NOTES for Eph 2:10

How should we understand the apostle's words that we are appointed by God for good works in Christ Jesus, and appointed, according to the sense of the original text, from the beginning of time? Does this mean that we cannot do any deeds except good ones? Or can the original purpose still be violated? And how then should we understand the freedom to choose one's spiritual path, of which so many biblical books speak? One could, of course, say that God really did appoint the human person to good works at the very moment of his creation, and if we suppose that God's design for humanity appears simultaneously with His design for all creation, then one could speak of the beginning of time. But this design, as is clear, included human freedom, a freedom so full that even the fall became possible for the human person, a direct violation of the prohibition imposed by God. As is clear, purpose is purpose, and freedom is freedom. But the apostle speaks not simply of purpose, but of purpose "in Christ Jesus." This approach changes the matter somewhat: the issue is no longer simply the human person and not even simply God's people, but the Messiah and that messianic remnant of which the prophets spoke. Traditional ideas about the Messiah included precisely the teaching that the Messiah and God's people were conceived by God even before the creation of the world, at the beginning of time. And if so, then everyone who became a Christian became a participant in this design and in everything connected with it. Of course, there can be no question here of predestination concerning a particular person: Christians are not born as such; whether to follow Christ or not, each person decides for himself, and naturally quite freely. But when the choice is made and a person becomes a Christian, he becomes a co-worker in the realization of a plan that truly was conceived by God at the beginning of time. And he receives a new purpose for good works in Christ Jesus.