{"id":1205,"date":"2009-03-15T08:45:01","date_gmt":"2009-03-15T13:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/?p=1205"},"modified":"2009-03-15T08:48:40","modified_gmt":"2009-03-15T13:48:40","slug":"answering-tough-questions-bible-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/answering-tough-questions-bible-answers","title":{"rendered":"Answering “Tough Questions, Bible Answers”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regular listeners to my radio program know that it airs live from 4p – 6p ET in Detroit, followed by another live one hour program sponsored by a local Word-Faith church. Last Thursday night about 7 minutes into that program the guest host directly challenged on-air what I told a listener to my program who called during my program with a question about John MacArthur\u2019s position on election and whether or not it was biblical. Here is a direct quote of what the host said in response to my answer to the caller:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was listening to the previous program, and they were talking about the doctrine of election, does God pick and choose who He saves? Well, you know, I\u2019ll just tell you: read Acts 10:34. Read it! Right from the very beginning, with Adam, God was not (well, I almost give (sic) the answer away), but He didn\u2019t pick and choose. \u00a0Hello! He gave him a free will. He gives you a free will. Ah, I gave you the answer anyway. He\u2019s not a respecter of persons, if He picks and chooses. He\u2019d be the biggest respecter of persons if He picks and choose who\u2019s saved and who\u2019s not saved.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a total misrepresentation of what I told the listener. Beyond that, it is not a careful handling of Scripture. The host cited Acts 10:34 as proof that God does not show partiality or is not a \u201crespecter of persons,\u201d and concludes from this that God does not choose who will be saved and who will not be saved, but that the choice is the individuals. However, the entire context of Acts 10:34 – 35 reads this way:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,\u00a0<\/strong>but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Typical of the Word-Faith movement is to lift verses out of their context to make them fit their predetermined conclusion. The host quoted only verse 34, which does indeed say God shows no partiality.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, Peter’s thought didn’t end with verse 34. He’s still talking in verse 35 when he says, “but…”. In normal conversation when a person has made a statement followed by “but,” that means that what he says after the “but” qualifies what he has said before the “but.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Peter follows his assertion that God shows no partiality by clearly saying that God “accepts those who fear him and do what its right.” Clearly Peter says that God makes a distinction – a choice – without showing partiality. In this context, those who fear God and do what is right, do so BECAUSE God chose them, not IN ORDER THAT God might choose them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When Peter says that God does not show partiality, he means that God does not take who we are or anything we have done into account when He chooses to save us. It does NOT mean that God does not choose. Clearly God chooses, and He clearly chose the people Israel to be his treasured possession out of<\/strong> all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, as Deuteronomy 7:6-8 clearly says:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you<\/strong> 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<\/strong>, 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, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Paul makes the same point in Romans 9:11-13, speaking of Jacob and Esau, when he says, “Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad – in order that God’s purpose of election might continue<\/strong>, not because of works but because of his call – she (Rebecca) was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn’t because of anything good in Jacob that God called Jacob, and it wasn’t because of anything bad in Esau that God did not call Esau. It wasn’t because of their works but because of God’s call. Three verses later Paul says, “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To assert that God does not choose because He does not show partiality is to mishandle the Scriptures. In choosing us for salvation, He did not show partiality, therefore He is not a respecter of persons.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So if God doesn’t choose based on us, or in response to anything we do, what is the basis of His choosing or election? His own will and purpose, for His own glory. Romans 9:18 says, “So then He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills.”\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now that’s a tough answer to a Bible question.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regular listeners to my radio program know that it airs live from 4p – 6p ET in Detroit, followed by another live one hour program sponsored by a local Word-Faith church. Last Thursday night about 7 minutes into that program … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1205"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1207,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions\/1207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}