When God selects a man or woman for salvation, they will come to Him and choose to be saved, However They can not come unless they are drawn or chosen by God (John 6:44,65). How does this work? Scripture does not tell us clearly. But it does say if one believes Jesus is the Son of God and that He died to forgive their sins they will be saved, (Rom. 10:9-10) Yes, God chooses and so does a man or woman. When a man or woman responds to Him, scripture also reveals that God caused it to happen. (John 6:37,
(Eph. 1:4-5), (II Thess.2:13b)
. God chooses and man chooses. Both are true.
What a mystery! Many Christians try to figure this out but have difficulty with it because of ingrained traditional thought. May I suggest that we need to believe that God has predestined or elected us because The Bible says it many times and anyone who believes will be saved because it says that many times also. Scripture says both!
The mystery of predestination/election is that God has chosen us and yet we are commanded to believe. Listen to (1 John 3:23-25) ” And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave commandment. and he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” These types of Mysteries are forced upon us by the facts of God’s Word. We do not invent them ourselves. Since His written revelation teaches concepts that appear to be mutually exclusive, we must realize that with God both truths are friends, not enemies. In God’s higher rationality, things that we think must be either one or the other can in reality be both.and according to II Thess. 2:13 that is made very plain to us. We find both truths in the same verse with each carrying equal weight. They are both a part of the Gift of Salvation. It says; “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: ” KJV (highlight mine)
The truth mentioned here is The Gospel of The Birth, Death and Resurrection of The Lord Jesus that paid the price of our sins
It is obvious to me that we are not so smart and informed that we can make the choice to come to God when ever we decide to do so unless He has brought us to that point. (Jn.6:44), You can not do it on your own. (Rom.3:11-12
Acts 13:48 NIV says this; “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.”
This is an act of the Sovereignty of God.
He leads us to make that choice; (Phil.1:29,(Eph.1:4)
The biblical texts involved in predestination/
election and free will are difficult and appear to conflict. Here we must especially seek unity in diversity and charity in all things. As a practical consequence, whether you believe my faith was my choice or not, I hope you’ll agree that I am a Christian. Wherever we may disagree on motives and choices, we MUST AGREE that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Our Salvation is based on our faith in His shed blood for our sins and Not of Any Works of our own Merit (Eph.2:8-9)
C. S. Lewis was right when he wrote: If time is a line on a page, God is the page. So long as we’re on the page with him, all is well.
Some evidences of salvation can be found in these verses (Romans 8:9-11, Ephesians 1:13, 1 John 3:24)
