How do you interpret this passage in light of God's sovereignty and omnipotence?

Question

2 Peter 3:9 (New Life Version)
New Life Version (NLV)
Copyright © 1969 by Christian Literature International

9 The Lord is not slow about keeping His promise as some people think. He is waiting for you. The Lord does not want any person to be punished forever. He wants all people to be sorry for their sins and turn from them.

God saves sinners out of His mercy alone according to the Scriptures (see especially the ninth chapter of Romans). According to the doctrine of election, God has chosen "before the foundation of the world" those who would would be saved.

So if he doesn't want anyone to go to hell, then why doesn't he save them?

(For the record, I am a Christian who beleives strongly in the sovereignty of God, but this passage poses a REAL problem to my theology.)

I welcome your thoughts on this.

I have to make a comment regarding the Arminian interpretation of the word "foreknowledge" that many of the answerers have. The word, according to the Amplified version, refers to those whom God "was aware and loved beforehand"; it in no way refers to His knowledge of who would believe in Christ and thereby His electing them on that basis. Please read the following:

Romans 8:29 (Amplified Bible)

29For those whom He foreknew [OF WHOM HE WAS AWARE AND LOVED BEFOREHAND (emphasis added)], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.

Election is made independently of any "decision" a person may make. Please read Acts 13:48 where it says that "all whom God appointed to eternal life believed." Notice the order...election, then belief!

Answer 1

Consider this passage referenced in Romans 9 and think about the character of Pharaoh.

Exodus 4:21 And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

Did Pharaoh want to repent and let the Israelites go? No, of course not. All he wanted was for the plagues to stop and for the Israelites to get back to their slave labor. In another passage it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. So who was it that did the hardening, Pharoah or God?

The answer is both. God confirmed Pharoah's desire to remain unrepentent. If a sinner really wants to repent and turn to God then God isn't going to harden that person's heart and tell them they have to go to Hell. So that leaves open a question that theologians have debated over and will probably never settle until Christ comes again.

Does God choose to save people because in his foreknowledge He knows who those people are that will respond to his offer of salvation? One side says that has to be a part of it because after all God does exist outside of time and He knows everything.

The other side says that's not true because a sinner can only desire to repent if God draws them to Jesus and opens their heart to receive Jesus as their Savior. That God chooses people according to his will and that since all have sinned and deserve death God is not unjust to save whomsoever He sovereignly chooses to save.

Answer 2

Obviously there is, within Christianity, those that feel that fate governs our lives, and those that feel it is completely free will. (Calvin, as you may know, was one of the people who strongly believed in predestination). I actually had a conversation about this in my AP English class after reading some story. As Jeremiah 1:4 states "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." Therefore, one can only assume that, being an omniscient Lord, God knows every aspect of our lives before we take even our first breath. So, the argument that we are predestined may seem to have some grounds. However, I feel that is not necessarily the case. Each choice we make in our lives will affect whether we follow Christ or the world. God knows which choice we will make, but it is still our choice to make it. Just because God knows where we will end up in Eternity, does not mean that he has put people in hell. He has allowed everyone the choices in there life and, in my experience, even nonbelievers experience divine intervention in their lives where God is standing right in front of them, and they turn away. Therefore, it can be argued, that God even tries to intervene, even though he knows that those people will turn away from the experience and call it luck. That is love! Even though he knows it is folly to try, like a loving father he tries anyway. The choices we make decide our fate, God just knows our fate before we do. I hope this slightly helped. This is a very complex question and I am hardly a religious scholar. God Bless.

Answer 3

you are ignorant... read the Bible a bit more... maybe then you would see that Jesus was the son of Jehovah. And then you would see that he was the first creation through which all other things were created, including the angels and all else. He gave free will, which is what you have to believe what you want to believe... you do not have to believe in a god of any sort... but then I have to ask you a question Why do you even care, why do you ask the questions like this, and what are you trying to prove... It seems to me that Athiests are way more obsessed with God and religion that those actually trying to follow them lol. Stop trying to prove there is no God and live your life the way you want... that is your point isn't it? you already have your minds made up lol so funny

Answer 4

First of all, the scripture is badly paraphrased. Substituting "punished forever" for "perish" is a poor choice and misleading. If the doctrine of election actually says what you write here, it is also misleading. Those chosen are the ones who will rule as kings and priests with Christ in God's Kingdom government for the 1000 years. They are just the "Little Flock" but they are not the only ones who will find salvation. The "great crowd of other sheep" will also be saved.

Answer 5

This is a really hard question and I'm not sure I really have the answer. But I look at these things.
1. God gives us free will. There is so much more blessing for us and joy for God to serve/be served out of free will than as an automaton. Thus sin is entered through Eve and Adam, and God's mercy is required.
2. God is not confined within the restraints of time as we are. God created time along with the heavens and earth and all that is in them. He is in the past he is in the present and he is in the future.
In relation to your question. Yes God could have taken away free will and there would have been no sin, no pain, no hell. We have no way of knowing the blessing of choosing God that we would have missed out on. As for the election or predestination. God knows who will be his adopted children for he is in the future.

2 Peter 1:10
10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure
It seems that predestination is not as out of our control as we think. we play a role in predestination.
How? It's hard for me to explain my thoughts but it has to do with God existing outside of time or perhaps within all realms of time.
The God(present and future) who decides that we are the elect is the same God who is right now in the past. Therefore the decision is taking place in the past present and future. Thus keeping intact the theology of God's sovereignty.
Check out this website it gives verses against each point of calvinism.
http://www.biblestudylessons.com/cgi-bin/gospel_way/predestination.php

Answer 6

My thoughts for what its worth ... I think the passage shows that there is a compassionate purpose in God’s timing. Predestination is based on the foreknowledge of God. Those whom God foreknew would choose eternity with him are "predestined" to spend eternity with him. God knew what choices man, with his free will, would make, and our predestination is based on that choice. It's not that we don't have a choice...it's that God, in his omniscience, knows what choice you are going to make before you make it. And your calling, your justification, and your eventual glorification stems from that foreknowledge of God.

As for Calvinism, or the idea that God "foreloved" only certain people and the rest of them he lets go to hell...it is based on the idea that God is sovereign (which he is), but they take it a step further and say that because he is sovereign His will is ALWAYS done. Therefore, it must be that God wills some people to go to heaven and wills others to go to hell. Otherwise, if man had a choice, God wouldn't be sovereign, right?

But Peter shows us in 2 Peter 3:9, if God is sovereign, and He doesn't will anyone to perish, but that everyone should come to repentance, why do some not come, and why do some perish? Because being sovereign doesn't mean your will is always imposed, even if it could be. Just because God doesn't do something doesn't mean he can't do it...but when it comes to men's souls, he has left the choice in their hands.

Answer 7

You can give a person a gift but you can't force them to accept it. God gave his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus was the Gift. But it is up to each individual to accept this Gift. (Hell wasn't made for people-it was made for Satan and his demons as punishment for their rebellion.) Also, He didn't want a bunch of robots serving Him so he gave us the gift of Free Will, also. He wants us to live for Him because we want to not because we have to. The Doctrine of Election has been misinterpreted for many years. It just means that God knows who will accept Him, which makes sense considering He knows the future. There is no question in regards to God's sovereignty, after all and in the end we all will answer to Him.

God wants us to have an intimate relationship with Him. He wants to Bless us here on earth and to guide us in all that we do because He knows whats best for us. That way we have a high quality of life. Then he wants to reward us by spending Eternity with Him. The Bible says that eye has not seen nor ears have heard the awesome things God has planned in Heaven for His followers. So why would anyone reject His awesome Gift and Blessings?
Hoped I helped answer your question. God Bless.

Answer 8

This is one of the main paradoxes between Calvinist Theology and Arminian Theology.

The Calvinist points to passages like these and says that God has chosen certain people for salvation, and others for damnation.

The Arminian points to other passages that tell us that we are to choose Christ and live, abiding in Christ.

Because we are finite, and God is infinite, we can't seem to get our hands around what He means.

Because you do trust in God's sovereignty, trust that what He says is true. We don't necessarily have to understand what He has said in His word, but believe it to be true. Because there are indeed passages that teach both sides of this issue, there must be some way that both are true.

Perhaps it is because God sees the future and the past the same way, He knows who will choose and who will not.

Answer 9

To believers, peter address the seeming delay of Christ's return.
1. God does not view time as we do.
2. God gives more time for people to repent

the elect: We look at a gate with a sign over it
"Whosoever will"
After you walk through that gate you look back and the other side of that sign says "THE ELECT"
God knows who the elect are--man doesn't know
Salvation is a choice--man must recognize that he needs God and confess him. This is free will part of salvation.

Answer 10

First I don't agree in total. It is for sure by his grace tht we are saved. But we are rewarded by our works. God does not reward the lazy or those that profess one thing and do another. Why commandments if we are judged by our righteousness. By grace we are saved after all we can do.

Second, the names may have been written before the foundation of the world of those who would make it, but that was by fore sight and not foreordination. And the only hell there is is the the common grave of us all. That is what Jesus overcome, our permanent sleeping in the grave. A rightwous God would not torment people forever in a place that we incorrectly call hell, a place of torment and burning. Why would god penalize us for having to live in an earthly body tormented by Satan and forever???? I think not.