By: Kathy Beardsley 11/5/2023
Before I understood what follows in this article my answer to the title question would be, “yes, because when a gift is offered we have the choice to take it or leave it.” After all Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8, 9. Verses I have read and heard quoted more times than I can count since the Lord saved me when I was eight years old.
Then reading them more carefully and meditating on what they say, I saw them in a different light. First, Jesus already being eternal, was sent in the flesh by his Father (Almighty God; our creator) for a short period to fulfill his plan of salvation on our behalf. Jesus bore our sins on himself and paid the penalty (death) for us. The gift of “eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” is extended to all who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ—that he is God’s Son who died, was buried, and rose again three days later. Is this belief by our choice? or by God choosing us to be His adopted sons and daughters through spiritual rebirth. The answer is clearly given. By grace we are saved through faith NOT through choice, hence, “and that not of yourselves” but our human nature wants to recoil from any notion that suggests we have no control over our eternal future or that God has the right to choose his children.
After I heard the following point made by different people, I could not argue the simple fact of it. Dead people cannot do anything for themselves because they are dead! This applies to being spiritually dead as well. Someone must give us life. John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, (truly, truly) I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” After the fall of Adam, we are all physically born sinful creatures condemned to hell. God the Father in his perfect and just sovereignty is the only one possessing the choice as to whom He will save. Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44. Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh be hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” After which, Ephesians 2:1 tells us “And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins;” and 2:5 “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).”
Still not wanting to accept the truth of the doctrine of election, some verses are not seen in the light that they are intended. John 3:16 is the most famous of these verses and another is Romans 10:13: “For whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Because it says “whosoever” it is taken to mean the inclusion of every person since time began. But remember, it must be whoever the Father chooses and draws to himself first. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8. We don’t know who God has chosen so we must be obedient and preach the gospel to all i.e. Romans 10:17.
Until God’s gift of life is given us (should we be chosen) we possess a carnal (unregenerate) nature—we are forever in bondage to a deceitful and wicked heart Jer. 17:9. As Rom. 8:6, 7 tells us, “to be carnally minded is death;” and “…the carnal mind is enmity [hostility; hatred] against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” No one but God the Father, through the Holy Spirit, can bring life to the dead. Pondering this fact, I concluded that the gift of God is not offered with the choice for us to accept or reject. It is an eternal gift of love bestowed from the moment we were chosen “…they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” Heb. 9:15.
Also, consider in John 6:38, 39 Jesus says, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” Just as “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel,” i.e. simply being born Jewish does not automatically qualify a Jewish person for salvation.
Some may say, “I can’t believe that God would condemn more to Hell than He would save into heaven.” In virtually every story in God’s word that consists of pending judgment on a multitude, only a remnant is saved and God announced his intent for that outcome prior to carrying it out, Rom. 11:5 for example. Why should His divine election be any different? Because that is what we want, or deem fair? God only, is sovereign, and we do not have the right to judge Him or His will for His creation. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 7:21
Think of it this way; parents choose to bear children into their family, the children cannot choose to bear themselves. God the Father has the just and perfect right to choose out of all his creation who will become his children and join his Son as joint heirs.
The focus of a recent discussion I was part of centered on whether infants are automatically saved because their age prevents them from comprehending salvation. The best answer is God’s answer: Rom. 9:10-14, but I will emphasize verse eleven “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)”. We must not allow our personal feelings to displace the truth. God chose his children before the foundation of the world and in His good timing He will draw them to Himself.
If you are still not sure, here is another illustration: God the Father has a magnet, and because of the Father’s grace, those whom He chose are the steel. It is only by drawing the steel to his magnet that his chosen will be saved. Six days before the Passover (and the crucifixion) while they were in Bethany, Jesus told his disciples, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw men unto me.” John 12:32. The steel is irresistibly drawn, not by its own choice, but by the power of the magnet doing the drawing. The steel has no power to draw itself, nor would it be drawn if the magnet were not there to do the drawing in the first place. The best part is, unlike the imperfect physical magnet that can lose its magnetism, the spiritual bond with God the Father is perfect thereby saving you perfectly—forever. “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” John 17:1, 2.
Notice it does not say “as many as have chosen to accept him.” I have heard countless sermons that preach “because of our sinful nature we cannot save ourselves, it is the work of the Holy Spirit who leads us to salvation.” Yet, at the same time, the proclamation of having a freewill to choose puts the power of salvation in our own hands. Is this not a contradiction? And if we have that power, who do you suppose we would give the glory for it? Because of our carnal nature, we would boast that of ourselves not of God, and shamefully by doing so, we would be declaring our Savior’s death for our salvation as unacceptable.
