It’s almost shameful to ask ourselves, “Was Jesus a Calvinist or an Arminian?” He was neither. He was both. There is no question about His awareness of being chosen Himself, and of choosing the men who walked with Him for three years. But there is equal insistence on personal responsibility. We will see if two of the Gospel writers, Matthew and John, seem to have in their books any contradictions. Then, as in Paul, we’ll see if the seeming clashes can be harmonized. I can tell you up-front, the “contradictions” abound. Some harmonize. Some don’t. But no fair starting another church if you can’t make peace out of two opposing statements. Live with the tension. Go deeper. Stop dividing!

We’ll browse Matthew statements in chronological order:

First a clear call for human action:

Matthew 7:7-8, 13. “Ask… seek… knock…. Enter by the narrow gate.”

But soon we veer off into selecting, choosing:

Matthew 9:13. “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

So those who do not have an ear to hear Him will not be approached by Him. Left without explanation, this text can be made to fit both “sides.” One can say that the “sinners” are being “chosen” because they are not self-righteous. Thus, salvation comes about because of my and your availability. Or, it could be argued that the “sinners” were chosen from the foundation of the world to be in the state in which Jesus found them. They are available because God has made them so.

More choosing in the next chapter:

Matthew 10:5-6. “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.”

So how could God overlook the needs of the Samaritans and Gentiles, who were in the “neighborhood” when Jesus walked here? Of course, some of both categories actually did hear the Truth and profit from It. But for the most part they were ignored. How can this be, unless God chooses people according to His will, and in His time?

Matthew 11:25-27. “I thank You, Father… that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes… for so it seemed good in Your sight… No one knows the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

Oh, now that is clear! The Son wills to reveal the Father to certain chosen ones only. These are the ones given to Him by the Father, we discover in John. This is not about the will of man, but the will of God. Period. So how does one explain the universally loved invitation of Jesus found in the very next verse?

Matthew 11:28. “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Armed with 27, that states that no one knows the Father unless the Son wills it, it is easy to see that it is the Spirit of God that speaks these words of 28 into the desolate heart of man. Those “given”, will hear that invitation. Others will not.

Not fair, you say? Then is God’s power of choice limited to your fancies? Cannot God choose whom He will? Will you object to His choice of Jesus?

Matthew 12:18 ( Isaiah 42:1). “Behold My Servant Whom I have chosen, My Beloved in Whom My soul is well pleased…”

Then why balk at His choice of you, by giving you “ears” that no one around you had when the message went out?

Matthew 13:9. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Is it not clear that God calls whom He wills, and hardens the rest? Is not Paul’s principle being applied by Jesus in the following text?

Matthew 13:11-17. “…it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them (multitudes) it has not been given… seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear, for assuredly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Matthew does not let up in chapter 15:

Matthew 15:13. “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted…”

Or 16:

Matthew 16:17. “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

Did Peter think up his conviction on his own? Did Jesus choose Peter randomly, or was Peter not one of the “given” ones? Along with all the disciples?

Chosen ones speak chosen words and believe chosen ideas, the Truth. Even in dealing with things such as divorce, Jesus proclaims that it takes enlightenment from Heaven to understand properly:

Matthew 19:11. “…All cannot accept this saying [about divorce] but only those to whom it has been given…”

Actually, most of Matthew’s comments on this subject (that is, Jesus’ comments in Matthew), say one thing: God is in charge of the choosing process, not you, not me.

Matthew 20:16 . “…many are called but few are chosen.”

Matthew 20:23. “ …[to sit on my right or left hand] is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”