This is a difficult topic and completely unessential for any non-believers.
Once I believed, and when I began reading the New Testament, I was struck by how it kept referring to Christians as “predestined”, “chosen people”, and “the elect”.
These days, most people believe that the Gospel is available to everyone, and it is up to us to choose to believe and follow it. But the Bible never actually says this…
The question of whether God chooses us, we choose Him, or if it’s a combination of both is difficult, but important for Christians.
Let’s start with the ‘Big Picture’ of the Bible:
Israel (Jews) were God’s chosen people in the Old Testament. He chose them to be a religious people set apart from all others (Exodus 19:6), not based on anything they had done to earn it (Deuteronomy 7:6-8), through His covenants with them. The Old Testament lays the foundation for the New Testament by showing God’s character and giving laws to highlight sin, thus the need for a savior. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and promises.
With Jesus, God fulfilled His prior covenants and made a new and better covenant, one which was no longer restricted to the Jews, but extended His reach of chosen people.
It is obvious that God chose specific people (not just a group) for salvation in the Old Testament, but is this really the case for the New Testament and thus Christianity?
Here’s what 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 says:
“But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
And from Romans 8:28-30.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
Perhaps these are not obvious enough… Ephesians 1:4-8
“Even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.”
You can find wording similar to this in almost every book of the New Testament. There’s 1 Corinthians, Acts 13:48, 1 Peter, and on, and on, and on… I only list a few here to show just how exhaustively this is covered in the Bible.
And perhaps the most obvious of them all, in John 6:44 Jesus says -
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him”
Or John 5:21
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he wills.”
Now how could anyone really argue with this? Well…
Humans, as fallen sinful creatures, innately HATE any lack of control, especially the idea that we cannot control our own salvation.
Therefor, all sorts of explanations are conjured up to explain these verses. I will do my best to address those and point out the implications of this important question.
First off, why would God choose people? Why not let the Gospel be available to everyone and just let people decide for themselves?
The reason that God must choose us rather than rely on us to choose him, is that, as sinful creatures, we do not naturally desire God. See Romans 3:10-12, and 8:7-8 -
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
“The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”
Back to the beginning, when the Bible describes ‘the fall’ where all mankind became sinful through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, the Bible describes how Adam and Eve hid from God. Then, before the flood, Genesis 6:5 -
“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
And Psalm 14:2-3
“The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
So it’s simple, really. God has to choose us, because if he left it up to us we would never choose Him.
By the way, we don’t just know this because the Bible tells us so. No one has to teach a child to cheat or lie, they do it instinctually. That doesn’t mean unbelievers can’t “do good”, just that their motives are inner-focused. The unbeliever who works in a soup kitchen does so to feel good about himself, impress his friends, or for other selfish reasons. So this act, while appearing good, is not – because the motivation was not to glorify God.
As Isiah 64:6 says -
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
But don’t we have Free Will? Sort of… We are responsible creatures – that is, we choose, we believe, we respond, and there is moral significance in our choices. But:
- God is sovereign (in control of everything). Isiah 46:10 “I [God] make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” Man’s ‘free will’ cannot interfere with God’s plan.
- God designs each of us to be what He wants us to be. Romans 9:20-21 “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?” You cannot determine your nature or the desires of your heart, just as a lion cannot stop being a carnivore.
- God has the ability to affect the course of our lives. 1 Samuel 2:6-7 “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.” God can determine your circumstances, which affects your views.
For a quick summation, take Proverbs 16:9, which says
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”
Since the Bible very clearly says that God chooses us (not the other way around), it brings up these questions:
- Is God’s choice because of our faith (based on His foreknowledge)?
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Did God choose (or send an invitation to) everyone?
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How does God decide who to choose?
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If it is up to God, does that mean I don’t have to do anything?
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Do I have a role in my own salvation? Can I say no?
IF you believe that salvation is based on man’s choice, it means that: When a man obeys God’s command (by his own will) to accept Jesus Christ as his savior, he has earned the forgiveness of his sins through Jesus.
