What Does It Mean To Be Chosen?
“And he said, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” John 6:65
One of the important beliefs of Reformed theology is irresistible grace. What does irresistible grace mean? Does it mean that people cannot resist God? Does it mean that I can do nothing against God’s will? No. In fact, the phrase does not refer to the ordinary events and actions of daily life. It rather refers to the matter of our eternal salvation. It is a piece of the puzzle of our election. Those whom God elects, he calls irresistibly to come to him.
Is there anything in life that is irresistible? One might think of a delicious piece of your favorite dessert at the dinner table. Most of us find this irresistible. Of course, it is not technically irresistible. One might be on a strict diet and be in a weight loss contest with your friend. One might have an upset stomach that makes your favorite dessert unappetizing at the moment. But consider that, under certain circumstances, it might be, for all intents and purposes, irresistible. Imagine that it’s your birthday party, and the dessert has a candle on it. Imagine also that everyone else has a dessert in front of them, and they have just sung happy birthday. Everyone digs into their piece of cake; what will you do? At that point, you will make no other choice but to eat your dessert … and enjoy it, diet or not.
What does this have to do with our eternal salvation? The idea behind God’s irresistible grace is that he is able to tailor the circumstances such that whomever he chooses will turn to him in faith. One might object that there are many ways to reject God and that many people do. However, Reformed theology believes that, for those whom God chooses to call, at certain times and in certain ways, God enables them to sense his glory such that it compels them irresistibly to turn their hearts and lives toward him. In fact, when God’s grace touches us in this way, nothing can stop us from turning to him.
How does this happen? It happens by his enticing call on our lives. Jesus enlightens our minds, softens our hearts, and renews our wills, so that the freedom lost in the fall is restored to us. This enables us to turn to him, embrace him, and open our hearts to him.
This is a great gift of God to us, because apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ, we are incapable of being in God’s presence and incapable of bearing the weight of his glory. God is holy, pure, and the light to which no human being can approach. How then do we enter into the pleasure and presence of God? The New Testament declares that Jesus Christ is our entrance. He offers us safe conduct into the heart of God’s consuming and purifying fire, which we cannot bear on our own. He shields us with his perfect humanity and transforms us by his divine power. We receive the righteousness of Christ so that we, though sinful humans, can enter the Holy of Holies and embrace God as our heavenly Father.
Jesus said that no one could come to him unless it was granted him by the Father. This makes our election a privilege and mystery of profound consequence. God has chosen us, in Christ, both for his service and for eternal salvation. We are numbered, through faith and by God’s call, among the people of God through whom God is at work in the world. As Psalm 8 says, who are we that God should take such thought for us (Psalm 8:3, 4)?