FreeGrace2 said:
Please quote any verse that directly and clearly indicates that God unconditionally chooses anyone for salvation.
Nothing about service here.....just God's unconditional choice/appointment/election to be SAVED to eternal life.
2 Tim 2:10
For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
How is one placed "in Christ"? Eph 1:13,14 tells us plainly. "having believed". That's how. That's how salvation is obtained.
This verse does NOT say that people are elected to salvation.
2 Thes 2:13
But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth.
First, the word "chosen" isn't the Greek word used for election. The word here is "hairomai" while the word for election is "eklegomai".
Second, the verse teaches the METHOD God uses to save people. iow, God chose to save people "by sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth". That is method. That's HOW God chooses to save people.
If you want to know WHO God chooses to save, look no farther than 1 Cor 1:21 - For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him,
God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached
to save those who believe.
iow, God is pleased to save those who believe. That's His choice of who to save.
There are NO verses that say that God chooses who will believe, which is the real foundation of the Calvinist doctrine of election.
Acts 13:48
Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
First, the word for "appointed" is 'tasso', which comes from military use and means to "line up". The voice has to be determined from context, since the form of the word can be either middle or passive. This is significant because if God is doing the appointing, then the voice would have to be passive, yet the context does NOT say that God is doing it. If middle voice, then that indicates that the Gentiles themselves are doing their own "appointing" or "lining up". And, the context does show that. v.44 says "nearly the whole city" came to hear Paul on the next Sabbath.
1 Tim 5:9
For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not election by any stretch of the imagination.
So again, your verses do NOT support election being to salvation.
otoh, I have shown many verses that clearly state that election is for service.
You need to just give up.