I'm going to return to Ephesians. We started this study in Ephesians. We are in chapter number one. So the last time we looked at the salutation of the letter, which is verses one and two, we saw how that it was a typical greeting from Paul, identifies the writer, identifies the recipients. Paul gives his only identifying credential as an apostle of Jesus Christ for the will of God. and the identity of the recipients as being the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus. So the next section that we're going to look at really begins here in verse 3 and goes all the way down to verse 14. We're not going to get that far because it might take us a little while actually to work through this entire section. But this is the next section after the greeting and this is really what we would call praise section. It diverges from the customary. Customary after the greeting is more like a Thanksgiving and prayer section. And in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, that doesn't happen until later down, beginning in verse number 15. So there is a praise section here, which isn't entirely unique in a New Testament, but it's not that common. Two other places where you have a similar section would be in 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3 to 7. And that's Paul's letter to the Corinthians. And then in Peter's first letter, actually, 1 Peter 1, verses 3 to 9. And there's actually quite a bit of similarities between these two praise sections and this praise section in Ephesians. Now this praise section, which goes from verse three to verse 14, it is all one long sentence. And pretty much every commentary that I flipped through to check and see, they all pointed that out. So basically what you have is about a 202 word long sentence. I saw a breakdown of how many prepositional phrases and adverbial clauses and all these kind of things there are. So, you know, most of us probably didn't enjoy diagramming sentences. You know, how would you like to diagram that sentence? It would probably look like a spider web or something by the time you were done with it. But I'm not going to attempt it. Feel free to do that in your free time if you want to. But it is a 202 word sentence, all one sentence in the Greek text. And it's all about listing the many blessings for which Paul blessed God for. And you can see that right there in the beginning, blessed be the God. Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and and everything after that essentially is all these many many many blessings that Paul is thanking God blessing him or praising him for. Now the length and the structure and even the you could say some of the aesthetic arrangement. It's well put together, it's well expressed, has even maybe some poetic quality. And because of that, some scholars have actually supposed that this was, maybe at least in whole or in part, an early Christian praise hymn. The downside for that is that there's no evidence whatsoever to substantiate that. That is just purely based on, well, this kind of sounds like a hymn, so maybe it was a hymn. And there is evidence that there were some early Christian praise hymns, but not this being one of them. And beside there being no evidence for that, the other aspect is that it actually does tie very well to the content of Ephesians, and so it seems to me that it's unlikely, unless it became so after that Paul wrote this in the letter that was used that way. But again, there's no evidence that that was the case. So being a praise section, in a lot of ways it's like sort of a New Testament praise psalm. And we talked about praise psalms when we were going through the psalms, and generally a praise psalm had this catalog of praiseworthy acts and attributes of God. his blessings toward his saints. And that's essentially what we have here in this praise psalm. But I do believe that Paul was very deliberate about the topics that he chose, what it is that he's saying, and when and where and why, and all of those sort of things. He is bringing together a picture that contributes to this theme of unity, which is the greater theme in the letter to the Ephesians. So, and there's a lot of different ideas about how you could break this section down. One way is if you take mention of praising the glory of God's grace and then this beginning statement in whom, speaking of in Christ, you can kind of see a break there. And that actually works on down in the letter and that's probably for the most part, I guess what I will be following as far as partitioning it out. However, tonight I think we're only gonna get verses three and four. There's a lot here, and so I don't want to just skip merrily over it. So he opens up, let's read verses three and four. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. So he opens up with a very Hebraic type of praise. Blessed be God, essentially. Blessing God. And we've seen this in a number of the Psalms. Just look at one for an example, Psalm 28. Oops, why did that? Psalm 28. Psalm 28 and verse number six. Blessed be the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. Now that's a very classic example of a praise from the Psalms. Blessed be the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. Now we talked about this somewhat when we were looking at the Psalms. This word for blessed here in Greek essentially means to praise in the sense of speak well of. I think we, from this word and its roots, I think we kind of get what we speak of in English as a eulogy. So if you eulogize someone and you do that properly, you're actually speaking well of them. You're commending them, commending them for their life and their accomplishments and and what have you, and it's something very common that happens at funerals. So we get it from there, but the word itself means to speak well of, or to praise, and that's actually a very common usage in the Old Testament. We saw one example from the Psalms, and there's many, many