Home pageThere is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about the subject of divine election and predestination. Two groups of Christians who are generally called Calvinists and Arminians are passionately divided over these. Calvinists, named after John Calvin who was one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, believe that after the Fall of Adam and Eve, all people are born dead towards God so completely that they cannot seek God or have any desire for Him, unless God supernaturally regenerates them first. According to their belief, God regenerates only those whom He has elected for salvation before the world was created, and the remaining others all go to receive their just punishment for their sins. God does this regeneration by giving people 'grace' that transforms their heart and mind, and because of the work of this grace, their salvation will last forever and cannot be lost. Calvinists also conclude from this that Jesus died effectively only for the elect. These are generally what Calvinists believe, even though all people who call themselves Calvinists do not agree with all aspects of this belief. The term 'Arminians', named after Jacob Arminius who disagreed with Calvin with regards to his teachings, generally refers to those who do not agree with the Calvinists but who believe strongly in the free will of man, and they too differ among themselves in what they oppose the Calvinistic view. A large number of them believe that salvation is by the grace of God which they can receive through faith. Jesus has died for the whole world, but only those people get saved who choose to believe in Him by their own choice. Some of them prefer to refer to themselves as Provisionists who believe in the provision of God for the salvation of all people, but that people exercise their free will to receive it or not.
A question that comes up immediately is how God who is proclaimed to be holy, righteous, just and without partiality determines beforehand who are going to be saved, before people were even created and before they had done anything right or wrong. If God does this, we cannot recognise Him as being just and impartial, or righteous. According to this, He not only saves some people unconditionally, but punishes others who had no choice because apparently it was God who decided not to give them grace. Calvinists try to explain this contradiction by saying that God's ways are above and beyond our understanding, and that humility demands that we should submit to what God has revealed in His word. For example, they say, look at what God says about choosing Jacob and not Esau. "for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" (Rom.9:11-13). The apostle Paul goes on to say, "You will say to me then, 'Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?' On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, 'Why did you make me like this,' will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?" (Rom.9:19-21). If people are tempted to question the justice of God, His answer is, "What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." (Rom.9:14-16). For the Calvinists, this settles the question of God's sovereignty, and they come to the conclusion that God does not have to explain to us why He does things a certain way, and that our duty is just to believe what He tells us.
Another favourite passage for Calvinists to believe in election and predestination is in Eph.1:3-6, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." Here Paul talks about being elected before the world was created, and being predestined to be adopted as children of God. There are many other passages that are referred to in this connection.
But then, the Arminians or Provisionists also have plenty of Bible passages to quote from. For example, Jn.3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Jn.1:12, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." Here we read that God gave His Son for the whole world, and that it is those who believe in Him who will experience salvation. John clarifies clearly that Jesus died not only for the believers but also for the whole world. "and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world" (1.Jn:2:2). Paul describes the heart of God for the salvation of all people here, 1Tim.2:3,4, "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Peter emphasises the same truth, 2Pet.3:9, "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." These passages, and many others, describe the heart of God who desires the salvation of all people. If these are to be true, God cannot also, at the same time, unconditionally choose some people to be saved and effectively leave all the others to damnation. If He is actually doing that, then He cannot be just and impartial too.
Brothers and sisters. It is the same Bible that contains both these seemingly opposing passages. That is unthinkable if we believe that the Bible is the word of God to us. Some people try to deal with it by taking that both positions must be true, because they are from the Bible, even though we cannot understand them together. This is not being intellectually honest, because both positions contradict each other, and they cannot be true at the same time. For example, God either elects some people for salvation before they are even born, or He accepts them when they place their trust in His Son as their Saviour. Both cannot be true. Some people go to extreme levels of jugglery with words to show that they are both true. But it is plain that they are contradictory to each other.
The problem has to be with us that we are not interpreting everything correctly. Let me tell you what I understand. Please go through this prayerfully, examining the Bible to see if what I say is true.
First of all, we must agree that God, as a Person, is holy, righteous, just, impartial, loving, merciful, kind, compassionate, patient, etc., as concerning His character. He is sovereign and almighty, but He cannot do anything out of character. So, whatever interpretation we arrive at about His word, it must stay within these boundaries of His character.
