Monday, October 09, 2006

Monday's Question

I'm instituting a new feature. Monday's Question. On Saturday I post my Mini Codices and on Monday a "frequently asked question" coupled with my attempt at an answer.

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Q. If God predestines who will be saved, why should we go out and preach the gospel to the world?

A. First and foremost, Christians have a mandate from God's word to preach the gospel and evangelize, so that in and of itself should compel us to do so. We must consider that God's means of saving those He predestined is by the preaching of the gospel. Romans 10 makes this clear. So, by obeying God's directive to evangelize, we are potentially being used of God in His master plan to save sinners.

We need to also consider that while only the elect are saved--we as humans do not necessarily who the elect are. Our duty is to plant and water and leave the increase in God's hands. That means that Christian evangelism spreads the word to many (both elect and non-elect) trusting that God will bless the effort as He sees fit by opening hearts to receive the message. This is just like the parable of the seed and the sower, we KNOW that some of the seed will fall on bad ground. It is not the evangelists job to determine who is elect and who isn't, it is his job to faithfully carry out the assignment God has given him.

There is no contradiction between God predestinating individuals as per Ephesians 1 and a free offer of the gospel to all inhabitants of the earth. People that feel there is a conflict probably have unwittingly accepted a false cariciture of the doctrine of predestination.

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