1 John 5:10-11.

This topic seem to have problems based on the context of the words chosen and elect.

Elect or election as a verb can mean to pick out or select or decide especially by preference.
As nouns, they would be the object or the selecting or choosing.

The same dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary, says chosen means to select or prefer above others or having been selected (chosen) by God, elect.

Either the dictionary company is influenced and run by sovereign grace people and/or the definition is correct and generally accepted by the population.

In either case, the words depending on context are either identical and/or interchangeable.

This leads to a clearer scriptural understanding when we use the verse in 1 John 4:19 that says, "We loved him because he FIRST loved us." Chosen of God 2 Thessalonians 2:13, James 2:5

Since the object of the love of God are those whom he hath chosen/elect, we can also rightly say, We chose him because HE FIRST CHOSE US. Not. the other way around.

We have no capacity to love/believe/choose the Lord because before we were made alive, we loved/believed/chose darkness. (John 3:19) To be made alive (chosen, elect) is to be given the capacity to not only believe him (Phil 1:29) but also love and choose him (the light-John 8:12).

We have been made alive that we (elect, chosen) might love him and keep his commandments (John 14:15) (John 3:16),
to edify the body of Christ.

This love also covers the context of God loving the world (John 3:16). It is not in the context of all humanity but as the scriptures say in Galatians 3:28, concerning the church, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ." Colossians 3:11 adds, "Where there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Sythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all."

Therefore of every kindred, tongue, people and nation and therefore God so loved the world. Revelation 5:9 and 14:6

 

...

 

Believing and the ability to believe, therefore choose is very much a part of the chapter. It is specifically declaring who is a true witness and is really in Christ.

Verse 10 can also be interpreted, He that believeth (chooses. loves both the Father and the brethren) hath the witness in himself (made alive and directed by the Holy Spirit). He that believeth not God (hath no life in him) hath made him a liar (loved/chose darkness rather than life), because he believeth not the record/testimony/covenant that God gave his son, (the true witness of the Father Jn 17:3)

You must re-read and include the first part of this chapter to understand the later verses. Austin C has already addressed much of this earlier in one of his posts.

 

1 Corinthians 2:13-14
And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit,
interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned.

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, and for training in righteousness,

An individual soul that is Spiritually Saved can be TAUGHT The Bible.

That individual can interpret Ephesians 2:1, when God Says they were, "dead".

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Any scheme or theory or model constructed as to, "How does God Save souls",
must include the candidate for Salvation being, dead in trespasses and sins.

The soul must be, "lost", before they can be Saved.

An individual soul that is not Spiritually Saved can not be TAUGHT The Bible.
...

There is, "no gift" offered by the Lord.

The Lord and the Bible TEACH that a lost soul is to,
"Repent and Believe The Gospel".

...

Ephesians 2:1-9 KJV
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past
in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved and hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast

 

"Sin" must be recognized as existing,
the sinner must be made aware of their sinful condition against God,
through The Bible, i.e., The Schoolmaster.

The lost sinner must be GIVEN the GIFT of REPENTANCE, of what?
Their LOST, SIN-CURSED, condition of their soul, in REBELLION AGAINST GOD.

With The GIFT of REPENTANCE Comes FAITH, and/ or, "BELIEF", etc.
That is the New Birth, from above.

The lost sinner MUST BE BORN AGAIN, in order to, "Believe".

...

from http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF Books II/Simmons - A Systematic Study of Bible Doctrine.pdf

Man's depravity and inability by nature to receive the truth
and turn from sin to Christ and righteousness (Jer. 13:23; John 6:65; 1 Cor. 2:14)
also show the absolute necessity of the immediate impact
and operation of the Holy Spirit upon the soul in regeneration.

) Using the instrumentality of the Word.

The instrumentality of the Word in regeneration is taught by
John 3:5;
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Eph. 5:26; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Jas. 1:18; Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,
that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

1 Pet 1:23. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever.

It is evident from I Pet. 1: 25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

that the word in these passages is the written
or preached Word rather than the incarnate Word (which is Christ).

In I Pet. 1:23 the Word is characterized as that "which liveth and abideth forever."

Then in verse 24 the perishable nature of other things is referred to.

And in verse 25 the endurance of the Word is again referred to,
and it is plainly specified that the Word referred to is

"the word of good tidings which was preached unto you"

However it needs to be understood (as we have before implied)
that in the first phrase of regeneration (quickening) the Spirit
operates on the soul independent of the Word.

