Marcus Barth: "Election in Christ vs. Determinism"

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been studying through Ephesians recently. In the first fourteen verses of chapter one, election and predestination are mentioned several times (1.4, 5, 11). These words, particularly 'predestination,' seem often to evoke from American Evangelicals a strongly negative response as it is assumed that 'predestination' is a basically deterministic notion. The image of a person, who doesn't want to be saved, being dragged against their will into heaven is often presented (why this would a bad thing anyway I don't understand). Against this caricature of 'predestination,' which is actually a thoroughly biblical concept, the following quote (worth citing at length) helpfully gives several distinctions between election in Christ and determinism. It is taken from Marcus Barth, Ephesians 1-3: Introduction and Commentary (The Anchor Bible; New York: Doubleday, 1974):

a) The tone of the statements made on God's decision is adoring rather than calculating or speculative. God himself is being praised, not a fate or system above God, or a scheme created by him. No effort is made to construct systems and draw consequences; neither is election balanced by reprobation of rejection [this is true of the Eph passage, but not of others, like Rom 9.22, etc].

b) The election of men is not one among several features of an impersonal omnipotent rule of disposition of a deity over all created things. To the contrary, it is described in strictly personal terms. It pertains exclusively to the relationship of the Father to his children [...]

c) God's relationship to the saints is described in terms which lack originality. The author is dependent on OT statements about election [...] E.g. the problems of the prime mover, the one and the many, the relationship between being and appearing, the ideal and the phenomenal world appear not to have bothered him. He is satisfied when he can speak of God and Christ in OT terminology.

d) The eternal election of Jews and Gentiles is not a mystery that must remain hidden. Neither is it a gratuitous corollary to the gospel [...] The gospel is the publication of the secret of election [...]

e) Election cannot be identified [only] with an event of the remote past or with a timeless divine will [...] God elects not only before the creation of the world but He is and remains the electing God when his grace is poured out, when sins are forgiven, when revelation opens the eyes of man's mind, and when the seal of the "Spirit quickens the dead and assembles those dispersed [...]

f) Awareness of God's election is given together with awareness of the forgiveness of sins. Election means resurrection from the dead. It is not derived from the experience that one part of mankind has a holy, happy, or successful life while another appears condemned to frustration and misery, The elect know they have been engulfed by the same death which, because of sin, has come over all mankind. Theirs is not an easy life that invites conclusions drawn from alleged freedom from any threat. But they live by hope for final redemption [...] Awareness of election is neither a church steeple from which to view the human landscape nor a pillow to sleep on. But it is a stronghold in times of temptations and trials.

While these six elements distinguish election from determinism, the main feature of Eph 1:3-14 has not yet been mentioned: this passage states that the election of the saints was made "in Christ."

I found this helpful in more clearly delineating between biblical predestination and a impersonal notion of determinism. Perhaps it will be helpful to others as well.