With that as a starting point, we must come to agree that God cannot be arbitrarily, unilaterally, unconditionally choosing some particular people for salvation while assigning others to damnation. But we have already seen above several passages that seem to say He does that very thing! That is where we can make a mistake in the interpretation. The mistake is in assuming that when election is mentioned, it refers to electing individuals for salvation. Look at this passage again. Eph.1:3-6, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." I think Paul here is addressing the believers at Ephesus as being among those who have been chosen according to God's predetermined plan for salvation. He is not saying that they were individually elected before the foundation of the world. No. They have been brought into the salvation which God has made for man even before He started creation. Before the creation of the world, God knew that man might sin, and therefore He prepared a plan then itself for the salvation of those who fall. He decided that His Son would take the form of a man and be born on the earth, and would finally die on a cross to provide atonement for the sins of the whole world. Whoever placed their trust in His Son as their Saviour would be saved.
In other words, what was done before the foundation of the world was that God made the plan for the salvation of man, and these Ephesian believers have now come to experience that. That plan did not include the names of all people who would be saved later on, because it was open to all, and would be filled up as and when each man or woman put their trust in Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. Rev.13:8 refers to names beginning to be written into the Book of Life from the time of creation, "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." This is not saying that these names were written before the foundation of the world, but from the time of the foundation of the world. When we understand this, it removes the controversy concerning election and predetermination. Matt.25:34, "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The kingdom was prepared beforehand, being a part of God's plan. But now people have to choose to enter it.
This salvation is by grace, through faith (Eph.2:8.9). No man deserves it, because everyone has sinned, and that is why this salvation is only by grace from God. But it is not automatic that all men get saved like this, because we have to choose this salvation for ourselves. That is what is meant by receiving it 'through faith'. When we hear the Gospel, the Holy Spirit convicts us in our heart about our sins and the distance between us and God. We come to realise that God is offering us salvation as a free gift. Then we repent from our sins and receive this Saviour as our Lord and Master. That is how salvation begins for us. Others who hear the Gospel but reject it for various reasons thereby choose judgment for themselves.
So, these passages that talk about election and predetermination were not about individuals but about God's eternal plan of salvation. God has created us in His own image, and a part of that is our free will, our ability to choose what we do. Adam and Eve were the first ones to misuse that free will and choose to disobey God. After that, all of us, their descendants, are born with a nature inclined towards selfishness. But God offers us a way of escape through the Gospel, for us to respond to, by admitting our sins and submitting to the Saviour.
Then what does it mean when God says, "Jacob I have loved, Esau I hated"? It does look like God arbitrarily chose Jacob to be saved, but condemned Esau. No. This election was not about salvation at all! This was God sovereignly choosing Jacob to start the nation of Israel. In order to accomplish different tasks at different times, God chooses different individuals and works with them. Abraham, Pharaoh, Moses, the judges, Saul, David, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, all the prophets, the twelve disciples of Jesus, Paul, etc. This is an endless list. We can see from these examples that this election was based on tasks, and not the salvation of these individuals. God exercises His sovereignty in making this choice; many of these choices have ended up badly as individuals. But God was not calling them for salvation from sin, but to fulfil different tasks.
It is very important to see that in Romans chapters 9-11, what Paul is trying to do is to tell the Gentile believers about God's choice of Israel to be a special people for Him, to fulfil a task. We must not confuse that with the matter of personal salvation of people. Rom.9:1-4, "I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises." This is the introduction Paul gives to this passage in chapters 9-11. It is about Israel. When Paul quotes God saying how He decides who He should show mercy on, it is again about picking Israel and not about salvation. Rom.9:12-15, "it was said to her, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.' What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'" Confusion comes when we miss the context of these passages and apply it to salvation.
In Rom.11:1, Paul again mentions that he is talking about Israel, "I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." Then Paul continues to challenge the Gentile believers not to take their salvation for granted, but to be fearful, "You will say then, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear;"
Just think about this. If we understand this, it clarifies a lot of things for us. I hope it brings home our responsibility for making the right choices.