Does the Bible teach that we can choose God? Or does the bible teach that God chooses us?
Not very long ago, I was the kind of person that despised the doctrine of unconditional election. In fact, I despised reformed doctrine (I only knew it as Calvinism back then.) I had this crazy illustration in my mind, painted by equally prideful Christians, that Calvinists were tyrants who didn’t believe in preaching the gospel because of these “unscriptural” doctrines and creeds. What I didn’t know was that the picture that is often portrayed of reformed theology is that of hyper-Calvinists who sway and overcompensate largely in the opposite direction of the Armenian’s movement. Both are equally heretical.
Because I didn’t understand election, I used the common argument in evangelical churches today. Going beyond what the scriptures teach, I reasoned in my own mind that God predestined us to salvation because he foreknew that we would make that choice. Today, this seems to me a very silly and futile argument.
There is one main problem I have with this argument, and it’s a huge problem. The only verse used to support this argument is Romans 8:29
29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
According to the argument God only foresees what is ultimately our work, not his work. In other words, the point of this interpretation is that God does not cause our faith, he only foresees the faith which we cause. But the problem with this interpretation is that it is not consistent with the rest of scripture.
It assumes that the meaning of “foreknowing” is not the meaning it has in many Old and New Testament texts that would give a more coherent meaning to this passage. Listen to these uses of “know” and ask yourself what each means. In Genesis 18:19 God says of Abraham, “I have known him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord.” Virtually all the English versions translate this, “I have chosen him.” In Amos 3:2 God says to the people of Israel, “You only have I known among all the families of the earth.” He knew about all the families, but only chose Israel. In Matthew 7:23 Jesus said to the hypocrites at the judgment day, “I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.” Psalm 1:6 says, “The Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.” He knows about the way of the wicked too. But he knows the way of the righteous in the sense of approving and recognizing and loving. In Hosea 13:5 God says to Israel, “I knew you in the wilderness, In the land of drought,” meaning he took note of your plight and cared for you. And Genesis 4:1 says, “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain.” That is, he made her his, and knew her intimately and loved her.
Because of all those texts I think John Stott and John Murray are exactly right when both of them say, “”Know’ . . . is used in a sense practically synonymous with “love’ . . . “Whom he foreknow’ . . . is therefore virtually equivalent to “whom he foreloved.’” Foreknowledge, is “sovereign , distinguishing love” (John Stott, quoting Murray, Romans, p. 249). It’s virtually the same as set your affection on and choose for your own.
Furthermore, it is not consistent with the teaching of salvation in the whole of scripture. The bible consistently teaches that God is the author of our faith, and that we do not choose anything. Those who come to Christ become His children by His will, not by theirs. “They were not God’s children by nature or because of any human desires. God himself was the one who made them his children”
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:13
God, before the foundation of the world, chose to make certain individuals the objects of His unmerited favor or special grace.
“Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days. Mark 13:20
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, Ephesians 1:4-5
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. Revelation 13:8
Individuals from every tribe, tongue and nation were chosen by God for adoption, not because of anything they would do but because of His sovereign will.
For though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad , so that God’s purpose in election 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.” Romans 9:11-13
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. Romans 9:16
And Isaiah is very bold and says, “I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.” Romans 10:20
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works , but according to His own purpose, grace which was granted us and in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 2 Timothy 1:9
God could have chosen to save all men (He certainly has the power and authority to do so), and He could have chosen to save no one (He is under no obligation to save anyone). He instead chose to save some and leave others to the consequences of their sin.
And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” Exodus 33:19
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. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. 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? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. Romans 9:14-24
When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed . Acts 13:48
and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 1 Peter 2:8
The theme of God’s election to salvation is constant throughout the old and new testament, not based on our own will or “choice”, but of God’s will and choice. Romans 8:28 teaches a far more important message, that all who are predestined will be saved.
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. John 6:39
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Romans 8:30
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. John 6:37
For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. John 17:2
They are Christ’s sheep (John 10:1-30) who hear His voice and for whom He died (John 10:15) in order to give them eternal life and make them secure forever in the hand of God (John 10:26-30).
but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:26-30
Jesus’ words “it is finished” (John 19:30) are a sweet sound of the finished plan of salvation on the cross. Christ’s death on the cross was not to make salvation possible. Christ died on the cross to save. His work is finished in the salvation of God’s people, in those he chose from the foundations of the world.
Read my post: What does John 3:16 mean?
also quoted, gotquestions.org Unconditional election, is it biblical?