Blogged Bible Study

These two verses present an awesome picture of God’s sovereignty in the salvation of His people. Here are seven translations/versions including a couple of paraphrases (one good and one not so good):

“…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, …” – ESV

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—…” – NIV

“…just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,…” – NKJV

“For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love. He did this by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will –…” – NET

“… just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love  He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,…” – NASB

“Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.  Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!)” – MSG

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.   God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” – NLT

Questions for the week:

• What does it mean that God ‘chose’ us? For what were we chosen?
• What does it mean that God ‘predestined’ us? For what were we predestined?
• Who are ‘us’ in the above passages?
• Why did God choose and predestinate ‘us’?
• Would God choose and predetermine anything that He would not, in his divine sovereignty, bring to pass?

NOTE: That men are responsible to believe is not in question. ‘How’ we come to believe is also linked to God’s sovereignty, and is another worthy discussion.