Predestined for Salvation |
Who are God's elect and what does this mean? Why would God choose only some to be saved? Doesn't 'all' mean everyone?
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Before tackling these questions we must first determine who Jesus is. Ephesians 4:6 tells us that there is "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." There is a comprehensive list of Scriptures that reveal who God is, His nature, character, and how He reveals Himself to us in different ways like when He was conceived by His Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary and was born fully man and yet He was still God nonetheless (Matthew 1:23 and Isaiah 7:14 Immanuel meaning God with Us).
Was He a created being and if He is God why does He speak as if He is talking about or to the Father? These are not Biblical contradictions and God is not a man that He should lie {Numbers 23:19) so there has to be another explanation as to why Jesus spoke this way.
Was He a created being and if He is God why does He speak as if He is talking about or to the Father? These are not Biblical contradictions and God is not a man that He should lie {Numbers 23:19) so there has to be another explanation as to why Jesus spoke this way.
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Romans 8:29-30 “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers (Ref: 1 Corinthians 15:20). And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, he also glorified.”
Ephesians 1:5 and 11, “He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will…In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.” “Though they [Jacob and Esau] were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad – in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of Him who calls” (Romans 9:11). 
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Ephesians 2:8, 10
Saved by the gift of faith to believe in the Good News (Gospel), by the grace of God and His sovereign will. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law (works), Christ died for nothing (Galatians 2:21). Good works inspired by a restored relationship between God and humans produces obedience that bears the fruit of good works that ultimately glorifies Him. Do not be deceived, good works alone cannot save anyone, nor can we will our own salvation. God is in control, therefore, those who love Him do so because He first loved them (1 John 4:19). Those who love Him will obey Him, because of their growing love toward and for Him. All His commands are righteousness (Psalm 119:172). |
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1 Corinthians 15:20
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, Galatians 6:16 Peace and mercy to all who walk by this rule, even to the Israel of God. 2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope, Titus 3:5 He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 3:6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast. Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and steadfast. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, James 1:18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation. 1 Peter 1:13 Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:21 Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God. 1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 1 Peter 3:5 For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God and were subject to their husbands, 1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that you have. But respond with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:21 And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 1 John 3:3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure. Treasury of ScriptureBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, Blessed. 1 Kings 8:15 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 1 Chronicles 29:10-13,20 Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever… Psalm 41:13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen. which. Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Psalm 86:5,15 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee… Jonah 4:2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. abundant. 1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. unto. Romans 5:4,5 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: … Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; by. 1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Romans 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. |
In an attempt to reconcile the plurality of God's essence and being I examined the following Scriptures. Genesis 1:1 reinforces the oneness of God and "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). The Ten Commandments begin by telling us about "I Am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:2-3).
The Old Covenant prophecies and symbolism reveals many things including the Triune nature and character of God who is referenced as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the New Covenant like in Matthew 28:19: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." See also 2 Corinthians 13:14 " and Matthew 3:16-17 "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" and Matthew 'This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Jesus' use of the plural We during His earthly ministry (Jesus and Father) in response to Nicodemus' use of We (John 3:2: Nicodemus and the other leaders) needs to be viewed through a Hebraic and Aramaic (original texts) lends to find our answers. God, in His greatness, referred to Himself as "us" as other rulers did during that time. It wasn't until the New Covenant that our relationship with God is referenced as our Spiritual Father, the promised Son, and His Holy Spirit. Jesus (God in the flesh) said to His disciples that He had to go so they could receive His Holy Spirit to sustain, teach, and comfort them. When Jesus ascended into Heaven He returned to sit on His throne as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There was only one God so the meaning of sitting at the right Hand of God simply means He returned to His rightful place. In Genesis 11:7 God says, "Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech." God was speaking of His sovereignty. |
