The mind, composed of the elements of the earth, attempts to understand Divine mystery. The mystery of the Trinity or how Jesus could be fully God and fully man at the same time overwhelms the mind. How did Jesus become sin and still be the sinless Lamb of God who could pay my debt? How can the infinite God be contained in my body?
The mind linked to the body encased by time can’t grasp the mysteries of faith. Logic and intellect attempt to explain, but, in so doing, we cram God into the box of language.
I’ve been reading Ephesians for a couple months now, but am still in chapter 1. My mind slammed into a divine mystery in verses 4 – 6, and I’ve been groping around the edges of election and free will for a couple weeks. In an attempt to avoid cramming God into a box of words, I’ve identified a handful of truths He’s given us in the inerrant scriptures He inspired and spoke.
Truth: Chosen v. 4
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. I was chosen by God before time began. He set His love upon me and made me His before I existed and before there was an earth. He chose me, and I will never be unchosen.
Truth: Predestined v. 5, 6
- In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. With great love and tender affection, He set me apart to be His child because it delighted Him. By His will, I am. By His will, I’m becoming what He designed me to be.
- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. This is not about me or anything I did. I was nothing more than a deplorable object of wrath, but He lifted me to His great heart and made me an object of His mercy to the praise of His glorious grace which He continues to lavish upon me without reserve or condition.
Truth: He chose first – John 15:16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit…. He chose me first. So, did I have a choice? Could I have chosen Him if He had not chosen me?
Truth: Free will – John 3:16, John 7:36, Revelation 22:17, Deuteronomy 30:19-20
- If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink….
- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- Is anyone thirsty? Come! All who will, come and drink, drink freely of the Water of Life!
- I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
Anyone who thirsts, whoever believes, all who will come – the invitation is extended to all. He sets a choice before every human being and says, choose life. But we can choose death.
If I don’t believe the offered medicine will heal me and don’t accept it, then I will die as the fatal disease consumes me. If I accept it, I’m healed by the power of the remedy not by my act of choosing. My rejection of the cure denies its power to heal, but my acceptance of it unleashes its power to save.
Choosing or being chosen? Election or free will? Are they exclusive? Can it be both? The two sides of this Divine mystery – Sovereign choice and our free will to choose – are both unequivocally and absolutely true simultaneously.
In John chapter 6 Jesus combined these two truths:
Truth: Chosen v. 37
All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
Truth: Free will v. 40
For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
Truth: Chosen v. 44
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.
Truth: Free will v. 47
Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
I can’t reconcile the two sides of the mystery but faith accepts that both are true. The Father chooses who of us He will give to His Son, and no one comes unless God compels them. But He didn’t create robots. He wants to be chosen as much as He wants to choose. Does God not have the right to choose His bride, and would He not want His bride to freely choose Him?
“Men by their sins have forfeited all claim upon God; they deserve to perish for their sins – and if they all do so, they have no ground for complaint….When we are brought to see our own utter ruin, and the justice of the divine verdict against sin, we no longer scoff at the truth that the Lord is not bound to save us; we do not murmur if he chooses to save others, as though He were doing us an injury, but feel that if he deigns to look upon us, it will be His own free act of undeserved goodness, for which we will forever bless His name….”[1]
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this’?” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory? Romans 9:15, 18-23
What if He did this to overwhelm me with the riches of His glory?
I will bless His name forever for He is Sovereign and controls my hours and days. With love, He chose me and works through every circumstance to achieve His purpose in my life. I can make poor choices and turn away from Him. Though they will never separate me from Him, those choices will limit His greatness in my life and create shallowness. Or I can choose life and be overwhelmed by His glory and filled with all of His fullness.
Cynthia Heald, in her book A Woman’s Journey to the Heart of God, wrote “…the choices I make today determine whether I move toward Him, or toward self and the world. …one day I must give an account of my life to God. I will answer for the choices I made. I can never say, ‘The devil made me do it,’ for God has delivered me from the rule of Satan so that I am no longer a slave to sin. And I cannot say, ‘God why didn’t You make me do it?’ for He loves me too much to force me to obey Him.”
God of my heart, Maker of my soul, I am Yours. I love You. Deepen my love for You and Your people. Give me grace to surrender all to you – my freedoms and my chains. Show me Your ways, teach me Your truth and give me more faith to follow to the praise of Your glorious grace.
[1] Charles Spurgeon, (2003). Morning and Evening, Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books.
I have struggled with this very dilemma for a couple of years. Ever since I took the membership class and realized what the Baptist doctrine was on this subject. I asked God to give me wisdom and so far have had to cling to the verse that describes a conversation that Jesus had with his disciples about him being bread and “meat”. Many followers left the “Jesus movement” after that speech. However the 12 said in response to Jesus’s question ” will you leave me too?” ” to whom else would we turn? who has eternal life but you?!”
Your blog is a great help but I still struggle with the idea that God could choose to open our eyes to faith and give us the opportunity to believe or reject Him, but instead for a huge majority of people He simply chooses not to give the opportunity. . But there are several areas as you mentioned where God appears to contradict Himself: grace , justice and mercy evil allowed to rein , people having their hearts hardened . But as you aptly described , how can I understand God? I can’t but He has saved me and I am grateful.
Roxy
This is a hard mystery, and I make no claim of understanding. I don’t think anyone really does. But this I know by faith – all God says is true and right and He can’t contradict Himself. He has no inconsistencies. The dilemma is in our minds, not His. It all makes perfect sense to Him.
I’m glad you’re wrestling with this. It will strengthen your faith and deepen your sense of awe at the unknowable ways of the Eternal God and His great love for you. I came across this verse this morning: II Thessalonians 2:13 We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation—a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. There’s the interplay of both sides of the Divine mystery – God’s choice and our responsibility to choose freely. Scripture is full of references to His invitation to come to Him and believe. He implores all to repent and believe and tells us to preach the gospel to every creature.
Then there’s II Timothy 1:9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. It’s only by His grace we’re saved through faith – and that’s a gift from Him as well. Then there’s the Book of Life – that’s an interesting study.
I can’t understand why He does what He does, but He just calls me to walk humbly with Him by faith not by sight. And I wonder why He chose me and wrote my name in His Book.
Pam