Election And The Process Of Conversion

ELECTION AND THE PROCESS OF CONVERSION
If we are to understand that man's salvation is predetermined by God, then is it necessary for man to hear the message of the gospel and to respond to it in faith and repentance? Shall men not be saved solely on the basis of whether they have been predestined and quite apart from their faith and repentance? What if a man who has been elected by God dies before he hears the gospel and believes? The answer to all of these questions is quickly understood when we realize that God's predetermined plan is not limited to the area and scope of who shall be saved. It also involves the means and the manner in which that salvation is to be brought to each individual. In the last chapter, we established that all events in history have been ordained by God. The fall of every sparrow and the plucking of each grey hair has been carefully planned by the Lord of the universe. Every decision, every discovery and every chance happening has been foreordained by Him.

What does all of this have to do with salvation? It means that God has determined and planned all of the events that work together in a man's life to bring him to the point where he repents and believes the gospel. God's plan included who would be the one to tell you of the sacrifice that was made for your sins. It included the Holy Spirit's regenerating work in your heart as you heard the message of the gospel. It included the decision that you made to believe that message and trust in Jesus Christ to save you.

God's plan included all of these things. This is visibly illustrated in the book of Acts when we read of the salvation of the Gentile believers in Antioch. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:24).

These Gentiles heard the message of the gospel and a number of them believed the message and were saved. Luke describes this number as those who had been appointed to eternal life. Notice who is described as doing the action in each of these clauses: The Gentiles did this action...|The Gentiles are passive...|
They heard...

They began rejoicing and glorifying...

They believed...|They had been appointed to eternal life| Who appointed these Gentiles to eternal life? One might try to suggest that they appointed themselves, but that would be an improper use of the passive voice. Furthermore, the Greek verb is a perfect passive participle (tetagme,noi). The action of the perfect tense precedes the action of the main verb. This means the appointment of these Gentiles to eternal life took place before they believed.

Since it is in the passive voice, the action was been done TO them - they were not the ones doing the appointing, but rather someone else had already done that. The same form of the same word is used in Acts 22:10 where Paul is told to “arise and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that HAS BEEN APPOINTED for you to do.” Paul did not appoint himself to be an apostle and these Gentile believers did not appoint themselves to eternal life. At the same time, we see that these Gentiles were not saved apart from the hearing of the message or apart from the believing of that message. Paul and Barnabas preached to them the good news of the gospel. They heard the message and considered it. The Holy Spirit worked in their hearts to bring them to an understanding and an acceptance of that message. As a result, they believed. And yet, we are made to understand that those who now believed had been previously appointed to eternal life. Who appointed them? The answer is obvious. It was the Lord who appointed them.

God had previously ordained that these Gentiles would have eternal life. But that is not all that God had ordained. He had also ordained that they should happen to be at Antioch on that particular day and that they would hear the preaching of Paul and Barnabas and that they would believe. Truly they were saved by the One who works ALL things after the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11).