In the past few BLOGS we looked at God’s motives in salvation. We are doing this because we are looking at the history and theology of issues between the Augustinian view and the Arminian view. In looking at God’s motives in salvation as set out in Scripture it helps us to get a handle on why He saves sinners. If He saves sinners based on Himself and not for anything found in sinners, we can see that the notion that a person must exercise a free-will in order to be saved is contrary to the Gospel of grace alone.
Ephesians 1:9-11 – He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.
In the preceding passage in verse 9 the phrase “according to His kind intention” should once again be translated as “according to His good pleasure.” Sinners only know the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure and not according to their own pleasure and will. This has all been purposed in Christ and all things will be summed up in Christ, whether they are things in the heavens or things on earth. We see the teaching of predestination come back up referring to those who have obtained an inheritance which is all those who have been truly saved. Predestination is said to be according to His purpose rather than according the purpose of man who chooses according to his own free-will. Predestination is said to be according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will. The text does not say that salvation is according to His purpose who works all things except for a little act of a free-will according to the counsel of His will. But the text says that He works all things after the counsel of His will.
Ephesians 1:12-14 – to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation– having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Verse 12 (flowing from verse 11) then gives us the reason that He works all things after the counsel of His own will. It is to the end (His purpose) that those who hoped in Christ (not hope even a little in themselves and own act of the will) would be to the praise of His glory. In Ephesians 1:5-6 we saw that goal of salvation was to the praise of the glory of His grace. Here we see the same thing. Salvation is all about the glory of God and of His grace and not about the free acts of human wills that choose Him. If we come down and enter time and simply view a person from the outside, we might be led to believe that a person must make a choice and then be saved. But Scripture gives us the eternal and Divine view of things and we must go by that view rather than our sight of things in time. The goal or purpose of God’s working all things after the counsel of His own will is so that it would end up being to the praise of His glory. If something is worked according to a free-will and by definition that is apart from divine influence or it would not be free, then that little part not influenced by the Divine will would not be to the praise of His glory. We must deal with this issue honestly or we have not really dealt with it at all.
There are a few different interpretations of what the sealing of the Spirit means. However, we can still ask questions that relate without dealing with those issues. What does the free-will have to do with being sealed with the Spirit of God? We can all agree that believers are baptized into Christ by the Spirit of God at salvation (Romans 6:3; I Corinthians 12:13). Why does God baptize believers into Christ and seal believers with the Holy Spirit? Does He do this based on His eternal knowledge knowing that man would choose Him? Therefore, does He do this based on the free choice of the will of man? How does that fit with our text of Ephesians 1:14 which tells us that the Spirit “who is given us as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of the glory of His grace”? The Spirit baptizes sinners into Christ based on the grace of God or upon the free choice of the human will. Does the Spirit baptize people into Christ based on the motives of God or the motives of man? Does the Spirit baptize people into Christ based on the choices of God or the choices of man? As Paul teaches us from 1 Corinthians 15:32: “If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me?” Does the Spirit operate based on human motives and choices or as the text teaches us to the praise of His glory? I cannot but believe that the Spirit operates on Divine motives and so grace is applied by grace alone.
God Loves... Himself 
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