God's Dynamite: You Cast the Deciding Vote
Elton Trueblood once said, "All truth contains a measure of paradox." That's certainly true of the doctrine of election. It contains a measure of paradox. And mystery! The latter part of Romans 8 and the first part of Romans 9 is one of the classic passages about election. In 8:29-30, Paul said that those God foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Those he predestined, he called, those he called, he justified, and those he justified, he glorified. He followed this statement with scripture references to Malachi's prophecy about Jacob and Esau and to the Exodus account concerning Pharaoh. Historically, Christ followers have fallen into two camps: Calvinistic (Reformed) and Arminian. The Calvinistic camp emphasizes God's sovereignty in electing those who would be saved. People don't have free wills or free choices about following Christ. God determined their decision before he created the world. Christ di