Theology of Predestination, Part Three

MUSINGS ON THEOLOGY AND PREDESTINATION, PART THREE

Continuation of Part Two

I find the truth of the Incarnation (which I discussed in Part Two) to be analogous to our Salvation.

Our salvation includes the Divine work of grace and our Human responsibility to respond to the gospel with repentance and faith, and to evangelize the lost. The two may appear to be contradictory but I embrace them both because God teaches this in his Word.
After many years of reading the Bible over and over again, I have concluded fully and unequivocally that God has chosen his people, he has predestined his elect, not on the basis of foreknowing what anyone would do, whether they would believe or not. God has truly chosen before the foundation of the world those whom he would save for reasons known to himself alone (Jh. 6:44; 10:26; Rom. 8:28-3). This foreknowledge of God by which God’s people are elect (I Pet. 1:1,2), is not a passive, intellectual knowledge beforehand of what we would do. God’s foreknowledge is active, favoring the object with love and care (Acts 2:23; Rom. 11:2). This is the Divine side of our salvation; God’s predetermined election of his people.

At the same time Scripture teaches that men and women have a responsibility to repent, believe, obey and turn to the Lord. They are not puppets. We are commanded to pray for the conversion of the lost, to witness and evangelize.

Let’s think of the ministry of Paul. He did not approach evangelism with a detached, passive attitude, as if the elect would be saved with or without his effort. He felt “unceasing anguish” for his lost Jewish brethren because they were lost (Rom. 9:2). He toiled and labored with sleepless nights and hunger (II Cor. 6:4f). Paul affirmed, “I have become all things to all men so that BY ALL MEANS I might save some.” Think of it! Paul used ALL MEANS to bring people to Christ. He strategized on how best to evangelize and decided that he should preach the gospel only in those cities with Jewish synagogues where he found the most responsive hearers.

How can we then put these two biblical truths together? On the one hand, God and God alone predestines those who will be saved. No one can be saved unless God chooses them and elects them and no one who is not elect will be saved. On the other hand, man must turn to God, repent of his sin, believe in Christ, confess with his mouth and obey the Word of God. How do we reconcile this paradoxical teaching of Scripture of God’s election and human responsibility to repent and believe?

When we become unbalanced, we over emphasize either the Divine or the Human. Those who focus on God’s election fear the use of all kinds of means – altar calls, evangelistic crusades, passionate persuasion to receive Christ. Those who over emphasize the Human erroneously think they can usher men and women into the Kingdom through many persuasive means, that salvation depends on them. In my book, both are wrong.

To be continued in Part Four