When Paul says God chose us before the foundation of the world, he does not speak of election in isolation from Jesus. He says God chose us in Him, and he names the purpose of that choice:
“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”
I understand this as God’s eternal choice of His people in Christ, with holiness as their appointed calling. I do not believe Paul is teaching that God selected certain individuals to receive an irresistible salvation while withholding any real opportunity to believe from everyone else. Salvation remains entirely God’s gracious provision. He accomplishes redemption and calls us through the gospel. Those who believe receive new birth and the seal of His Spirit. Paul describes these blessings together, so we need to understand election within that whole discussion.
Ephesians 1 Begins with Christ
Paul begins by praising the Father for what He has given believers in His Son:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
His repeated phrases are “in Christ,” “in Him,” and “in the Beloved.” Redemption comes through Christ’s blood, acceptance is in the beloved Son, and the inheritance belongs to those united with Him. The Father purposes salvation, the Son accomplishes redemption, and the Holy Spirit seals believers. Election belongs within this praise of the triune God for salvation in His Son.
Paul addresses saints who are faithful in Christ Jesus. He speaks of “us” and “we” as one of the redeemed. Later he adds “you also” and describes how his readers came to share these blessings:
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.”
They heard the word of truth and trusted Christ. Paul then says they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. God’s purpose preceded creation, but these people heard and believed the gospel in their own lives. Their faith was a real response to the gospel, not something that earned redemption or added to Christ’s work.
I read God’s eternal purpose together with the hearing and believing Paul describes. God established His saving purpose in Christ before creation, and people come to share its blessings by receiving Him. We need to account for both His gracious initiative and their real response.
Chosen in Him Before the Foundation
To be “in Christ” is to be united with Him. Scripture describes believers as members of His body, baptized into Christ, and clothed with Him. This union is received through faith. Water baptism publicly testifies that a believer belongs to Christ; the water does not cause the new birth. A sinner does not create his own salvation by believing. He receives the Savior who died for him and rose again.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Being in Christ therefore means more than adopting a Christian label. God gives a person new life and a standing before Him that he could never produce through religious effort. When Paul speaks of those chosen in Christ, I understand him to be describing the redeemed people united with their Head, Christ.
Christ Himself is God’s Chosen One, the beloved Son appointed as Redeemer. God centered His saving purpose in Him before creation. Those joined to Christ receive the acceptance and inheritance God appointed for His people. The recurring expressions in Ephesians 1 keep these blessings tied to the Son:
| Phrase in Ephesians 1 | What it shows |
|---|---|
| In Christ | Every spiritual blessing is located in union with the Son. |
| In Him | Believers are chosen, gathered, and given an inheritance in Christ. |
| In the Beloved | Our acceptance before God rests in the beloved Son rather than in human worth. |
| Through His blood | Redemption and forgiveness come through Christ’s sacrificial death. |
| After you heard and trusted | The gospel is truly proclaimed and personally received by faith. |
I do not think the words “in Him” settle every question about election by themselves. Calvinists also affirm that salvation is in Christ. We disagree about how God chooses His people and how sinners come to share the salvation He provides. I read the passage as God’s choice of a people whose identity and blessings are established in His Son, with personal faith as the means of receiving Him.
“Before the foundation of the world” tells us that redemption was God’s purpose before creation. He did not improvise a rescue after Adam sinned, and the cross was not an emergency response to a failure He had never anticipated. Peter likewise places Christ’s appointment before the world’s beginning:
“He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”
The Son was appointed as Redeemer before He entered human history. God knew the end from the beginning and made His purpose known through the Lamb whose blood redeems us. He never has to learn what comes next, but His knowledge does not make our choices unreal. When He calls us to repent, He genuinely calls for a response.
A believer’s assurance rests in this revealed Savior. My feelings change, and an honest look at my conduct exposes reasons to repent. Neither a good day nor a bad day changes what Christ accomplished. God has made His promise known in Christ, so I can trust the mercy He openly offers instead of wondering whether an undisclosed decree excludes me from it.
