Considering the implications of Acts 13:48, how should one approach the subject of election when it is raised in an evangelistic context?
This text is from an article written by David Gooding in 1986.
I suggest that one way to deal with election when it comes up in an evangelistic context is first to point to Scriptures like Revelation 22:17 that say explicitly that anyone who wills may take the water of life freely, gratis and for nothing; and then to Scriptures like 1 Timothy 2:4 that assert that, as far as the divine will is concerned, God wills that all people should be saved. Whatever the implications of election are, none of them contradicts or invalidates these plain, straightforward statements.
We ourselves should constantly remember the principles of God's judgment laid down in:
John 9:41. No one will ever be blamed or condemned for not seeing what they cannot see if it is because they lack the faculty of sight.
John 15:22–24. No one will ever be blamed for not seeing what was not there for them to see.
What people will be blamed for is for refusing to admit they are blind and for refusing the gift of sight when offered to them; and for refusing to accept and believe the light given to them, which they could and did see.
Now, John 3:18 asserts that people will be condemned for not believing, and not simply because they were, in a general sense, sinners. According to the principle enunciated in John 9:41, it follows that they could have believed if they had wanted to; for no one would ever be condemned for not believing if, in fact, it was never in their power to believe because they lacked the faculty of faith.
It is instructive also to compare John 10:26 with John 10:38. The first of these verses explains the reason why certain people did not believe: 'they were not Christ's sheep'. But that does not mean that they could not believe and become Christ's sheep if they wanted to. John 10:38 tells those very same people how to go about the process of believing.
Finally, it would be important to read Acts 13:48 in its context, and ask a few questions:
Why was it 'necessary' (Acts 13:46) that the word be spoken to the Jews first? Had that something to do with God's election of the Jewish nation?
On what grounds did Paul turn from the Jews, according to Acts 13:46? Was it because they were not elect?
Why did Paul and Barnabas turn to the Gentiles? Was it not because God in his sovereignty had announced centuries before, through Isaiah, that they should? Can that be described as 'election'?
The Greek word for ordain in Acts 13:48—tassō—has a number of connotations: arrange, draw up (as, for example, soldiers in a battle line), appoint, ordain, classify as, dispose, register as.... Which translation would be the most appropriate here?
