Naselli Predestination

An Introduction
1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-1-4335-7317-0
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 256 Seiten

Reihe: Short Studies in Systematic Theology

A Concise and Systematic Exploration of the Doctrine of Predestination  How can God choose to save some and eternally punish others? What about my loved ones who are not believers? For many, contemplating predestination brings about fear, trepidation, controversy, and emotional exhaustion, making it a difficult topic to study-let alone view as a blessing.  This addition to the Short Studies in Systematic Theology series carefully examines God's word to answer 15 commonly asked questions regarding the doctrines of election and reprobation. With helpful visuals, key definitions, answer summaries, and prayer responses, this concise guide is perfect for all believers who want to discover and delight in what God has revealed throughout Scripture. Readers will not only learn how God saves his people from their sins, but will be stirred to respond to him in worship.  - Great for Theologians, Pastors, and Students: Designed to be short and approachable, this concise study dives deep into the doctrine of predestination - Part of the Short Studies in Systematic Theology Series: Other titles include The Person of Christ; Glorification; and The Doctrine of Scripture - Written by Andrew David Naselli: Pastor and professor of systematic theology and New Testament 

Andrew David Naselli (PhD, Bob Jones University; PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is professor of systematic theology and New Testament at Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis. He is planting Christ the King Church in Stillwater, Minnesota.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Naselli, Andrew David

Leseproben

1

What Is the Goal of Election?

Why begin with the goal of election? Because we can better understand what we see if we know what the goal is. I can better understand why men are using dynamite to blow up part of a mountain if I know that their goal is to build a tunnel for a highway through that part of the mountain. If I did not understand their goal, I would not understand the reason for the explosions. Similarly, if we understand God’s goal for election, then we can better understand what happens that leads to that goal.1

But it is rather difficult to summarize only one goal for election. My favorite tweet by John Piper explains why: “God never does only one thing. In everything he does he is doing thousands of things. Of these we know perhaps half a dozen.”2 That is about how many goals of election God has revealed to us in Scripture. I’ll attempt to summarize them in a single statement after we work through them.

Election has a reputation for being impractical, esoteric, divisive, and scary. But that is not how God talks about election. God has revealed at least eight of his overlapping goals of election. The first six goals are different ways of saying that God’s goal is to save us; the final two goals are negative and positive ways of expressing that the ultimate goal of election is to praise God’s glorious grace.

Goal 1: To Save Us on the Day of the Lord

Paul thanks God that he chose to save the Thessalonian believers: “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). God chose us “for salvation” (NASB, CSB, NET)—that is, to save us from our sins and the judgment we deserve. In the context of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, this salvation likely refers to when God saves us on the day of the Lord (cf. 1 Thess. 2:16; 5:8–10; 2 Thess. 2:10).3 The day of the Lord is when God will decisively judge and defeat his enemies and deliver and vindicate his people.

Practical application. Election encourages us that God loves us and that our future salvation on judgment day depends on God’s choice, not our effort. We are “beloved by the Lord” (2 Thess. 2:13). God will not finally deliver and vindicate us as a result of our earning his favor. God will finally deliver and vindicate us because he chose us. God chose us in order to save us.

Goal 2: That We Should Be Holy and Blameless

Paul praises God because “he [God the Father] chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph. 1:4). One goal of election is that when we stand before God we will be morally pure and blameless.

“Blameless” recalls Old Testament sacrifices of animals “without blemish” (e.g., Lev. 4:3, 23, 28, 32) and Christ’s ultimate substitutionary sacrifice (Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19). For us to be holy and blameless is a goal of election in that God not only frees us from sin’s penalty and enslaving power but also will ultimately free us from sin’s very presence in our hearts (cf. 1 Cor. 1:8; Col. 1:22; Phil. 1:9; 1 Thess. 3:13; Jude 24). Christ plans to “present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27; cf. 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7–8).4

Practical application. Election encourages us that we will be holy and blameless before God. Can you imagine what it will be like to be completely free from our sins? We can praise God now for this glorious work he will do.

Election also motivates us to be holy and blameless now. The New Testament portrays God’s saving and sanctifying work with three tenses:

• You have been saved (past). You are being saved (present). You will be saved (future).
• You have been sanctified (past). You are being sanctified (present). You will be sanctified (future).

Sometimes God reasons that you must become what you are: you are holy, so become holy (e.g., Rom. 6:13; 1 Cor. 5:7; 6:11, 17). Sometimes God reasons that you must become what you will be: you will be holy, so become holy. Ephesians 1:4 fits here. God chose us so that at the day of Christ we would be holy and blameless. That implies that we should become increasingly holy and blameless now (cf. Phil. 2:15). We are no longer in bondage to sin’s enslaving power (Rom. 6), and we must put our sin to death (Col. 3).

Goal 3: To Be Conformed to the Image of God’s Son

“Those whom he [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he [the Son] might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29). One goal of election is to conform us to the “image” or likeness or appearance of God’s Son. It includes our moral character and our physical bodies. We currently have bodies like Adam’s natural, earthy body, but when Christ returns, our bodies will be like Christ’s supernatural, heavenly body (cf. 1 Cor. 15:45–49). Christ “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:21).

Practical application. Election encourages us that we will be conformed to the image of God’s Son. Election also motivates us to be conformed to the image of God’s Son now. We must live in the present in light of the future. Because we know that God will conform us to the image of his Son, we should be and behave like the Son now (cf. 1 Cor. 15:49; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:16–5:9; Col. 3:10).

Goal 4: For Adoption as Sons to God

Paul praises God because “in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:4–5). One goal for election is for our adoption as sons to God.

The phrase “for adoption . . . as sons” translates a single Greek word that refers to “those who believe in Christ and are accepted by God as God’s children . . . with full rights.”5 In its Greco-Roman context, this custom guaranteed that an adopted son had all the rights and privileges of a natural-born son. A man who headed a household would adopt a male not related by blood and become his father just as if the boy were his biological son.6 That beautifully pictures what God did for us when we were “sons of disobedience” and “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:2, 3). God has legally adopted us (Rom. 8:14–17; Gal. 4:5–7), and we await the culmination of that adoption when God will redeem our bodies (Rom. 8:23).

One of the privileges of adoption to sonship is that we become heirs (Rom. 8:17; cf. Gal. 3:29; 4:7). We obtain an inheritance. That is likely what Paul highlights in Ephesians 1:11: “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been [because we were (CSB)] predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”7 If we become heirs because God predestined us, then a goal of predestination is that we become heirs. But what do we inherit? It is not clear in Ephesians 1:11, 14, or 18. But 5:5 suggests that the inheritance is God’s end-time kingdom: “Everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9–10; 15:50; Gal. 5:21). More specifically, the inheritance is God himself: “we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16–17). God chose us for himself. God chose us for God.8

Practical application. Election encourages us that we are secure as sons who belong to God. We deeply long to belong—to be loved, to have a home, to be part of a family, to be part of something great and meaningful. What ultimately satisfies that desire is being adopted as a son of God. That is what God predestined us for.

Goal 5: To Obey the Gospel and Be Sprinkled with Christ’s Blood

Peter addresses his first letter, “To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood” (1 Pet. 1:1–2). A more form-based translation of those final two phrases is “for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”9 In other words, Peter describes the purpose of election with two phrases: “[1] to be obedient and [2] to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ” (CSB). To be elect for obedience and sprinkling most...