On what basis does God choose people for salvation?

Question

Please consider Acts 13:48 when answering this question:

"When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed." (New International Version)

And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. (King James Version)


Notice that the words "appointed " and "ordained" for eternal life come BEFORE the word "believed."

Answer 1

God can appoint and ordain at the time of his choosing, and it's not difficult to see when God has made his decrees; Ephesians 1:4, "before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." Acts 13:48 has an implication of those being saved, being appointed long, long before they made that decision. In fact, "decision" is the wrong word. They simply responded to God's effectual call to come to him.

God certainly does have foreknowledge as to who will and won't receive him; it's not rocket science. He is in charge of his universe, he has the power to save and the power to leave some in their sins. GRACE PRECEDES FAITH, Kidd, and you've highlighted that fact in this verse. Nonetheless, people continue to tap-dance around this passage in order to fill the squares of Arminian theology. Think of it, the creatures keeping the Creator under their thumb and calling their natural tendency to hate God and their neighbor, a "gift," going so far as to deny their own spiritual death in the presumption that they can reach to God to claim salvation like a product off of the shelf. Not so, it must be given, and the owner of that gift decides who gets it, out of a world of people who don't deserve it. That's appointing. That's ordaining. That's love.

Answer 2

OK, using what you have written: When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord...

lets stop there: They accepted the Lord! this is the point that must be noted. It comes before the word "appointed" or "ordained. They accepted, THEN they were "ordained".

They accepted the word FIRST... then the rest followed.

ordained: to put in order; arrange; prepare. 2) to predetermine; predestine.

Once they accepted the word, they were healed through their faith, therefore "predestined" or "predetermined" to have eternal life, over death.
But only because they accepted first.

Answer 3

The basis is the Love of God. God is love. That is his motive.
As for the words appointed and ordained, you must remember that God is outside of time as we understand it. So naturally
He would know who would respond to the call of salvation. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that He could appoint and ordain those who He knew would choose Salvation before they actually believed.
I hope this helps.
I Cr 13;8a

Answer 4

I would have to check the Greek or a more trustworthy translation like the NRSV before I really addressed this. But I believe we see in Jesus that God was reaching out beyond the Jews, or chosen people, to all of humanity, thus I would say, God chooses all people for salvation.

Answer 5

As brother Don has pointed out,it is not God's will that any should perish,but that ALL would come to everlasting life,though Christ...
The Bible does state that God has sovereinly chosen some,to eternal life,but the basis of this decision is never revealed..This is not the only place that it is mentioned..It could possibly mean that the "chosen" that is reffered to, is those who would respond to his grace... (The Bible never says that God has predestined anyone to hell)

One thing is absolutely certain..God will never turn anyone away,who is seeking Him,earnestly...NO way...God is neither arbitrary or capricious in providing the grace needed for man to come to the point of salvation,through his Son...God is a fair and is calling to all who will hear him...Jesus did not just die for a few,whom he chose arbitrarily, but for ALL who will come to him,in faith believing. Absolutely.

Answer 6

God, before the foundation of the world chose certain individuals to be the object of His grace. These and only these He purposed to save. “Even as He has chosen us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4). See II Thes. 2:13, II Tim. 1:9, Rev. 13:8, I Thes. 1:4, and John 6:65.

It would have been perfectly just for God to have left all men in their sins and to have shown mercy to none. “God has mercy on whom He wants and He hardens whom He wants to harden.” (Rom. 9:18).

God's choice was not based upon any foreseen response or acts performed by those chose, but was based solely on His good pleasure and sovereign will. “He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11), not after the will of His creatures.

Apostle Paul, replying to those who accuse God of being unfair by choosing some and passing other, writes; “O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” (Rom. 9:20-21)

Paul, in Rom 9:22-24, expounds that Gentiles along with Jews have been ordained to eternal life to make known the riches of His glory.
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HERE IS MY RESPONSE TO “CJ” ANWER (first answer) ON ROMANS 8

The God’s sovereign election could be summarized in the unbreakable chain of Rom 8:29-30. Notice the chain of events: Those whom God (1) knew or fixed His Heart upon in ages past, (2) He marked out or ordained, and (3) in time He called (effectually), and (4) He justified, and (5) He glorified. So indissoluble is the chain that the last link is here viewed as an accomplished fact because the first links are so. The exact number known by God before the world began shall be glorified, no more, no less, and all of them must and will pass through each of these five steps.

To illustrate: Suppose God foreknew 100 individuals, then He predestined 100, He called 100, He justified 100, and, He glorified 100 individuals. None are gained, none are lost. He will bring to salvation each individual whom He set His heart on (loved) before the world began.

Answer 7

I agree with you. 1 Cor 2:12-13, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are FREELY GIVEN to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual". We through the Holy Spirit compare the spirits to see if they are of God or man. I think James 3:17, says it best, "But the WISDOM THAT IS FROM ABOVE is first PURE, then PEACEABLE, GENTLE, and easy to be intreated, full of MERCY and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. All the glory belongs to God!

Answer 8

Christ taught that ALL who accepted Him would be saved. We make the choice ourselves. No real Christian tries to blame God for those who fail to accept His mercy.

God chooses for all to be His children--that is what the words "appointed" and "ordained" mean in this context-but we have a free choice as to whether we avail ourselves o fthe place He has set for us.

It is only false teachers and servents of evil that try to twist and distort the meaning of these passages. I suggest, for the sake of your soul, tha tyou turn away from these false preachers and follow what Christ truely taught.

Answer 9

This verse is referring to the Angel sent to tell the Gentiles that they were now going to be offered the gift of eternal life through Christ's sacrifice. Before Christ, the Jews were God's chosen people, but because they rejected God's son, God decided to make eternal available to all who believed in Christ and his sacrifice as the ultimate sacrificial lamb. So the Gentiles were being presented with a truth from God, and the message was what they believed.

All of us have free will to accept the gift of eternal life through Christ, all it takes is believing in Him. I hope this helps you.

Answer 10

Read Romans 8. God chooses based on His foreknowledge, which is based upon the fact that He knows who will choose to believe and won't. They still choose, and He elects from knowledge of that.