READING FOR JUNE 16, 2025: 1 CHRONICLES 22, EPHESIANS 1, PSALM 55:1-8 1 CHRONICLES Yesterday this writer met with a lawyer to discuss how his estate would be transferred to his children upon his death. Yes, it’s a bit morbid, but these days it helps to give direction for certain end-of-life issues that have become increasingly complex, and it prevents complications with taxes and other distribution matters. In this chapter David is focusing on helping his son Solomon achieve his mission of building the temple. God decided that David was not the person to build the temple because of this extensive experience in bloody warfare. God gave this responsibility to Solomon, who would be a man of peace.
Have we considered what God has given us to do in our short time on earth. David, despite some notable setbacks, was largely faithful in the task God laid out: subduing the promised land for God’s people. How are we doing in what God gave us to do for His kingdom? Might God use our children, such as Solomon, in different ways? How are we, like David, preparing them for their particular kingdom-building task.
Although David went to extraordinary lengths to secure workmen and resources for Solomon to use, probably his most important preparation was this direction to Solomon given in verse 19: “Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God.” Are our children born again and walking with the Lord? No other living will or probate-avoiding inheritance is worth anything compared with our children’s relationship with God and eternal inheritance in heaven. This is not nearly as easy as a visit to a lawyer’s office, but may require years of prayer, faithful living, and strategic witness for Jesus.
EPHESIANS 1 This chapter is a mountaintop of Christian theology. There are two major Christian interpretations of it: Wesleyan Arminianism and Calvinism. As a Methodist church, we adhere to the former. The following page will first give a summary of Wesley’s and Calvin’s positions on some key theological points by way of a chart adapted from Mary Fairchild.
Paul’s greeting begins with a reminder that every spiritual blessing we have comes to us through Jesus. When people say they are spiritual but not Christian, Paul suggests they are completely misled. This chapter is a favorite of Calvinists, who point to verses 4-11 as complete proof of God’s sovereign choice alone in electing individuals to be Christians based upon His will alone and His plan alone. They say God alone predetermined this choice before the world was created.
Wesleyans would say not so fast. Notice Paul states in verse 12, “we who were the first to hope in Christ,” suggesting human free will enters into the process. This “first” group represented the Jewish Christians. Then Paul further adds, “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 the promise.” This also suggests that these Gentile believers utilized their human faculties such as listening, reasoning, and committing in becoming Christians.
The expression “sealed with the Holy Spirit” convinces the Calvinists that the Holy Spirit will not let believers lose their salvation. While there is no hint to the contrary in this chapter, Wesleyans point to other portions that warn against falling from our secure position. Consider Eph. 5:3-6: “Sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints... For this you know with certainty, that no sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, which amounts to an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. See that no one deceives you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
READING FOR JUNE 16, 2025 CONTINUED: EPHESIANS 1 (Part 1—Calvinism/Wesleyanism Chart)
| Theological Concept | Calvinist Position | Wesleyan Position |
| The sovereignty of God is the belief that God is in complete control over everything that happens in the universe. His rule is supreme, and his will is the final cause of all things. | God's sovereignty is unconditional, unlimited, and absolute. All things are predetermined by the good pleasure of God's will. God foreknew because of his own planning. | God is sovereign but acts in concert with and response to man's freedom. God's decrees are associated with his foreknowledge of man's response. Just because He knows what we will decide doesn’t mean He determines what we will decide. |
| Total depravity refers to the condition of humankind after the fall in the garden. This means the sin nature has been inherited by all people and all need salvation. | Because of the Fall, man is totally depraved and dead in his sin. Man is unable to save himself and, therefore, God must totally facilitate salvation | Because of the Fall, man has inherited a corrupted, depraved nature. Prevenient grace is defined as the preparatory work of the Holy Spirit, given to all, enabling a person to respond to God's call to salvation. |
| Election refers to the concept of how people are chosen for salvation. | Before the foundation of the world, God unconditionally chose (or "elected") some to be saved and others to be lost. Election has nothing to do with man's future response. The elect are chosen by God. | Election is based on God's foreknowledge of those who would believe in him through faith. In other words, God elected those who would choose Him of their own free will. |
| Atonement is the most controversial aspect of the Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate. It refers to Christ's sacrifice for sinners. | Jesus Christ died to save only those who were given to him (elected) by the Father in eternity past. Since Christ did not die for everyone, but only for the elect, his atonement is wholly successful. | Christ died for everyone. The Savior's atoning death provided the means of salvation for the entire human race. Christ's atonement, however, is effective only for those who receive it. |
| God's grace has to do with his call to salvation. Calvinism says God’s grace is irresistible, while Arminianism argues that it can be resisted. | While God extends his common grace to all humankind, it is not sufficient to save anyone. Only God's irresistible grace can draw the elect to salvation and make a person willing to respond. This grace cannot be obstructed or resisted. | Through the preparatory (prevenient) grace given to all by the Holy Spirit, man is able to cooperate with God and respond in faith to salvation. Because of "free will" men are also able to resist God's grace. |
| Perseverance of the saints is tied to the "once saved, always saved" debate and the question of eternal security. | Believers will persevere in salvation because God will see to it that none will be lost. True Believers are secure in the faith because God will finish the work he began. They cannot fall away from faith. | By the exercise of free will, believers can turn away or fall away from grace and lose their salvation. Believers are secure if they continue with the Lord. |
This chapter includes a prayer that both Calvinists and Wesleyan can pray with confidence. Although we often with good reason pray for ourselves and our friends to get well physically, most of Paul’s prayers address spiritual health: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Eph. 1:18-19).
PSALM 55:1-8 These first eight verses are totally about David’s feelings of inner agony. Perhaps we assume that God knows all about our state of mind so that we don’t need to tell Him. Yet, these verses suggest that David thought these feelings were vital to express verbally to God, even though we know that David knew that God knows all about them. There seems to be mystery around the whole concept of prayer. But we do know we are told to pray whenever we are anxious (Phil 4:6), so David was in fact following Paul’s counsel many centuries before Paul wrote that letter. We also see the perfect Son of God prayed in the Garden so fervently that sweat became like drops of blood. Despite our limited understanding, let’s share our feelings with the One who knows and loves us completely.
