Bible Truth #176 - James 1:18

James 1:18

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

He chose. Do you see it? HE CHOSE. He exercised HIS will, we didn't exercise ours for we could not. We were dead, we hated Him (John 3:20). It is the Arminian view to believe that God is reacting to man’s choice but the simple truth is that a lost man left to his own volition will never choose God because to do so would be a spiritual decision, and a lost man is spiritually DEAD. He is unable to do anything spiritually good, he is unable to please God in ANY way (Romans 8:8). In the New Testament, every time “chose” is used in the context of salvation, it is ALWAYS God doing the choosing, not man.

John 15:16 - You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

1 Corinthians 1:27 - But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

1 Corinthians 1:28 - He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are,

Ephesians 1:4 - For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 - But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

The same can be said of “chosen” - New International Version

Matthew 22:14 - For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Mark 13:20 - If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.

Luke 18:7 - And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

John 6:70 - Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”

John 13:18 - “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’

John 15:19 - If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Acts 9:15 - But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.

Acts 10:41 - He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen - by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

Acts 22:14 - “Then he said: ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.

Romans 8:33 - Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

Romans 11:5 - So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

Romans 16:13 - Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.

Ephesians 1:11 - In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Colossians 1:27 - To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 3:12 - Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

1 Thessalonians 1:4 - For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,

James 2:5 - Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

1 Peter 1:2 - who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

1 Peter 5:13 - She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.

2 John 1:1 - The elder, To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth - and not I only, but also all who know the truth -

2 John 1:13 - The children of your chosen sister send their greetings.

Revelation 7:14 - They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings - and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

CHOSEN - King James Version

Matthew 20:16 - So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

John 15:16 - Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Acts 1:2 - Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

Acts 1:24 - And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

Acts 15:22 - Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; [namely], Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:

Acts 15:25 - It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

1 Corinthians 1:27 - But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

1 Corinthians 1:28 - And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

Ephesians 1:4 - According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

2 Thessalonians 2:13 - But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

2 Timothy 2:4 - No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

I ask those who are Arminian in their soteriology to PLEASE show me the Scripture that gives any credence to the theory that a lost man has the ABILITY to choose righteousness; the ABILITY to believe on Jesus WITHOUT God working in him; or the ABILITY to say no to God when God calls him to salvation. There is none because there is no free will. Man is either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness (Romans 6:17-18) and slaves have no free will. God is simply working in us to will and to do according to His good purpose, not ours (Philippians 2:13), and if a man thinks he has free will, it’s because God is making him think that. God’s Word always accomplishes His will (Isaiah 55:11) and if He wanted to save everyone, He would. He is truly SOVEREIGN.

Man does not choose God, we become children of God NOT by human decision (John 1:13). This Scripture is irrefutable. John 1:12 does not negate John 1:13, John 1:13 negates any false ideas a man may have about verse 12 because verse 13 is fact. “Received” in verse 12 may only be understood as “active appropriation” IF it can be reconciled with the rest of God’s Word, but it can’t. The very next verse proves it can’t. When reading “receive” in the context of salvation there is no such thing as active appropriation. It is eisegesis - reading into the Scripture what you want it to say.

John 1:12-13 (Bible Truth #9)

12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -

13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Bottom Line - If left to his own “free will” a lost man would NEVER come to God because every imagination and thought he has is ONLY evil, CONTINUALLY (Genesis 6:5), he can NOT change (Jeremiah 13:23), he hates the Light (John 3:20), and he is hostile toward God (Romans 8:7). But He chose to give us birth (James 1:18), US, not them.