BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD
By Mark Grant
Have you ever wondered as to when God conceived
the plan of salvation for man? Was it in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve
sinned and the world spun out of control? Was it a continually progressive plan
played out over thousands of years, which was determined by the behavior of man?
Or was the plan of salvation an orderly arrangement that God devised even before
He created this world? The apostle Peter wrote, “ 19But with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but
was manifest in these last times for you, 21Who by him do believe in
God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and
hope might be in God” (1 Pet. 1:19-21; NKJV). “Foreordained”
comes from the Greek word “proginosko” that is defined by Vines to
mean, “to know before (pro, before, ginosko, to know), is used (a) of
Divine knowledge, concerning (1) Christ, 1 Pet. 1:20, R.V., “foreknown” (A.V.,
“foreordained”)...” (The Expanded Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words; pg. 449). Joseph Henry Thayer explains it as, “to have knowledge of
beforehand; to foreknow…” and describes how it is used in verse 20 by
saying, “(foreknown by God, although not yet ‘made manifest’ to men), 1
Pet. 1:20” (The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament; pg.
538). In other words, salvation through Jesus Christ for all people was no
afterthought, because the all-knowing eternal God set this plan in motion. God’s
purpose to save all persons through Christ was established “before the
foundation of the world.” When we can fully comprehend that Christ’s
coming and his work of salvation was planned by God long before the world began
then this can help us to understand the many other aspects of man’s salvation.
SAVED BY GRACE
Two of the most difficult subjects for mankind to
be able to harmonize together from the bible seem to be grace and works. Is man
saved by grace, or by works, or both? Grace simply means, “Unmerited favor”
so there is nothing we can do toward deserving our salvation. However, the word
of God emphatically teaches that when we stand before God we are all going to be
judged by our works (Eccl. 12:13-14; 2 Cor. 5:10). So how do grace and works go
together without conflicting each other with what the bible teaches? In
Ephesians the second chapter we read, “For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works,
lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”
(Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV). Many in the religious world will interpret these
scriptures by saying, “We are saved by grace alone” or “We are saved
by faith alone.” If we were saved by grace alone then this would eliminate
being saved by faith. If we were saved by faith alone then this would eliminate
being saved by grace. But what does scripture say? - “For by grace you
have been saved through faith.” It is an impossibility for any person to
merit or earn his own salvation before God. If mankind received what he
deserved, then everyone one of us would have been condemned and punished by God.
Yet, wonder of wonder, God did not send a destroyer or a judge, but a Savior who
was willing to take our place and be punished for our sins (John 3:17). The
grace of God was supremely revealed and given in the person and work of Jesus
Christ “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us
in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Timothy 1:9 NKJV). It was before
time began on this earth that God determined that salvation for mankind would be
given through Jesus Christ. This is why man’s salvation is truly by God’s grace
(unmerited favor), for man had not even been created yet and man did not
even exist when God's determination was made.
Since God is omniscient (knowing all things) He
foreknew that man would eventually sin and so arranged salvation to be through
Jesus Christ before the world began. Man’s salvation then is truly by God’s
grace and not by any works that man might create or devise on his own. It should
be noted here that while God’s grace is a gift to all mankind, it does not,
however, remove the obligation man has toward believing and obeying what Christ
has done and commands for us. Grace is the gift from God, but it is up to man to
act upon his faith in Christ in order to be saved - “For you are all sons
of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26 NKJV). Many
religious organizations teach that there is nothing you have to do in order to
be saved, because Jesus has done it all. If this is a true statement, then all
people are going to be saved because there is nothing they have to do. In
contrast, Jesus taught that it is the many who enter the broad way of
destruction, and only a few find the way to life (Matt. 7:13-14). This leads us
to only one conclusion: that salvation is conditional, based upon our obedience
to these conditions that God accomplished through Jesus Christ. “Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the
Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you
and peace be multiplied” (1 Peter 1:2 NKJV).
WHAT ABOUT WORKS?
