It says in Ephesians 1:4-5 that God chose who would become members of his family before the foundation of the world and that he predestined those individuals for adoption through his Son, Jesus Christ. “The verb ‘chose’ (v. 4) is the translation of the Greek work exelexatō (1586), meaning ‘chosen out of.’ In this context, it signifies that at one particular time in the past, God chose individuals for salvation (cf. Matt. 24:31; Luke 18:7; Rom. 8:33; 2 Tim. 2:10; James 2:5). ‘Predestined’ (v. 5) is the rendering of the verb proorisas (4309), ‘to determine beforehand’ (cf. Acts 4:28; Rom. 8:29; 9:11; 1 Pet. 1:2, 20). God selected certain individuals to be delivered from sin and death before he had even conceived the world that we live in. Paul explained the reasoning behind God’s divine selection in his letter to the Romans. Paul said of Isaac’s sons Jacob and Esau that though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, God chose Jacob, not because of works, “but because of him who calls” (Romans 9:11). The Greek word that is translated calls, kaleo (kal-ehˊ-o) has to do with extending an invitation or giving a verbal command. God’s sovereign choice is exercised when he calls someone into his family, but the individual’s free will must also be exercised by responding to God’s invitation. “The invitation to believe in Christ and be saved is extended to all (John 3:16-18, 36; 6:37; 10:9; Acts 10:43). Everyone who hears the gospel is responsible to either accept or reject Christ. If one perishes in his sin, he is condemned as a result of his own choice (John 3:18). God’s foreknowledge and predetermination of those who will respond to the gospel is therefore a matter of his ability to limit in advance the outcome of everything that takes place on earth.

Paul asked the question, “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ So then he has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills” (Romans 9:14-18). Paul pointed to God’s mercy as the driving force behind his divine selection. When God hardens someone’s heart, he is merely reenforcing that individual’s own moral choice. It says in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Paul argued that God’s sovereign choice did not override man’s culpability and then, went on to explain that God’s intervention was necessary for individuals to be saved. Paul stated:

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

The point that Paul wanted his readers to understand was that apart from God’s mercy, we would all be destined for hell. So that people would know it was not his desire for them to be eternally separated from him, God chose to save everyone who would receive his free gift of salvation by placing their trust in Jesus Christ.

Paul contrasted God’s decision to save both Jews and Gentiles with his decision to save only a remnant of the descendants of Abraham (Romans 9:25-29). Paul attributed this to Israel’s unbelief and emphasized the importance of receiving salvation by faith. Paul said, “What shall we say, then? That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” (Romans 9:30-33). Paul assured both Jews and Gentiles that anyone who would be willing to place their trust in Christ would not be put to shame, meaning that God would not choose to reject anyone who believed in Jesus. Jesus explained to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).