Since faith would be their decision, man attains salvation through works. This should immediately strike you as un-biblical, since the Bible says that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and not by works.
Ephesians 2:8-9 shows this clearly -
“For by grace through faith we are saved. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
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God’s choice is not because of a decision for faith, but is through faith. Our response is a result of His providence of Faith through the Holy Spirit by His grace.
God did not choose everyone, indeed He could not, as then it wouldn’t be a choice at all. John 12:39-40
“Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.’”
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God’s choice is for the salvation of the Elect, which by definition excludes some.
God’s choice is not based on anything that we do or accomplish by our own wills. Ephesians 1:9-12 -
“He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”
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God chooses according to His own good pleasure, for His own glory.
This understanding maintains that man holds a role, though not one of authority. Colossians 1:22-23
“But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.“
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God’s choice does not absolve man of our responsibilities. We must follow God’s commandments, including believing and repenting.
The Holy Spirit is what convicts us, allowing us to see the truth and accept God’s gracious gift. 1 Corinthians 2:14
“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”
- The Holy Spirit works to overcome our natural refutation of Christ, allowing us to discern and accept the truth.
The definitions and context of predestination and election are quite clear are appropriately translated. God predestined (or Proorizo in the original Greek)- unalterably established in advance the Elect (or Eklektos) – the selection of those chosen.
When you read the Bible, you do not see a theme of man exercising his will or God hoping things happen. You see throughout the Bible that God’s purpose (to maximize His Glory) shall be accomplished, not in response to man’s actions but through them.
Is it ‘fair’ that God doesn’t let everyone choose for themselves? God would be entirely Just to punish us all, since we are all sinners. It is only through God’s grace and mercy that some are saved. As one Theologian once put it: “Some receive justice; others receive mercy. No one receives injustice.”
Why does this matter and how does it affect me? Doctrine matters, because our understanding of the Doctrine dictates how we live our lives.Recognizing God’s sovereignty with man’s responsibility allows us to give full glory to God, rather than ourselves.
When you think God’s grace is based on your decision, you don’t realize how undeserving you are or how gracious God truly is. Because folks who reject this doctrine believe people are capable of doing good, their focus tends to be on behavior – they want/expect people to “do the right thing”, without explaining why they are not capable of it apart from Christ – teaching their children that ‘right behaving’ is what matters, instead of what it is within them that causes them to misbehave, and why they need a savior. Their evangelism is about manipulating people into exercising their will towards God. That is not the role of man, but is the Holy Spirit’s job.
On the other hand, when you understand just how incapable you are apart from God, it forces you to give full glory to God. Your focus is the Gospel and allowing the Holy Spirit to work within you – instead of you working on yourself and others to “try and be better”. When you evangelize, you know that you will have success because God has ensured it.
As one Pastor put it: “All theology is cat theology or dog theology. Let’s say two pets have an amazing, kind, generous owner. The cat thinks: ‘I must be an amazing and valuable cat.’ The dog thinks: ‘I have an amazing and valuable master.’
To be clear: There is nobody that will desire to be saved and be turned away, because that desire has been given to them by God through the Holy Spirit. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be people who claim to love the “Jesus” of their imaginations, and just want a happier life. Everyone wants that. It doesn’t mean that they want to be saved.
“Counter argument”: There are two primary verses used in attempt to refute this doctrine – they are 1 Timothy 2:4,
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.“
And 2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.“
The context of each of these verses clearly shows that “all” is not referring to every single person in the world – 1 Timothy is referring to all social/economic classes (‘king and high positions’), while 2 Peter is directed to the intended audience, Christians (‘you’). See Titus 2:11 (among many other places) for an obvious example where Paul uses ”all” and doesn’t mean every single person.
It is necessary to understand these two verses this way – not just to reconcile with predestination, but with other verses that directly contradict them, like Mark 4:11-12 or John 12:39-40 where it says that God has hidden the truth from some people.
