By: Dale Weckbacher
Ephesians 1:3
Blessed
is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.
(CSB)
The word blessed can also mean happy so Ephesians
1:3 tells us that it is God’s good pleasure to grant us every spiritual
blessing in Christ. The fall of Adam and
Eve greatly grieved God the Father and why he paid such a high price for our salvation. When we make Jesus our savior we receive a
new identity in Christ (2
Corinthians 5:17). We are no longer
sinners under a death penalty (Romans
3:23; 6:23) but believers with eternal life not subject to condemnation (John
3:16-18).
One cannot study Ephesians
1:3-14 without encountering the topic of predestination. This topic has resulted in divisiveness with some believing God predestines some people to salvation and others to eternal
damnation. The main flaw in this
theology is that those not accepting Christ as savior greatly outnumber those accepting
Christ, turning God into some tyrannical parent showing favoritism. (1) To add to the confusion, in the same letter
to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul mentions salvation by grace (Ephesians
2:8). Either Paul is conflicted, or we
are not looking at the bigger picture of God presented in Ephesians.
We must look at the issue from both God’s and our
perspective. Our perspective is one of
free will with God allowing us to make our own decisions. For example, Adam and Eve exercised their
free will to disobey God, resulting in the fall of humanity (Genesis
3). Even Jesus in the Garden of
Gethsemane had an opportunity to forego death on the cross but instead decided to
go to the cross, providing salvation to all choosing to accept Jesus as savior
(Matthew
26:39).
God’s perspective is justice for God hates sin with those
committing sin receiving the death penalty (Romans
6:23). Blood is the purging agent
for forgiveness of sin requiring a blood sacrifice for sin (Hebrews
9:22). Once Jesus offered His
sinless blood as the ultimate purging sacrifice for our sins, God initiated a
blanket pardon for sin. In essence, God
predestined humanity to forgiveness of sins through the blood of His son
Jesus. However, since God honors our
free will, it is up to us to lay claim to the pardon through accepting Jesus
death burial and resurrection. There is
therefore no contradiction in Ephesians with God satisfying his justice while
preserving our free will.
Our new identity in Christ is a blood identity sealed in the
blood of the Son of God. God further
sealed and protected this new identity with the Holy Spirit. This blood covenant is what secures our
salvation and provides eternal life.
The good news of the Gospel is we are all predestined to salvation
but must exercise our free will in accepting it. If you have not accepted this gift of
salvation, I invite you to do so now by praying with me,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans 3:23) and know that the
penalty for my sin is death (Romans 6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse
me as you promise in your Word (1 John 1:9). I believe you died, was buried, and
resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord of my life.
We all have a God given destiny in our lives. While that destiny is unique with each person
offering unique talents, everyone’s destiny has the common reward of an eternal
relationship with God (John
3:16). However, God honors our free
will with this eternal destiny remaining unclaimed by many choosing not to
accept God’s gift (John
3:18). Do not exit this post before
accepting God’s priceless gift of eternal life.
1. Sarris, George. Predestination or Free Will?
. . . The Debate Continues. blogs.christianpost.com. [Online] The
Christian Post, July 22, 2011. [Cited: August 19, 2018.]
http://blogs.christianpost.com/engaging-the-culture/predestination-or-free-will-the-debate-continues-6459/.
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