Ephesians 1:11 doesn’t say his predestination is to salvation. It says “in whom also we did obtain an inheritance, being foreordained according to the purpose of Him who the all things is working according to the counsel of His will” - “to obtain an inheritance”. We should receive an inheritance, since we were predestined to be made sons, not servants (Rom 8:29; Eph 1:5).
We were not predestined to receive faith and belief as gifts after being born again. As Ephesians 1:13-14 (just one verse after 11) points out:
“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.”
We receive the Holy Spirit AFTER listening to the Gospel, and after having also believed. THEN we receive the Holy Spirit as a PLEDGE. We become SONS.
This is not subtle. God smacks us in the face again and again. God uses a 2 by 4 - won’t you listen?
“”God smacks us in the face again and again. God uses a 2 by 4 “”
Well....God is good and bestows his blessing but we can freely reject it and turn away,but God still pines for all our hearts to love Him and follow His will that is always goodness
...I will shew thee all good Exodus 33:19
God is light, and there is no darkness in him (1 John1:5).
From Saint Anthony The Great.....
“He is good, and He only bestows blessings and never does harm, remaining always the same. We men, on the other hand, if we remain good through resembling God, are united to Him, but if we become evil through not resembling God, we are separated from Him. By living in holiness we cleave to God; but by becoming wicked we make Him our enemy. It is not that He grows angry with us in an arbitrary way, but it is our own sins that prevent God from shining within us and expose us to demons who torture us. And if through prayer and acts of compassion we gain release from our sins, this does not mean that we have won God over and made Him to change, but that through our actions and our turning to the Divinity, we have cured our wickedness and so once more have enjoyment of God’s goodness. Thus to say that God turns away from the wicked is like saying that the sun hides itself from the blind.”-Saint Anthony The Great
And that's exactly the position of Rome. "Work to earn it."
"Sealed" refers to the Holy Spirit making Himself known to us in our lives. But the free gifts of ears to hear and eyes to see and a heart of flesh and a renewed mind all precede faith. And those gifts that result in saving faith by each fallen recipient were determined to be delivered by the Giver from before the foundation of the world. He has always known who were His because He made them that way. (1 Cor. 4:7)
We must be born again before we can know the things of God. These gifts enable men to respond in a lively and true faith. They make the words of Scripture come alive in our hearts. It is how God purposed to bring His children to Him. Faith does not save; grace saves through faith.
You say after we belive then we become sons, but that is not what Scripture teaches...
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will" -- Eph. 1:4-5"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
From CALVIN'S COMMENTARY ON EPHESIANS 1
The foundation and first cause, both of our calling and of all the benefits which we receive from God, is here declared to be his eternal election. If the reason is asked, why God has called us to enjoy the gospel, why he daily bestows upon us so many blessings, why he opens to us the gate of heaven, - the answer will be constantly found in this principle, that he hath chosen us before the foundation of the world. The very time when the election took place proves it to be free; for what could we have deserved, or what merit did we possess, before the world was made? How childish is the attempt to meet this argument by the following sophism! "We were chosen because we were worthy, and because God foresaw that we would be worthy." We were all lost in Adam; and therefore, had not God, through his own election, rescued us from perishing, there was nothing to be foreseen. The same argument is used in the Epistle to the Romans, where, speaking of Jacob and Esau, he says,
But though they had not yet acted, might a sophist of the Sorbonne reply, God foresaw that they would act. This objection has no force when applied to the depraved natures of men, in whom nothing can be seen but materials for destruction. In Christ This is the second proof that the election is free; for if we are chosen in Christ, it is not of ourselves. It is not from a perception of anything that we deserve, but because our heavenly Father has introduced us, through the privilege of adoption, into the body of Christ. In short, the name of Christ excludes all merit, and everything which men have of their own; for when he says that we are chosen in Christ, it follows that in ourselves we are unworthy. That we should be holy This is the immediate, but not the chief design; for there is no absurdity in supposing that the same thing may gain two objects. The design of building is, that there should be a house. This is the immediate design, but the convenience of dwelling in it is the ultimate design. It was necessary to mention this in passing; for we shall immediately find that Paul mentions another design, the glory of God. But there is no contradiction here; for the glory of God is the highest end, to which our sanctification is subordinate. This leads us to conclude, that holiness, purity, and every excellence that is found among men, are the fruit of election; so that once more Paul expressly puts aside every consideration of merit. If God had foreseen in us anything worthy of election, it would have been stated in language the very opposite of what is here employed, and which plainly means that all our holiness and purity of life flow from the election of God. How comes it then that some men are religious, and live in the fear of God, while others give themselves up without reserve to all manner of wickedness? If Paul may be believed, the only reason is, that the latter retain their natural disposition, and the former have been chosen to holiness. The cause, certainly, is not later than the effect. Election, therefore, does not depend on the righteousness of works, of which Paul here declares that it is the cause...4. According as he hath chosen us.
"For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth." (Romans 9:11.)
The entire commentary on Ephesians is terrific.
And while a "sophist from the Sorbonne" doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world to be, why take a chance? Pastry can only take us so far. 8~)
“Ephesians 1:11 doesn’t say his predestination is to salvation”
Eph. 1:11 is part of the “doxology” (vs. 4ff) the subject of which is salvation. Verse 11 just continues the theme.
“This is not subtle. God smacks us in the face again and again. God uses a 2 by 4 - won’t you listen?”
Point out one verse that says God has relinquished the use of his absolute sovereignty in order to give mankind indeterministic (uncaused) free will.
Then explain:
How can God be omniscient if indeterminate free will is correct? If he knows all things, he knows which things, though present to him, are future from our perspective. He knows what time it is in human history. How can God know even as present to him something which is future to us without that event being determined?
How can there be predictive prophecy if indeterminate free will is correct? There is no way God can guarantee the fulfillment of any prophecy concerning anyone’s future actions; he can do nothing which will causally determine anyone to do what is predicted.
How is the inspiration of the scriptures possible if indeterminate free will is correct? If the writers of scripture had continued to write without the Holy Spirit, they would have written at their own impulse and initiative and there would be no guarantee that what God wanted was written.
If indeterminate free will is correct, of what value is the “sealing” or the “pledge” of the Holy Spirit? It must always be possible for a believer to reject Christ and lose his salvation. No matter how strong the inclination toward continued faith, believers still must be able to turn away or they would not be free in the indeterministic sense.