Chosen for Holiness and Adoption
Paul identifies holiness as the purpose of God’s choice: “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” To be holy means to be set apart to God. He is forming a people who belong to Him, stand cleansed before Him, and learn to live accordingly.
We stand cleansed in Christ because we have been forgiven. Paul is not claiming we never sinned or will become sinlessly perfect in this life. God continues changing the people He has accepted. Romans describes the destination He has appointed:
“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”
God intends His people to become like His Son. I cannot use election to congratulate myself on a privileged status while disregarding how I treat people or indulging sin. The Spirit who indwells a genuinely born-again believer convicts, teaches, and produces fruit. The resulting change in our conduct shows the new life He has given. It does not buy God’s acceptance.
The words “in love” can be read as completing verse 4 or introducing the adoption described in verse 5. Either connection fits Paul’s emphasis: God’s saving purpose expresses love, and His people are called to live in love.
Paul next names adoption as a blessing God determined beforehand:
“Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”
Predestination means deciding beforehand, and Paul names what God appointed for His people: adoption through Jesus Christ, according to His good pleasure. Through adoption, believers receive the standing and inheritance of God’s children. His grace brings us into His family, accepted in the Beloved, with His Spirit as the guarantee of our inheritance.
I read this as God’s settled purpose for those who belong to Christ, rather than a statement that only selected individuals ever receive the grace necessary to believe. Before we existed, God determined that His redeemed people would be His children and heirs. That gives believers assurance because the Father is accomplishing the purpose He established in His Son.
Corporate Election and Personal Faith
God’s dealings with Israel help distinguish the choice of a people from the saving response of each individual. Israel received national covenant privileges and responsibilities, but ancestry did not make every Israelite faithful or automatically saved. Paul discusses physical descent and the children of promise in Romans 9. Receiving a national privilege was therefore distinct from personally trusting God.
In Ephesians, the chosen people are those united with Christ. I use the term corporate election to describe God’s choice of His people as a body in Him. Their identity and destiny were established in Christ before creation. People become part of that body through personal faith in Christ. They hear the gospel, repent, and believe, and God gives them new birth.
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
Faith does not make us worthy of adoption or put God in our debt. By faith we receive what He graciously provides. His Spirit works through the gospel to draw and convict, but people can resist His grace and refuse the Savior. The study on being born again explains why new birth is God’s actual work in someone who receives Christ. Calling oneself a Christian cannot produce it.
Paul’s own ministry shows why proclaiming the gospel remains necessary. He suffered for the elect, “that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10). Salvation was in Christ, and Paul endured hardship so that people would obtain it in Him. He preached, persuaded, and warned because people needed to hear and respond.
Calvinists also value preaching and personal faith, regarding them as means God has appointed to accomplish His decree. We agree that people need to hear the gospel and trust Christ. My disagreement concerns the claim that only individuals unconditionally chosen beforehand receive the grace that brings them to faith. I believe God’s provision and gracious invitation genuinely extend to everyone.
Why the Calvinist Reading Does Not Fit
Classical Calvinism understands unconditional election to mean that God chose particular people for salvation without making foreseen faith the basis of His choice. Effectual calling, in that system, means God renews those chosen people so that they willingly and certainly believe. The Westminster Confession, chapters 3 and 10, sets out that position. I reject restricting this saving work to those selected individuals. Calvinists understand the resulting faith as willing, however, and we should represent that claim accurately when explaining why we disagree.
The Canons of Dort also require the gospel to be proclaimed without distinction and describe that call as sincere. They distinguish that outward invitation from the effective grace they say God gives to the elect. In classical five-point Calvinism, Christ’s saving accomplishment is directed specifically to those elect people. My objection is that those not selected are left without the grace needed to repent and believe, even though the gospel is proclaimed to them.
