Many Are Called but Few Are Chosen

47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

it doesn't help you Dusty?

how can you know what God will do though? no one can make up an answer if it's not in the Bible.
I find that verse to explain it a bit, yet I am not sure
those who have never heard of the message will be beaten with a few stripes. but those who heard and ignore will be beaten with many.

I could be wrong.
because someone asked me the same question in the past, also about people in africa and I told him I have no clue! it's up to God, I really don't know. then he argued against me and started getting mad!! God forgive him, for he know not what he did.. and I kept telling him that I did not know! whatever happens happens, God has mercy on whom He desires.

that verse in Luke 12 seems to help but I am also not sure of that verse, if there is another verse, may someone pass it along.

the verse of "God desires all to be saved" has nothing to do with this.
 
Yah , I guess your right Rams because some one asked me that question as well and I didn't have anything concrete to give them . Other than it is up to God but for me that seemed like a cop out . Anyways that verse helps a bit but does not really get to to the core of the issue .

I have sent a pm to Pastor Gary so will wait for his answer.
 
Our father in heaven will judge righously all people, based on what they did with what they knew of him. Naturaly those who knew more will be judged by the higher level of their knowledge.

Why were you chosen, and not your next door neighbor?

Why were you chosen and not your brother/sister?

Why were you chosen? You are no more special than anybody else.


You were chosen because of all the called, You responded. You came.
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I believe that all are called. Every single one who has ever lived. Called at the point of what they knew of God ,no matter how much or how little to do what is right.
I also believe that some are specificly chosen to do the expressed will of God. The writers, the noted people, the Apostiles, Moses, Isaiah, David, many past and current pastors, preachers, ministers and just ordenary people who do extrordenary things in His name . Not by force or against their will but by virtue of their heart and will.
The verse (I believe) is not a distinction between the saved and the unsaved,but a distinction between those who have a choice and those who by God's plan are chosen specificly to do his work.
By providense ,by His choice, God directed Mose's entire life and placed him in the situation that could only end in his leading Isrial out of Egypt, as he did.I believe that Moses was chosen. Those who followed Moses(I believe) were calledand acceped that calling. Those that were opposed and or did not follow Moses, rejected that calling.
We have free will in that we see a choice, Moses did not as God placed in his heart only one path, no options.


Many are called,few are chosen. . .
Moses was chosen, the rest were called,
Does anyone else see that???
Does that make sense to anyone?????

P.S. I believe I was called. Which means (to me )that to no small extent my salvation is dependant on my responce to that call.
 
Does the bible say all were called or many?

And there are those who are called according to His own purpose; the believers.

"But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God." Luke 9:60
 
"For many are invited, but few are chosen."Matthew 22:14


I think this is a message to us as believers . We are called as Christians to share the gospel with anyone who will listen.

Since we do not know who will respond and who will not ---- the most unlikely candidates often come to faith ----we are to make our appeals to the many .

 
Qoute Theophilus: P.S. I believe I was called. Which means (to me )that to no small extent my salvation is dependant on my responce to that call.

"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:5-9


Romans 9:10-16

It doesn't depend on him who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

vs
11(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth: )

Job 40 see vs 14

If we try to take even a little bit of credit for God's Sovereign Grace, we in effect try to pridefully diminish His Sovereignty, Grace, and try to take some of His Glory for ourselves.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." We were created in Christ to do good works, not creatures who do good works, and then are chosen because of our effort by Christ, who helps save us apart from Christ's finished work on the cross. If we have a saving faith it will be evidenced by faith and obedience, but make sure we don't seek to be justified by our own doing, even if that includes responding to the call, rather 'blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it.' Luke 11:28

"Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places."
Habakkuk 3:18-19


"This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10

God bless
 
Originally Posted by Dusty
O. K. ..... I have a question that has been puzzling me for a long time .

What about the remote tribes in Africa who have never heard the gospel or others in other religions other than Christian religion.?

How can they be accountable when they have never heard ? And what happens to them when they die ?
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A similar question is often given about all those before Jesus. They to did not have an oportunity in their lives to accept Jesus as their Lord. This scripture reveals something.

1 Peter 3

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.


All Praise The Ancient Of Days
 
you might like Matthew Henry's concise and whole commentary, (bottom of the page);
1 Peter 3:18 Bible Commentary

"...The way of the most is neither the best, the wisest, nor the safest way to follow: better to follow the eight in the ark than the eight millions drowned by the flood and damned to hell."
Matthew Henry

"By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." Hebrews 11:7
 
God bless all of you that can discuss this topic so calmly.

