Do You Have A Choice?

 

Back in the early '70's when I was attending Southwell Boarding School in Hamilton. I used to attend chapel six days a week. Canon Sergal was the school's principal and the resident clergyman. He had been a chaplain to the British Army in WWI, traveling to the Holy Land and Syria.

 

He was obviously born again and related scripture to many of the aspects of life that he had experienced including events in his journey to Israel. His sermons were so life like and often very interesting even to nine and ten year olds. I remember him talking quite sternly about the Election of Saints. It was later in my time there and probably aimed at the thirteen year old boys who were of the Anglican faith and going through the process of confirmation.

He shared with us the Parable of the Wedding Feast from Matthew chapter 22 verses 1 - 14. Verse 14 really caught me by surprise "For many are called, but few are chosen.” ESV. I had always thought I heard the gospel as a small child and had responded. The idea that God had called me and that he had chosen me rather than me choosing Him, was quite a shock.

 

Mr. Sergal, really elaborated on that idea of God electing us and not the other way around. I think from memory he quoted John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day." I was left quite profoundly disconcerted by this whole idea of God choosing me and me really having no part in it. However, in my youthly wisdom I decided it wasn't important an resolved to ignore the conundrum. Which I did quite successfully for the next forty five years.

 

 My son Matthew had joined a little church plant down the road called Grace Church. A lovely group of people who embraced Matthew's special needs and loved him for the most part without reservation. It took some years for me to follow Matthew into Grace Presbyterian as he finally needed a little support from home to help him feel a little more comfortable in the Christian arena. I was very aware of the Churches Calvinist roots but I had little knowledge of their position on Doctrine of Election or it's fundamental importance to them.

 

I developed a relationship with the Churches new Pastor and we decided to study the Westminster Confession of Faith which brought the Doctrine of Election from a Calvinist perspective into absolute clarity. It was at that point that I knew that I could no longer ignore the Doctrine of Election and that I didn't agree with the Calvinist perspective of it.

 

Calvinists believe that the elect are chosen from the foundation of the world and many believe that while the saints are elected to eternal life so the lost are elected to damnation. Not through anything that they have done because the decision was taken at the beginning of time when the elect and the damned had not lived and so had done nothing to merit election or damnation. Heady stuff!

 

I simply cannot agree that God could elect people to damnation and I am sure that there has to be a better explanation of the doctrine of election than this. My childhood understanding of the idea of how we are saved would have gone something like this. I heard about Jesus and how he loved me and how he had died for me on the Cross to pay the price for my sins - wrong doing. I chose to believe on Jesus and He forgave my sins and came into my heart. When I grew up I received baptism for the remission of sins and in order to receive the Holy Spirit and the rest is history. This is how election was to me.

 

So, being thrown headlong into the debate about election. I studied what the Calvinists believe and what John Wesley believed about election. Wesley believed in something that he called prevenient grace. Essentially that when people hear the gospel of Jesus Christ prevenient grace enables them to respond to the gospel. They either accept that Christ bore their sins on the cross and believe on Him or, they reject the gospel for the time being. Therefore even though they are fallen in their sins God through prevenient grace allows them to make a choice for or against Christ Jesus.

 

As I have said earlier, I prefer the childlike understanding of salvation where we can just hear the gospel and choose for ourselves. So while I think that Wesley's prevenient grace is a way of describing how God enables us to make a choice in our total depravity. I prefer the way preachers from the nineteenth century looked at what happened around salvation.

 

In those days they spoke of the lost coming under conviction of their sins. They believed that the Holy Spirit would carry the gospel to a sinners heart and bring them under deep conviction of their sin. Many would fall to their knees and cry out in repentance to their God. They chose Christ Jesus and this was often said to happen in revivals.

 

Now it seems to me that as John Wesley felt there was prevenient grace based around the gospel of salvation that this aligns with the order of events that relate to salvation. John 6:44 says that we can't come to Jesus unless the Father draws us to Him. Thus we hear the gospel and under the conviction by the Holy Spirit, of our sins, we can accept Christ Jesus or we can choose to reject Him.  So it is important to note that we are drawn to Christ Jesus first and upon believing on Him we are justified. Then we undergo water baptism and are forgiven our sin and receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is then responsible for our sanctification in preparation for our eventual resurrection unto eternal life.

 

 Coming to Christ first is why I believe Wesley felt their was a special grace related to the gospel which enables the lost person to choose salvation or to stay as they are. So to recap, the believer is justified by Jesus through His Cross. Then convicted by the Holy Spirit when they hear the gospel and believes on Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Then is sanctified by the Holy Spirit as they live out our repentant Christian lives. It is true the believer is foreseen by God from the foundation of the world but the gospel is for all and all are drawn by the Father to Jesus Christ when they hear the gospel. They are convicted by the Holy Spirit and enabled to make a choice for or against salvation in Christ Jesus.