“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” (Ephesians 1:3-4).
Federal Visionists love this verse because they think that Paul is speaking of ecclesial election rather than soteriological election. Do not be deceived. There is no such animal as ecclesial election. This is an invention of Federal heretics like Steve Wilkins.
For those who are non-scholars, you may have noticed that our English translations do not mention “election.” However, the Greek does. When Paul writes, “He chose us,” the word “chose” could also be translated as “elected.” Paul is saying that God “elected” us. This is simply the classic Reformed doctrine of election.
Federal Visionists have muddied the waters by trying to insert two kinds of election into the Scriptures: ecclesial and soteriological. That is, some are “elected” to be members in the visible church, while others are “elected” to eternal salvation. Conversely, the Reformed faith has always insisted that election always refers to eternal salvation.
Federal Visionists point out that Paul seems to use the word “elect” without qualification, meaning that all members of the Ephesian church would be elect. Some Anti-Federal Visionists argue that because Paul was intimately familiar with the church at Ephesus, he knew indisputably that everyone in the church at Ephesus was elect.
While we respect all who battle against Federal Visionists, this interpretation seems doubtful. Most scholars believe that the letter that we call “Ephesians” was actually a circular letter, intended for distribution in multiple churches. It is unlikely that Paul could have insured that only the elect would have read his letter.
We would like to propose the following alternative explanation. When Paul writes, “He chose us,” Paul is obviously using what Greek grammarians call the subjunctive accusative. The word “us” is in the subjunctive mood, which would change the translation slightly: “He chose some of us.” Thus, any church could read this letter with integrity, knowing that only the elect would be assured of their election.
