Well let me ask you this if only the chosen elsect were predestined then why did it say for God so loved the world he gave his one and only son?
Hello Blain!
The answer is to your question is, because "the world" referred to in John 3:16 is speaking about those out of the world whom God chose to be saved. Those whose names were written in the book of life before the world began, who were predestined and foreknown.
Salvation does not come by man's efforts or desires, but by God's Sovereign choice. Now you and others might think that God is being unfair, however, you have to remember that all have sinned and all fall short of God's righteous standards. That said, everyone who comes into the world is worthy of eternal condemnation. Because of this God could have chosen not to save anyone, for no one is entitled to salvation. But God in His love and His mercy saved some, choosing them before the world began.
I'll use an illustration that I agree with: If a man was on a street corner handing out $20 bills but only to specific people that he chose, would he be unfair to those that he was not giving $20 to? Some might say, yes, however, none of those people, including those who received the $20, were entitled to that money in first place.
Paul talks about this very subject using the twins as an example:
=========================================================
Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that
God’s plan of election might stand,
not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! For He says to Moses:
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy
========================================================
In the same way Paul uses Pharaoh as an example of God's Sovereign election:
===================================================================================
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.
One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?
===================================================================================
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."
The scripture above infers that not all are draw by the Father
“I already told you,” Jesus replied, “but you did not believe. The works I do in My Father’s name testify on My behalf.
But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe. My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand."
Notice in the scripture above, that Jesus said that the Pharisees didn't believe in Him because they were not His sheep, which would infer pre-election.
Consider the meaning in the following scriptures:
===========================================
Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and
all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
And
As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
and,
“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word—
and to this they were appointed.
==========================================
In both of the scriptures above, both refer to those who were "appointed" to believe and those who were not appointed to believe, which would demonstrate God's foreknowing and predestination of those whom He chose and those whom He didn't choose. And also consider the following scriptures regarding those during the time of God's coming wrath:
====================================================
The inhabitants of the earth
whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.
All who dwell on the earth will worship him,
everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain
===================================================
The two scriptures above from Rev.13 & 17, refer to those during that time whose names were not written in the book of life before the world began. This demonstrates that before the world began there were names written in the book of life and there were names that were not written in the book of life before which took place before the world began. This means that the names of all those whom God chose throughout all of history, their names were written in the book of life before the world even began. Likewise, there were names of those throughout all of history whose names were not written in the book of life before the world began. For those throughout all of history whom God chose, when they hear the gospel the Father reveals the truth about His Son in their hearts and they believe. Those whom God did not chose from before the world began will simply not be drawn to His Son.
As Paul said regarding salvation:
"So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy"
"Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden."
What does all the above mean?
Those of you who have believed should recognize that God chose you. You didn't just wake up one day and by your own reasoning decide to believe in Christ, but it was given to you to do so by God the Father who chose you and wrote your name in the book of life before the world began.