examples in the Psalms that that we could look at of that sort of thing. But here, what is interesting is that this word shows up three times in this first verse, and it's actually, they're all different forms of the same word. So if you look, for instance, The Greek text here, you can see it somewhat. Blessed, which is an adjective. Eulogitas, in the Greek right there. You have blessed us, which is a verb. Eulogis, right there. And then spiritual blessings, which is a noun. Eulogia. right there in the Greek text. So you can see how closely related that those words are, just different forms of the same word. So what is interesting about that is that when this is used of God, in other words, when God is the one blessing, then it refers to gifts or benefits provided by Him. When on the other hand, it's used in reference to God, where God is the object, and we might be, or a person may be the subject that is doing the blessing, it always refers to praise. So when we see how this works, we can look at one example here, James chapter 3, verses 8 to 10, where James is talking about the tongue, obviously, for our speech. But the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. Therewith, bless we God. With the tongue, we bless God, even the Father. And therewith, we curse men which are made of the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. So just, you know, this really didn't have anything at all to do with Ephesians, but just a good plug for control your tongue. Be careful of what you say and what you speak. But what we do see from James, he's obviously not talking about telling us to praise God in that instance, but he does make mention of that. So with the tongue, we bless God. So Paul is essentially starting out blessing God, and he's doing so with his mouth, with his words. It's in writing. That's essentially the same thing so we can see how this sort of refers to praise so consider Zacharias Luke chapter 1 verses 64 to 68 and his mouth was opened immediately and His tongue loosed And he spake, and he praised God. Now, this is not the word for blessing. This is a different word, but notice the parallel. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them, and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What man or child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people. So this is essentially parallel with praising. And this is our same word that's used there in Ephesians chapter 1. So again, referring to praise that was spoken. Zacharias after that his mouth was opened so when it is used to God as Paul is using it here in Ephesians 1 and the first part of verse 3 it refers to praising God now this praising of God can obviously be in prayers it can be in our in our communications whether written or verbal and it can also be in in a part of our conversation. So think about what James says here, James chapter four, verse 13 to 17. Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, then vanisheth away. For that you ought to say, if the Lord will. we shall live and do this or that. But now you rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. So even in our normal conversation, we ought to account for God. We have to take account of God. In fact, even praising God. Just to say, by faith, if the Lord will, is an acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God. It is an acknowledgement of His ordination of all things that come to pass, that we make plans, we try to look ahead as best we can, but ultimately we realize that What's going to happen tomorrow is in God's hands and is not in our hands. It may be conducive to our plans. It may be destructive to our plans. What's going to happen tomorrow? We don't know. And so even just in our conversation, we should say, if God will. In other words, we should be acknowledging God as sovereign over us. And here's another example. And upon a set day, Herod, this is Acts chapter 12, verses 21 and 23, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a God and not a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory. And he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. That doesn't mean that we're going to be smitten with worms or parasites if we don't give God the glory, but essentially he didn't. He essentially basked in all of this praise toward him as if he was worthy of it, if he himself was worthy of it. And because he didn't give God glory, we see that he was struck down. So this is, this again ties into what Paul is talking about in blessing God and seeing how that is used, and that's consistent in both Testaments. So God blesses us, and we bless Him. Now that's what sort of brings about a little bit of a mystery here. He blesses us, and we bless Him. Well, that is obviously then in different ways. We bless God by praising Him, and that comes about in our worship, in our prayers, in our communications, in our life, our normal conversations. We bless God by praising Him. And God blesses us, on the other hand, Paul says, with all spiritual blessings. And so when the blessings of God or God blessing human beings in some way, whether it's Old or New Testament, always refers to God giving some, He's providing something. He's giving gifts. He is giving some sort of benefits. I actually like the way John Piper put this, he was commenting on this particular verse, and he said, for every good thing God gives us, we should give back a good word to Him. Because it doesn't work both ways. We bless God by praising Him. God doesn't bless us by praising us. God blesses us by giving us gifts by His grace, things that we don't deserve, we haven't earned, we don't have any claim upon. We praise God by praising Him with our words and with our thoughts and with our actions in acknowledgement of Him and giving Him glory. We don't bless God by giving Him benefits. We don't bless God by an act of service in the sense of the act. We bless God in the praise. We don't bless God in the acts. So again, these