Ephesians 1:4-5 does not teach that God chose, predestined, or elected some people to receive eternal life while condemning or passing over all the rest.

A careful reading of the text reveals the same truth we have seen elsewhere: that election is to service. These verses teach that it was God’s plan from eternity past to adopt all who believe in Jesus as His heirs so that we will become holy and without blame before Him.

The text does not say that we were chosen to be in Him (Christ) but rather that we were chosen in Him. This means that Jesus Christ is the primary elect one, and believers are chosen, or elect, because of our connection with Jesus.

The Bible contains what often seem to be paradoxes, opposites that seem irreconcilable (like the two sides of the coin. But this is because we see everything from a limited, human, time-bound, this-world-perspective rather than the limitless, divine, timeless, other-world dimension of God. So things that we often see as irreconcilable opposites are, to God, merely aspects of his multi-dimensional truth. We often want to major on one aspect of that truth, while God can hold all the different aspects in perfect tension.

The idea of predestination is designed to bring home to us the certainty of salvation in Christ.

Likewise, the idea of free will is designed to bring home to us the importance of not just getting on with our lives and waiting to be saved (or not) but instead actively exploring the truth that Jesus brings and making a decision to follow him; and then not just sitting back once we are saved but rather pursuing Christ with all our might Philippians 3:7-14, playing our part as God’s fellow-workers 1 Corinthians 3:9.

Our choices carry eternal weight.