by Mike Ratliff
Ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἐκληρώθημεν προορισθέντες κατὰ πρόθεσιν τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐνεργοῦντος κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἡμᾶς εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης αὐτοῦ τοὺς προηλπικότας ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ. (Ephesians 1:11-12 NA27)
In whom also we were made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the plan of the one working all things according to the counsel of His will. For us to be to the praise of His glory, having previously hoped in Christ. (a personal translation of Ephesians 1:11-12 from the NA27 Greek text)
Most modern Bible translations undoubtedly render v11 a bit differently than I did above. The words “we were made an inheritance” translates one verb, ἐκληρώθημεν, which is the Aorist tense, Indicative mood, Passive voice of κληρόω or klēroō, “obtain an inheritance.” The passive voice is the key. Paul is saying that Christians are made an inheritance by God for God. One of the great misconceptions of our salvation, which is made by so many, is that it is the result of something we do, but how anyone could believe that after reading Ephesians 1 and 2 is beyond me.
It is by His grace that God makes us, Christians, into His inheritance. What an incredible truth! This results from Him πάντα ἐνεργοῦντος κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ – working all things according to the counsel of His will. This is one of the clearest statements in Scripture on God’s meticulous providence, that is, the Creator plans and steers all events down to the smallest detail. All things great and small, good and evil are included in our God’s sovereign ordination of history. I do wonder at professing Christians who demand a theology in which their God is passive and it is all up the their actions. No my brethren, truth that we find in passages like the one above comforts us greatly. Why? These truths guarantee that God will use everything that happens in our lives to make us finally fit to be regarded as His inheritance (Romans 8:28) and, thankfully, it is not up to us and our inconsistent, fallible, nature to accomplish this.
To those of you desiring a debate on “Free Will” versus Calvinism or Reformed Theology, I have been doing that since this blog has been online and my convictions have only grown deeper and more committed so I see no reason to go back over that stuff. There are plenty of other outlets on the Internet that would love to host your arguments. Here, I think we shall simply bask in the truth of the Sovereignty of our gracious and merciful God and wonder that He would choose anyone at all from the Human race let alone those of us who are to be His Inheritance.
Soli Deo Gloria!
These truths guarantee……
And He is using everything that He allows in our lives to scrape and polish us into His jewels!
Comforting indeed!
Amen Mike!
Everything is under the controlling will and purposes of the Most High God and the human spirit does not like that, He is sovereign over every little thing!. He does not need us, he
is perfectly blessed and happy in Himself without us. We can add nothing to Him and it is only by grace He saves us.
“Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?”
Lamentations 3:38
“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns!”
Revelation 19:6
….and we don’t have a say in it!
Cristina
Wonderful and comforting truth Mike…it is all by grace. If one does not understand grace, they will never fully comprehend the Gospel.
Knowing we are inconsistent and fallible, isn’t in comforting and reassuring to understand grace?
Celine, Amen my sister!
Amen Cristina!
Amen Lyn, you have said something very profound and I run into people nearly every day who are in that boat. God’s Grace cannot be taken for granted by those who truly understand our fallen nature.
I know that if my salvation was up to me, including keeping it, there is no way I would ever stay. Ever. Infact, there is no way I would have ever come to Him in the first place. I’m waaaaay to smart for that.
I wouldn’t have wanted to nor would I have thought I needed to. I wouldn’t have seen the need I have for Him, and even if I saw it, I wouldn’t have wanted Him. But HE changed all that, and He changed my heart and mind and made me to understand what I would have thought foolishness. I’m so thankful that God finishes what He starts. He has brought me so far, and when I look back at what I was, there is no way, outside of supernatural intervention, I would be even close to what I am now. I’m not talking about the outside change which can be faked, it’s that inside change that no one can do on their own that leads to those things we see on the outside…His works through and through.
Excellent description of our fallen nature’s spiritual blindness Dawn Marie. I remember that time in my own life very well to my chagrin.
The difference between the walking dead and the truly living is Jesus Christ.
Amen Dawn Marie!!
I translated that verse, “In whom also we have been chosen by lot being predestined according to his pplan/purpose…” Somehow the idea that we have been chosen by lot really drives home the message that it is not about me. I looked in Gingrich’s Shorter Lexicon for the definition of κλήροω.
Elaine, I used Bill Mounce’s lexicon as well as Strong’s on that word, but, in any case, you are right, it really isn’t about us and Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 2:8.9 that our election, regeneration, our quickening, our justification, all of it, was by grace through faith all as a gift from God, not having anything to do with anything in us that no one may boast. That is why all who view their salvation as the result of their own work had better examine themselves. The fruit of that will not be proper and it is more then likely not genuine. I remember my own salvation and how I was utterly taken apart and dumbfounded. I was my old natural man self going to church one Sunday and then all of sudden God intervened and I was changed forever. It was all God. If He had not done it all, I would have gone happily on my way. I am convinced that there are multitudes of church going, professing christians out there who are doing that very thing.
Just so you know, I wasn’t contradicting your definition of that word, as I do know it is translated other ways in other places. That one definition though really hit home to me though. It had the same effect as you describe. I am just learning Greek, but love it!
I know Elaine. I was just showing you from where I got my definition.
I actually have an Intermediate version of the Lidddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon from the Oxford University Press. Lo and behold, the very first definition in it for κληρόω says, “to appoint to an office by lot…” Of course, that is the usage from the Homeric, Classic and Attic Greek periods and as you said, there are other definitions. 