I would join in but the nature of it points too close to the predestination and free will argument that never meets a resolution. :)

it is usually my perspective that usually leads it in the wrong direction to begin with because many people passionately disagree with me. :)

yes, I am a calvinist. :)

Theo, buddy, how are you? :)
 
slavetoChrist said:
God bless all of you that can discuss this topic so calmly.

I would join in but the nature of it points too close to the predestination and free will argument that never meets a resolution. :)

it is usually my perspective that usually leads it in the wrong direction to begin with because many people passionately disagree with me. :)

yes, I am a calvinist. :)

Theo, buddy, how are you? :)
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Being blessed in the LORD ,my brother;)

And yourself?

Any way I've been trying to wrap my head around this question for years.
I have come to belive that predestination and free will are compatable, I just don't know how.
Possibly individual free will inside a collective predestination.
Or a choosing of select individuals by devine purpose to direct the direction of the called. Even a concidered the possibility that up to a certian point every one was predestined to establish the vine that the rest (That would be us) might be the fruit. and so have free will.
Just ideas though. . . Nothing cast in stone.
The point that gets me caught up is that we are responsible for our actions yet not our salvation.
For me it seems best to live as though we do determine our salvation simply because we are better for it,but never neglect the truth that without Christ we wouldn't have salvation.

Bessed
Cliff
 
Theophilus said:
Being blessed in the LORD ,my brother;)

And yourself?

Any way I've been trying to wrap my head around this question for years.
I have come to belive that predestination and free will are compatable, I just don't know how.
Possibly individual free will inside a collective predestination.
Or a choosing of select individuals by devine purpose to direct the direction of the called. Even a concidered the possibility that up to a certian point every one was predestined to establish the vine that the rest (That would be us) might be the fruit. and so have free will.
Just ideas though. . . Nothing cast in stone.
The point that gets me caught up is that we are responsible for our actions yet not our salvation.
For me it seems best to live as though we do determine our salvation simply because we are better for it,but never neglect the truth that without Christ we wouldn't have salvation.

Bessed
Cliff
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the point of predestination (or as I prefer, predetermination) is not to evade responsibility or to point fingers. I am responsible for my actions and I reap the fruit thereof. :) Anyone who abuses it in such a manner as to blame God for his choices, actions, or the fruit he reaps is just ignorant. That is not what predestination means. The point of it simply is that God is absolutely sovereign. :)

my belief in predestination was founded in my atheistic attempts to discredit and destroy God. A lot of people see what I believe regarding it to either do that or at minimum a stab at theodicy. Either way, I have found only validation for it the more I studied the Bible. There is no other framework which I can view it in that makes as much sense.

You are right that they are compatible; just not in an "absolute sense" because either one cancels the other out. The way that I believe it is, is that God's will and God's plan are not the same. Predestination is God's plan but not necessarily His will. "God wills that all be saved" does not mean that it is in God's plan for everyone to be saved.

Not everyone can or ever will see God the way that I do because of my experiences in life. I have been on both sides of the fence... I have sat with godly men at a table to celebrate the Lord's supper and I have sat in the scoffers chair pointing fingers at christians calling them, at best, idiots.

I have been an intellectual all of my life and have had to seek, search, and know things for myself. God has really had to work with me and has taught me a lot and allowed me to see things that other people stumble over or have problems grasping. Not to say I know much of anything, lol, because I really don't. I just have a very good grasp on the issues I deem important. :)

I like your solution. Because the truth is that whether you are a calvinist or an arminianist it should not affect the way you live. We all should live in submission to Christ.
 
Quote: "God wills that all be saved" does not mean that it is in God's plan for everyone to be saved.


"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

He does not wish for us, who are the children of promise to perish, but repent.

"And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise." Galatians 3:29

"Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," declares the Lord GOD. "Therefore, repent and live." Ezek
18:31-32

Hear this word which the LORD has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt: You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Amos 3:1-2

My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof,
For whom the LORD loves he corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights. Prov 3:11-12
 
least in the kingdom said:
Quote: "God wills that all be saved" does not mean that it is in God's plan for everyone to be saved.


"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

He does not wish for us, who are the children of promise to perish, but repent.

"And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise." Galatians 3:29

"Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," declares the Lord GOD. "Therefore, repent and live." Ezek
18:31-32

Hear this word which the LORD has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt: You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Amos 3:1-2

My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof,
For whom the LORD loves he corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights. Prov 3:11-12
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I'm sorry ... and I'm not trying to be mean here.. but what are you saying?
 
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