Arminian Man’s Sovereign Will

 The Arminian idea of Election: God looks down through the corridor of time, and sees that one day certain people will choose Him. And because of their choice of Him, He in turn chooses them.

I understand why a person might want to believe that. There was a time when I would have thought this was true. The problem with that, though, is that there isn’t a verse or passage in Scripture that suggests it. Scripture says God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. And we are told that it was according to “the good pleasure of His will” (Eph. 1:4-5), not according to our choosing of Him first. In Romans 9:11 we are told that Isaac, who is set forward as an example of salvation, was chosen before he could do any good or evil.

Then there are the attempts to suggest election is to sanctification or service. The problem with that, though, is that Scripture never separates these things from each other, but always treats them all as a part of the complete package I what it is to be saved. The elect man is justified, and sanctified, and serves God and neighbor. If one of these things is missing, they are all missing.

And so if we are to believe that we are chosen on the basis of our choice, it is an odd thing that God’s Word seems to go to such great lengths to suggest the exact opposite.