The spiritually dead soul must be given life before it can see and act upon the truth.

It is by quickening that one is enabled to come to Christ (John 6:65).
And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me,
except it were given unto him of my Father.

It is thus that God gives men over into possession of Christ (John 6:37).
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

...

READINESS TO ACCEPT GOD'S WORD John 8-47.

He that is of God heareth God's words:
ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.


A regenerated person will ever show a desire to know the will of his Father in everything
and to follow that will when it is made known.

He will not be found walking continuously in stubborn rebellion against truth.

 

All these verses tell us that God re-births us before we believe.

*1 John 4:10,13,19*
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

We love because he first loved us.

*1 John 5:1,4,11,18-20*

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

 

Did you have a testimony of conversion you would like to share?

Does it agree with the following?

from http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF Books II/Simmons - A Systematic Study of Bible Doctrine.pdf

(1) Conversion Involves Turning From Sin, and Man By Nature Is Unable To Do This.

Man by nature is able to reform his life to some extent. He can turn from some forms of sin.

But he is unable by nature to change the governing disposition of his nature.

This is proved by Jer. 13: 23, which reads: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil."

The sinner is accustomed to do evil. Therefore it is impossible for him to turn from evil (or sin) until his governing disposition is changed. This is just as impossible as it is for the blackest Negro to make himself white, or the leopard to divest himself of his spotted robe.

(2) Conversion is Pleasing to God, and the Natural Man Cannot Please God.

No one can doubt the first part of the above statement.

The last part is proved by Rom. 8:8, which says: "They that are in the flesh cannot please God."

This includes all to whom God has not given a new nature.

(3) Conversion is a Good Thing, and no Good Thing Can Proceed from the Natural Heart.

Paul said that there was no good thing in his fleshly nature (Rom. 7:18).

This is the only nature man has until God gives him a new one.

And since no good can come out of that in which no good exists,
conversion cannot proceed from the fleshly nature.

Therefore the giving of the new nature, or quickening, must come before conversion.

To affirm otherwise is to deny total depravity,
which means that sin has permeated every part of man's being
and poisoned every faculty, leaving no good thing in the natural man.

(4) Conversion Involves Subjecting Oneself to the Will or Law of God,
and This is Impossible to the Natural Man.

That such is impossible to the natural man is established by Rom. 8:7, in which we read: "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

(5) Conversion Involves Receiving Christ as One's Personal Saviour,
which is a Spiritual Thing, and the Natural Man Cannot Receive Spiritual Things.

This latter truth is declared in 1 Cor. 2:14, as follows: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged."

If the truth of Christ's saving power through faith is not a thing of the Spirit of God,
that is, a thing that man can understand only through the revelation of the Spirit
then what truth is a thing of the Spirit of God?

(6) Conversion is a Spiritual Resurrection and in a Resurrection,
the Impartation of Life Must Always Precede the Manifestation of Life in Coming Forth.

Conversion is represented as a spiritual resurrection in Eph. 2:4-6, which says: "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved); and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

The raising up here represents a conversion. So the question we are considering is as to which is first, the quickening or the raising up. There can be no reasonable doubt that the quickening is first in a logical sense.

(7) Conversion Involves Coming to Christ,
and the Act of the Father in Giving Men to Christ Precedes Their Coming to Christ.

In John 6:37 we read as follows:

"All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me."

This passage certainly places the Father's act of giving men to Christ
logically prior to their coming to Christ.

This act of the Father is a discriminative, effective act,
for all that are given come and all men do not come.

Thus this act of giving could not allude to the mere giving of the opportunity of coming to Christ
nor could it allude to the so-called "gracious ability" which is supposed by its advocates to be bestowed upon all men.

This act can refer to nothing short of the actual giving of men over into the immediate possession of Christ by quickening them into life. Men come to Christ in conversion.

Thus quickening must precede conversion.

(8) Conversion Involves Coming to Christ,
and no Man Can Come to Christ Except God Give Him the Ability to do so.

In John 6:65 we read: "No man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of my Father." This passage, as the one just noticed, does not refer to the mere giving of the opportunity to come to Christ, nor to the impartation of so-called "gracious ability" for the same reasons stated above in comment on John 6:37.

