William Klein adds: Here [in Ephesians 1:3-4] Paul states that God chose Christians in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
[15] Professor William Klein concluded that the New Testament writers "address salvific election in primarily, if not exclusively, corporate terms.
1:22-23; 2:16; 3:6; 5:23, 30), "members of God's household" (Ephesians 2:19),[17] "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession" (1 Peter 2:9; cf.
[18] Thus, election is primarily corporate and only embraces individuals (secondarily) who identify and associate themselves with the body of Christ, the church—God's new covenant community.
Thus, This notion of election is rooted in the Old Testament concept of corporate solidarity or representation, which views the individual as representing the community and identified with it and vice versa.
[21] God has chosen a people so that they "may declare the praises of him" who called them out of darkness and into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).
[23] Abasciano believes that one of the theological advantages of corporate election is how it beautifully coincides with the Bible's teaching that God loves everyone, calls everyone to trust in him and be saved, and genuinely desires all to come into a saving relationship with him (e.g., Luke 19:10; John 3:16; Acts 17:30-31; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).
[29] According to Abasciano, the corporate view of election "has come to command a great deal of scholarly support," and its popularity is likely due to the increased sensitivity of the scholarly community to "the Jewish matrix of early Christianity and the profound indebtedness to the Old Testament on the part of the New Testament authors.
James Daane wrote, "Divine election in its basic Old Testament form is collective, corporate, national.
[35] The Old Testament writers repeatedly declare that God "has chosen Israel out of all the nations of the world to be his own people.
"[36] According to Klein, the Old Testament writers used the following corporate terms to express Israel's collective unity: bride; congregation; flock, house; and vine.
"[39] Klein concluded, "Our study of the New Testament documents demands that we view election to salvation corporately.
We found in the synoptics, John, Peter, James, and Paul evidence that God has chosen a people—a community.
[42] Bruce Malina argues persuasively in his book, The New Testament World, that the first-century Mediterranean person did not share our idea of an individual.
It has been said that by proponents of this view that this is a misunderstanding that flows naturally out of the first and is not true for the following reasons:[50] God first chooses the corporate head/representative so that there is never an empty set.
The individualistic viewpoint is not able to account for the principle of corporate solidarity that, according to Abasciano, fits so well in the Bible and collectivist thought.
"[55] Predestination (Greek: prooizo) means 'to decide beforehand' and refers to God's purposes encompassed in election.
[57] For Paul, predestination has emphasis on Christians corporately and on the future and final goals God has prepared for those in union with Christ.
Predestination tells us about the ship's future direction and final destination that God has prepared for those remaining on it.
If this can happen to real Christians who have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and who have been destined in advance to be conformed to the image of Christ, but these sins can be committed and would result in a fall from salvation, then something is wrong with the Calvinist concept of election.
Paul’s viewpoint of election is simply, according to Witherington, an adaptation of the view found in early Judaism, where one's "election" does not guarantee the final salvation of an individual Christian any more than it guaranteed the final salvation of an individual Israelite in the past.
"[66] Robert Shank argues that the certainty of election and perseverance is not given to individual men unconditionally, but rather to the church (ekklēsia), the corporate body of all who are in a faith union with Christ, God's Chosen and righteous Servant (Isaiah 42:1-7; 49:1-12; 52:13–53:12; 61:1, 2).
[67] God's Eternal Purpose in Grace: Corporate Fulfillment (certain): Individual Fulfillment (conditional): For Shank it was faulty to assume that final salvation with God is inevitable for everyone who has once entered into a saving relationship with Christ since this ignores the many explicit warnings found not only elsewhere in the Scriptures, but in the Colossians passage just quoted.
Nevertheless, right now, in this present age, as Romans 11 and 1 Corinthians 10 suggests, individuals and subgroups who are part of the elect community (whether Jews or Gentiles) can fall into unbelief (i.e., commit apostasy) and be cut off from salvation (cf.
[70] Oropeza goes on to add that if Paul is addressing the assurance of election to final salvation in Romans 8:28-39, then this promise appears to be tied to a community rather than individuals per se.
But in 8:28-39, Paul does not contemplate whether personal sin or unbelief could finally sever a Christian from their saving relationship with God.
In other words, Paul seems to affirm in 8:28-39 that the corporate community is foreknown, predestined and elect in the eternal plan of God and will persevere to final glorification.
This would provide a great source of comfort to Paul’s readers when he mentions the various trials that the Christians in Rome may face.
Paul believed that God can choose, foreknow, and predestine an elect people to final salvation even though individual members can fall away due to unbelief (cf.
Paul habitually cites or echoes the Jewish traditions for authoritative support of his arguments, and for him, there is an analogy between Israel and Christians in relation to election (Romans 11; 1 Corinthians 10).