Did Jesus die for all men everywhere?; or did He die for those whom He saves?

What It Means To Be Elect In The Son (1 of 2)

Ephesians 1:3-14 b of (a-e)

Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church

Please turn to Ephesians 1:3. This morning we are going to primarily be in Ephesians 1:3-14. While you are finding that section of scripture, I want to tell you how I had fun working on a jigsaw puzzle with my youngest son a couple of weeks ago. It was a beautiful picture of the solar system; at least I recognized it as such when we finished putting the puzzle pieces together. The colors were vibrant. The perspective was dramatic and captivating. In putting together that puzzle on our living room floor, we started with the sides, because the sides are flat. When you start with the sides, you start with something that is somewhat easy to do because you simply find all the pieces with one big flat side, and then you get them out of the way by joining them together. When you lay down the flat sides by connecting the colors, patterns, and shapes, you get a type of frame. From there, you know that every other piece is going to ultimately go into that frame. As you go, you must continue to look at the colors, patterns, and shapes of each puzzle piece. You are trying to put the right pieces in the right places. What you are doing is connecting little pieces of the truth together with other pieces of truth in an attempt to make the bigger truth come back together to its original state. In its original state, the picture is beautiful. It is complete enough to make sense. The original picture that was there before the jigsaw cuts were made to the cardboard, is the broader picture of truth that we are trying to get back to by connecting all the little pieces of truth together. My sons and I compared pieces with their shapes, colors, and patterns, and found that they all fit together very nicely to create the picture that was originally intended. When we were finally finished, the picture made sense. The picture and pieces were put together in the original form that the creator of the jigsaw wanted them to be put together. The finished product was a print of an artist's painting of the universe. The painting itself did not contain every minute detail of the universe, but it represented enough of the details for us to recognize the beauty and truth of what was conveyed. Obviously, the universe itself is much more complex, is much more amazing, and is infinitely more mind boggling than the picture that the artist is giving us. I share this story with you because Biblical doctrine is much the same way as a jigsaw puzzle. God gives us revelation, in, through, and by His revealed word. As we read and study the Bible to understand doctrinal precepts and matters of right theology, we are connecting little pieces of the truth together with other pieces of truth in an attempt to see and understand the fuller revelation of the overall theological picture. The revelation of God's overarching truths are complete enough to make the amount of sense that God determines we are to understand. Obviously, the infinite mind of God, and the huge process of God's determination, is much more complex, is much more amazing, and much more mind boggling than the picture that God, the Creator, wants us to see, but that does not matter, because God has given us enough truth; He has given us exactly the right amount of truth, He has given us all the truth that we need to both see the bigger picture that He wants us to see, and to piece the little pieces together when the bigger picture seems like a jigsaw puzzle. Please keep this in mind, as we continue learning from Ephesians 1:3-14. Prepare your hearts for the sacred preaching of God's word, in this sermon titled,

What It Means To Be Elect In The Son

Last week, in the first sermon segment that dealt with Ephesians 1:3-14, we learned amazing truths concerning God's plan for us in salvation. They are little bits of truth that comprise the larger picture of things that glorify God in respect to our salvation. We learned that God has elected to have a saving relationship with all whom He loves. God is doctrinal, and so we learned two great doctrines. We learned that God is blessed, and we learned that God is praiseworthy for all that He has done in His grace. On His part, His grace pleases Him and glorifies Him as excellent beyond comparison. For our part, we are pleased that we have a privilege of partaking in His grace. We learned that all the blessing and praise gets back to God in accomplishing the fullness of His plan in His Son. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing of salvation in Christ. We are the very righteousness of God in Christ. We know that Christ is seated in the heavenly places. But we also know, through our Ephesians study, that we are also crucified and resurrected. Our crucifixion and resurrection is in our positional identification with Christ, and so we learned that we are also seated with Him there in heavenly places. In Him, we are blameless before God. God wanted it that way since before the foundation of the world. He accomplished it at the proper time in the sphere of the New Covenant, which is in the sphere of the crucified and resurrected God-man Jesus the Messiah. This is God's plan, and all whom God saves, are elected for, to, and in this plan. Yes, we who are saved are special. But our specialness is a gift that we have done nothing to deserve. We humbly recognize that we are nothing; we are nobodies, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:11. Nevertheless, in the specialness of election, God gives us the status of being somebody in Christ forever and ever, and it is all based completely upon His unmerited favor of mercy upon sinful, selfish, nobodies. We are going to study these things in more depth as we examine our passage to understand Biblical Election a bit more. Please read along with me, starting in verse 3,

