God's Sovereign Choice (Part 1)     

The doctrine of God's sovereign choice, contrary to the opinion of many, does not reveal a God who is sadistic monster, or even a fair judge. Instead it reveals a God who is far more than that. It reveals a God who is an active outreaching lover of all mankind, a God who forgives His enemies for they know not what they do.

Before investigating the consequences of God's sovereignty it's important to make the Biblical case for God's sovereignty.

The doctrine of God's sovereign choice is well documented in scripture. Perhaps the clearest text in scripture on this subject is found in Romans 9.

Romans 9-11 should be seen as a single passage concerning the fate of ancient Israel. The story might be summarized as follows. Ancient Israel was originally and sovereignly selected (Romans 9), then (temporarily) rejected for lack of faith (Romans 10), but ultimately they will be accepted in spite of their rebellion (Romans 11).

Here, it should be noted that the free will vs. predestination issue can be framed in a slightly different way. One might ask which came first, the faith to believe or the salvation. Does our faith CAUSE us to be elected to salvation. Or is our faith the RESULT of our election.

Romans 11:28 answers that question cleanly.

As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, (Romans 11:28 NIV)

Paul makes the same point previously in two texts:

I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. (Romans 11:1-2 NIV)

And before that:

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." (Romans 3:3-4 NIV)

Looking at these texts together, it is clear that there is a group of people, the Jews, who are enemies of the gospel but part of the elect in spite of that. This is not to say that every one who is Jew in name only is a real spiritual Jew. But these texts unmistakably say that there are Jews who are part of the true, sovereignly saved, Israel of God who are enemies of the Gospel.

For more on the hardened Jews of the true Israel of God, see the essay on that subject Israel and the Church

Of special importance to this essay, at this point, is the fact that God does the electing independent of a person's faith. God elects, and then having elected, gives a person the faith to believe. Faith is a consequence of having been elected. The Jews are a perfect case of once elected always elected.

There are people today (specifically the Jews) who are knowingly enemies of the Gospel, yet because of God's love for them, they remain part of the elect, IN SPITE OF THEIR LACK of FAITH and opposition to the Gospel.

Here a digression is needed:

One might ask how someone can be a saved enemy of the Gospel; Isn't faith in Jesus a requirement of salvation? That is almost right.

A proper understanding of God's sovereignty reveals that all who are saved ULTIMATELY do believe in Jesus. But it's important to understand that faith is a CONSEQUENCE of (not a prerequisite for) election. All who are elect and alive today don't believe in Jesus. Some who are elect today will become believers tomorrow or next Sunday. If you are a believer today there was probably a time when you weren't a believer. But you were still elected from the foundation of the world. The open question was when you would believe. Some of the elect believed from the age of 3 or 4. Others of the elect didn't believe until they were in their 50s or older.

A key point in understanding universalism is that life doesn't end at the grave for any man. All men who are elected to be part of the Church, WILL believe in Jesus. Given that all men don't believe in this life, it follows that some post death conversion is necessary to bring all men to salvation. I will come back to that in detail later. But for now it's important to see that election comes before saving faith. That is a key point in Paul's teaching on the Jews as presented in the above texts.

It is also helpful to review the circumstances of Paul's conversion at Acts 9. Paul's conversion was a sovereign act of God, a decision forced on an "enemy of the Gospel" by a sovereign God. That was a type of the redemption of ALL Israel, which will ultimately ALL be unhardened and redeemed.

Some try to reduce God's sovereignty to a process of electing groups into which people come and go of their own free will. A good analogy for that position, might be setting up a club, which people are free to join or not join of their own free will. In other words, God sovereignty created the groups (ancient Israel, the church, the 144,000 of the book of revelation etc.) but He never dragged anyone into those groups.

But such a position raises an obvious question. What if nobody joined the group? The free will position opens the door to the possibility that nobody would join the group. This makes man sovereign in the final decision as to whether there will even be a group. Such a view reduces God to a judge and a beggar, who Himself has no assurance from the foundation of the world that anyone will be redeemed. He may see into our future (individually and collectively), and observe what will happen, but He can't really control anything. If nobody believes then His desires come to nothing.

And so one comes back to basic question; who really predestined the course of human history, man or God? If the answer is God, then God had to control all of history, including men's decisions to believe or not.

It should be noted here that God's sovereignty in no way reduces men to robots. One Should take the Bible at face value when it says there is great liberty for those in Christ Jesus.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1 NIV)

But that liberty has limits. In the physical world I can't fly under my own power but that doesn't make me a robot. By analogy my election to salvation doesn't make me a robot either. God controls the domain in which men operate. Part of that control is God's choice over who believes and who doesn't. But within that domain there is liberty.

One objection often made against the predestination case is that it encourages a fatalistic attitude toward God. The argument goes that if I'm saved, I'm saved, and if not, then not, so it makes no difference what I do. Such a view ignores the great blessings and promises made to those who diligently seek the Lord. There is a great comfort in KNOWING that God unconditionally loves you. One shouldn't resist God's work to reveal that to him. Election is a work of God but submission is a cooperative work between God and man. See 2Peter 1:3-11 on how to cooperate.

Ephesians 2:10 is as much a part of the Bible as Eph 2:8-9.

In Romans 9 Paul uses two examples to illustrate God's sovereign choice. The first is the story of Jacob and Esau:

Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, 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." (Romans 9:10-13 NIV)

Note that the decision, of who was elected to what role, was determined by God before either twin had done anything. Anticipating the charge that God is unjust Paul continues in verse 14:

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

It is not our desire or effort that saves us, or even gives us the faith to believe. All of that is a gift of God.

Now Paul offers a second example, Pharaoh:

17 For the 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." 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Once again Paul addresses the fairness issue.

19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? (NIV)

Here Paul uses the analogy of clay and the potter to describe our relationship with God in respect to election. There is great comfort here for all who can see God as He really is, a God of infinite outreaching self-sacrificial love and mercy. We have to walk by faith and not by sight.

There are a number of other verses related to the issue of God's sovereign choice. A brief review of some of the key verses is contained in the next section.



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