“According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world . . .” (Ephesians 1:4)
This doctrine of election has disturbed many over the centuries of church history. The problem seems to come from using our own finite logic rather than realizing that this is a part of the infinite mind and wisdom of God.
What the psalmist spoke of concerning the natural body of man could also apply to the mystical body of Christ, which is the church (Psalm 139:15,16). The psalm reads, “My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members are written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” The substance of the church was to be formed under the eye of God in the decree of election. Though this body was not yet complete, it was shaped into members of the mystical body. The names of the individuals in this body, the church, are all written in the Book of Life, and in the great purpose of God, there they will remain for eternity. Through the whole course of time, every believer is fashioned into the part of the body designed for him.
We see this same pattern of election in the creation of the world. God first created the mass (Genesis 1:1). “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” The next verse declares, the unfinished “earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Then appeared all of the rest of creation finished in six days.
In like manner, from the mass of humanity appears the mystical body which is the church. So instead of resisting this glorious doctrine, let us grasp it and believe it, whether or not we fully comprehend it. RRR
