The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Anjela Paje of Spokane, WA, from the tape, GC 1301-T, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 22."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©1982. All Rights Reserved.

Question

I just moved here from Florida, and before I moved, a lot of people said that if I came to this church, that they believe in election, and I don't understand it completely. I would like to get it cleared up because, so far, of what I do understand, it seems right.

Answer

Okay. Welcome! We are glad to have you from Florida. God Bless You! Thanks for coming.

Election. Well, this is easy. Let's see. In other words, what people always ask, and I will frame the question for you. "Are we chosen to be saved, or do we choose ourselves to be saved?" Right? Did I come to Jesus Christ because I was irresistibly drawn by God and had nothing to do with it, or did I come to Christ because my heart said, “I want to come to Christ?” And, the answer is yes. Isn’t that simple?

Now, let me see if I can explain it to you simply. Okay? The Bible teaches election. It uses that word many times. It says, "...we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God." It says "...we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world." It says our "...names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from before the foundation of the world." It says "...you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you." In the book of Acts, it says, that God said, "I have much people in that city." People who were not even saved, yet, but had His name on them to be saved. You cannot deny election.

Ephesians 1, "Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world." We know we are elect, so when you come to a passage on election, you preach it with all your heart. You just preach it. It's there. You can't argue with it. We are elect. Chosen by God. Nobody ever came to Jesus Christ, except the Father did what? Draw him. So, we are saved because of God’s predetermined love and that's it. I mean, we are elect of God, and what a marvelous thing that is. That is so important in the doctrine of security because if He elects us, He is going to hold us. Right? So, we teach that and we preach that. And, when you come across a passage on election, you just preach it fully and completely because that is what the Bible teaches.

But, the Bible, also, teaches human volition. Jesus said, "You will not come to me that you might have life." Jesus said, “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft I would have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her brood and you would not.” In other words, Jesus, on the one hand said you cannot come to me unless the Father draws you, and on the other hand, if you don't come, you’re to be blamed.

Now, in our minds, those seem like opposites, don’t they? Paradoxes unresolvable. And, they really are. Over here, if you are saved, it is by God’s election, and over here, if you are damned, it is your own choice. Now, let me tell you something. That should not be a problem for you because of this: God’s mind is greater than our mind. Right? If I could understand everything, I would be God, and if I was God, the world would really be in bad shape. But, man loves to think he is God. He wants everything to fit into his mind, so what he does is take those kinds of things and try to find a truth in the middle that accommodates both, and in the end he destroys both. And, so, you come up with this thing where, well, you see God looks down the road and He says, “Aha! I see the way they are going! I know what is going to happen. Boy! They are going to go over there and, so , I just will not elect them because I can see that." And, so, God becomes the victim of the things that men do. That is not what the Bible teaches. If you deny election, you have denied something in the Bible. If you deny the choice of man, where it says, “Whosoever will, let him come. Taketh of the water of life freely.” Revelation 22. You cannot deny either one. You leave them there and if you try to harmonize them in the middle, you have destroyed both of them. See. Just leave them there. You say, “But I do not understand.” But, that is good. It proves you are not God, and that makes us all very comfortable.

And, I will tell you another thing. John Murray, the theologian in Westminster Seminary says, “There is an apparent paradox in every biblical doctrine.” Every major biblical doctrine. For example, I will ask you a simple question. Who wrote Romans? Who wrote Romans? Paul? God? Holy Spirit? Who? Did Paul write a verse and then, God write a verse? Then Paul write a verse, then God write a verse? You say, was it all the Holy Spirit? Is every word in Romans from the mind of the Holy Spirit? Yes! Is every word in Romans from the mind of the Apostle Paul in his heart, in his vocabulary? Yes! Who wrote it? Well, it is all God, and it is all Paul. Well, how can it be all God and all Paul? Well, it can't be in our human thinking. That is paradoxical, but it is. Let me ask you this: Was Jesus God? or man? Yes! Half God, half man? What is half a man? What is half a god? A nothing! He was 100 percent God, 100 percent man. You can't be that! That is right. It is paradoxical. But, if you try to make it in the middle and mix it and take away a little of His deity and a little of His humanity to come up with a hybrid, what have you just done? You have destroyed the person of Jesus Christ! So, you leave it alone. And, you say to yourself, “I can't know that!” "The secret things belong to the LORD." Deuteronomy 29:29. I will not play God and assume that everything has to fit into my computer to be true.

I will ask you another question. Who lives your Christian life? Who does? Do you? Are you out there saying, “I am going to live my Christian life if it kills me!” You say, “No! It is Christ in me. I do not do anything. I just flop and He does it all.” No! No! No! "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live, yet, not I, but Christ lives in me." It is the same paradox. See, whenever you try to reduce the truth of God down to the human brain, you are going to have some stuff left over. Do you understand that? And, consequently, you have got to be able to allow for what we call divine tension. Just leave it there. The Bible teaches election. The Bible teaches human choice. Let it teach both. God understands how it all goes together. We don't. That is a matter of faith, isn’t it? Don’t come up with something in the middle. You destroy both. So, people who want to say, “Oh, we cannot believe in election because it messes us up on this end,” are really doing what they have no right to do. They are really saying, “We have got to reduce God to our own thinking processes and assume He is going to do only the things that we can fully understand." And, that is not so. Okay?

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Our websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986