J. Kevin Butcher's Blog

In John 6, Jesus says, “No one comes to me unless the Father draws them…” – and then he says a moment later, “There are some of you who don’t believe.”  So which is it?  Can we “choose to believe”?  Or are we simply “chosen”?

Quite frankly, this question has been debated for at least 16 centuries – most famously in the days of Augustine and Pelagius.  Over the years I have made peace with the dilemma by believing that both are true – we are chosen and yes, we also choose.  How these two come together in synthesis is, of course, a profound mystery.  We live in time and space and history – and God does not.  God lives in the eternal now…outside of time and all dimensions of human existence.  He exists beyond our universe and any other billions of universes that might exist – and by the way, if they do exist, He created them too.  The Biblical text is a human author’s attempt to explain in time and space issues and matters that can only be synthesized beyond time and space.  So, we should expect some mystery.  We should expect NOT to be able to totally “get it” and probably are wisest if we simply let the text speak for itself – and the text clearly says [not only in John but elsewhere] that we are chosen and that we are able to choose.  Most days, I leave it there and live with the apparent antinomy, the mystery, the tension.

But today, as I study for our Wednesday group bible study, and yeah – we’re in John 6 – and I’m rethinking these issues and wondering and praying about how to present them in a way that builds up and doesn’t confuse or discourage…and I get to the point where I am comfortable with what I am going to say and where I am going to try to lead our group…and for whatever reason, I suddenly look up at my lap-top screen and see my granddaughter Ada gazing at me with 5 ½ month old eyes as I hold her at a family dinner at the Coney on Mack and Moross.  And everything…everything…immediately changes.

All of a sudden, I want a personal audience with God and I want Him to explain this whole thing to me in detail and I don’t want any philosophical, theological jargon or gibberish or nonsense about antinomy and mystery and “wait until eternity and then you’ll understand” – I want God to tell me about my grandbaby and whether Jesus really died for her or just for the “elect” and whether she has a real opportunity to choose Him and believe in Him or whether it’s already a done deal.  All of a sudden it isn’t about all those people “out there” – it’s about this little girl that I love in ways I can’t even explain and I want to know and believe that God feels the same way about her and that He has made real and truly accessible provision for her to be delivered from this mess of a fallen world into which she has been born [not by her choice] and in which she is going to grow up.  I want to know if she can really believe.  Or…is she simply a potential pawn in some kind of eternal cosmic showdown between good and evil.  Can she choose?  Or is she simply chosen…or not?