"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, 4 just as He elected us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be set apart and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His determination, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the loved One. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His determination, according to His kind intention which He set forth in Christ 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His determination, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory." Ephesians 1:3-14

What do you think of when you contemplate the puzzle piece statement that God elected all who were, are, and will be truly saved in the sphere of Christ? Election is a word that always means to be chosen for something. God chose, all who experience salvation, to experience salvation in Christ. Imagine if such an election occurred at a time that was before the foundation of the world. This is exactly what has happened. Now a lot of folks have a problem with the clearly exclusive force of this declaration. In fact, there are Christians who do not believe that God has elected to salvation, in His predestinating determination, all who have been saved, and all who will be saved. They don't like the doctrine. They don't like the puzzle piece, and they don't like the big picture that such a doctrine reflects. The doctrine disturbs them, and so they resort to philosophy to try and find a way around the clear Biblical fact that God elects certain people unto eternal spiritual salvation. They don't like the Biblical fact that in the same election, God predestined those same people (as Paul says in verse 5) "unto adoption" as part of the salvation process. Further, they don't like the Biblical fact that God does all of this according to His own wisdom, His own definition of His love, and according to His own good pleasure. Unfortunately, the scriptures that are concerned with such things, must be reinterpreted by such people, to mean something else. When this happens, the puzzle that builds the picture of right doctrine is changed in such a way as to create another picture. It is a different puzzle altogether, where reinterpretations are like handmade pieces that are jigsawed from the cardboard of philosophy then pieced together with a few authentic pieces, to prove something that seems (to the human oriented mind), to be more acceptable. Folks, God does not want us doing this. God has given you and me revelation that makes plain sense to the degree that God wants it to make sense. It is God's revealed, unchangeable word from His preserved scriptures. It may not make sense according to your personal philosophy, or tradition, or some way of thinking from the human oriented mind, but that doesn't matter. We receive it, and accept it for what it is because that is what God wants us to do. Let us read the pertinent passages again and I will explain more of what I mean. Paul says,

"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, 4 just as He elected us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be set apart and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His determination, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the loved One. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us." Ephesians 1:3-7

First, all of us need to take a look at the big beautiful picture that Paul has painted here by God's Spirit. God has blessed all of us whom He has eternally spiritually saved in positional identification in being crucified and resurrected with Christ. Why do we who are truly saved get this blessing? We get it because that is what God wants according to His kind intention. It is His kind intention upon a bunch of specific nobodies, and the kindness is not random or is it arbitrary. It is pure intentionally directed kindness that God expresses according to His own good wisdom, pleasure, and definition of His love, and so, because God wants His elect to get this blessing, they get this in the sphere of His Son according to the riches of His grace. This is what it means for you to be elect in the Son. The blessing of salvation is freely bestowed on us in Him, and it is in that positional identification of being in Him, (the Messiah, the God-man, the establisher of the New Covenant, the King of kings and Lord of lords), that we have redemption, right now, through His blood. Redemption is purchase. Redemption here in verse 7, is purchase in salvation. This redemption that is purchase in salvation is a redemption that is more than a possible forgiveness, and more than a possible salvation. It is a redemption through His blood--the real forgiveness of your trespasses right now, at this time, and it goes on forever and ever in salvation by grace through faith. This shatters all of your pride, because it is not based upon anything that you do to impress God. It is not based upon anything God foreknew you would do to impress Him. It is based solely upon what God does that impresses you and me. It is based upon what God foreknew that He would do. The blessing incorporates the great necessity that you have the righteousness of Christ imputed to you. This is the essence of what it means for you to be seated in the heavenly places in Christ. All this grace is for all who God elected to eternal spiritual salvation before the very foundation of the world. He elected all of us who are saved so that we would be justified, set apart, and blameless before Him. The only way you, or anyone, can be saved is to be blameless before God, and the only way to be blameless before God is to have Christ's blamelessness imputed to you. In God's own definition of His love to whom He applies His love. He predetermined, and predestined us who are truly spiritually saved, to adoption. This means that at one time you were not His child, but now in Christ, by grace through faith, you are His child. The reason you are God's child, is because you are made that way in Christ who is God's Son. You were not born that way. You were born again that way, in loving undeserved, adoption. All of this is according to the kind intention of His determination to those whom He elects for all of this wonderful blessing. It is a very kind intention upon God's elect, because everyone in the whole human race is born in a state that separates us from God. We don't deserve kindness. We deserve wrath. People are not originally born in the blamelessness of Christ. All humans are born in the lost, degraded, blameful image of the sinfulness of the first Adam. To remain in sin, is to be doomed to wrath. It is to be doomed for hell in God's unkind intention for all who are not saved. Since all are conceived and born originally in this state, then for God to elect some people for salvation, means that God overlooks other people. He overlooks them, according to what is best, wise, and perfect. We may not understand why, but to not understand why God elects some, and overlooks others, is simply a demonstration that we mere humans do not understand what is best, wise, and perfect. So, in overlooking some people, God, according to His own definition of His love, allows them to go their natural course to where they were headed, which is unto damnation of hell. All these puzzle pieces are the essence of what Paul is saying in our passage under study. With all this in mind, we understand that to be elect unto eternal spiritual salvation is part of the beautiful picture of God's grace upon those whom He saves.

