Protestant Election/Predestination

[Nelka]

John 10:27-28 The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from my hand.

Some Protestants that I know continue with this verse to “prove” that God chooses certain people to be saved with Him and not others. We know that Jesus died for all of us and not just some of us.

What exactly is Jesus saying here?

Is He talking about people that have been baptised, if so what about those that fall away?

Thanks.

 

[pianistclare]

John 10:27-28 The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from my hand.

Some Protestants that I know continue with this verse to “prove” that God chooses certain people to be saved with Him and not others. We know that Jesus died for all of us and not just some of us.

What exactly is Jesus saying here?

Is He talking about people that have been baptised, if so what about those that fall away?

Thanks.

I believe it is about trusting in God. Follow Him, be safe.
I don’t read it as a defense of predestination.

 

[JerryZ]

This is yet another example of picking words out of context:

John 10:24
10:24 And so the Jews surrounded him and said to him: “How long will you hold our souls in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
10:25 Jesus answered them: “I speak to you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in the name of my Father, these offer testimony about me.
10:26 But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep.
10:27 My sheep hear my voice. And I know them, and they follow me.
10:28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall not perish, for eternity. And no one shall seize them from my hand.
10:29 What my Father gave to me is greater than all, and no one is able to seize from the hand of my Father.
10:30 I and the Father are one.”
10:31 Therefore, the Jews took up stones, in order to stone him.
10:32 Jesus answered them: “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”

Some people are not willing to believe Jesus even after seeing the manifest miracles operated by HIM. Don’t we still have people like these today, they ask “proofs” but none will be given. You either are willing to believe and become Jesus’s sheep or not. It is our choice, He loves all and wishes all to be saved. We choose.

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[Neofight]

John 10:27-28 The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life; they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from my hand.

Some Protestants that I know continue with this verse to “prove” that God chooses certain people to be saved with Him and not others. We know that Jesus died for all of us and not just some of us.

What exactly is Jesus saying here?

Is He talking about people that have been baptised, if so what about those that fall away?

Thanks.

It does not have to do with pre-destination, but with free will.
We all are offered the promise of salvation, but we can either reach out and accept it by following the commands of Christ (that is, by being the sheep who listen to his voice), or ignore the call and face the consequences.

In John 15:16a Jesus tells his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit…”, and, in that verse we see that being chosen is only half of the equation; the other half being our being fruitful by abiding in Christ through obedience.

Peace and all good!

 

[Mount_Carmel]

The parables of the ‘Lost Sheep’ and the ‘Prodigal Son’, show that God is always enthusiastically open and encouraging to those who stray, but that no matter how intense His Love, He will not usurp our free-will in this life. To remove our free-will is to remove an essential part of that which makes us moral and not amoral creatures.