What Choice Do We Have?

Is there something better than "choice"?

This post started life as a comment in another Substack post, but as I began to write I soon realized I was likely to run out of room — comments appear to have a smaller size limit — so here is the whole thing, as a post instead, consisting mostly of two simple word studies. If you find the matter interesting, or if just curious, read on. I will be pointing things out, maybe even clarifying them, but hopefully not trying to persuade. Some readers might be moved by some of the many verses quoted below.

In the conservative Christian world much is made of the word "choice" with regard to salvation. The controversy goes back centuries. If you are familiar with the controversy, or if you have read the post linked above, it should be apparent why I did this study.

I wonder, then, what scripture has to say about choice. There's this:

Deut. 30:19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

"The blessing and the curse" refer back to the immediately preceding chapters. A clear choice is presented. But how is the choice indicated? By a profession, "I choose life"? No.

By making a commitment and keeping it, committing to

o Loving the LORD your God

o Obeying His voice

o Holding close to Him

That was Moses. What does Jesus say about choice? I don't have a perfect memory of scripture, but I always recall Jesus' words at the end of "The Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew:

Matt. 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who practice lawlessness.’

Matt. 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine, and does them, is like the wise man, who built his house upon rock. 25 When the rain came down, and the waters rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine, and does not do them, will be like the foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 When the rain came down, and the waters rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, it collapsed — and great was its fall!”

OK, this is not exactly about choice. It sounds more like commitment to doing something. To obedience. In that sense it rather closely parallels Deuteronomy 30. The doing is not what it is about, though, and the form of doing does not save. The doing results from following through on the commitment. The choice is to commit or not, and is determined by the presence or absence of the right kind of commitment, obedience to Jesus' words.

Let's try again, with “choice”.

Matt. 24:8 But all these things are only the beginning of birth pangs. 9 Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. 10 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray; 12 and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to every nation, and then the end will come.

Well, that word "choice" is still missing, but at least we have salvation in both passages. But -- oh no! -- in this one Jesus speaks instead of "endurance". So not only are we asked to commit to a particular way of life -- obedience to Jesus' words -- but we have to stick with it to the end. And along the way we may face hatred and persecution and martyrdom. Why can't we just make a simple choice and be done with it? (I won’t attempt to answer that.)¹

So where else can we read about "endurance"? (We will get to choice.) I have a little list. It comes from performing a root search on the Greek root μένω, which yielded 188 hits. The words having this root are commonly-occurring ones with a variety of meanings, but I selected verses from among those that seemed to me to have at least some connection with enduring to the end. I happened to use the Mounce translation here because of its alignment with the Greek, but this does not affect the search, which I performed in the UBS5 Greek New Testament. Search hits are italicized. Even when the English word is different, the Greek word has the same root.

Matt. 10:22 And you will be hated by all on account of my name. But the one who endures to the end, this one will be saved.

Mark 13:13 And you will be hated by all on account of my name. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

Luke 8:15 But as for that in the good soil — these are the ones who, having heard with an honest and good heart, hold firmly onto the word and bear fruit through patient endurance.

Luke 21:19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.

John 6:27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for on him God the Father has set his seal.”

John 6:56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me, and I in him.

John 8:31 Jesus therefore said to the Jews who had put their trust in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples,

John 15:4 Abide in me and I will abide in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; men gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.

John 15:9 As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that the Father may give you whatever you ask in my name. [At least Jesus mentions "choice" here, but not ours!]

Rom. 2:7 to those who by patiently doing good works seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;

Rom. 5:3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

Rom. 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Rom. 9:11 for even before they were born or had done anything either good or bad so that God’s purpose according to election might stand,

Rom. 11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and the severity of God — severity to those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

Rom. 12:12 rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, devote yourself to prayer;

Rom. 15:4 For whatever was written at an earlier time was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement enable you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus,

1Cor. 13:7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

2Cor. 1:6 If we are distressed, it is for your encouragement and salvation; if we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer.

