God Chooses the Saved

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

(John 15:16)

In the previous section, we clearly established from the Word of God the truth that all people either accept or reject God's offer of salvation as an act of their free will. However, as we will see in this section, Scripture also reveals another truth: that it is God who chooses who will be saved and who will not.

Later in this series, we will explain how these two seemingly contradictory truths can be reconciled through God’s Word. But first, I want to establish the biblical truth that it is God who chooses us—not we who choose Him.

To confirm this, I have once again quoted four witnesses who all affirm the same point: that it is God who chooses us. The four witnesses are the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul, and the apostle Peter.

The first witness quoted above is the Lord Jesus. In this passage, Jesus emphatically states that the disciples did not choose Him; rather, He chose them. In context, the Lord is clearly speaking about those who come into the kingdom of God.

Therefore, we can see plainly from this passage that it is God who chooses us to be saved—not we who choose ourselves.

Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

(Acts 13:48)

The second witness quoted above is the Holy Spirit, for it was He who inspired Luke to write this passage of Scripture. The context of the passage is that Paul and Barnabas had preached the gospel in the town of Antioch, and as a result, a number of Gentiles were saved because they believed the message that was preached.

However, the terminology used by the Holy Spirit to describe who believed is particularly enlightening. He tells us specifically which Gentiles believed: it was those who had been appointed to eternal life. In other words, because God had already appointed them to eternal life, they were able to believe.

By contrast, the others who were present and heard the same gospel message were not appointed by God to eternal life and therefore did not believe.

So once again, we see very clearly from this passage that it is God who determines who will be saved and who will not.

But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(2 Thessalonians 2:13-14)

The third witness quoted above is the apostle Paul. In this passage, Paul is very clear about the truth that it is God who chose us for salvation. He is also specific about when God made this choice, stating that God chose us "from the beginning."

In other words, from the very beginning of creation, God decided who would be saved and who would not. Clearly, we had no input in that decision, as we had not yet even been created.

So once again, we can see very clearly from this passage that it is God who determines who will be saved and who will not.

Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

(1 Peter 2:7-8)

The final witness listed in this section is the apostle Peter. It is interesting to see from this passage that the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to speak about those who are not saved in much the same way as He inspired Luke to speak about those who are saved.

In this passage, Peter describes those who reject the gospel as being disobedient to the Word. He then goes on to say that they were appointed to disobedience. In other words, it is God who has appointed certain individuals to reject the message of the gospel.

So once again, we can clearly see from this passage that it is God who decides who can be saved and who cannot. Therefore, there can be no doubt that all four witnesses quoted in this section agree on the same point: God chooses who will be saved and who will not.

This is why, time and again in the Scriptures, the Church is described as the elect of God—that is, those who have been chosen by Him (Colossians 3:12).

Michael E.B. Maher

Predestined to His Purpose

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