Does It Matter What We Believe about Choosing or Being Chosen?

I grew up in the Reformed Calvinist tradition which, among other things, teaches that God chooses some people to be saved; this is known as predestination. Even as a child, I had some understanding of what it meant, and I believed it even before I ever read a Bible. Maybe it’s because I had at least some understanding of my own tainted heart. Since I started blogging six years ago, I have noticed that this teaching is not very popular online, to say the least. What’s interesting is that the common underlying reason I have noticed for this is that people say it’s “not fair.” More on that later.

I think a good place to start with understanding predestination is Genesis 12:1, where we read, “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.'” The Lord goes on to say that He will make Abram (later changed to “Abraham”) into a great nation and will bless him. Many years later, as the nation of Israel is getting ready to enter the Promised Land, God tells them in Deuteronomy 7:6-8: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Lest they think they are somehow better than the nations around them, two chapters later, the Lord says (Chapter 9 verse 6), “Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.” Notice two things here: 1) God chose the Israelites out of all the nations on the Earth. 2) God did not choose them because they were inherently better than the other nations; He tells them it’s because of His promise to their forefathers (starting with Abraham).

In the New Testament, in John 6:44, Jesus says this: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” I’m not a Greek scholar, but I do know that the word translated as “draws” means “drags.” A straightforward interpretation of this verse is that God initiates, thus choosing those who He will save. Some have said that this means God the Father draws, or drags, everyone before they believe, and that people then choose whether to believe or not; you can decide for yourself which interpretation makes more sense.

Let’s take a look at a portion of Romans 9, verses 10-18: “Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand:  not by works but by him who calls—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!  For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.”

Notice first of all this clause in the above passage: “before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad.” Then in verse 13: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Given the context, this means that God chose Jacob, not Esau–again: even before they were born or had done anything good or bad. Wow. If you know the story of Jacob, you know that he was a deceiver, but he had faith. In contrast, here’s what Hebrews 12:16-17 says about Esau: “See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.” What kind of man did Esau become? Godless, a man without faith, and his descendants, the Edomites, followed in his footsteps. Second, notice the word “mercy,” used three times in this passage, including in verse 18: “God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy.” And again, verse 16:  “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” Who is saved is God’s sovereign choice.

I recently read a brief discussion on another blog about Pharaoh, and since this Romans 9 passage mentions him, I want to point out that when you carefully read the account of the ten plagues in Exodus Chapters 7-11: after plagues 2 (the frogs) and 4 (the flies) we are told explicitly that “Pharaoh hardened his heart.” After plagues 6 (the boils) and 8 (the locusts), we are told explicitly, “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” Here’s how R.C. Sproul, that great theological giant, explains it in his book Chosen by God: “All that God has to do to harden people’s hearts is to remove the restraints.” About Pharaoh, he writes this: “In the act of passive hardening, God makes a decision to remove the restraints; the wicked part of the process is done by Pharaoh himself. God does no violence to Pharaoh’s will. As we said, He merely gives Pharaoh more freedom.” First, Pharaoh hardened his own heart; later, God removed the restraints, which is what “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” means. This is reminiscent of “God gave them over” in Romans 1 verses 24 and 26.

By now, it should be obvious what I believe regarding God’s choosing or ours: God chooses, and those whom He has chosen respond in faith–some at a very young age, some at a very old age, and I suppose most somewhere in between. I should add that I am aware that those who tend toward the “free-will” end of the spectrum interpret these passages (and others I haven’t mentioned) differently, but when you look at the totality of the Bible, I think the answer is clear. I should add that on the most fundamental level, the reason God chooses us is that left to ourselves, we would be completely incapable of choosing Him, as R.C. Sproul and others have said. And as Romans 3:10 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” At the same time, I admit that from our perspective, it appears that we do the choosing!

One question–and I admit it’s an excellent one–that those who tend toward the other end of the spectrum ask is this: If God chooses, why bother with evangelizing? I can think of three answers. First, before Jesus ascended to heaven following His resurrection, He said in Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Thanks to seekingdivineperspective, a fellow blogger, for this addition from her blog: in Luke 5:4-5, Jesus tells Peter to let down the nets in deep water. In his response, Peter includes these words: “Because you say so.” Yes, I tell others about Jesus because He says so! Second, I tell others about Jesus because I don’t know who He has chosen and who He hasn’t. Third, I do it because I want to experience the incredible blessing of having a part in seeing someone come to faith in Christ! And I have!

Another thing I have heard is something like this: But doesn’t God’s choosing you give you a sense of pride? My answer: Far from it. Like the OT Israelites, I was not better than anyone else. God chose me for His own reasons, and I want to live a life of thankfulness and obedience in return. And in fact, there’s a danger in pride from the free-will end of the spectrum; after all, from that point of view, you did the choosing, not God.

It’s time to return to the first part of the question in the title of this post: Does it matter? Yes, it does. Let me illustrate: several years ago, a good friend of my wife was in tears because a friend had died; not only that, but she was an unbeliever, and my wife’s friend said a few days prior, she had felt compelled to share the Gospel with her–but hadn’t done it. She added it was because of her failure that her friend was now in hell. While we were glad that she realized she should have shared the Gospel (which she would be more likely to do in the future), she was not responsible for her friend being in hell; in fact, she didn’t even know for sure, of course, if she was there. Maybe she had come to faith in Christ in some other way. From my perspective, if she was one of God’s chosen people, she had come to saving faith before death and is with Him now.

Perhaps the most fundamental reason I think it matters what we believe about who chooses is that it’s connected to the teaching of eternal security; in other words, those of us who believe that God chooses can be 100% sure that it is impossible to lose your salvation. I have met plenty of people, however (some in person, some online) who think that it is possible to lose it. That makes sense from a free-will perspective; if you choose to come to faith in Christ, it is also possible to walk away. It is true, of course, that there are people who leave the church and even very publicly renounce their faith; however, those people show that they were never really Christians in the first place. Even so, they still have the chance to repent as long as they are alive.

I mentioned near the outset that many people I have come across don’t think it’s “fair” that God chooses some and not others. My response is: what’s “fair” is that every person who has ever lived, including me, deserves to go to hell. The fact that I’m not going there is because of the Lord’s mercy, as Romans 9 tells us.

If you tend toward the free-will end of the spectrum, don’t worry; I’m not condemning you! You can believe that and still be my brother or sister in Christ. However, I would encourage you to continue searching the Scriptures for yourself. If you are not a Christian, my prayer is that you would investigate the claims of Christianity; you may find, as I did starting at age 20, that Jesus is the only One Who can give you the peace and joy that your heart longs for.