Gary Ray Branscome
God has chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1:4
Long before the universe
existed, or the first second of time had passed, our heavenly Father
knew that
Christ would take upon Himself the nature of man, and die for the sins
of the
world. It was never His will for man to sin, but knowing that man would
sin He
planned, from eternity, to send Christ into the world to save us from
our sins
(1John 2:2, Ephesians 1:4).
Furthermore, because God is
not bound by time, that salvation has been available to all men from
the
foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Adam and Eve were not saved
by
works, but through faith in the promised “seed” who was to crush the
head of the
serpent (Genesis
The world around us provides
everyone with ample evidence that God exists, and our own conscience
testifies
to the fact that we have done wrong. Therefore, it is only because of
the
deceitfulness of the human heart that all men do not seek God’s
forgiveness
(Jeremiah 17:9). Moreover, such self deception is so universal that
apart from
God’s grace no man could or would come to Christ (John 6:44). Our
sinful heart
would rather deny sin, excuse sin, and explain away sin than humble
itself
before God and seek His forgiveness. Men
would rather
believe lies, devise false religions, deny that God exists, and invent
imaginary gods than admit that they deserve God’s condemnation and
wrath.
However, knowing that sin
would blind men to the truth, God also decided, from eternity, to cause
the
Bible to be written, as a divine testimony to the salvation that is
ours in
Christ Jesus (John 5:39). That testimony has been there from the start.
Everyone who reads the book of Genesis knows what it says about the
entry of
sin into the world. And, the fact that we have to work for a living,
and
eventually die, testifies to the fact that we have all sinned, and need
God’s
forgiveness. Moreover, the fact that Noah “found grace” in the sight of
God,
and that Abraham’s faith was imputed to him as righteousness tells us
that we
need to seek God’s grace, and ask God for a faith that will be imputed
to us as
righteousness.
However, even though the
Bible fully and clearly exposes our sin and need of God’s forgiveness,
the
deceitfulness of our own sinful heart blinds us to what is being said,
leads us
to deny our sin, and fools us into believing that God will reward us
because of
the little things we do or don’t do. In fact, one reason evolution is
so
popular is because it provides people with a way of denying their sin,
and
deluding themselves into thinking that they will never have to account
for it.
Most people claim to be good people. Yet, when asked if they have ever
said
something that is not true, taken something that did not belong to
them, were
so angry they wanted to hurt or even kill someone, or entertained
lustful
thoughts they will admit that they have. But, they would rather deceive
themselves than humbly admit those sins and throw themselves on God’s
mercy
(John
However, knowing the
blindness of our sinful heart, and the fact that no one can or will
come to
faith in Christ without His help, God has chosen to go one step
further. So
that Christ’s death will not be in vain, He has chosen to bring
millions of people
to faith in Christ in spite of their own blindness and resistance. That
is what
the Bible is talking about when it tells us that, “God has chosen us in
Christ
before the foundation of the world,” (Ephesians 1:4). And, those whom
God has
chosen are His “elect” (Romans
Therefore, God’s provision
for our salvation involves three steps. 1- His decision to send Christ
to die
for the sins of the world. 2- His decision to cause the Bible to be
written so
that we would know about that salvation. 3- And, His decision to bring
untold
multitudes to faith in spite of their resistance.
If many Jews are not saved, it is
not because God does not want them. His Word plainly tells us that He
has “no
pleasure” in the death of those who are lost (Ezekiel 33:11). In fact,
God has
given the Jews every advantage. He gave them His law, and raised
up one prophet after another to call them to repentance. Time after
time, He
brought their nation back to Him, while letting other nations go their
own way
(Malachi 1:2-3). If they are lost it is not because God does not want
them, but
because they are so intent on establishing their own righteousness that
“they
have not submitted to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3-4).
They have part of God’s Word, and
that Word was given by God to bring them to faith in Christ (John
Nevertheless, because God will not
let His Word be made of “no effect,” when the Jews made its influence
on them
of “no effect” by explaining it away, He turned to the gentiles (Romans
9:6).
