GOD’S PREDETERMINED CHOICES
“For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are
chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and
with it eternal glory.” 2 Tim. 2:10
The Scriptures in a very natural way combine the doctrines
of divine election and human responsibility, apparently not concerned with the
problem this would later seem to pose to generations of theologians. Paul was
willing to suffer countless difficulties and persecutions so that the elect
might hear and believe and receive the salvation for which they already had
been chosen by God before the world began. The apparent paradox is only
resolved in terms of the infinite mind and ability of the Creator. We may not
be able to understand how both can be true, just as we cannot see both sides of
a coin at the same time. However, both sides are real, and both doctrines are
true. We can believe and rejoice in both truths, even though we don’t yet
comprehend how each supports the other.
His pre-determined choice of Israel. "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God
has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who
are on the face of the earth.” Deut.
7:6
Here the choices are seen to be for the effects produced
after the choices were made by God. So it is always for the effect caused and
not the cause itself. We don’t see pre-determination as God does. Therefore He
says our ways and thoughts are not His ways and thoughts. How true, even as in
our thinking.
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