Salvation: Is there choice?

 

So in the doctrines relating to salvation in Christianity is there choice. What I mean here is does God select the members of His Church or do believers have a choice in choosing to believe that Christ Jesus bore their sins on the Cross?

I'm just going to say here that as with so many beliefs about the doctrines in Christianity there is often a stalemate where the various groups that have competing theological ideas and have come to an impasse. The doctrines relating to Salvation and in particular the Doctrine of Election are a case in point.

There are those who believe Christians are only elected by God and those who believe that Christians only choose to believe the gospel. As you can imagine each group believes that only it is correct and the other group is laboring under a gross misapprehension slash delusion.

Now in this case the group that believes that Christians are saved only by being elected by God are well known. These are the Calvinists or Reformed Christians. The group who believe all potential Christians are allowed to choose to believe on Christ Jesus are called the Armenians or perhaps Wesleyan Armenians. The former in the past would have covered the Anglican, Lutheran and Presbyterian Churches while the Latter would have covered Methodist, Baptist, Brethren and the many Christian fellowships.

I think the easiest way to describe the Calvinist view of the Doctrine of Election is to go through the acronym TULIP. In this acronym T stands for Total Depravity; U stands for Unconditional Election; L stands for Limited Atonement; I stands for Irresistible Grace; P stands for Perseverance of the Saints.

So the basis of Calvinist (Reformed), thinking is that mankind is totally depraved and unable to do any righteous thing including choosing to be saved. Election is without negotiation and decided completely by Sovereign God. We have no choice in being saved as it is the sole decision of the Sovereign Lord. Christ Jesus' atonement on the Cross is limited to the saints alone. He never died for the Lost to be saved. The Grace of God is irresistible so that even if we didn't want to be saved we would have no choice. You cannot lose your Salvation therefore perseverance of the saints or eternal security is complete. The Calvinist Doctrine of Election is therefore completely without personal freedom of Choice.

The Armenian stance put forward by Calvinists to succinctly put a Calvinist perspective on Armenianism is expressed in the acronym Daisy. This stands for Diminished Depravity, where God employs prevenient grace to enable man respond to the gospel. Abrogated Election, where the elect are foreknown by God. Impersonal Atonement, where Salvation is possible for everyone. Sedentary Grace, where grace is available to all but not all avail themselves of it. Yieldable Justification, where the saved can lose their salvation or reject it. I think Armenians feel this is an unduly harsh view of their theology written by Calvinists but it could have been worse to be honest.

For me the biggest issue is that Predestination is in scripture and the both Christ Jesus and the apostle Paul spoke about it. Jesus says this in John 15:19 "If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." From <https://www.openbible.info/topics/predestination> Paul says this in Romans 8:30 "And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." From <https://www.openbible.info/topics/predestination> So Predestination is supported in scripture.

I guess the reason it never really bothered me in the past other than that the Churches which I attended were not Reformed or Calvinist. Was, I always assumed that Christ died for all who would believe on Him and our part in this process is to take the gospel to the lost. So, as far as I'm concerned nothing has changed. If folks are predestined from the eternity past it doesn't matter to me. I still believe God intends me to share gospel and play my part in seeing people believe on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

I think there are some scriptures that back this idea. For instance Jesus told the Parable of the Banquet in Matthew 22 speaks of a King who sent invitations to his wedding banquet but none of the guests wished to attend. So he sent his servants into the streets to invite as many people as they could find to come to the banquet.

I think as a servant of Christ Jesus my job is get out there and share the gospel with as many as I can get it too. By the way the guy that got thrown out of the wedding feast in the parable. He wasn't a Christian so he wasn't clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And the last verse "For many are called but few are chosen." If many are called then the servants of Christ Jesus must be out there assisting God in calling them.

As to who is right about Predestination. I think this is a more heat than light issue. You can get as worked up about it as you like but I don't see it making a great deal of difference to the average Christian. The Great Commission stands as it is. Christ Jesus want us to take the gospel to the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So that's what we need to do.