are very distinct. And this same word is used, and there certainly is a play on that that's at play. And it seems like there's an obligation, because God blesses us, that we are obliged to bless him, we are obliged to praise him. And really I think part of the issue is that in English the word for bless, the word bless just sort of isn't maybe quite as precise as what we see in the originals that is used. So it can cloud that up a little bit. But that is how Paul begins this letter, blessing God. He is praising God. And just like what we see in those praise Psalms, he has a number of acts and attributes or what have you of God to praise in this catalog of praise. So the next phrase here, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God and Father. of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's actually a quite interesting phrase, the way that he puts this. We can see a similar phrase in those other praise sections. So in 1 Corinthians 1, I'm sorry, 1 verses 3 to 11, 1st Peter 1.3, what was that, 3-9. In those other praise sections of the letters, we can see this phrase, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, one thing that we have to take note of is how that Paul emphasizes in Christ. So you see that there. These spiritual blessings are in Christ. God has chosen us in Him that's in Christ before the foundation of the world. by Jesus Christ, or through Jesus Christ, to himself, to the praise of the Lord, he says, may it be accepted in the beloved, that's in Jesus Christ, in whom, that's speaking of in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, or in the, let's see, he may know to escort me to pleasure as well, all things in Christ, in the fullness of time, in him, in him that in whom that is of Christ we've obtained an inheritance and are predestinated that we should be the praise of his glory if we're trusted in Christ and trusted in the truth in whom that is in Christ which is the earnest of our inheritance until the So you can see how many times that Paul uses this phrase or this reference or this concept of in Christ, by Christ, through Christ. He uses that throughout, particularly in this praise section. So all spiritual blessings are in Christ. and that we are in him. This is getting a little bit ahead, but that we are in him and every blessing that we are blessed with is in and through Christ. So Paul is really emphasizing this point. And the phrase, God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so when we see Lord Jesus Christ, then we can also see us in Him. Now, that prepares us as He speaks of that God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That in and through Jesus Christ then, God becomes our God and Father. And we see that coming out in this letter, because he goes on to talk about the adoption of children. He goes on later to talk about redemption and forgiveness, things like salvation, as mentioned here a little later. Salvation, inheritance. so on so all of these blessings come to us in Christ and in Christ God becomes our Father and our God all of all of this is in Christ and us and in him. So we are prepared by the, again, this statement appears in those other praise sections, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we can see particularly here in Ephesians how this fits into this greater theme of unity in Christ. Now he goes on to say that of God, that's the who here, that's God, the Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Of course, the us would be Paul and the faithful saints that are at Ephesus. That doesn't mean that this is not true of all those who are saved, because it is. But in this letter, Paul is speaking to these more immediate and local concerns, and so he's addressing his audience in this particular way. So God's blessing of us is seen in his gifts and his actions toward us that gets enumerated from verse four down through verse 14. And Paul says that he's blessed us with all, and he says the idea of all kinds or of every kind of spiritual blessing. And so if you just quickly went down verses four to 14, beginning here, I'm sorry, verses three to 14, we see spiritual blessings, election, predestination, adoption, God's purpose, grace, redemption, forgiveness, mystery of his will, the inheritance, glory, truth, gospel, salvation, all of these things that Paul's talking about in this section. that God has blessed us or blesses us with. Every possible spiritual blessing comes to us from God through Christ. And, of course, later he speaks of God's blessings in terms of richness and abundance, like in verses seven and eight. But also we want to pay attention to this phrase right here, spiritual blessings. Now this word for spiritual, is oftentimes used in a way of contrasting it with natural or fleshly. So oftentimes it's used as a contrast with natural or fleshy. So there's a distinction made between spiritual and what you might say material substance. So Paul uses this spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. So does that mean then that if God's blessings are spiritual, that they're not material, they're not substance, they're not substantial? And it doesn't. It doesn't mean that his gifts to us are immaterial and intangible. And one example of that would be to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where Paul is talking about, I did that again, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, toward the end of the chapter, verses 44, to 49 where Paul is talking about the resurrection body. And he wrote, it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. And here's where you can see that contrast coming in between a natural body and a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. So Paul says of our resurrection body, that it is sown a natural body, fleshly, material body, and it is raised a spiritual body. So Paul, if you read the whole chapter and the context, you know that he was making an argument there to the