

… just as He chose [eklegō] us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love …

The Greek word eklegō and its family or cognates mean choose, pick out, select, and elect.

The text clearly shows who chose, when, and why.

Who chose: “… the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ …” (1:3)

When did he choose: “… before the foundation of the world …” (1:4)

And why did he choose: “… that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” (1:4)

That much is evident from the text. But who was chosen? Was it a class of humans or a single person, Jesus Christ?

Let’s consider John Calvin’s position first.

John Calvin 

John Calvin (1509-1564 AD) was a great theologian during the Reformation. His extensive Institutes of the Christian Religion (Institutes) continue to be very influential among some groups of Christians.

Many of the theological roots of his theology of election and predestination go back at least to Augustine (354-430 AD). 

Calvin presents his teaching on election and predestination in Book 3, Chapter 21 of his Institutes. Here is a quotation from section 5:

By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death.

He clarifies that this decree is absolute and not based on any foreknowledge of an individual’s merits or faults. In other words, before the foundation of the world, all people were divided into two groups, one to be saved and the other damned.

I don’t know about you, but I have severe problems with John Calvin regarding his absolute decree of double predestination. Here are just a few of my objections:

• Although Calvin upholds the sovereignty of God, his “absolute decree” brings into question the goodness of God.

• Scripture attests to God’s desire that all be saved in such texts as:

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) 

God our Savior, who desires all [people] to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2:3b-4)

Are these texts true or not?

• Many other biblical texts invite anyone and everyone to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation (e.g., John 3:16, 36; 5:24; Romans 10:9-10; etc.).

Are these invitations genuine or not?

• Indeed, is there any biblical support for Calvin’s absolute decree of double predestination?

Is there no better understanding of the doctrine of God’s election?

Let’s hear from Karl Barth.

Karl Barth

Karl Barth (1886-1968) was a great theologian during the 20th Century. His extensive Church Dogmatics runs to more than 9,200 pages and continues to be influential.

Many of the theological roots of his theology on election and predestination go back at least to John Chrysostom (ca. 347-407 AD).

Barth himself wrote over 800 pages in his Church Dogmatics on election. So, I will only briefly summarize his teaching without addressing its complexities, nuances, or critics.

Whereas Calvin taught God’s election was of individual humans either to salvation or damnation, Barth understood God’s election to be of one Man, Jesus Christ, who is God in flesh (John 1:1-14; Galatians 4:4, etc.). As such, Jesus Christ is both the electing God and the elected Man.

That Jesus Christ is chosen or elected by God the Father is confirmed by such biblical texts as Isaiah 42:1; Luke 9:35, 23:35; 1 Peter 2:4. For example, Luke 9:35 declares of Jesus Christ:

Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen [eklegō] One; listen to Him!”

Here is an excerpt from Barth’s Church Dogmatics:

The doctrine of election is the sum of the Gospel because of all words that can be said or heard it is the best: that God elects man; that God is for man too the One who loves in freedom. It is grounded in the knowledge of Jesus Christ because He is both the electing God and the elected man in One. It is part of the doctrine of God because originally God’s election of man is a predestination not merely of many but of Himself. Its function is to bear basic testimony to eternal, free and unchanging grace as the beginning of all the ways and works of God.[1]

Jesus Christ is God’s election, the Elect or Chosen One. Now we can understand Paul’s statement that:

… He [God the Father] chose us in Him [the Eternal Son, Jesus Christ] before the foundation of the world, … (Ephesians 1:4)

Before “the foundation of the world,”—before any humans were conceived or born—God the Father chose or elected His Eternal Son.

Jesus Christ is the election, or the Elect One, through his incarnation. As a result, all those found in Jesus Christ obtain “every spiritual blessing,” which includes being elected or chosen by virtue of being ‘in Christ.’

An objection

Some might ask,

“I thought the election was about God choosing some to be saved. Isn’t this what Ephesians 1:4 teaches?”

Again, the text of Ephesians 1:4 (NASB) is:

… just as He chose [eklegō] us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

It does not say, “He chose to put us in Him,” but “He chose us in Him.” There is no justification for the idea that God’s prior election selects some individuals to be put in Christ. Instead, once we believe in or receive Jesus Christ, we are ‘in Christ.’

Roger Forster agrees with Barth when he writes,

The Bible does not say that we are chosen to be put into Christ, but that we are chosen in Christ. Our election is not separate from his election. ... those in Christ share his election, and so are chosen in him.[2]  

Barth’s understanding raises none of our objections to Calvin’s doctrine of double predestination, and it is faithful to Ephesians 1:4 and its context.

Conversion

How can we move from “in Adam” to “in Christ”—from a state of death to a new life? That question was answered in “From ‘in Adam’ to ‘in Christ.’”

We also find Paul confirming this in Ephesians 1:13 (NIV):

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, …

When we receive or believe in Jesus Christ, we are ‘in Christ,’ and because we are ‘in Christ,’ we share his election.

Summing up

Election is an immense and wonderful topic. We have limited our focus to one statement in Ephesians 1:4 and its context.

I argue that Karl Barth’s teaching brings a necessary corrective to John Calvin’s unsupportable position of double predestination. Jesus Christ is both the electing God and the elected Man. As a result of a person believing in or receiving Jesus Christ, that person is ‘in Christ’ with all the attendant blessings.

Of course, much more can be said concerning God’s choosing or electing, but that will have to wait until another time.

In the meantime, here is an insightful and helpful quotation from the British theologian and missionary Lesslie Newbigin:

To be chosen, to be elect, therefore does not mean that the elect are the saved and the rest are the lost. To be elect in Christ Jesus, and there is no other election, means to be incorporated into his mission to the world, to be the bearer of God’s saving purpose for his whole world, to be the sign and the agent and the firstfruit of his blessed kingdom which is for all.[3]

Hopefully, this understanding of God’s election makes it understandable to our minds and thrilling to our souls.

This post might have raised questions for you. Please feel free to write me using this link.

 

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Notes: 
[1] Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics (Edinburgh, UK: T & T Clark, 1975), II/2:3. My emphasis.
[2] Roger T. Forster and V. Paul Marston, God’s Strategy in Human History: God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1973), 131-2.
[3] Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Grand Rapids, MI: WCC Publications, 1989), 86–7.

Image credit: John Calvin and Karl Barth compilation by John B. MacDonald © 2024. The image of John Calvin is from Britannica, and of Karl Barth is from SCM Press.