Now comes the ugly controversy. In desiring to create a picture that is different than the one that God has in mind, some people suggest that all of the various puzzle pieces I have just explained are not the way things really are. So, what happens is that reinterpretations of scripture are pieced together to prove that God elects, predestines, and predetermines salvation based upon contingencies. What I mean by contingencies, is that the theory is developed to prove that God is limited to being some kind of big omniscient (meaning all knowing) responder. So, the philosophy suggests that God is a big responder, who foreknows the future, but He is somehow limited to look down a philosophical idea that is paramount to prophetic corridors of time, to a point somewhere, in a sense, near the middle of the future. It is difficult to understand this, but let me further explain how this theory works. Most of us here have been exposed to it, but I don't think most of us understand the implications of what the theory suggests. Basically what is believed by the Arminian and Pelagian religion, is that God somehow looks into the future that He has not determined to exist yet, and somehow finds an exact point to foreknow, and so He supposedly sees what is going to happen at that point in time. It is said that He foreknows, prophetically, (but it is not said how) a certain event at a point in time in the future for every single human being, so there are billions of these points in time that He somehow selectively finds on the great philosophical timeline of prophetic future events to come. I'm not trying to be confusing, so stay with me, and you will get how the specious theory works. God is said to see into the future into lives that haven't been lived yet, and identifies events in the middle of their timeline of life that will come. Now, this is where more of the theory of the contingency develops. The theory goes on and suggests that based upon what God sees there at that point in the future life, God then makes His decisions about what He wants to take place with the rest of the supposed timeline that follows in the rest of the future for that life. So, when I said that the re-interpreters think that God elects, predestines, and predetermines salvation based upon contingencies, what I mean is that God is said to respond to what He sees people are going to do at that one little first point of their future--something that hasn't happened yet, but nevertheless, He can see. What the reinterpreters of God's revelation are doing is supposing that God is a responder that reacts to the choices of His creations when it comes to the area of salvation. This is how humanism philosophically and theoretically views election, foreknowledge and predestination unto salvation. The belief is that salvation is a group effort, where people are foreknown by God to help God out in their own elections, and so because people are foreknown to help God out, He helps those same people out by saving them. The way people are said to help God out, is by being foreseen, in some omniscient way, to be smart enough to have faith in Him, to elect God, to be saved by Him, or to be lucky enough to be a person who will someday have faith in Christ. God is said to foresee that He will be pleading with people to be smart enough to have faith in Him. He either foreknows that in wisdom, certain people will actually generate faith in Him and His New Covenant that secures salvation, or they will be inferior, and not generate saving faith. God's foreknowledge is said to not elect those who will generate an inferior action toward God by not believing in Christ for salvation. The work of the cross, and the work of pleading, is all that is wrongly said that God foreknows that He can do to try and rescue someone out of the domain of darkness, and eternal doom in hell. According to the belief, if you were raised a Muslim who never heard the gospel before you died, then you were unlucky. Fate, and random chance (not God) dealt you a bad hand, and so you were conceived, you grew up, you died, and you perished in your sins. God foreknew this, but He decided to let you die in your sins anyway. Further, your parents reproduced you with a set of chromosomes that made a person who would eventually choose for, or against, Christ according to how you happened to be made. The belief is confusing though, because it wants to assert that all are created equally with an equal mechanism for receiving Christ. But, the fact remains, that somehow those who reject the gospel are not really equal to those who receive, because the fact that all do not receive means that all are not created equally to receive. According to the belief, God foreknows that He will not plead with some people, and He foreknows all who will never hear the gospel, and because of not hearing they will burn in hell forever, but for some unexplainable reason, God does not foreknow that He should make sure that the gospel is presented to all those people before those people die. To get around this it is theoretically, but self confidently asserted that God knows what decision they would make if presented with the Gospel, so God only lets those He somehow knows would reject Christ, though they never did reject Christ, die and go to hell. Further, God is thought to somehow be bound from doing anything to enable us to have this faith that He foreknows is the faith that enables Him to save us. For God to foreknow that He could do anything else to implement a beautiful and effectual cosmic rescue, is considered to be something heinous to the human centered Christian. The beauty of the cosmic rescue of God is considered to be something called "cosmic rape" by the human centered Christian. Worse, because it can not be reconciled with the rest of the theories, it is said that God lets certain people die who would have received Christ after all, and that later on, they will be saved through another method. Folks, the problems with these philosophies are too many to list, but two problems concerning this theory of election, and predestination according to the humanistic understanding of God's foreknowledge are worthy of mention. The first problem is that the theory does not explain why God did not act like He foreknew at the same time, the second half of the future that would come in foreknowing who will reject Him and who will receive Him. In other words, using the same humanistic philosophy, we could just as easily say that God elected people who are not yet saved, to be saved in the future based upon foreknowing that their future salvation will be there in the future--meaning it must come to pass. In other words God elected people to be saved because He foreknew that He elected them to be saved. Yes it is circular reasoning in the very worst case scenario of a tautological mind. After all, God foreknows that the future salvation of all who will be saved will happen even before they are created, born, or are saved yet. But, to admit this comes very close to Biblical Election (BE) and Biblical Predestination, and human centered theories reject that puzzle picture, thus exposing the shallowness, and seeming hypocrisy of their fear based theories. The second problem is that such a simplistic theory of before-knowledge and prior-destination, makes God out to be a responder who bases His decisions and actions upon what He foreknows people will do. In such a theoretical construct, God becomes a subservient reactionary where future actions of people dictate His actions, as if people are more sovereign than He in this area. Paul destroys this second theory very quickly in Romans 9 by explaining God's foreknowledge and election concerning the twins of Rebekah;