church in Corinth against those who were there, and of course there were those elsewhere in the New Testament, the Gnostics and such, who did not believe in a bodily resurrection. but they believed in some sort of a spiritual, immaterial resurrection. That once we die, that our bodies will essentially go into the ground, they'll return to dust, but that our spirit lives on, and so we have some sort of an immaterial, formless, some sort of spiritual existence eternity and Paul's actually arguing against that and so he's taking up with the issue of what sort of body is it that we have in resurrection and his argument is that it's not the same in a sense it's not the same body there's that body is natural it is it's mortal it's corruptible he says but we do have a body and he calls it a spiritual body because it's not an immaterial body But it is a spiritual body, and we will have physical life eternally in the physical world that God created. We'll have a physical inheritance in the earth. So our resurrection bodies are real material bodies, but they're glorified. They're immortal. So they are like the bodies that we have now, but they're not exactly the same. They are different. And he uses, he's using this seed and fruit sort of metaphor here to speak of the seed and the fruit that comes from the seed. They're not identical, but they are connected. Because you sow a seed, so you plant an apple seed, and what you're going to get is not a stalk of corn. you're going to get an apple tree that's going to produce apples according to whatever that the seed is that was sown. So there is a very real connection between our natural bodies and our spiritual bodies, but they are not going to be exactly the same. The spiritual body is different. But, Paul's point also, it is tangible. It is a physical body. So the point is just simply that Paul referring to spiritual blessings. It doesn't mean he's talking about all immaterial you know, intangible types of blessings. It's all of God's blessings, which does include some immaterial intangible things, but also includes many things that are physical, many things that are material. Again, our spiritual bodies, our glorified bodies, they are physical. We will have physical life in the physical world that God created and a physical inheritance in the earth and so on. Now, last of all, he says in this verse that the spiritual blessings he blesses us with are in heavenly places in Christ. Places isn't really there. It's more like heavenlies, which is kind of an odd word. I'm sure that's why he put heavenly places. It is plural. It's not exactly. It's not exactly the heavens, it's heavenlies in Christ. Now, this word is actually thematic in Ephesians, in the heavenlies or the heavenly places. In fact, if we look there in Ephesians, it is where the heavenlies is where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. You see that in verse 20, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. later in chapter 2 and verse number 6, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But it's also where spiritual powers, the spirit beings, it's also where they operate, chapter 3 verse 10, to the intent now that under the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Back in chapter 2 and verse number 2, now this is a different word that is used here but it is conceptually in the same realm. He talks about in verse two, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that's atmospheric, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And when you go all the way to the end in chapter number six, We also get a reference to this as a place where essentially wicked spirits are operating. So chapter six and verse number 12 here. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So the heavenlies is obviously an important thematic element in Ephesians. And of course, if you look at chapter one and verse number 21, which is just after he spoke of Christ being seated at the right hand in the heavenly places, He is far above all, and he mentions these powers and principalities, and again, spirit beings and all those sort of things. Jesus is far above all of that. So he's referring to the heavenlies, not Not just what we think of as the third heaven or the highest heaven, the place of God's presence. Not just that. Really what he's speaking of is this whole realm, this whole realm that includes the atmosphere and space and the third heaven. Now, of course, we know that Jesus is in that third heaven. He's in that highest place at the right hand of the Father presently. So Jesus, or Paul rather, saying that God has blessed us with all these spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, you can see how this fits in with Paul's cosmic motif that he has in this letter. So if you read Ephesians and you think about what all Paul was saying that would have anything to do with time, Paul is mostly concerned in this letter with this present age. He does speak of some historic things, and he does speak of some future things. But generally, even when he does reference outside of the present age, he's making that reference in terms of how it affects this present age. How does it affect those faithful saints living in this present age? That is his dominant concern in this letter. So what Paul does on this cosmic scale is he puts himself, his readers, evil spirits, angels, and Jesus Christ sort of spatially in God's cosmic purpose. So even though we might think of the third heavens as maybe abstract, it's not abstract. We don't comprehend it all, but it really is a place. We know that Jesus actually has a human body, His resurrection body, and He is in a place right now bodily, and that is at the right hand of God. Of course, we have the benefit of having been studying Hebrews and so much of Hebrews and Psalm 110, and so we have probably a leg up on understanding that right now. But we can see how that fits in Paul's scheme. So Paul is referring here to, I