Ironically, and contrary to popular interpretation,
Paul argued that salvation is NOT
based on predestination or election, but by “the
word of the promise”. For Paul to
argue otherwise, would only complement the predominant Jewish view that
salvation came automatically to all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. If salvation was by election
alone, then God would have predestined all the descendants of Abraham to be
saved, but He did not, (Rom 9:7). If salvation was by election alone, then God would
have predestined all the descendants of Isaac to be saved, but He did not, (Rom 9:9-12). Finally, God could have predestined all the descendants
of Jacob to be saved, but they are not, as Paul has written, “They are not all Israel who are descended
from Israel” (Rom 9:6), and “Though the sons of Israel be like the sand
of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved,” (Rom 9:27).
Salvation is not based on predestination, but
based on the promise alone. In the Book
of Romans, Paul wrote to bring Jews to his revelation that Jesus, as Messiah, is
the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham.
“If you confess
with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him
from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes,
resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confess, resulting in
salvation,” (Rom
10:9-10).
I do not believe that Paul ever intended for
his words to establish a doctrine of salvation based on predestination. If predestination does not apply to the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, how much less does it apply to the
Gentiles, the wild olive branch, who do not descend from the Patriarchs. Salvation for all men is based on the promise
alone, as it is written,
“There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male
nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are
Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise,”
(Gal 2:28-29)
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