Page 153 - Advanced Apologetics and World Views Revised

Some people say God elected some people to go to Heaven and others to go to Hell.
How can I know if God elected me?

This question concerns itself with the doctrine of election which is taught in Scripture. Election means
that God chose us to become his adopted sons. It is taught in Ephesians 1: 4-5

“… even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless
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before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to
the purpose of his will…”

The flip side of the doctrine of election is the doctrine of free will. Free will means that God gave every
man the freedom to choose salvation that is offered to all. Norman Geisler defines the free will of man
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as, “the ability to do otherwise.” There are hundreds of verses in Scripture where God invites men to
obey Him, serve Him, and freely receive the gift of eternal life (Genesis 2:15-17, Exodus 13: 17-18,
Joshua 24:14-15, John 1:9, John 3:13, Romans 10:21, and on and on).

In Scripture the two never come into opposition in the way some would claim is possible. God is
sovereign and brings about His plan as He wills. Man acts as he decides. Both truths exist in harmony.
Notice the mutual sovereign plan of God and the free acts of man working together in Acts 2:23 “this
Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by
the hands of lawless men.” Notice that the men were rejecting God’s offer of salvation and Messiah as
they simultaneously were acting in complete accordance with the plan and the means of providing
God’s offer of salvation. They were freely rejecting God and His plan. God was using their rejection to
bring about His plan.

Another example of God working this way is found in Exodus 13:17-18 which says, “When Pharaoh let
the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For
God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” But God led the
people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of
the land of Egypt equipped for battle.” God did not put His desire in their heart. He did not force every
step they took. He sovereignly got them to go where He wanted by putting them in situations where He
knew what they would choose.

God does this throughout Scripture. God is completely in control and that He made man completely
free, even in their fallen and corrupted state. In his work, The Knowledge of the Holy, Dr A.W. Tozer
summarizes the biblical teaching well when he says “God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to
exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice
between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of
God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but
that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom,
who is there to stay His hand or say, 'What doest thou?' Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A
God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do
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so.” God’s sovereignty is never threatened by human freedom. Rather, it establishes it and holds its
users accountable.

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