How Is This Grace Glorious?

Passage: Ephesians 1:6

“…to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” 

What is it about election and predestination that serves to make the Grace of God glorious and might cause men to praise that gracious character of God that prompted Him to act in such a fashion?  Some would argue that the doctrine of election, as it is commonly held by most Calvinists in not at all glorifying to God, and, in fact, detracts from His glory by making God a slave master and dictator and reducing the creature to a robot who simply does what God has determined beforehand that he do.

Obviously, this is silliness.  But the question remains and ought to be considered.  What is it about the doctrines of election and predestination that so magnifies and underscores the grace of God that its magnificence is shown to all men?  The answer lies in a consideration of the nature of man.

When we remember that men are lost, and that this lost condition is so profound as to effectively prevent any man from even seeking God, let alone responding to Him affirmatively; we are quickly brought to the place where we see that God, had He ordered salvation strictly on the basis of man’s ability to respond to the Gospel in and of himself, without the enablement of God’s grace, would have been left without any people at all.  The Bible is very clear in its affirmation that all men would and do reject the grace of God in and of themselves.  No one seeks, all are gone out of the way, none are righteous, no, not one single one, Paul tells us in Romans three. 

God would have been entirely within His rights as Creator and Judge to condemn us all, and been done with the matter.  In point of fact, He would have been completely justified in never creating us at all!  Yet, He did, and He went on and provided a Redeemer and did the work needful to assure that some would be saved, preserving for Himself a people to fellowship with and enjoy forever.  That is glorious!

Further, He did this in such a way that the work was done entirely by God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Every part of salvation, from election in eternity past, to our eventual realization of the fullness of our salvation when we see the culmination of our adoption by God in eternity future is secured by the finished work of Jesus Christ.

It is true that these things work themselves out in the choices of men.  God has ordained not only the outcome of these things, but also the means by which they will be achieved.  That means is the free choice of those whom He has elected and predestined. 

In this, we see the greatest testimony to the glory of God’s grace.  He has acted in such a fashion that salvation is not a matter of compulsion, but of persuasion.  The overriding concern for many is that the supposed free-will of man not be overruled for they fear this removes accountability and autonomy from him.  That they are wrong here is irrelevant at the moment.  That they misunderstand man’s freedom is irrelevant as well.  The point we wish to make is that God indeed, does not violate that freedom.  He does not compel men to decide against their will.  The beauty of election and predestination is precisely that God does accomplish His aim without doing violence to the object of His election.

That is the glory of God’s grace.  God makes us His children without making less than fully human, less that fully in His image.  He does it by using His Spirit to persuade us to embrace the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The outcome of His persuasion is never at question – it is completely effective.  Yet, we are assured that it does not violate our freedom either.  This is the marvel of God’s great wisdom and power.  He does not do one at the expense of the other.  Nor does He do the other, at the expense of the one!  No wonder Paul proclaims that election and predestination are accomplished to the praise of the glory of His grace!