"11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His election would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, 'The older will serve the younger.' 13 Just as it is written, Jacob I loved but Esau I hated.' 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." Romans 9:11-16

Paul is explaining that God's election is not based upon works, whether done in the past, currently, or foreknown in some type of unexplained knowledge of events that haven't happened yet. Paul specifically says that God did this so that God's purpose according to His election would stand. If Paul meant to say that God elected people like Jacob according to foreknowledge of Jacob's future actions, then Paul would have said so.

Another route that human oriented Christians can go is to another wrong view called "Open Theism," which claims that God does not really foreknow future events. In the heresy of Open Theism, God is out of control. He is said to be discovering everything as the days click by, just like you and I are doing. Open Theism exists because humanists can not come to grips with God's election of certain people to salvation, while overlooking the rest, as something that is wise, perfect, and good. Open Theists say that to know the future in that way, and yet not save everyone, is to be unjust, unfair, evil, and cruel. They hammer deformed puzzle pieces into the puzzle to create a bizarre picture of our omnipotent God.

On the other hand there is another route. It is the route that God centered Christianity is based upon. It is the route of Biblical Election (BE). Biblical Election, is of course, the beautiful picture Paul is describing in Ephesians, and in the rest of his epistles. We know it is beautiful because God presents it as beautiful. We do not come to this knowledge based upon humanistic reasoning. We come to this knowledge based upon unadulterated Biblical revelation from Jehovah. On the other hand, human theories abound, and so there are other foreign puzzle pieces that are crafted to create the man-made picture that opposes Biblical Election. For example there are people who think that God reconciled everyone in the whole world to Himself through Christ on the cross. We love the people who have those theories, but they are not correct in what the suppose. They think the whole world, which they wrongly define as every single person everywhere, is universally reconciled in the atoning and propitiating New Covenant actions of Christ. People who hold to these theories wrongly think that God put forth Christ as a ransom for all men universally. They use passages of scripture in a univeraslist manner to create puzzle pieces, though such passages have nothing to do with universalism whatsoever. Three passages that are often abused that are used for this are 1 Timothy 2:5-6, Hebrews 2:9, and 1 John 2:1-2;

