Have you ever found yourself in an argument that never seemed to go anywhere? People dig in their heels and end up repeating themselves as they try to convince each other that they’re right. Often when that happens, we need to step back and look at the problem from a different angle. I think that’s the case with the question of whether God chooses to save certain people and not others.

If you’re not familiar with the question, it comes up as people read passages like Ephesians 1:4-5, where it says: “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” It seems to say that God chose certain people before He even created the world and purposed to adopt them and make them holy. Just as we’re hoping for a reason, he adds that he does this for His own purposes. The New Living Translation puts it like this: This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Of course, this sounds generous on one hand, but it doesn’t strike us as fair. There must be some other explanation. Surely, it means that God chooses everyone equally. Surely, He adopts everyone, but some people just refuse His adoption. Surely, if He does choose certain people, it must be because of some quality of faith or merit that He sees in them. Christians argue back and forth about these questions. Maybe, there’s help in looking at other choices that God has made in Scripture.

Why did God choose Abraham?

Abraham is perhaps the first person that God is described as choosing. It comes at a crisis point in human history. Since the garden, sin had only seemed to increase from generation to generation. Not even the flood seemed to change things. Then at Babel, humanity united in rebellion against Him. We wonder if God is going to destroy His creation altogether this time. Instead, he calls a man from one of the towns surrounding Babel, the centre of the rebellion. Through Abraham, God will bring salvation to the world (Genesis 12:3). The question is, Why him? It wasn’t because of his moral or spiritual superiority because he was an idol worshipper before God called him (Joshua 24:2), and his moral lapses are famous (Genesis 12:13; 16:2; 20:2). In Genesis 18:19, God does describe His choice in this way: “I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” God chose Abraham simply because He had a purpose for Him, and He wanted to fulfill His promise to Him. God didn’t choose everyone equally. There wasn’t a democratic vote. And there’s no indication that Abraham was chosen because of his worthiness. God simply decided to have mercy on him and through him, show mercy to the world.

Why did God choose Israel?

What about Israel, though? Why did God choose Israel? In the Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye famously says: “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can't You choose someone else?” But the fact is that God didn’t choose someone else. He didn’t choose Philistia or Moab or Tyre. He chose Israel. Was it because God knew what an incredibly faithful nation they’d become? In Deuteronomy 7:6-8, God explains His choice in this way: “The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers” It wasn’t because Israel was especially worthy that God chose them, but because He set His love on them and wanted to keep the promises He had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Why did God choose Paul?

Finally, consider Paul. He was on his way to Damascus with letters to arrest the Christians there (Acts 9:1-2). Believers were terrified of him. He later called himself the worst of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). Why did God call him and not someone else? Why did Jesus miraculously appear to Him (Acts 9:3-6)? It’s not like Jesus physically appears to everyone with blinding light and an audible voice from heaven. Surely it was to show that no one is beyond God’s grace. No one is too far gone to be beyond hope. It wasn’t so much that God knew what an amazing apostle Paul could become. It was more the fact that God set His love on the worst of sinners to show how much His grace can change a person.

God chose to save Abraham, Israel, and Paul in order to display His own glory. And as we circle back to Ephesians 1:4-5, we see that that’s why God chooses any of us. We’re not especially savable or lovable. The reality is that, left to ourselves, none of us would have turned from our sins and believed. But God worked in our hearts that we would. He chose us and drew us to faith, and so everything about our salvation is a gift from God. That gives me hope in sharing my faith with others because God might save anyone. And it gives me hope for myself because I can trust that whatever God has started, I can be assured He’ll finish. Give thanks to God for the hope of His grace!

In awe of Him,

Paul