ELECTION AND PREDESTINATION FOR THE SAINTS?
Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Isa 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
Isa 1:20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
It is evident to me from the testimony of Genesis 1-3 that God created man with free will. And even though man fell through the exercise of that free will and became a sinner by nature, the capacity of man to continue to exercise that free will and so respond either positively or negatively to God was not eradicated, destroyed, or imprisoned. This is evidenced to me immediately after the fall, for example, by God’s dealings with fallen, spiritually dead, Adam; and also by His later dealings with Cain and Abel; and also by His dealings with Seth. Moreover it is evidenced to me repeatedly in the rest of Scripture by the numerous references that there are to the issue of God appealing to the will or volition of man. (For example, Isaiah 1:18-20, in God’s program and dealings with Israel; and Romans 2:1- 3:8, where in the second part of “the gospel of Christ” to men in this dispensation God appeals to men to change their minds about how they think they can escape His wrath and judgment.) Man, therefore, even though fallen, has free will, and God’s word to him both directly and actively confronts his volition.
Rom 2:1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
Rom 2:2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Rom 2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
Now God’s plan for the salvation of men is in accordance with men’s free will. It doesn’t ignore it, contravene it, violate it, or override it. As stated by Paul in 1Corinthians 1:21 “….it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” God’s sovereign good pleasure, therefore, is to proclaim a message, which if a man choses to believe it. God will save him. God provides for men’s salvation, along with the opportunity to possess it, but He will only save those who will believe the message. The ultimate responsibility, therefore, rests with men themselves. They can either believe the gospel message and be saved, or chose not to believe it for whatever reason they have, and not be saved.
1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1Co 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
And because God’s gospel message is His word and not mere men’s words, (i.e., because being His word it by nature is “spirit,” and it by nature is “life,” and it by nature is “quick and powerful,” and it by nature is designed to effectually work in the spirit of man), it can and does both directly and actively confront a man’s spirit, and as such it puts a man’s spirit in the position of making a decision regarding what it says, and holds it responsible for making its choice of either believing what the gospel message says, or not.
Naturally enough in accordance with man’s free will, and in accordance with the issue of God’s gospel message both directly and actively confronting man’s volition and addressing it, an election occurs whenever a man chooses to believe God’s gospel message when he hears it. He becomes God’s elect, selected out from others by God and distinguished from them by him being now identified by God as saved from the debt and penalty of his sins, having simply believed God’s gospel call/invitation when he heard it. The purpose of God in election makes it clear, (to me anyway), that it is not the plan of God to save all men automatically or out rightly. Nor has it been the plan of God to create some men unto salvation and to create others unto damnation. Nor to either arbitrarily, capriciously, or on the basis of some undisclosed criterion, pre-selected before the world began some men unto salvation and others unto damnation. Instead, the doctrine of election declares that it is the plan of God to provide salvation for all men, but in accordance with men’s free will and in accordance with God directly confronting men’s free will by His gospel, to save them that chose to believe it, and for them to thereby be designated by Him as His elect.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
In accordance with the “God-ness” of God, God possess foreknowledge. It is an aspect of His natural omniscience. Therefore, by possessing foreknowledge God knows things in advance; He knows something is going to happen before it happens. And based upon this God is able to make certain decisions and declare them to be such, and He is able to take certain confident courses of action and declare them to be such as well. Yet God does not say to us that His foreknowledge determines anything; only that on the basis of it confidence should rest. Now though the foreknowledge of God has a bearing upon many issues, with respect to the issue of man’s salvation it is the basis upon which certain aspects of the doctrine of election rests, as well as the doctrine of predestination, (e.g., Romans 8:28-30, I Peter1:1-2) simply put, based upon His foreknowledge God at times is able to talk about ones as His elect in advance; ones whom He knows will respond positively to His message when they hear it, and in so doing be selected out from among others as saved ones.
1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1Pe 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
In addition, based upon the certainty of His foreknowledge, God is able to set the destiny in advance of those whom He foreknew, and He is able to declare to them that He has done so. This is fundamentally what predestination is, as in Romans 8:28-30. It is the issue of God declaring to the ones He foreknew the certainty of their destiny, because He by His unerring foreknowledge of them was able to and did set their destiny in advance. The doctrine of predestination is set forth by God as an assurance doctrine to one who has believed the gospel. It is designed by God to effectually work within him unto producing within him much assurance of what the gospel promises, as he understands and appreciates the issue of God having already set his gospel promised destiny in advance, regardless of what he encounters in this world as he awaits it and before it actually comes to pass.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries