Subject: What does Bible teach on election? |
Bible Note: I do believe your interpretation of Divine Predestination. I guess where I disagree is interpretation of Election. In the verse you listed (2 Thes 2:13), I interpret this as follows: Paul is writing to a group of believers and when he refers to "God has chosen (elected) you from the beginning for salvation", he's not telling them that they are special because God had pre-chosen them individually, but God had made a provision for them to be saved and they are special (the "Elect" or in today's terms "the born-again" or "believers") because they accepted God's gift and chose to follow Christ. There are many verses in the Bible that talk about God wanting all to be saved and for us to choose to believe. When you look at the verses that talk about the elect and apply the interpretation that the elect are another way of saying believers and that predestination is refering to God's over-all plan rather than individually, then the whole bible falls together. I haven't seen any "Election" verses that can't interpreted this way. I have seen many verses and stories in the Bible that the "Election theory" doesn't hold up. I will be spending some time exploring the "Election" interpretation in greater detail and hope you will also spend some time exploring the "Free Will" interpretation in an unbiased study. |