For the true Jews (the true descendants of Abraham) are not those who
are
physically descendants of Abraham, but those who are his spiritual
descendants
(Romans
In the world today, I see a parallel between
what
happened to the Jews and what is happening in our society. As many in
the west
turn away from God, using evolution and other lies to make His Word of
“no
effect,” He seems to be replacing them with millions in the
“third-world”
countries who do not make His Word of “no effect”.
The
second conclusion is wrong because the Bible tells us that, “God was in
Christ,
reconciling the world to himself,” that Christ is, “the Lamb of God,
who takes
away the sin of the world, and that, “He is the propitiation for our
sins: and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (1John 2:2,
John
1:29, 2Corinthians 5:19).
Therefore, in order to have the correct
doctrine, we must start with an
understanding of the words “God has chosen us in Christ before the
foundation
of the world,” that does not lead to conclusions that contradict the
Bible
(Ephesians 1:4). For example: I have just pointed out that If we assume
that
God first decided to save certain people and afterward decided to send
Christ
to die only for those He wanted to save, that assumption will lead us
to
conclusions that contradict the Bible. However, If
we
hold that God first decided to send Christ to die for the sins of all
men, and
then, because no human could or would believe without His help, chose
to bring
us to faith through His Word, we would not draw those unbiblical
conclusions.
Now, I want to make it clear that I am not
saying that God thinks of those
events in that sequence. I do not believe that we can even comprehend
how God
thinks. However, if we think of things happening in that sequence, we
will not
draw unbiblical conclusions. Therefore, a Biblical view of election
starts with
the fact that God did not want man to sin in the first place. However,
because
God knew that man would sin, He decided from eternity to send Christ to
die for
the sins of all mankind. Furthermore, since no one would ever know that
Christ
had died for their sins without divine revelation, He also decided to
cause the
Bible to be written and the gospel to be preached. And finally, knowing
that no
man left to himself could or would believe, He determined to bring
untold
millions of people to faith (in spite of their resistance) through His
Word.
This view of election does not lead to false conclusions, but instead
agrees
with everything that the Bible says.
1- It agrees with those passages of Scripture
which
tell us that Christ died for the sins of all men. (1 John 2:2, 2
Corinthians
5:19, John 1:29)
2- It agrees
with the passages of Scripture that tell us that God wants all men to
be saved.
(1 Timothy 2:4, Ezekiel 18:23,32, Ezekiel
33:11)
3- It agrees
with the passages of Scripture that tell us that faith is a gift of God
and no
one would or could believe without God's help. (Ephesians 2:8-9, 1
Corinthians
12:3)
4- It agrees
with the passages of Scripture that tell us that no man can be saved
unless God
chooses to save him. (John 6:44, John 6:65, Romans 8:28-30, Romans
11:7)
5- It agrees
with all of the passages that tell us that the lost are lost because of
their
own fault, not because God wanted them to be lost. (Matthew
6- And, it
even agrees with the passages of Scripture that indicate that we have a
free
will or must make a choice, because from our point of view it does look
like we
are making a choice. However, we know from Scripture that without God's
help no
man would ever make the right choice. (Revelation 3:20, Joshua 24:15,
Hebrews
3:7-8, 2 Corinthians 3:5)
7- Finally,
it agrees with what the Bible says about time and chance playing a role
in
salvation. For if you think about it, a man born in seventeenth century
There are two major errors concerning the
doctrine of election, and
they both have to do with the sequence of events mentioned previously.
I have
already explained why those who assume that God decided which people to
save
(election) before deciding to send Christ to save them err. However,
there are
others who err because they assume that God only chose to save those
that He
knew would believe. We know that they have erred because they not only
contradict what the Bible says about salvation being by grace alone,
but also
contradict those passages that tell us that our faith is a gift of God
(Ephesians 2:8-9, John 6:44, 1Corinthians 12:3).
The Biblical doctrine that I have presented
avoids those errors by
placing God's election between God's decision to provide atonement, and
His
bestowal of the gift of faith.