"5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time." 1 Timothy 2:5-6

"9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation ..." Hebrews 2:9-10

"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." 1 John 2:1-2

It is suggested, according to these three passages, that Christ was a ransom for "all" the people in the "whole world," and that Christ tasted death for "everyone," which is said to mean that Christ's propitiation (which means "wrath absorption") and atonement (which means "sacrificial appeasement as a covering for sin") was made for every single human everywhere in the "whole world." These type of beliefs are based upon a misunderstanding of certain key biblical concepts. In our study of election in Ephesians, we need to understand the key biblical concepts so that we will not be confused.

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As a first consideration, we need to recognize that the Greek word for "ransom" that is used in the first passage, (1 Timothy 2:5-6), is luthron. Luthron is the payment of a purchase price for someone which releases them from a previous bondage. If Christ is a ransom for all people everywhere, then Christ is the payment of a purchase price for every single person which releases them from their previous bondage to lostness. This would mean that Christ bought everyone on the cross, which means that everyone is not owned by whomever they were in bondage to beforehand, but rather, they are now owned by Christ. To be released from bondage in the effectual purchase of the ransom that occurred at the cross is to be elect to salvation that is actuated by grace through faith. This is not the case for everyone, because everyone is not saved, nor will everyone be saved. What Paul is talking about is "all" of a specific group, and the specific group are the "many" elect who are truly predestined to eternal spiritual salvation. I have preached numerous sermons where I demonstrated the cultural idiom of Paul's day of using the term "all" in such a way as to not include all men everywhere. It is often used as a figure of speech to indicate all of certain people of a particular group rather than every person of every group. The same kind of expression of using "all" in such a way, was used when the Jews from Asia sought to kill Paul. They cried out,

"This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people," Acts 21:28

Actually, Paul did not preach to all men everywhere. Paul did not preach to the nordic people. Paul did not preach to the Mayan civilization over in what is now called Central America. Paul did not preach to Eskimo men. Paul did not preach to the Aborigines of Australia, the various people of the South Pacific Islands, and so forth. In fact, more than likely Paul did not preach to all men everywhere in Israel and Asia of His own land. Paul preached to all of the certain men of everywhere of a certain area. The usage of "all" where Paul says that Christ gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time, has this same type of specific contextual meaning of applying only to all of certain people, and not to every single person everywhere. This is a key point for any student of the Bible to understand as quickly as possible. There are many other examples of this kind of thing found throughout the whole Bible. We find Paul using the same expression in 1 Corinthians where Paul says,

"I have become all things to all men." 1 Corinthians 9:22

Did Paul become an antichrist to all men? No, he did not. What Paul means is that he became like all of certain specific things to all of certain specific men. Paul says in the next chapter,

"I also please all men in all things." 1 Corinthians 10:33

Paul did not please all the men in all things who imprisoned him and executed Him. What Paul means is that he pleases all of certain men in all of certain things. The broad term "all" must be researched according to each individual context in a comprehensive manner, because the term does not mean all of every in every place and every sense. The term must be weighed with doctrinal considerations as well. To ignore these puzzle pieces concerning interpreting the various usage's of "all" in the Bible can lead us into doctrinal mayhem, which is exactly what some interpreters have entered into. There are other important examples of the esoteric usage of all. Paul mentions such an "all" at the end of Romans where he says,

"For the report of your obedience has reached to all; ..." Romans 16:19

Honesty, wisdom, and interpretational integrity, compel us to recognize that Paul did not mean that the report of his audience's obedience had reached all the people of the Han dynasty in China. Paul declares rather emphatically in 1 Corinthians,

"... though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, ..." 1 Corinthians 9:19

To be free from all, and yet to make oneself a slave of all men everywhere is a rather bizarre proposition indeed if one were to take Paul's assertion as a universal, experiential literalization. In 1 Timothy, Paul says

