We speak of our great God as absolutely sovereign, the Lord of heaven and earth. But that raises some perplexing questions. For example, does God choose us? Or do we choose to follow God? Some of the most difficult and perplexing of all theological questions concern the relationship between God’s divine sovereignty and our human free will. How much do we do and how much does God do?
Understanding Salvation
The challenge we face is that the Bible presents what seem to be logically contradictory answers to this question. On the one hand, there is no doubt that God has chosen us to be saved. In John’s gospel we see a number of these statements from Jesus. In John 15:16 Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit.” Again, in John 15:19 Jesus says, “I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” Only those who are chosen and called respond to that call. In John 6:44 Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” People respond in faith because God draws them.
God’s choice of us means He knows us individually. It means He loves us. It means He will never let us go. Our salvation is secure in Him. This is a great doctrine and one that is essential to the Christian faith. In John 6:37-39 Jesus says, “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. … And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.”
Jesus says His followers were given to Him by God. And He insists He will not lose any of them. We are safe and secure in Him. There is nothing to be afraid of in this world because we are His (John 17:6). The same theme appears in John chapter 10, where Jesus identifies Himself as the good shepherd. He says in John 10:27-29, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” Since God is “greater than all”—the sovereign God—no one can snatch the sheep that the Father has given Jesus. God’s election means we are absolutely secure in Him—for all eternity.
On the other hand, there is also a general call to all people to respond in faith to Christ. In his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:21, Peter says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Paul wrote, in Romans 10:10-13: “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
So, which is it? Can everyone be saved? Or is it only those whom God has chosen? How do we reconcile the tension?
Accepting the Mystery
I would say we need to listen and be faithful to all of Scripture. And that means allowing sometimes paradoxical statements to remain in tension. Notice the difference between “paradoxical” perspectives and “contradictory” perspectives. Paradoxical here means they appear to be contradictory, but in fact are both true.
I would hold what is often called the “mystery” perspective. This is the recognition that the Bible teaches both truths: we are chosen and called by God, on the one hand, but we have free will and are held responsible for our actions, on the other. John 6:37, quoted above, upholds both truths, side by side: “All those the Father gives me will come to me” AND “whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”
This perspective has often been explained this way: At the end of your life, you die. As you approach the gates of heaven, you see a large sign on the outside saying, “Whosoever may come.” Anyone who wants to enter may do so through faith in Jesus. So, you walk right through those pearly gates. But you then look back and on the other side of the sign it reads, “Chosen from the foundation of the world.”
Both are true: you are chosen, and you choose. Salvation comes through God’s sovereign purpose but also human decision.
You might say, “Well that’s illogical. They can’t both be true.” But that’s where the mystery part comes in. To my finite mind, it doesn’t make sense. But then neither does the Trinity. How can God be three and yet one? Neither does the incarnation of God. How can an infinite, all-knowing, omnipresent God enter human life as a baby? Where did Jesus’s divine consciousness go during His infancy? Trying to comprehend this blows our minds. But in the mind of God, it is true, because God’s Word teaches it. We have to be content that, on this side of eternity, our knowledge is limited. It is incomplete. As the apostle Paul says so well in 1 Corinthians 13:12, in this life “I know in part.” But one day, when I enter God’s presence, “I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”