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Do we choose God?


This post was published on Friday 1 February 2008.

This is by way of an extension of a previous post on this topic.

A friend at college used to sing ‘I have decided to follow Jesus’, emphasizing the ‘I‘ to annoy any Calvinists he might come across.   And from John 6.37 & 40 he would seem to be right:

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.   (ESV)

Those verses suggest a personal responsibility on behalf of ‘those who come’, the ‘everyone who looks’ to look and come to Jesus.   But that is not the end of the story - John 6.44:

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.   (ESV)

As I quoted Charles Simeon, we must find the truth in both statements: we choose God, but no-one can choose God unless the Father draws him (or her).