Dear James,
No I do not, because God’s election is a corporate election of the body of Christ, not an individual election. God is loving. The Bible says He wasn’t willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
Again, God is love. He sent His Son to pay for the sins of everyone who would accept his death as payment. But God’s sense of Justice will not allow those who reject his Son to go unpunished. Again, God’s love is seen in that, since he knows that mankind will not seek him on their own, he sends his Holy Spirit to draw all who will respond to His call and will be his elect.
God’s justice demands the death penalty for sin - either eternal death or the death of Jesus Christ. By his love and mercy He will allow any to come to him and by his greater love He draws many to Himself. His incredible grace and mercy will not only spare those who accept His Son from the penalty of sin, but God will receive them as sons and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. The Scripture shows that He enables all to come to Him.
Do you believe, like Hilston, that God has ordained everything that will happen? If so, then all those who do not believe were ordained to not believe. Where is God’s love there? Do you believe that God is immutable, unchangeable in all His plans? If so, did He make those immutable plans before these people, who do not come to Him, were born? If so, they could not come to Him because He ordained them to not come. That would mean that God will only save the elect and consigns all others to hell.
When we read the Bible, we often run into portions of Scripture which seem to say that only the elect can believe and be saved. When we read theology books, we find that most theologians think God saves only the ones He chose to be saved and all others are preordained for eternal damnation. John Calvin made this idea popular. I disagree.
This is what John Calvin wrote: “No one who wishes to be thought religious dares simply deny predestination, by which God adopts some to hope of life, and sentences others to eternal death. . . . When we attribute foreknowledge to God, we mean that all things always were, and perpetually remain, under his eyes; so that to his knowledge there is nothing future or past, but all things are present. And they are present in such a way that . . . he discerns them as things placed before him. And this foreknowledge is extended throughout the universe to every creature. We call predestination God’s eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is preordained for some, eternal damnation for others. Therefore, as any man has been created to one or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestined to life or to death.” He wrote that in his, Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. 2 Bk III, Ch XXI, sec. 5, p 926.
Another Calvinist, John Gill, wrote in his The Doctrine of Particular Redemption, p 8. that those who believe, believe because they already are Christ’s sheep: “The objects of redemption . . . are described as sheep. They are said to be the sheep of Christ, in whom He has a special property, being given Him by His Father. They are represented as being distinct from others who are not His sheep. John 10:15,26 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
How did they become Christ’s sheep? The Father gave them to Christ. John 17:1,2 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.”
I disagree with these men. I believe we can see from Scripture that everyone has a choice. God puts in everyone the ability to believe. 1 Ti 2:4 God “wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Earlier in Jo 5:37-47, He said they had a choice, but in the first place, they didn’t believe Moses. Second, they didn’t want to come to Christ. John 5:37-47 “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 And you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive honor from men. 42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you; Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
Christ was showing these unbelieving Jews that they were not His sheep because they were unwilling to come to Him for eternal life. He told them their fate in Mat 8:12 “But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” They had the opportunity to hear and learn from the Father. Also look closely at Jo 6:33-45. Christ was talking with the ones He fed (John 6:26). John 6:33-45 “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.” By this unbelief, they conformed themselves to the apostate nation.
Then, in verse 37, He said, All. But the extent of this all depends. John 6:37-40,44,45 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” 44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” The Father gives all those of John 6:45, everyone who hears and learned. But He doesn’t give those of verses 64,65, who do not believe: John 6:64,65 “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning (the beginning of His encounter with them) who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
Further, one of those who were given to Christ, Judas, according to John 17:12, was lost. John 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition. Judas was one of “those whom You gave Me”, but he did not continue and was lost.
Compare this with John 15:6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” When I wrote that Judas did not continue in belief, implying that he had been a believer, I based that on John 2:11: “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. ” When it says His disciples believed in Him, this would include Judas.
Now let’s read the rest. John 6:37-39 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” When He says, “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing,” this “all” refers to those who listened and learned, but especially the apostles.
Notice how John 17:6 and 18:9 substantiate this. John 17:6 I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. John 18:8,9 Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,” 9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those whom You gave Me (He is quoting John 6:37-40 and 10:29.) I have lost none.” Judas thwarted God’s will for him to be saved, so we see they, in that dispensation, had to continue in belief. John 15:6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Now we know how it was granted by the Father. Everyone who was willing to hear and learned was granted by the father to come to Christ. That’s what it says in John 6:64,65 But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning [The beginning of their unbelief.] who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, ‘Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.’”
In Christ,
Bob Hill