"I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men," 1 Timothy 2:1

The "all men" that Paul references here in 1 Timothy 2:1, is a reference to a particular classification of men, namely, according to the context, they are kings and ones in authority. Contextually Paul goes on in 1 Timothy 2, and uses this same type of "all" in a few more verses in the 1 Timothy 2:5-6 passage that humanist misinterpret, from which we began this study of the esoteric usage of "all." Notice the passage once again,

"5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, ..." 1 Timothy 2:5-6

Now that we have a fuller Biblical understanding of the usage of "all," we quickly and easily recognize what makes sense with the rest of the puzzle pieces of New Covenant doctrine. We easily recognize that Christ is the ransom for all the particular men that He mediates for in reconciling them to God in salvation. Now that we have seen the broad usage of "all" for a specific group, we need to look at who the application of the word "ransom" (which is found in this same verse), is meant for. Since scripture helps us interpret scripture properly, Jesus pointed out how the "all" of all those who have been ransomed should be identified,

"28 ...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28, (cf. Mark 10:45)

Notice that Jesus defines the "all" that He ransoms. They are not all of the everybody everywhere. They are all of the "many." In context, not all Israel will be saved. Only all the "many" out of Israel will be saved. Christ does not love everyone equally in the same sense and in the same manner. If He did, then all would be saved. In love, Christ did not effectually ransom, purchase, procure, redeem, pay for, and buy, "everyone," the "whole world," or "all," people everywhere, on the cross in the business deal that secures salvation, as the false doctrine of universalism asserts. In love, Christ specifically purchased "many" out everyone everywhere, or as we read in Revelation 7:9 and 5:9-10, where Christ saved,

"9... a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, ..." Revelation 7:9

These saved people are the elect "many" among "all" people who were effectually ransomed, purchased, procured, redeemed, paid for, and bought in the business deal of the cross. They were purchased "for God" in salvation, as we read of these same people described in Revelation 5:9-10,

"9... You were slain, and purchased ..."

[the verb agoradzein used here is subjective, and clearly describes the effectual purchase that liberated captives who were once lost in sin but now are saved. (see footnote 1 below)]

"9... You [Christ] were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 You have made them ..."

["them" are all that Christ purchased for God. Christ in His own manufacturing hand "made" those whom He bought in the business deal of the cross,]

"... to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." Revelation 5:9-10

Christ is the One who "made them" by His miracle work, into saved people. He bought them, and in their effectual purchase, made them into a kingdom of saved priests to our God who will reign in Christ's kingdom upon the earth. When an apostle, or anyone speaks of "all" that Christ ransomed, like in 1 Timothy 2:6, we absolutely must understand it in light of Jesus' explanation that it is all the people who are in the "many" who are of the elect, cf. Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45. Of course, Christ's ransom was powerful enough to purchase all men everywhere in eternal spiritual salvation, but the fact remains that it was effective only for many, and all the many are all those elected, and predestined to be adopted. These are a few of the puzzle pieces that we must look at in respect to their actual shape. Folks, this is about us. This is what has happened to you, and so you need to understand it. Actually, when you start to understand these puzzle pieces, then you are beginning to understand the true definition of grace. We also notice where the error is made by some concerning the second passage, which is the Hebrews passage I quoted, where we read that Christ experienced death for "everyone." As we read the rest of the point, like we are supposed to do, we see that, once again, the universal sounding term of "everyone" is defined properly.

"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation ..." Hebrews 2:10

Notice that God brings, through sovereign authoritarianism in the great cosmic rescue, "many sons to glory." God bought you and He brought you. Also notice that Christ is the author of your salvation, which means that He is the author and perfecter of your faith according to Hebrews 12:2. In fact the very next verse explains that the "many sons" are "all" those who are set apart from the Father, and are actually "from the Father." Further, they are demonstrated as the adopted ones in that they are brothers of Christ in salvation. Notice the fascinating details,

"11 For both He who sets apart and those who are set apart are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers," Hebrews 2:11

"They are all from one Father," meaning it is all God's work, and "all" of the "many" who have had their salvation authored, which includes you and me, and have had their faith authored, which includes you and me, have been set apart by God's sovereign, controlling, manipulating, loving hand in His electing predestination. Such passages should not be used to say that God ransomed every single human on the cross, and that the purchase did not secure your effectual salvation, but rather only makes salvation into some kind of fictional concept called "possible." The truth of the matter is that in establishing His New Covenant, Christ died for sins according to 1 Peter 3:18, and also that Christ's sacrifice is the "... offering for sin, ..." according to Romans 8:3, which is not for a possibility of salvation, but rather is for the actuality of salvation that is applied to the elect at the proper time that they are made manifest through faith. Do you have faith in Christ for salvation?; then you are manifesting your election that occurred since before the foundation of the world. Something else we need to know, is that Christ's death for sins, and offering for sin, is called atonement and propitiation. In other words, Christ's New Covenant sacrifice is the the fulfilled satisfaction God requires for

1.) the unholiness of your sin,

and

2.) the penalty for your sin, which is death.