This latter passage, like the former one, refers to a discriminative act. The context makes this clear in the case of John 6:65. The words of this passage were spoken in view of and as an explanation of the fact that some believe not. Neither of these latter passages can refer to any kind of mere assistance that God might be supposed to bestow on the natural man, for repentance and faith cannot proceed from the natural heart, as we have shown. Both passages can refer to nothing short of the quickening power of God, in which men are enabled to come to Christ.

2. SCRIPTURES EXPLAINED It being true that conversion is the result of quickening and therefore, not a condition thereof, it may be asked how we are to understand those Scriptures that make faith a condition of sonship. See John 1:12; But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:


We reply that this passage refers to sonship through adoption
and not to sonship through regeneration.

As we have already noted, adoption is a legal term.

It comes as an immediate result of justification.

It is not the same as regeneration.

It confers the right of sonship.

Regeneration confers the nature of sons.

 

Jer 11:19 After I was turned (not I turned), I repented, and AFTER that, I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.

This verse parallels the example of the publican who went up to the temple to pray (along with the Pharisee) Luke 10:18, who smote himself upon his breast, and said Lord have mercy upon me a sinner. He was first turned by the Lord so he could see he was a sinner, then he repented and after that instructed in the right way.

This example agrees with Gross' statement that you cannot instruct a dead sinner whose eyes have yet to be opened. You can witness to him but until he is made alive, it falls on deaf dead ears. He cannot understand, he cannot be instructed, he cannot believe.

 

You fail to declare the full omniscience of God.

Who established the future that God could look into it?

Something not already established/predestined cannot be discerned. There cannot be prophesy without predestination. Predestination is an ordained work of God. He had no need to look into the future because he had already declared it. Isaiah 46:10 says, "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from the ancient times the things not yet done, saying My counsel will stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Also see Mt 13:11, Luke 12:32, Mt 16:18

Luke 14:28 says, "For which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Christ knew the cost to bring forth the kingdom because he had already paid the cost.

Anything less is crystal ball theology.

 

Gill speaks of, "He that believeth on the Son of God"
as having been shown, in their soul: the need he stands in of Christ,
and of the suitableness, fulness, and excellency of him;

"the Spirit of God enlightening him into

"the impurity of his nature,
his impotence to do anything spiritually good,
his incapacity to atone for sin,
and the insufficiency of his righteousness to justify him before God;

"and convincing him that nothing but the blood of the Son of God can cleanse him from sin,
and only his sacrifice can expiate it, and his righteousness justify him from it,


John Gill:

1 John 5:10a

"He that believeth on the Son of God"
As a divine person who came in the flesh, and obeyed the law,
and brought in everlasting righteousness, and obtained life and salvation for men:

he that with the heart believes in him for righteousness, and eternal life,
he being the Son of God, truly and properly God, and so able to save all that believe in him,

"hath the witness in himself";
of the need he stands in of Christ, and of the suitableness, fulness, and excellency of him;

"the Spirit of God enlightening him into

"the impurity of his nature,
his impotence to do anything spiritually good,
his incapacity to atone for sin,
and the insufficiency of his righteousness to justify him before God;

"and convincing him that nothing but the blood of the Son of God can cleanse him from sin,
and only his sacrifice can expiate it, and his righteousness justify him from it,

"and that without him he can do nothing; testifying also to the efficacy of his blood,
the completeness of his sacrifice and satisfaction, the excellency of his righteousness, and the energy of his grace and strength: so he comes to have such a witness in himself, that if ten thousand arguments were ever so artfully formed, in favour of the purity of human nature, the power of man's free will, and the sufficiency of his righteousness, and against the sacrifice and righteousness of Christ, the dignity of his person, as the Son of God, which gives virtue to his blood, sacrifice, and righteousness, they would all signify nothing to him, he would be proof against them. And such an one very readily receives into him the testimony God gives of his Son, of the glory and excellency of his person, and retains it in him."

 

And where exactly is this in Scripture? To continue my analogy, this is like having the cake in your stomach before you have purchased it, let alone eaten it.
John 17:20-21. "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.' The believing is future, the union with Christ is future, but the election is past. Verse 24. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory.....'

Try to understand this: the elect were chosen before the foundation of the world, 'to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth' (2 Thessalonians 2:13). they are not saved until they are born anew and trust in Christ. That they will be saved is certain, but they are not saved until they believe.