Thursday, March 14, 2024

How God Chose Us

God chose us in Christ alone. He foreknew us as justified and glorified in Christ. God foreknew our salvation as done. In Romans 8:28-30, God's purpose in salvation is a prolepsis (i.e., to see before). God foreknew all who shall be in Christ (1 Peter 1:2).

God chose us through the gospel of Christ. That includes everyone who repents and believes the gospel (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 16:31). Only those who repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. As believers, we experience the gospel in power with assurance. That was the Holy Spirit working in our hearts (Romans 1:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:5).

God chose us unto faith in Christ. We are justified through the death of Jesus Christ for our sins. Justification is by faith in the power of his resurrection. Justification means all our sins are taken away through the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7). The righteousness of Christ is accounted to us (2 Corinthians 5:21). God declares us justified by faith in Christ. "It is God who justifies" (Romans 8:33).

God chose us to be glorified into the image or likeness of Christ. Glorification is salvation complete. "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). What is future for us as believers in Christ is now in the foreknowledge of God. Therefore, God foreknew us as glorified in the very image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-30).