Objection 39

From Sovereign Grace and the Scope of Election: A Comparative Examination of Attainment Theology and Grace Theology, with Particular Attention to the Question of Whether God's Elect Are Found Among All Nations and Religions

John 3:16, "whosoever believeth." The gospel is for whosoever, not for a secret elect.

"Whosoever believeth" and "the elect" are the same people described from two vantage points, the street level and the throne level. The verse promises that every believer, without exception or distinction, has everlasting life; it says nothing about what enables believing. For that, stay in John: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (6:44); "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me" (6:37); "ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep" (10:26); "as many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). Whosoever will may come, and John 1:13 tells us where the willing comes from: born "not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." The sovereign grace believer preaches "whosoever" with a fuller throat than the conditionalist, because he knows the drawing power behind it cannot fail.