Some (I used to be one of them) say it seems cruel and unfair to create a group of people who are not given a choice for salvation and then are punished by sending them to eternal damnation. It is necessary to understand that God did not create humankind for the purpose of saving some and condemning others. Disobedience created the fall of man the result of which brought man’s will under bondage to his own carnal nature.
Read Rom. 9:14-26. No one will be without excuse, Rom. 1:20. John 3:19-21 tells us why. We must keep reminding ourselves it is God’s will, not our own, that reigns supreme. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Eph. 1:4-6. We are accepted, not the other way around. If you believe God to be truly Almighty yet insist on saying, “I chose to be saved” instead of “God chose to save me,” what you’re really saying is God can’t save you unless YOU “will” it. Then He is no longer omnipotent (Almighty) because you are declaring your will to be stronger than His.
I say again, the reason we recoil at the thought of divine election is because we don’t have a say in the matter. Our flesh wants to rebel against things we don’t like or understand, especially if it can be emotionally charged. In the Rom. 9:14-26 verses I referenced above, God says he will have mercy and compassion on whom he will, so, verse 16 “it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.” And paraphrasing verse 21 “Does not the potter of the whole lump of clay have power to make one vessel unto honor and one vessel unto dishonor?” (Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau). The clay does not say, I choose to honor or I choose dishonor. We do not choose to go to Heaven or Hell.
The following is excerpted from the sermon “Election,” by The Rev. John Bloomfield, Of Meard’s Court, Soho, April 11, 1861 (Filling the pulpit of Charles Haddon Spurgeon at The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington): Linked here
I shall endeavor now to prove, from the quotations of a few Scriptures, that the Doctrine of Eternal and Personal Election is a Scriptural and Divine Truth. Jesus Christ, Himself was said to be “chosen of God and precious.” [1 Pet. 2:4] He is God’s elect, for Jehovah Himself says, “Behold My Servant, Mine elect in whom My soul delights.” [Isaiah 42:1] Angels that continue in their unfallen dignity and felicity are termed elect angels. [1 Tim. 5:21] Elect angels are employed as ministering spirits to those who shall be heirs of salvation. Elect angels will be employed in the gathering of God’s elect into the heavenly world.
The Jewish nation was a chosen nation, and as such they were privileged with the oracles of God, and stood as a representative people. They were chosen not because of their personal worth, they were chosen not because of their goodness, but they were chosen to be a separated people, a people that should be God’s peculiar treasure, and should be holiness unto the Lord. Of them it was said, “For you are a holy people unto the Lord your God—the Lord has chosen you to be a special people unto Himself, above all people who are upon the face of the earth.” [Deut. 7:6] Jesus Christ Himself, in the 24th chapter of Matthew, speaks of certain days being shortened because of God’s elect. [in reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70; this parenthesis mine]
The Psalmist craved to be remembered with the favor that God was pleased to bear towards His people, that he might see the good of His chosen [Ps. 106:4, 5]. And Jesus Christ Himself said to His disciples, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” [John 15:16, 19] And the Apostle Paul very often in his writings has brought out this great and profound Doctrine. He says, “There is a remnant according to the election of Grace.” [Rom. 11:5] He speaks to the Ephesian Church, and says, “You are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that you may be holy, and that you may stand before God without blame in love.” [Eph. 1:4] God has in the exercise of His Sovereignty chosen a people in Christ to salvation before time began—it was before the foundation of the world, here is its antiquity—it is in Christ according to the riches of God’s Grace, and it is to holiness and salvation. Paul, in his addresses to the Church at Thessalonica, said he could but thank God that they were chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, and the belief of the Truth.” [2 Thess. 2:13]
If we would only give our attention to the simple teachings of the Spirit of God by the prophets, by the Psalmist, by Christ, and by the Apostles, we could not have one moment’s doubt as to the Doctrine of Divine Election being a Scriptural Truth.
…If we are the sons of God, what has constituted us the sons of God? We are sons of God by God’s sovereign love, it is by an act of adoption, it is by an act of JEHOVAH’S will, that we are constituted His sons and His daughters. Adoption is a relation established to which we have no natural right— adoption is one thing, and the spirit of adoption is another.” (emphasis and ref. in brackets mine)
In conclusion: Though the general message was the same, the apostles, in their own words, committed themselves to obedience in spreading the gospel of Jesus to all Mark 16:15 because, like us, they did not know who God would draw to himself. Salvation in Christ is being given eternal life from death and that life we have no power to choose into existence.