Christ's sacrifice is the blood of the cross that cleanses us from sin, which is a glorious truth, but we must also remember that Christ's sacrifice is also the reconciling, redemptive payment that satisfies the purchase price to buy all those whom God has elected to eternal spiritual salvation. This is an important puzzle piece because the purchase of specific people is part of the plan that God administered to bring His elect people to glory, as we read,

"... since a death has occurred that redeems [purchases] them [people] from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. [which would be the Old Covenant]" Hebrews 9:15 [ESV]

Particular people are the valued vessels of mercy, which God elected and prepared beforehand for glory, Romans 9:23. Certain people are what were effectually bought in Christ's death. The faith that Christ gives those whom He has redeemed according to His election and predestination, is what is manifested later on in receiving Christ who already received them. Receiving the gospel by grace through faith is something that all who were effectually purchased must, will, and in fact, do. These puzzle pieces are called by the theological terms of particular redemption, and the effectual call. By grace through faith is someone saved, and the effectual purchase of the someone guarantees that the someone will, in fact, have faith and therefor manifest saving faith by the power of God's Holy Spirit. In correct doctrinal puzzle pieces, we see Christ's rightful ownership in purchase of people in Acts,

"... shepherd the church of God which He [Christ] purchased with His own blood." Acts 20:28

[Christ particularly bought specific people of His church]

We saw it in Revelation 5:9,

"... for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation."

[Christ did not buy all men, but He did actually and effectually buy particular men.]

"Christ redeemed us [which are particular people] from the curse of the law" Galatians 3:13;

and Galatians 4:5,

"so that He might redeem those [which are particular people] who were under the Law"

Then Titus, and 1 Corinthians,

"... our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us [which are particular people] to redeem us [which are particular people, like you who are saved] ..." Titus 2:13-14

"... you [which are particular people] have been bought with a price:" 1 Corinthians 6:20

"You were bought with a price; ..." 1 Corinthians 7:23

The point is that Christ owns you; He owns particular people in His New Covenant because He elected to do so, and actually did effectually redeem, purchase, and ransom them each as individual subjects of His purchase. This is what it means for you to be reconciled to God. Christ does not own everyone as per His New Covenant. He did not elect everyone to eternal spiritual salvation in reconciliation to Himself in covenant. He did not become a ransom for all people everywhere in reconciliation to Himself in covenant. He did not possibly purchase the elect for Himself, or possibly reconcile the elect to Himself. He actually did purchase and reconcile the elect to Himself in covenant, and it is effectually manifested in their salvation through faith in Him. Finally, He did not purchase everyone in the world in reconciliation to Himself.

This has been part 1 of a two part series within a series, that deals with what it means to be elect in the Son. I encourage you to be built up in the Biblical facts concerning your salvation. Be mindful that the doctrine of Biblical Election is not something that we get from the revelation of men. It is something that we discover from the honest and accurate interpretation of the revelation from God. We need to sincerely be recognizing that biblical election humbles us. In fact, it is best understood in humility. I urge you to recognize that you have been chosen according to God's own determination, and your election is not based upon anything that you do to win God's favor. We must be humbly and wholly accepting of what God reveals to us in approaching this manifest attribute of God. We must not fear, and we must not argue with the Creator concerning what He should, or should not, do. We must accept Him in all aspects of His essential character and actions. More, we must glorify Him for all that He is and does. If not, we will seek to create a God in the likeness of our own jig saw puzzle, and in so doing, though we may think we are defending and promoting God according to a list of virtues interpreted from human speculation, we will have created a god that is opposed to the One True God of glory.

FOOTNOTE:

(1) C. Gordon Olson's theory concerning the verb agoradzein is nullified with just this one passage alone, see "Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism" pp. 118-119 for his failed philosophy on subjective and objective purchases with agoradzein, and also for more specious Arminian theology.