The case for God's sovereign choice in the issue of salvation is supported by many texts in scripture. Here are some key texts:
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (John 15:16 NIV)
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:13 NIV)
God's choosing, like His choice between Jacob and Easu, was not based on what we have done. It was a decision made from the foundation of the world.
It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. (Romans 9:16 NIV)
who has saved us and called us to a holy life-- not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, (2 Timothy 1:9 NIV)
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. (Ephesians 1:4 NIV)
Here are some other texts on the ancient nature of God's plan:
"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:24 NIV)
He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. (1 Peter 1:20 NIV)
God left nothing about His eternal plan to chance. He chose who would believe in Him, and thereby become objects of his mercy. No one can really get himself born again. It's a sovereign work of God upon those He chose, from the beginning of the world, to believe in Him.
At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. (Matthew 11:25 NIV)
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44 NIV)
Note that it is not our decision to believe that earns us eternal life. We believe because God appointed us to be believers from the foundation of the world:
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48 NIV)
but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:23-24 NIV)
Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple. (Psalms 65:4 NIV)
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. (John 6:37 NIV)
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:3-5 NIV)
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. (1 John 5:1 NIV)
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. (John 17:1-2 NIV)
God acts and we respond. Notice who acts in the following passage:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, (Colossians 2:13 NIV)
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:4-9 NIV)
It is God alone who must re-birth us. Man, being dead in his sins, is incapable of re-birthing himself. This is all a gift of God (both the salvation and the faith to believe in it). There is nothing here for men to boast about because it's all a sovereign work of an infinitely loving God.
With a proper understanding of God's sovereign choice it is now possible to move on to the issue of the salvation of all men. That is the subject of the next section
NEXT TABLE OF CONTENTS RETUTN HOME