God’s choice; your choice; whose choice?

Good morning, everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Sound doctrine, strong faith”

Our Bible verse for today: “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God’s choice; your choice; whose choice?”

This morning I am going to go where angels fear to tread! I say that tongue-in-cheek but if angels don’t fear to venture into this territory, many pastors and writers do. It’s a sensitive and hotly debated subject and therefore I will try to handle it gently and with grace. The issue is about salvation and how we get it, by election (also known as predestination), or free will. It is an important doctrinal issue that has been debated for most of the entire two-thousand year-history of our faith.

There is a sliding scale of beliefs in this debate but the essence of it is, on the one side, adherents to the teachings of John Calvin believe that God has predestined some to be saved and others to be damned. Before creation God, in His own wisdom and for His own purposes, chose some to be saved and to spend eternity in heaven with Him, and the rest to be lost for eternity. Predestination is also known as “election.” God elected some to be saved while others were not elected.

On the other side is free-will, which is best articulated in the teachings of Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius. Therefore, this school of thought is generally referred to as Arminianism. It holds that people must exercise their free-will and choose to place their faith in Christ to receive salvation. There are also variations within both of those schools of thought but that is the gist of it.

Throughout history there have been large numbers of very smart and very sincere Christians who have come down on both sides of this debate, and that continues to be true today. Even within my own Southern Baptist Convention there is a great divide between the two camps. It is probably 70/30 or even 60/40 in favor of the Arminian perspective, but still, there are large numbers on both sides and therefore, as a denomination we have all agreed to disagree graciously.

Personally, I believe there is a good Biblical case that can be made for both schools of thought, but I think the truth is actually found in the middle. I side with pastor and author Dr. David Jeremiah, who considers himself to be what he terms a “Cal-miniest” He’s a little bit of both, and so am I.

I believe that God predestined us all for salvation in that He created us for it. And I believe he has chosen (or elected) us all to spend eternity with Him in heaven. That’s His heart, His desire (2 Peter 3:9). He then offers salvation to us as a gift and as an act of mercy and grace. But for our part, each of us must still exercise our free will and choose to accept the gift. As Billy Graham once famously declared, “It is possible to be elected to a position but to decline to accept it.”

Regardless of which position you hold to, I encourage all of us to be gracious rather than dogmatic about it. A strong argument can be made for both schools of thought, and for two thousand years the most brilliant Christian scholars down through the ages have come to different conclusions about it.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Share this:

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply