DOES GOD CHOOSE US BECAUSE WE ARE MORE DESERVING THAN OTHERS?

Many believe than God chooses us because He foresaw that we would choose Him. In other words, God foresaw something in us that made us worthy of salvation. For some, this understanding of election (predestination) makes God appear to be just. In their minds, if God chose those who were totally undeserving and damned the rest, He would be unjust.

While I appreciate their zeal to defend God, there are many problems with this belief. Worst of all, it is unbiblical. For one thing, the Bible tells us that none of us are worthy of salvation, not even in the slightest:

·       As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:10-18 (ESV)

None even seek after God. Therefore, election cannot be a matter of God choosing us based upon His foreknowledge that we would choose Him. We just won’t!

Besides, He chooses the least deserving candidates:

·       But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)

God purposely elected those who are least deserving. Why? To make it harder for the chosen to arrogantly boast, as if to say, “God chose me because I deserve it.”

I used to believe that God chose me because I was more spiritual than others. However, in retrospect, I now understand that He had to break me down before He could rebuild me (Luke 18:14). He showed me in the most painful ways how undeserving I really am. Had He not performed His spiritual surgery on me, any good thing would then have gone to my foolish head.

God is so intent to deprive us of any basis for boasting that before Jacob and Esau had been born and had done anything worthy of merit, He revealed to their mother Rebecca that Jacob would be the child of the Promise:

·       When Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger [Jacob].” (Romans 9:10-12)

Election is about God choosing without any regard to our “good or bad,” even if it was just a matter of God foreseeing our good or bad. If election is based upon something that God foresees in us, then election is not about His sovereign choice, as Scripture informs us:

·       [God] who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. (2 Timothy 1:9)

·       He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. (Ephesians 1:4-5)

The choice is His and not fundamentally ours, as Jesus proclaimed:

·       You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15:16)

Even faith does not start with us and our choice of God but with God:

·       But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

But don’t we have to supply the faith? Fundamentally, even our faith comes as a gift of God:

·       For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

He gives us a new heart so that we can receive the truth that is always present (Titus 3:5; Ezekiel 36:25-26; 2 Thess. 2:13)

A Problem Verse

There is a single verse that seems to claim that God choses us based upon His foreknowledge:

·       Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father… (1 Peter 1:1-2)

However, it is apparent that “foreknowledge” means something else here. In the same chapter, Peter claims that the Father had also “foreknown” the Son in like manner:

·       He [Jesus] was foreknown [“prognosko” in the Greek] before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:20-21)

Is this verse (20) saying that the Father knew about the Son before the world was created? If this sounds absurd, it is because it is. The three Persons of the Trinity had always been interconnected. Therefore, it could not be a matter of the Father foreknowing the Son “before.” Why not? There is no “before” when it comes to the Persons of the Trinity. Besides, the understanding that the Father had prior knowledge of the Son does not accord with the context, where the Father is sending His Son.

Instead, some translations have recognized that “prognosko” can be also translated as “destined” or “appointed”:

·       He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. (1 Peter 1:20; NRSV)

Therefore, for the sake of consistency, the New Revised Standard Version translated “prognosko” in verse 2 in the same way:

·       who have been chosen and destined [“prognosko”] by God… (1 Peter 1:2 (NRSV)

Besides, the NRSV understanding accords with the rest of Scripture.

Well, what does election say about the justice or righteousness of God, who choses only certain people? Nothing at all!

Election is not about justice but mercy. As we have seen, the entire human race will reject God if left to our own devices. In view of our rejection, God’s justice means our death:

·       For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

We all reject God and deserve to die. This is a matter of justice. If anyone is going to be saved, it must be by God’s “free gift.” This is a matter of mercy.

While justice must be indiscriminate – the same standard for all – mercy can discriminate. This is what we do when we get married. We choose a single partner over the rest. No one can justifiably condemn us for not marrying all women, or at least the women on the block.

Think also of inviting guests to your party. You are free to invite whomever you chose. You can be merciful to whom you choose, and so can God.

Well, why isn’t God merciful to all? We cannot answer this question exhaustively. However, I am convinced that He has His good reasons. We’ll just have to wait and see what they are.

A FAILED PROOF FOR THE NON-EXISTENCE OF THE GOD OF THE BIBLE

The most serious challenge against God’s just and righteous nature is the challenge presented by the prospect of an eternal punishment. It is part of the greater challenge – the problem of evil and suffering. It goes like this:

·       If the God of the Bible is just, loving, and omnipotent, he wouldn’t allow the death of babies and suffering in general.

However, this challenge can easily be set aside by the words of Paul:

·       I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18; all verses from the NIV)

If the suffering of this life is no more than a moment compared to a blissful eternity, Paul’s revelation neutralizes the problem of evil. Besides, the Bible assures us that God has a good reason to allow this evil for a limited amount of time.

However, there is no relief from eternal punishment. Besides, it doesn’t seem right that God would eternally punish us for sins that were committed within the moment of this life. The famous atheist Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899) stated:

·       “Eternal punishment must be eternal cruelty and I do not see how any man, unless he has a brain of an idiot, or the heart of a wild beast, can believe in eternal punishment.”

Put less crudely, the atheist argument goes like this:

·       PREMISE #1 - Eternal punishment is not just.

·       PREMISE #2 - The God of the Bible promises to punish with eternal torment.

·       CONCLUSION - The God of the Bible cannot be just.

PREMISE #1 - Eternal punishment is not just.

Admittedly, this challenge is difficult to address. This is because it is hard to precisely determine of what eternal punishment will consist. For one thing, there is the problem of figurative language. For example, the skeptic charges that they will not believe in a God who is stoking the eternal fires of hell. Even “Christian” evolutionists question the just nature of the God of the Bible. For example, the former co-Head, Karl Giberson, of The Biologos Foundation, which is devoted to selling evolution to the church, had written:

• [The OT God is a] “tyrannical anthropomorphic deity… [who] commanded the Jews to go on genocidal rampages…but who believes in this [OT] deity any more, besides those same fundamentalists who think the earth is 10,000 years old? Modern theology has moved past this view of God.”

Although Giberson didn’t mention disdain for an eternal punishment, it seems likely that his understanding of and preference for “Modern theology” would also lead him and many “Christian” evolutionists to question the NT teachings on eternal punishment.

But does God proactively torment the unbelievers with fire? I doubt it. It seems that much of the language of eternal fire is figurative, not literal. Sometimes, Jesus refers to hell as “outer darkness”:

• "Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'” (Matthew 22:13; also 8:12; 25:13; verses “fire” – Matthew 13:42, 50)

Clearly, both of these descriptions of eternal judgment cannot be taken literally. “Outer darkness” and “fire” are mutually exclusive. Besides, there are other verses describing what is associated with darkness or fire – “the weeping and gnashing of teeth” – as associated with neither fire or darkness, but of eternal regret:

• "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. (Luke 13:28)

In this verse, “weeping… and gnashing” is not the product of darkness or fire but of the eternal loss of blessing. This would lead us to believe that eternal torment might not be the product of God proactively tormenting these unfortunate souls but of their perceived loss.

It also seems unjust for God to punish all of the lost souls with the same exact punishment. However, it seems that there will be degrees of punishment:

• Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.” (Matthew 11:20-22)

Judgment will depend upon the amount of evidence we had (John 15:22, 24). Nevertheless, it seems that we all have some degree of evidence or light (Romans 1:18-20; 2:14-15). However, we reject that light (John 3:19-21).

And the fate of babies or the aborted pre-born?

• "That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:47-48)

Although these verses do not explicitly lay out the punishment that each deserves, they do teach that God will judge fairly, taking into account individual situations.

There are also other considerations that make it difficult for us to determine the exact nature of eternal punishment. It seems very possible that hell and our condemnation might self-chosen:

• “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict [“condemnation,”  KJV]: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." (John 3:17-20)

Many verses inform us that Jesus didn’t come to judge (John 5:45; 8:15; 12:47-49; Matthew 7:2). How then is the unbeliever condemned? He is self-condemned because “whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not [refused to]believed (John 3:18).” Verse 19 reconfirms that judgment is a self-judgment. The unbeliever has the light but rejects the light in favor of the darkness and flees from the light.

Will this same condemnation accompany the unbeliever into the next life and before the great judgment? It seems so. Many verses assure us that those who reject the light will not approach the light:

• Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. (Psalm 1:4-5; also 24:3-4; 15:1-2; Luke 21:36; Isaiah 2:20-22; Malachi 3:2; Rev. 6:15-16; 20:11)

It is very possible that this same hatred of the light that had brought about the sinner’s present self-condemnation will also bring about their self-condemnation in the next life. Although this is horrific, in light of this self-condemnation, we cannot easily charge God with injustice. Instead, it is we who are unjust! From this perspective, the sinner is merely choosing his own destiny – the darkness - where he feels the greatest sense of comfort.

But doesn’t this theory circumvent the Bible’s teachings that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that “each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10)? No! The great judgment might simply represent an affirmation or a rubber-stamping of what we have already chosen.

For the children of God, the great judgment will be a time of rejoicing. This is because our fate has already been revealed in all clarity when Christ appears to gather us to Himself. It is then that we will be changed “in a twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:50-52) to become like Him (1 John 3:2; 1 Thess. 4:14-17). Therefore, when we stand before Him, there will be no doubt of our eternal fate.

Likewise, it seems that the lover-of-darkness has also sealed his own fate by running from the light. In light of this, no one can coherently blame God.

PREMISE #2 - The God of the Bible promises to punish with eternal torment.

There are many verses that promise eternal judgment or condemnation, for example:

• "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matthew 25:46)

The punishment will be just as eternal as “eternal life.” It is understandable that such verses are troubling. However, as I have argued above, we do not know the exact nature of this eternal judgment. In light of this uncertainty, the lover-of-light will give God the benefit of the doubt. Therefore, I often respond to these challenges this way:

• I don’t know how it will all come out in the end, but I do know that our God is both merciful and just. I also believe that our Creator has the right to judge His creation, and if we find this troubling, we should reconcile with Him before it is too late.

CONCLUSION – Job had also charged God with injustice, and it seemed that he had good reason to do so. God had allowed Satan to deprive him of almost everything, and Job was left devastated. However, his loss didn’t justify Job’s allegations against God.

• Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” (Job 38:1-3)

The Lord then asked Job a series of questions, and Job could not answer any of them. And Job got the point. He understood too little to bring his indictments against God and, therefore, repented:

• The LORD said to Job:  "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!" Then Job answered the LORD: "I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.” (Job 40:1-4)

What made Job unworthy? He was beginning to understand that he had spoken presumptuously about things he didn’t understand:

• “You [God] asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You [God] said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.'  My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:3-6)

Many will find Job’s response repugnant, but why? We too speak about things we do not understand. Although we know that we are just a speck in this grand universe, we act as if we were omniscient. Instead, we cannot even define the basics like time, space, matter, or light. The simplest things are beyond our knowing, and yet we too have the hubris to accuse God of injustice. Perhaps we too need to learn a little humility in keeping with our speck-ness.

God and Election: A Defense

In response to my defense of the doctrine election (predestination), one dear brother wrote:

• It's fatalistic, and, for the reprobate, hopeless. If I'm not a member of the elect, no amount of trying or praying, good behavior, or anything else I can do will save me. I was doomed from the beginning of time by powers beyond my comprehension.

While it is true that the non-elect are doomed, it is not fair or even biblical to conclude that God had doomed them. Instead, Scripture places all of the blame on us:

• As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. (Romans 3:10-12) 

• For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are WITHOUT EXCUSE.  (Romans 1:18-20)

The Hebrew Scriptures also indicate that God beckons everyone:

• Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity. (Proverbs 1:20-26)

God’s wisdom is available to all, but all reject it! The Prophets consistently proclaimed the same divine indictment on Israel:

• “Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt,    that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 3:12-13)

The problem was invariably with Israel and not with their God. This is why He sent them the Prophets, pleading with them to confess their sins, but they would not:

• I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me; The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider… They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. (Isaiah 1:2-4)
  

So many verses indicate that God had given them everything that they needed, and therefore, their rebellion (and also ours) was unjustified. It is not God who led Israel astray, but their own desires and self-justifying lies:

• Thus says the LORD… Because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept His commandments. Their lies lead them astray, lies which their fathers followed. (Amos 2:4)

Why then did Israel disbelieve and rebel? Was it because God hadn’t done enough for Israel? There is no indication of this any place in Scripture. Instead, God had given Israel everything:

• What more was there to do for my vineyard [Israel], that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? (Isaiah 5:4)

What then is the doctrine of reprobation about? It is a matter of God giving us what we want! In contrast, you claim:

• If I'm not a member of the elect, no amount of trying or praying, good behavior, or anything else I can do will save me.

This is just not biblical! Any who truly seek will find:

• But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice.  For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. (Deut. 4:29-31)

• “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8) 

However, we refuse to seek (Romans 3:11). We hate the light and love the darkness (John 3:19-20). We are therefore “self-condemned” (Titus 3:11) in rejecting what is already so clear (Romans 1:18-20; 2:14-15).

Therefore, those who are damned are those who want to be damned and removed from the Presence of God:

• For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:17-20)

If Jesus didn’t come to condemn us, how then are we condemned? By our own rejection of the Son – the Light of God! We are self-condemned by our rejection of this Light and our willful embrace of the darkness!

This is where election comes in. While we all rightfully deserve condemnation, God mercifully rescued His elect. However, in the end, there will be swinging wide of the doors of salvation (Joel 2:28; Romans 11:15; Isaiah 45:22-25; 66:22-23; Zechariah 14:16-18; Matthew 24:30), when our Lord will vindicate Himself.