In Ephesians 1, I see Paul emphasizing the blessings God appointed in Christ and the believers who receive them in Him. He names holiness, adoption, redemption, inheritance, and the Spirit’s seal. Verse 13 describes hearing and believing before sealing. Calvinists also have an explanation for that sequence, so quoting verse 13 alone does not settle the dispute. I do not find Paul teaching here that only certain individuals receive an irresistible regeneration that enables them to believe.
The wider biblical invitation strengthens my reading. Jesus is the Savior of the world and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John 3:16 says God loved the world and gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. I do not believe “world” should be reduced to a limited group or “whoever” restricted to people given an irresistible ability denied to everyone else. The studies on Calvinism and John 6:44 examine those arguments further.
Paul states God’s desire to save in broad terms:
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
In the same chapter, Paul calls for prayer for all people, including rulers. I understand his statement about salvation to include every person, rather than only every class of people. God genuinely desires sinners to come to the truth and receive the salvation He has provided.
Peter also explains the delay before judgment in terms of God’s patience:
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
Some Calvinist readers understand the people in view as all the elect. I read Peter’s appeal to the Lord’s patience alongside his warning about coming judgment. God desires people to repent, and the gospel genuinely invites everyone to do so. His eternal purpose agrees with that sincere appeal.
This is not universalism, the belief that everyone will finally be saved. Christ’s provision is for the whole world, and His offer is sincere toward every person, but salvation is received in the Son through repentance and faith. People can reject His grace and remain in unbelief. An offer made to everyone still calls each person to receive the Son.
A preacher can therefore tell every hearer that Christ died for sinners and that whoever believes in Him has everlasting life. No one who comes to Christ in faith will be turned away. His promise gives us reason to come with confidence, and His warning calls us to repent of refusing Him.
Security, Holiness, and the Gospel
Paul also grounds our assurance in the Spirit’s seal. He says believers are chosen in Christ, redeemed through His blood, and sealed after believing:
“In whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
I reject both unconditional individual election as Calvinism teaches it and the claim that someone genuinely born again can later lose salvation. The new life Christ gives is permanent; I do not maintain it by my performance. The Spirit marks believers as God’s own and guarantees their inheritance. His seal remains when a Christian stumbles. The study on soteriology, the study of salvation explains this wider teaching.
Security gives us no permission to make peace with sin. God chose His people for holiness, and the new birth changes a person’s heart. If I invoke grace to justify deliberate rebellion, I am contradicting the purpose Paul names. Obedience grows from belonging to God’s family. It neither purchases the Father’s love nor maintains our standing as His children.
A struggling believer therefore needs both assurance and correction. We can confess sin, accept the Spirit’s conviction, and fight what is wrong without imagining that every failure cancels our sonship. God is making His children more like Christ. Our hope rests in His faithfulness as we learn to live in the new life He has given.
Paul also locates redemption in the blood of the Son:
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
The eternal Son became fully man without ceasing to be fully God and lived without sin. Wicked people tortured and killed Him, inflicting real bodily punishment, while He willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. His shed blood and death completed His saving sacrifice before His burial and bodily resurrection. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were united in accomplishing redemption. The gospel directs our faith to the Savior and the redemption He accomplished.
I can trust Christ because God has openly promised life in Him to everyone who believes. The Redeemer was appointed before creation and came into history to accomplish what God purposed. Election should therefore give us confidence in the Son we are called to receive. It should also lead us to pursue the holiness God appointed for His people.
My Final Thoughts
I believe Ephesians 1:4 teaches God’s eternal choice of His people in Christ, with holiness and adoption as blessings appointed for them. His purpose does not make faith a work that earns acceptance, restrict saving grace to a hidden group, or leave believers responsible for keeping themselves saved. We receive Christ by faith, stand accepted in Him, and are sealed by His Spirit. I want this passage to deepen our gratitude for the Savior and our willingness to obey Him.