Questions (or remarks) and Answers on Election: (i.e. = that is, or, that is to say; e.g. = for example)
Q: Election is fraught with too many contradictions with scripture.
A: There are no contradictions with scripture, only with man’s desire to make himself sovereign over God rather than vice versa.
Q: How does one reconcile the numerous verses where God says it is not His wish that any should perish, but that all should go to heaven? Here’s the crux of the matter: how could God possibly claim this, that He wishes all could go to heaven, if He very well knows that He hasn’t enabled all, by regenerating them, to “accept” Christ? This is tough for Christians themselves to answer.
A: This is not hard at all to answer. You are referring to 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Notwithstanding the fact that God is writing to His elect (NOT the entire world of humanity – see Peter’s introduction to this epistle), God is expressing His “Desire”/“Determinative”/“Decretive”/“Predestined” will (e.g., the creation of the world or the eternal doom of Satan). A sovereign God desires, or has pleasure in (e.g., that all be saved), the accomplishment of that which He does NOT necessarily declare or determine or decree or predestine will be accomplished. God also commands (i.e. desires) obedience from all, but He does not declare or determine or decree or predestine it so, but nevertheless, holds us accountable for our disobedience.
Q: Election is hard in witnessing because it violates God’s attributes (His love for all and the fact that Christ died for the sins of the whole world). Therein lies another dilemma – Why did God say Christ died for the sins of the whole world while He very well knew He would only enable a few to benefit from it? He might as well have said that Christ died only for the sins of those whom God had chosen.
A: This is flawed logic. God had to die for the sins of the whole world, or He would not be able to hold all responsible for their unbelief. If He had not provided for (through the blood of Christ) the salvation of all, He would be unjust in requiring that they all repent. His justice requires that the Guiltless One die for the guilty (Rom. 3:23-26). No one could be held accountable for NOT turning to Christ for salvation unless there is a sense in which God has appointed His Christ to be the Savior of all the guilty ones. When Christ judges the wicked, it will be evident the He does so in full justice. (Rom. 3:25, 26). Read Rom. 9:14-26.
Q: What logic was there in Christ saying to go and make disciples of all nations when He knew quite clearly that only a few have been enabled to accept the message? He could have said to go and preach the gospel only to those whom God had enabled to accept Christ.
A: By man’s “logic,” there would indeed be no reason to evangelize. But God says this is the means He will use to bring the elect to repentance. By your logic, we could also ask “why should we pray?” The old saying that “prayer changes things,” holds no water for a sovereign God. God’s sovereign will controls all – the purpose of prayer is to line up our wills with the will of God. The purpose of evangelizing is to obey and to be used by Him in His glorious purposes. Some of the greatest preachers of election of all time (e.g. Edwards, Spurgeon, etc.) were great evangelists. Why, if only the elect would be saved? Because God commanded it, and these were men of great faith and great obedience.
Q: I prefer Dave Hunt’s Arminianism because, even though it has HUGE problems, these don’t contradict what we already know about God, but they cannot be answered because we simply don’t have that info in the Bible.
A: The reason Arminians don’t like election is because it puts total control in God’s hands, i.e., it makes salvation all of God and none of man. In our flesh, we don’t like that. How is God’s character violated (as Dave Hunt teaches against the sovereignty of God) when we say salvation is all of Him and none of us? In the Romans’ verses I quoted above, God says all are depraved, and from that pool of ALL depraved humanity, God has mercy on some to salvation. That is perfectly in character with God’s holy nature. The question should be, “Why does God same anyone?” Are we going to ask the Potter, “Why did you make me like this?” (Rom. 9:19-21)? God forbid!
Q: The Calvinist (you call Biblical) position elects certain men to salvation and certain men to damnation?
A: Some argue for a double-election. But Rom. 9:20-23 is quite clear. ALL have sinned and are destined for a Christless eternity. But God, in His grace, elected some (from the pile of depraved clay) for HIS glory. Those not elected are left in their depraved condition, NOT elected to it.
(Source of questions and answers from older article from Biblical Discernment Ministries – “God’s Sovereign Election to Salvation” can still be found by link here)
Truth with Snares!? 
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