Ephesians 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 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 to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will”
If we examine the ways that people come to Christ, there are patterns that can be found. For the people who strive only for the pleasures of the world they find themselves ruined by what they thought would make them happy. The reality of looking for hope from the world shows it has no lasting value, some will look up and cry out to God and receive the grace He so readily offers while many will perish in the hardness of heart.
Did those who realized their loss come to Christ on their own volition? Did God just leave an open door of invitation that certain people finally realized was better than what they had attained?
For anyone to come to Christ, they must first be chosen by God. Scripture seems to support this belief.
Romans 8:29-30 – “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
Does God only call those whom He predestined to salvation? Or could there be another way to look at God’s call?
The Calvinist will point out the ‘U’ in the acrostic of TULIP…unconditional election as an answer to how people come to Christ.
“The debate over unconditional election is not whether God elects or predestines people to salvation but upon what basis He elects them. Is that election based upon foreknowledge that those individuals will have faith in Christ, or is it based upon God’s sovereign choice to save them? As the word “unconditional” implies, this view believes that God’s election of people to salvation is done “with no conditions attached, either foreseen or otherwise.” God elects people to salvation by His own sovereign choice and not because of some future action they will perform or condition they will meet. Those who come to Christ become His children by His will, not by theirs. “They were not God’s children by nature or because of any human desires. God himself was the one who made them his children”. -anonymous
God’s sovereignty is the answer to God’s call. He sovereignly chooses those He wishes to call and sovereignly denies those He doesn’t want to call. The skeptic will shout…it is unjust!
Is there a just way to look at God’s call?
2 Thessalonians 2:13 – “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”
Predestination of the Saints
Since God has predestined His people, we must consider why He did so…and that was so they would be conformed to the image of His Son. The elect were specifically called to receive grace and then God justified them by their faith. One day, they will all be glorified, not because of anything they have done, but solely because of what Jesus has done.
Why does God want His people to be conformed to the Son? Why would He leave them on earth to struggle with a sinful nature, face persecution, and often times die for their faith?
There are so many questions as to the why of God’s purposes, we could get lost in the questions and still miss the answers.
Acts 13:48 – “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”
It is clear, the elect whom God foreknew are the ones who when hearing the Word of God, believed. Does this mean that only the elect are called? The scriptures make it clear that everyone heard the Word and had the opportunity to believe, what the Calvinist would say is that only the elect were effectually called.
So the scenario is this: If a given number of people are presented with the gospel at the same moment, the Spirit of God might open the eyes of those He has predetermined to receive His grace and then they follow because of the irresistible nature of God’s call. For all the rest, God doesn’t reveal the call and therefore they do not believe.
If God only effectually called those whom He predetermined to receive His grace, then for some reason He has chosen the others for destruction. The Calvinist will go back to God’s sovereignty and yet how He makes the decisions is a reason we cannot know.
John 6:37 – “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
Those who Come
The scriptures I have included in this discussion are many of the ones the Calvinist will use to justify the principle of Unconditional Election. But these scriptures don’t necessarily leave the lost on the sidelines without a hope, they simply state that for those who believe, God foreknew them, called them, and willed for them to know Him. In other words, He makes it very clear as to His Omniscient power in knowing who will be His and what His purpose is for them. Scripture doesn’t say that God doesn’t call the ones who aren’t elected, it just makes clear that for anyone to come to Him, He had to call them first.
Can people refuse God’s election?
Leviticus 26:21 “If you walk in hostility toward Me and refuse to obey Me, I will multiply your plagues seven times, according to your sins.”
For Israel, there were a remnant who heard His call and refused Him. God heaped up all kinds of trouble and yet their hard hearts stubbornly denied the grace that God afforded them. Over and over again the Lord warns them…If you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me then greater trouble will follow.
God’s warnings and judgements always follow with the promise of blessings for those who repent and believe.
Leviticus 26:40-42 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”
Scriptures teach that God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34-35; Rom. 2:11; 10:12; Eph. 6:9). He shows no favoritism of any kind. This goes against Calvinism’s teaching that God has chosen only some for unconditional salvation rather than all people. If both Calvinism and the Word of God are true, why would God have chosen only some people for unconditional salvation instead of everyone? Isn’t that showing partiality?
The Scriptures also teach that God wants everyone to be saved (John 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:4; Tit. 2:11; 2 Pet. 3:9). One cannot love God without choosing to obey his commands (John 14:15; Josh. 24:15); our works of obedience, along with faith and God’s grace, justify us (James 2:24; Tit. 3:7). Likewise, the purpose for which God called those for whom he will cause all things together for good is to follow Christ’s example of doing good and enduring suffering as a result (1 Pet. 2:20-21). God calls us through the gospel (2 Thess. 2:14), which calls us to obey Christ (Matt. 28:19-20). Therefore, Paul in Romans 8:28-30 is referring to those who love God by their obedience, those who faithfully and obediently respond to the gospel call. –Jon Mitchell
Hebrews 5:9 “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him”
Obedience to God’s call is critical for all who choose to follow. Without a choice, people would be coming by compulsion and not out of love.
Critics would say that for mankind to have a choice, they are relegating salvation to works and not by grace alone. I’m confused by this argument since belief is an acceptance, not a soverign decision. Faith arises in the sinner and that faith is confirmed by belief, evident in the righteousness exhibited through obedience.
Those who Deny
Returning back to the question of how can people reject God when they come to an effectual understanding of His goodness?
I mentioned this in a previous blog, but to deny the call of God is to deny the work of the Holy Spirit. Denying the Spirit of God is blasphemy against the Spirit of God and there remains no hope of forgiveness.
Luke 12:10 “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”
There is no other way to be forgiven of sin than for a sinner to be called to the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 3:7-11 “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
For someone to deny the call of God, they must harden their heart.
What causes a heart to be hardened?
Hebrews 3:13 “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
When sin goes unchecked. When the sinner refuses to accept the guilt of offending God and submitting to His righteousness, the heart grows hard. For those who begin to draw near, the seed of faith is planted and the soil of the heart is tested to see if it is ready to receive new life.
The hardened sinner never lets go of their sin. There is a part of their life they refuse to submit to the Lord. The unrepentant may like the thought of walking with God, benefiting from His guidance, and most like the thought of a glorious Heaven, but they want to come on their own terms.
For a sinner to come to the Lord requires death…a dying of self that Christ might raise them up to new life. To come to Christ requires forfeiting everything.
The hardened cannot give up everything. They hold onto the pain, bitterness, unholy relationships, money, power, position, or even their own determined identity.
Thankful for Christ
I believe scripture supports the idea of unconditional election, there is nothing anyone can do to justify themselves before God. His call must come first, and then faith arises and repentance follows.
The unconditionally elected know they brought nothing of value to God, and yet Jesus has become everything to them.
God is just… in other words, He is faithful and fair in judgement. He doesn’t condemn without the opportunity for a reprieve.
Praise God for Jesus, without Him, we would all be lost.
U.T. 