The Purpose of Election – Absolute Holiness

Ephesians 1:4

4 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,   

That God dwells in utter and unapproachable holiness is one of the givens that under gird the Bible.   God’s purity and His absolute holy and righteous character are portrayed clearly in the Scriptures and are presented as the standard by which we will be measured at the last day.  The Law, both the Mosaic Law, and the more general Natural Law that is present in the Old Testament is the delineation and explanation of that character and of man’s responsibility to God in light of it.  The sin problem is precisely that we do not measure up to the standard of God’s own absolute holiness and that such a failure cannot be tolerated by god and must be answered for by way of payment for the lack.

In order for man to be admitted to the family of God, that holy standard had to be satisfied.  The holy requirement of God had to be met, else God would cease to be God, and become a changeable, malleable being Who little resembled the God of the Bible.  Sadly, there are those who would reduce God to such a state these days and, in the interest of making the claims of the Bible more “relevant” and more “applicable” and in the interest of making God more approachable for men, make God more human than Divine.

Yet the Scripture clearly teaches this is precisely what God is like, and that such perfection is exactly what he requires of everyone who would enter into His presence.  Obviously, such a standard is entirely and completely unattainable by human means.  If there is a second thing that the Bible teaches clearly, it is that the abilities of men, though prodigious in many cases, are not sufficient to enable him to meet the lofty and exacting standards of a holy God.  Man falls short, far short of the complete and utterly pure righteousness that God requires to enter His heaven.

This was the purpose of the visit of the Son of God to the earth.  He came in order to provide the righteousness and holiness that God requires and that men could not produce or yield themselves.  It is only by His finished work, imputed by grace through faith, that such righteousness and holiness is attainable.

This is the holiness that Paul refers to here.  It is not any kind of practically oriented holiness that describes deeds done by men.  Paul is not saying that Christ will present us as people who behave rightly and purely before God.  Now, this may or may not be so, but it is not argued here.  Paul is not addressing, at this point, the changed behavior of the believer as he walks the walk of the Christian. 

The holiness spoken of here is the absolute holiness of character and being that is required by God requires for entry into His family and into His Kingdom.  It was the purpose of God in election to provide that holiness to His people, that they be acceptable to God on His own terms.  This is accomplished by the aforementioned application of the finished work of Christ.  It is important to understand that this is the only way that it is to be apprehended.  There is no other means by which that which is required by God can be had.

This is the beauty of what Paul is proclaiming to us.   This is what election was designed to accomplish!  It is not designed to be divisive, or offensive.  It is not designed to exclude anyone form anything.  It was designed by god to be a blessing and to be inclusive, including those who could not secure the blessings of absolute holiness for themselves in the salvation of God.  Because the result of election is dependent on the character of God and on the work of Christ – that result is sure and dependable.  We can rest in the finished and secure provision of holiness sufficient and satisfactory to the Father – because it is Christ’s and not our own!