believe, when he says that he's referring to this in the heavenlies in Christ, he's referring to the source and the security of all kinds, every kind of spiritual blessings. Because they are in Christ, and that is where Christ is. And that doesn't mean that Christ doesn't have access, that he's not God and has omnipresence. He does. But the fact that he is in Christ and that Christ is in the heavens, it means something. And we'll talk about that a little bit more in just a moment. So he's talking about the source. Where do these spiritual blessings come from? They proceed from the Father. In other words, they're not of this earth. They're not of anything on this earth. They're not of the people of the earth. They're not of the angels in the in space and atmosphere and spirits, they're not of that. They come from the heavenlies, and in fact, where Jesus Christ is seated. They proceed forth from God, where there He is above all powers, and so therefore they are secure. What does that mean? Well, that means that those blessings, they cannot be hindered. They cannot be taken away. They can't be overridden. They can't be nullified. It's very similar to the concept in Hebrews where the writer of Hebrews uses Psalm 110 so extensively that Jesus is presently at the right hand of God in the heavens as great high priest in that true holy place before where God's throne is. This means, according to the writer of Hebrews, what's he saying? He brings that back to the present age. This means we have an advocate, we have an intercessor, we have access to God, and we have help presently from Him because He's in the heavenlies. If you remember, the writer noted that Jesus sat down at that right hand after he had purged our sins in chapter one, verse three, and after he had obtained eternal redemption for us in Hebrews nine and verse number 12. So what does this mean? This means that our inheritance is secured in heaven in Christ until the time of our possession of it. And Paul gets to that later in this section. So let's look at verse four. According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. So Paul begins here at verse four, and he begins this catalog of spiritual blessings, this all spiritual blessings that we have in the heavenlies in Christ. And he begins cataloging those spiritual blessings, and he begins with election. The word that is used here It means to pick out, to choose out, to select for oneself. Now, the us that is here refers to those who have been chosen, those who have been selected, and they were selected in Christ before the foundation of the world, and this word here In the Greek, cosmos, it's referring to the creation. And again, it's a cosmic scale. It's not just the earth. It's all of the creation. So when it comes to election, there are, I've heard a lot of explanations. I've given a lot of explanations and fallen for a lot of explanations in my time. But I'm going to kind of gather these into what might be considered two primary ways. They just seem to be the most common. So you have two main views and then two sort of main branches from there. So the first would be that election refers to what is called a corporate election. In other words, it's not about individuals, it's about a group in some way or other. And so under that, your first branch would be Israel. So that election only applies to Israel nationally. So it's not about individuals at all, it's just about Israel as a nation. that they were elected or chosen, selected by God. The second would be that the election was of Christ. And so all in him are chosen. This is a kind of a tricky one to get a handle on. And so this is actually, I pulled a quote out of one of the commentaries. This is a commentary by Klein Snodgrass. Which is a lot good in the commentary, but he believes that he believes in corporate election There's no individual election and this is what he said individuals are not elected and then put in Christ They are in Christ and therefore elect Now that sounds like a dog chasing his tail to me, but that's that's the sort of view that he has so in other words The election is not of individuals, but it's of all those in Christ. The election is of Christ, and so therefore, all those in Him are elected or are chosen. Of course, one of the problems there is, well, how do they get in Christ? And so apparently that's very fluid, because how they get in Christ then is dependent upon the exercise of the free will of the individual. And so then that's not a certain number or a certain list of names, you might say, but rather those who end up believing. Well, this sort of a view, it actually requires quite a lot of maneuvering to get there, including replacement theology, where essentially Israel, national Israel, is replaced by a mystical universal church that would be all of the same, and Christ is the one that are elected, and so those in him are in him, and so on. I'm not gonna give a lot more time to that, but that is, those are the common corporate views. And then you might say, well, why are there so many different views? I'm not even really talking, I'm not even scratching the surface, probably, of all the different views. One of the reasons why there are so many different views is because this really is here. He chose, he selected, he elected. It really is there. So something has to be said about it, just like predestination, which we're not getting to that verse tonight. Something has to be said about it. And so there's all kinds of ways of trying to deal with that or to explain it. Now, the next main view would be that election means individual election, that it is It is individuals that are referred to. And so probably the one view under this would be that it's based on foreseen faith. Oh, well, election means that God knew who would believe, and so he chose them to salvation. Something I was quite fond of as an explanation for quite some time of my own life. So foreseeing faith, well, let's