June 21
Acts 13:42-14:7
We have seen throughout the New Testament that God is the sovereign king of the universe. At the same time people have free will. When we think about God's sovereignty and human freedom, it inevitably ends with some level of mystery. How do you put these seemingly contradictory ideas together? Look at Acts 13:48, "All who were appointed for eternal life believed" and 14:1, "A great number of Jews and Greeks believed." Throughout Scripture language is used that God predestines, elects, chooses. Also in Acts 13 the language of appointing is used. God is king over salvation, and it is only through his initiative and work that anyone is saved. God is our savior, and no one can be redeemed through their own ability or work. Yet at the same time, people are saved by grace through faith. For someone to be saved they must believe. Acts 13:48 and 14:1 make this point crystal clear.
God does his part, and we need to do ours. Every time a person comes to faith in Christ it is a beautiful display of God's power, grace, and work, and a person coming to faith by an act of their will. How these things work together is always going to be a mystery on some level, but like puzzle pieces we need to try to put Scripture together. Like all areas of theology, we may not know things perfectly or fully, but we can know things truthfully. So, we are saved by God’s grace and through our faith.
Father God, help me to share the message of Christ with those who are far from you, that they might believe. Amen.
How do you put the pieces of God's sovereignty and human free will together?
We have seen throughout the New Testament that God is the sovereign king of the universe. At the same time people have free will. When we think about God's sovereignty and human freedom, it inevitably ends with some level of mystery. How do you put these seemingly contradictory ideas together? Look at Acts 13:48, "All who were appointed for eternal life believed" and 14:1, "A great number of Jews and Greeks believed." Throughout Scripture language is used that God predestines, elects, chooses. Also in Acts 13 the language of appointing is used. God is king over salvation, and it is only through his initiative and work that anyone is saved. God is our savior, and no one can be redeemed through their own ability or work. Yet at the same time, people are saved by grace through faith. For someone to be saved they must believe. Acts 13:48 and 14:1 make this point crystal clear.
God does his part, and we need to do ours. Every time a person comes to faith in Christ it is a beautiful display of God's power, grace, and work, and a person coming to faith by an act of their will. How these things work together is always going to be a mystery on some level, but like puzzle pieces we need to try to put Scripture together. Like all areas of theology, we may not know things perfectly or fully, but we can know things truthfully. So, we are saved by God’s grace and through our faith.
Father God, help me to share the message of Christ with those who are far from you, that they might believe. Amen.
How do you put the pieces of God's sovereignty and human free will together?
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