Chosen, Ephesians 1:3-4

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. 

In Ephesians 1:3-14, Paul describes the privileged status of those who are “in Christ.” They are chosen (v. 4), adopted (v. 5), redeemed (v. 7), declared heirs of eternal things (v. 11) and sealed with the Holy Spirit (v. 13). 

What does it mean to be chosen by God?

When I was ten years old, I would get together in the afternoons with my neighborhood friends at a sports field near my house where we played baseball. There were always two leaders who took turns choosing among us those they wanted on their respective teams. Since the number of kids gathered was always too many, and since I wasn’t a muscular kid or an outstanding player, I never knew if I was going to be chosen. I can still feel the anguish caused by that short time of uncertainty.

Ephesians 1:4 says that God “chose us” in Christ before the foundation of the world. What a relief and joy it is to realize that he did so not on the basis of our merits or personal abilities, but rather in spite of the lack thereof! No matter how we view ourselves, God wanted us and chose us because he loved us so, so, so much that “he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”(John 3:16 NIV). God chose us to fill our lives with spiritual blessings even though we had done nothing to deserve it:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29 ESV)

That’s right. No boasting at all because our election was made “in Him,” that is, “in Christ.” These group-phrases (“in Him,” “in the Lord,” “in Christ”) occur 164 times in Paul's writings alone. To be “in Christ” means to be united with him like a branch to a tree; it means belonging to him, participating in his life and divine nature. We are God’s chosen people because we decided to be “in Christ.” This is good news to the world because anyone who confesses Christ as Lord and Savior can be chosen and saved, as we read in Romans 10:9-10: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (NIV).

Paul further says that God chose us “before the foundation of the world,” that is, before the world came into existence. God foresaw our fall before it occurred and made provisions to rescue us from it: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). He wanted to justify us “freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). 

“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:17).

“In Christ,” our injustices were transferred to Christ and Christ's justice was transferred to us. When our heart fails and fear clouds our thoughts, we should remember our spiritual identity: We are God’s chosen people. 

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:31-35)