go to the next one. We'll talk more about that in a minute. And then we have what I would call unconditional election of individuals, unconditional Election that there are those individuals have been unconditionally elected to salvation by God's grace according to his own purpose and will so Obviously that is the view I believe that that the Bible teaches So let's just talk a little bit more about this for a moment individual unconditional election So the choice of Israel, and this kind of speaks back to that earlier view of the corporate election, the idea that that God just elected Israel nationally and it didn't have to do with individuals is actually the opposite of what Paul says about this in Romans chapter 9. So, starting there in verse 1, Paul said, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises. So there could be no question about what Paul's talking about here. He's talking about those that are physically descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ethnically and nationally known as Israel throughout the Bible. And he goes on, not as though the word of God has taken none effect. Now the question about the word of God taking none effect means if God has promised to save Israel from beginning with his promises to Abraham, which he has, then why are so many of them in unbelief and rejecting Jesus Christ? So in other words, has God forgotten that promise? Is that promise no good anymore? Has he changed it to something else? Paul says, no, they are not all Israel which are of Israel. What does that mean? That means that God's choice of Israel as a nation does not mean he has chosen every individual descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to salvation. So he goes on to explain. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall the seed be called, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son, And not only this, but when Rebekah also hath conceived by one, even by her father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. So notice the point that Paul makes. that Jacob and Esau were both genetically, physically, biologically, according to their DNA, they were exactly the same. There was no difference between them. They were just each as much a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the other was. But God chose Jacob. He did not choose Esau. And why? Not because of Jacob's faith. Not because of Esau's unbelief. He said, before they were born, not having done any good or evil, meaning that God did not base this choice on their doing any good or evil. He said, but that his purpose, according to election, his selecting, his choosing out, that it might stand not of works, but of him that calleth, he did. chosen Jacob so that's the choice of Israel was actually a choice of individuals not not a choice and Paul says there's a remnant according to the election of grace in other words there there are those that that God has chosen among Israel and ultimately after God's judgment comes on them in the day of the Lord all that will be left will be those that are those that are saved and all Israel will be saved so What's Paul's primary point here? Paul's primary point is that election is according to God's will. It's not anything in us, it's not anything that we have done or will do. So if you think about what Paul speaks about concerning God's will, he goes on to say that in verse five, predestination is according to his will, the pleasure of his will. had mentored us the mystery of his will, speaking about all of these things that he had purposed in himself, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will. And let's go on here. And OK. So Paul says very clearly that this this election and this predestination are according to the good pleasure of God's will. So foreseeing faith, if we think about that for a moment, foreseeing faith that God knew who would believe and therefore he elected them, does that make election according to God's will or according to man's will? In other words, if God saw, so to speak, who would believe, and it's the exercise of their free will, then their election is not according to God's will, but it's actually according to man's will. Well, think back to what Paul said right at the very beginning here. He said that he's an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. We looked at the passage in Galatians 1, particularly in verses 15 to 17, where Paul talked about how God did this. Paul was not an apostle of Jesus Christ because he chose to be. He's making exactly the opposite point. God chose me for this. I didn't choose this. God didn't foresee that Paul would choose to be an apostle and therefore make him an apostle. No, it was according to God's will, which Paul said was before he was ever even born. And here he says it's before the foundation of the world. So this action that he's blessing God for on behalf of us was done in Christ before the foundation of the world. And it was to this end that we should be holy without blame before him in love. Well, I think I'll stop here and maybe just a few comments about the end of this verse next time, because we've already gone quite a long time. So election that is unconditional is the beginning of the blessings. This is the beginning of these actions that Paul starts with, these all-spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. actually quite consistent with Paul's theme of unity because what that means is is that whether you're a Jew or whether you're a Gentile if if you've been saved then that means that you have been chosen by God from before the foundation of the world, not according to your faith, not according to your works, not according to your physical descent, but according to His own purpose. will that was made before he ever created this universe. So that obviously contributes to that fact that you have that same footing. And again, it's very important as the letter proceeds and that theme of unity develops.