Greg and Amy discuss how the concept of being “chosen” by God works in relation to faith, emphasizing that God’s calling and drawing lead to eternal security in Christ.
Transcript
Question: Is it possible for someone to put their faith in Jesus for salvation and do their best to live a Christian life but not have eternal life because they were not chosen? (Eph. 1:4; John 6:44; Rom. 8:30.)
Greg: Ephesians 1:4 says, “Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him.” This verse references chosenness. And the answer to our question is very simply no. The way the question is worded—“Is it possible for someone to have faith in Christ but not be chosen?”—completely misunderstands the notion of chosenness.
I’m going to go back to the book of Romans and read a verse that would be important for people to meditate on because it goes directly to this issue. This passage is one that’s often quoted because it’s an encouraging passage, but it’s often misquoted, so I’m just going to give it to you straight.
“And we know”—that’s a good point there. We know. We have confident knowledge. “God causes”—in other words, he is the one who is responsible—”all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.”
What is that group? “Those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” All right. Next line.
“For those whom he foreknew”—and “foreknow” here is not omniscience, because he’s not foreknowing events. He’s foreknowing people. “Those whom he foreknew”—we’ll call that election—now, notice the sequence—”he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son.” So, there’s the beginning—he foreknows, “chosen.” And here’s the ending—”to be conformed to the image of his Son.” How’s that accomplished? Now he goes through the details—”those whom he predestined, he called. And those whom he called, he justified.” How do you get justified? You get justified by faith in Christ: “For him who does not work, but believes in the God who justifies the unrighteous, to him it is reckoned as righteousness.” That’s Romans 4.
So, you see in the sequence, “those whom he called, he justified,” and he justifies in virtue of faith. That answers our question. If a person has faith in Jesus, it’s because God foreknew him and guaranteed he would be made like Jesus, and he guaranteed that by calling him and justifying him. And “those whom he justified, he also glorified”—that’s resurrection, and that’s the final end of being like Christ. It’s all packaged in there.
So, can God justify somebody that he didn’t elect? No. Can he elect somebody he didn’t choose? No. It’s all part of the same package. If you are a Christian, it is in virtue of being part of this sequence. And, in fact, if you’re a Christian, every part of this sequence applies to you. And it is not, to me, in the slightest bit ambiguous what God is saying here. The only ambiguity is the tendency of people to take the English word “foreknow” to be omniscience. “Oh, he knew we were going to believe in him, and therefore he chose us.” Well, that doesn’t make any sense. He chose us because he knew we were going to choose him? Well, if we choose him, then he doesn’t need to choose us, because we chose him. But why does it say he chose us?
He doesn’t choose us because we choose him. We choose him because he’s already chosen us. “Foreknowledge” is a synonym for “predestination” or for “election.” Predestination is what ends up happening to us as a result of that election, and we are predestined—that is, determined beforehand—to what? To become like Jesus, to be glorified. And there’s the sequence.
So, I understand the question, but it doesn’t take into consideration the whole teaching. And, often, people say, “Well, if I wanted, I could want Jesus, believe in Jesus, and everything, but if I’m not chosen, then I’m out.” Well, no. You only want and believe in all that if God was working in a sovereign way to bring you to that understanding. People who are not chosen don’t want that. Oh, they may want redemption, but not on God’s terms.
Amy: I want to read 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.”
Greg: Doesn’t it go further? He says that “of all the Father gives to me, I lose nothing.” So, there is no circumstance where people have faith and they are still lost because they’re not chosen.
Amy: So, if you have faith in Christ, God has drawn you. There’s no category where God draws you, and then you’re not chosen. That’s not how this works. And I think a lot of people do worry about this. I get questions about this where they see this idea of “chosen,” and then they are afraid that they aren’t chosen. But this is what we need to keep in mind: You don’t need to know why you have faith. You can even disagree with us on why you have faith. But, the fact is, Jesus says he will not turn you away. He will not cast you out. Whoever comes to him, he will not turn aside. So, if you have faith in him, first of all, it can’t be that you’re not chosen. But, even if you have that worry, just hang on to the fact that you know Jesus will not turn you away. And that’s the important thing to remember here. There’s no barrier that will stop you from being saved if you have faith in Christ because it is faith in Christ that saves you by God’s grace.
Greg: In John 10, it says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” Notice the sequence here. They hear. Those are the ones he knows. They respond by following, “and I give eternal life to them.” So, hearing his voice is responding in a way that results in salvation, according to Jesus. “And they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Amy: John 6:36 says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out.”
Greg: John continues, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life. And I myself will raise him up on the last day.” So, top to bottom—verses 37–40—you have all kinds of citations of security because we have been chosen by the Father, who draws us and gives us to Christ, and that guarantees that we will be raised up on the last day.