Is salvation by choice or by predestination? Ephesians 1:4–5 (NKJV) 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, Because we start out spiritually dead, unable to respond to the Lord, only God can give us the gift of life (see Eph 2:1–2). When sin entered the human race, it left everyone helpless. We cannot come to God unless he draws us (see Jn 6:44). It is not our own awareness that we are sinful people that first turns us to God. Rather, it is God who in his mercy awakens that awareness within us in a similar way to how Jesus summoned Lazarus from the dead (see Jn 11:43–44). The predestination camp believe our salvation through Christ is limited completely to God’s sovereign choice. The only ones who believe in Christ, they point out, are those whom God appointed for salvation before time began (see Eph 1:4). They emphasize that there is no one who seeks God (see Ro 3:10–11). However, God in his mercy has chosen to save some (see Ro 9:15). “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (Rom 9:16). The choice camp suggests God gives every person the ability to choose in terms described as “free will”—his grace and mercy extend to everyone. These people say that each person has to respond by deciding whether to repent of sin and turn to God. They suggest that God honors people’s choices to either refuse or accept Christ’s invitation (see Lk 13:34). I personally believe both apply, we are predestined to God in that Christ died for all (2 Cor 5:13-15), that means we all receive the call one way or another with a few exceptions (born where no gospel ever reaches) and then comes the choice to either accept or refuse. It is this choice matter that will be our judgment standard on that last day, as God shall refer to our inner thoughts and convictions (Rom 2:1-16). So, if you are reading this you are predestined to salvation in Christ, but you have a choice to accept or deny Christ. There is no demilitarized zone here, either you accept and live, or reject and face eternal damnation. We always have a choice, and that choice is ours to carry out - not Gods.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 03:27:54 +0000
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