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NASB | John 3:17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him. |
Bible Question: How does one reconcile the Biblical teaching of predestination/election with the referebce that it is God's will that none should perish and that all would come to repentence? |
Bible Answer: "He does not wish for any to perish." ____________________ "God sometimes decrees things that he does not desire and desires things that he does not decree." ____________________ [Paul addresses the issue of election in a very direct way. (Do a search in your concordance for the words "elect" and "election" in the Pauline Epistles -- the writings of Paul. See also "chose" and "chosen", which mean the same thing as elect, elected, election.)] 2 Peter 3:9 (NET Bible) The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any[4] to perish but for all to come to repentance. Footnote 4. "He does not wish for any to perish." '...the literary context seems to be against the Arminian view, while the historical context seems to be against (one representation of) the Calvinist view. The answer to this conundrum is found in the term "wish" (a participle in Greek from the verb boulomai). It often represents a mere wish, or one's desiderative will, rather than one's resolve. Unless God's will is viewed on the two planes of his desiderative and decretive will (what he desires and what he decrees), hopeless confusion will result. 'The scriptures amply illustrate both that God sometimes decrees things that he does not desire and desires things that he does not decree. It is not that his will can be thwarted, nor that he has limited his sovereignty. But the mystery of God's dealings with humanity is best seen if this tension is preserved. Otherwise, either God will be perceived as good but impotent or as a sovereign taskmaster. Here the idea that God does not wish for any to perish speaks only of God's desiderative will, without comment on his decretive will.' (http://www.bible.org/cgi-bin/netbible.pl#note_3 |