When Paul said, “not of works, lest anyone
should boast” (Eph. 2:8-10), he is making a comparison between what God
has made complete through Jesus Christ, as opposed to what works men may try to
generate and glorify before God. Whether the works be the creeds, doctrines, and
commandments of men (Tit. 1:14), or of those who wish to still keep the law of
Moses (Gal. 2:16), none are recognized by God. The only works that God
recognizes are those whom He “created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”
(Eph 2:10). Yes, we become God’s workmanship (masterpiece) when we have been
created in Christ Jesus by obeying the blueprint that God predetermined before
the world began. God prepared good works through Jesus Christ beforehand and
these are the works that God expects us to obey and by which to walk. When
someone tells me “man is not saved by works” then I ask the simple
question: “Is faith in Christ a work of God?” There was a group of people
who came to Jesus and ask him the question, “What shall we do, that we may
work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God,
that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 6:28-29 NKJV). Notice that
Jesus did not say, “There is nothing that you can do,” which is the most
popular saying today in the religious world. Jesus responded by saying, “This
is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Yes, faith in
Christ is a work of God. And the works that God ordained from the foundation of
the world, man is to obey if he wishes to have eternal life. “Therefore,
since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem
to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to
them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with
faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He
has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,'" although the
works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 4:1-3
NKJV).
WHAT ABOUT PREDESTINATION?
The word “predestination” has always been a focus
of religious debate, but the Greek term “to predestine,” proorizo (means
“to mark out ahead of time” or “to predetermine”). The Westminster
Confession, the standard of the Church of Scotland, and of the various
Presbyterian Churches of Europe and America, contains the following statement: “By
the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory some men and angels are
predestinated and foreordained to everlasting life and others foreordained to
everlasting death. These angels and men, thus predestinated and foreordained are
particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number is so certain and
definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished” (Unger’s Bible
Dictionary; pg. 297). You will notice that the Calvinist theologians have
focused their attention on people being elected and predestined rather than the
predestination taking place through Jesus Christ. In Ephesians the first chapter
Paul wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
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”
(Eph. 1:3-5 NKJV). When God the Father “chose us in Him (Jesus
Christ) before the foundation of the world,” this proves that
the election takes place through Jesus Christ and not just by God choosing
certain men and women alone. If God elected and predestined men and women alone,
then this would exclude salvation through Jesus Christ. Such is nothing more
than false doctrine because salvation is only through Jesus Christ and not by
God selecting individuals.
In this same chapter Paul added, “In Him
also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose
of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who
first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory” (Eph.
1:11-12 NKJV). It was those who “first trusted in Christ”
that became “predestined.” This demonstrates that God’s choice and
foreordination of men unto salvation always takes into account the will and
response of mankind to Christ. It was Jesus who told Nicodemus, “For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). When Jesus
said, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish”
establishes that salvation is for all mankind and not just certain individuals.
That’s why we read of Peter’s statement to Cornelius: “In truth I perceive
that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and
works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10-34-35; NKJV). Just as
Peter came to the realization that the Good News of Christ is for everyone and
not a certain group of people, we should do the same today. “To Him all
the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will
receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43; NKJV).
Before the foundations of the world was laid, God
had determined that all who believed on his Son should be saved and without
Christ there would be no election or predestination (1 Thess. 5:9). Again Paul
wrote, “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren
beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation
through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called
you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”
(2 Thess. 2:13-14 NKJV) Observe well the order here outlined: (1) On God’s part
there is the provision of salvation and the goal of sanctification by the
Spirit, which means separation unto the whole will of God by obedience to His
word. (2) On man’s part there is “belief of the truth,” through
the acceptance of the “gospel,” all of which are necessary to “the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The sphere of God’s
choice of believers for salvation operates in the realm that is marked by
sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth. Belief in the truth is the
means of the beginning and continuing privileges of salvation (Heb. 3:14). God
has fulfilled his foreordained purpose by calling the chosen to salvation
through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:8-11). What God
purpose in eternity will be carried out in the future when God’s children will
stand before the King and “then the King will say to those on His right
hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34 NKJV).