2Cor. 6:4 Rather, as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance, in times of affliction, hardship, and distress;

Col. 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

1Th. 1:3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love and the steadfastness of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

2Th. 1:4 so that we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions that you are enduring.

2Th. 3:5 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the endurance of Christ.

1Tim. 6:11 But you, man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.

2Tim. 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign together. If we will deny Christ, he will also deny us. 13 If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he is not able to deny himself.”

2Tim. 3:10 But you followed my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,

2Tim. 3:14 But you, remain in what you have learned and have been convinced of, knowing from whom you learned

Heb. 8:9 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I abandoned them, says the Lord.

Heb. 10:36 You have need of endurance, then, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

Heb. 12:1 Therefore since we ourselves have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every impediment, and the sin that so easily distracts, and let us run with endurance the race that is prescribed for us, 2 fixing our gaze upon Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who rather than the joy set before him endured a cross, disregarding its shame, and has now taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such opposition against himself, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and lose heart.

Heb. 12:7 Endure your trials as divine discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline?

James 1:3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance carry out its intended purpose, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast when tested, because once he is shown to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

James 1:25 But the person who looks intently into the perfect law, the law that provides liberty, and continues in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer — he will be blessed in his doing.

James 5:11 For sure, we regard as blessed those who persevered. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and have seen the result of the Lord's activity, that the Lord is exceedingly compassionate and merciful.

2Pet. 1:6 by knowledge self-control, by self-control steadfastness, by steadfastness godliness,

1John 2:6 the one who claims to abide in God ought to walk just as Jesus walked.

1John 2:10 The one who loves his brother is living in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

1John 2:17 The world is passing away with all its desires, but the one who does the will of God remains for all time.

1John 2:24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. [This translation is nuanced; not entirely direct]

[Numerous additional references in first and second John, often translated abide]

Rev. 1:9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

Rev. 2:2 I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and that you cannot put up with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles (but are not) and found them to be false. 3 I also know that you have demonstrated your patience and borne hardship for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary.

Rev. 2:19 I know your works, your love and faith and service and steadfast endurance, and that your recent works are greater than the first.

Rev. 3:10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing that is coming upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.

Rev. 13:10 If anyone is meant for captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed by the sword, by the sword he will be killed. This calls for the endurance and faithfulness of the saints.

Rev. 14:12 This calls for endurance on the part of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to their faith in Jesus.

Endurance turns up more than once or twice, I would say. The obvious connection through the Greek root disappears in translation, but endurance appears to be a vital topic. I’m trying to think, however, of the last time I heard it mentioned in a sermon and I am coming up blank. But I do often hear about “choice”. So let’s see if there is a root connection for that word. I did a lexical form search for “choose”² (ἐκλέγομαι) and what did I find? Well, here’s a sample.

1Cor. 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose the things that the world considers insignificant and contemptible, what is regarded as nothing, to render useless the things that are,

That one describes us, but in all the 20 search hits I didn’t come across anything about us choosing to follow Jesus. How could the biblical authors leave out such an important teaching? Instead, there are verses like these:

Luke 9:35 Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, the Chosen One; listen to him!”

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that the Father may give you whatever you ask in my name.

John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.

Acts 13:17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt; then with uplifted arm he led them out of it.

James 2:5 Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose those whom the world considers poor to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom, which he promised to those who love him?

One that didn’t make the list, because it didn’t mention “choice”, is

John 6:44: No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

No need to mention choice there.

Jesus chose. The Father chose. God chose. It’s about his choices, not ours. How interesting. I think I’ve learned something. I kind of was aware of it before, but this study served to drive the point home.

Have you learned anything from it? Is there something important I am missing with my restricted word searches? It wouldn’t surprise me. Please comment below.

1. Then there is 1 Corinthians 9:27 - “but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.“. Disqualified? Paul, aren’t you familiar with Christian tradition?

2. The underlying Greek word ἐκλέγομαι contains more than one root, so I switched to a lexical form search instead, to narrow the results.