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Romans 10:13 – “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

John 3:16 – “…that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”

Scripture clearly states that God has sovereignly chosen us, yet we have a free will in salvation.

The key to understanding that both doctrines are true is found in Romans 8:29 – “For whom He
foreknew (to know ahead of time), He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.”
Somehow the two doctrines are linked by God’s foreknowledge. We must remember that God is not
limited by time. In God’s realm, there is no past, present, and future, as He not bound by the limitations
of time as we are. From the very beginning of creation, God could see every person in the future of
mankind and view their response to seeking Him. Simultaneously, He could choose to bring salvation to
some because of His foreknowledge.

Every person is responsible to respond to the Gospel, either to accept Christ’s sacrifice for their sins, or
reject it. Those who accept it are those who were chosen by God’s grace.

Why I am not a five-point Calvinist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwNZhdPqGDE

What is the Gospel?
The word gospel means “good news.” It is best described in:

I Corinthians 15:3-4 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

The gospel message is that Christ died and arose to take our punishment for sin and give us eternal life.

The key word in the New Testament describing what one must do to have eternal life is “believe (to
exercise faith).” The term “believe” means more than believing a fact. It means “trusting in” or
“depending on” a fact. You can say a chair will hold you up if you sit in it, but true faith is demonstrated
by sitting down in the chair. That’s what “believing in Christ for eternal life” means. In the Bible, “faith”
in Christ means the same thing. It’s the noun form of the verb “believe.” The best verse in the Bible to
help us truly understand what a person must do is found in John.

John 3:16 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.

Other descriptions for “eternal life” you will find in these passages are “salvation, saved, justification,
justified.” The word “grace” describes the whole process of God giving eternal life as a free gift – apart
from works – to those who believe.

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