God’s Word for You

1 Corinthians 2:7-8 Election

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Monday, November 14, 2022

7 No, we speak of God’s wisdom, hidden in mystery, and that God foreordained for our glory before the ages. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

We already discussed the word “mystery” with verse 1. Here we see that God’s wisdom is hidden in mystery, which is to say that God’s wisdom is something unknown by nature or by human intelligence. It cannot be discerned by logic or by analysis. God loves to use the weak things of the world to shame the strong, and in this way he cloaks his wisdom in mystery that is only revealed by the Scriptures.

Paul says that God “foreordained this for our glory before the ages.” This is the wisdom and also the mystery, which together are the subject of the Scriptures, especially the gospel message, and also the form and structure of the Scriptures (especially the gospel message wherever it occurs). All of this was foreknown, foreseen, and foreordained by God before the beginning of time. This foreknowledge of God, which the Scriptures also call election, is described and defined for us by Moses:

“The LORD your God has chosen (elected) you to be his people, his treasured possession, not because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).

When Paul says that this was “for our glory,” he means the final end which God has in mind for us, which is by his side and at his banquet table in the eternal feast in heaven (Matthew 22:4, 25:10).

Verse 8 condemns the rulers of this age, where “this age” means worldly but also the particular moment in the time of Christ’s crucifixion. The men who belonged to the Sanhedrin but also loved and believed in Jesus did not participate in his crucifixion. This included men like Joseph of Arimathea (Mark 15:43) and Nicodemus (John 3:1, 19:39), but they were a small minority.

Returning to the doctrine of election or foreknowledge of God, we want to see the various words used for the same doctrine, and also see by proof of Scripture that “election” is always used in a good, positive sense in the Scriptures, and never in a negative or bad sense.

To choose (Heb., bahar). To select. In a simple sense: “Choose one of them” (2 Samuel 24:12). In this doctrinal sense: “The Lord chose you” (Deuteronomy 7:7).

To choose, elect (ἐκλέγεσθαι). This means to prefer something over the rest, or to reserve it for a more noble use. In a simple sense: “Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan” (Genesis 13:11). In the doctrinal sense: “For the faith of God’s elect” (Titus 1:1).

To separate (Heb., badel). As in, “God has separated you from the rest” (Numbers 16:9).

To predestine (προoρίζω). When this word is used of a person, it always means election to eternal life. “Those he predestined, he also called…” (Romans 8:30). The word itself emphasizes both the end (horos, ὅρoς, “limit, end”) and the means to the end.

There are some who claim that there is one predestination to life, and another to eternal damnation (for example, the Calvinists teach this). But this is in direct contradiction of Scripture, because in Scripture, election, foreknowledge and predestination are always in reference to eternal life. It is a doctrine without a flip side, a one-sided coin (if that were possible). But if it would help, then think of it alongside a verb like “to drink.” Even taking into account all of its synonyms, there is a word that cannot mean its opposite. To drink is to drink, and to elect is to elect. So God has never predestined anyone to sin, nor to fall from faith. But since God knew in his omniscience that none of mankind could be saved by their own merits, he chose to save some. This choosing gives him glory and shows his special affection for the lost. He loves not because we merit his affection at all, but because he himself is love, “and so we rely on the love God has for us, because God is love” (1 John 4:16).

Sometimes the Bible talks about those who have been chosen or elected as having had their names written in the book of life (Psalm 56:8; Psalm 139:6; Daniel 7:10). This book is really the loving heart of Christ, since we also read about those “whose names are written in the book of life of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:27). St. Augustine wisely said: “This book of life does not remind God, so that he could be accused of forgetfulness, but it symbolizes the predestination of those to whom he gave eternal life. It is not that God does not know them and reads this book in order that he may know. Rather, the book of life is his very foreknowledge about them, and his foreknowledge cannot fail. They are written in that book; that is, they are foreknown” (City of God XX:15). The doctrine of election or God’s foreknowledge is not a doctrine that teaches us how something happens. It is a message from God that is purely a gospel comfort. It proclaims nothing but a certainty:

God chose you to be his own dear child.

What could be a happier fact, a lovelier flower, a more joyful song than that? There is God’s love spoken like a kiss on the forehead, words that sweep us away barefoot to the soft green grasses of everlasting spring.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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