Milton Almeida addresses the relationship between divine election and human agency, arguing that God's predestination does not reduce the elect to mindless robots but rather transforms them through grace. Drawing on passages including Ephesians 1:3-14, Romans 8:29-30, and Jeremiah 17:9, he contends that God sovereignly initiates and completes salvation, choosing the elect before the foundation of the world according to His pleasure rather than human merit or decision. Through regeneration, God grants believers the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), fundamentally reprogramming their desires and passions so they willingly and joyfully align with God's will—not as automatons, but as sanctified agents whose transformed nature now delights in obedience.
What does the Bible say about God's grace in salvation?
The Bible teaches that salvation is entirely by grace, not by works, as seen in Ephesians 2:8-9.
Ephesians 2:8-9
What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty in salvation?
The Bible teaches that salvation is entirely God's work, initiated and completed by Him without any contribution from human effort.
Ephesians 1:4-5, Philippians 1:6, Ephesians 2:8-9
How do we know election is true?
Election is affirmed by Scripture, particularly in Ephesians 1:4-5, which speaks of being chosen in Christ.
Ephesians 1:4-5, Romans 8:29-30
How do we know that believers are chosen by God?
Believers are chosen by God as indicated in Scripture, specifically stated in Ephesians 1:4 that He chose us in Christ before creation.
Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9
Why is understanding grace important for Christians?
Understanding grace is crucial because it reveals God's unmerited favor and assures believers of their salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5
Why is grace important for Christians?
Grace is crucial for Christians because it is the unmerited favor of God that enables our salvation and transformation.
Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 1:6
I often hear this type of question from people who misunderstand election:
“Are you a robot, running around doing whatever God preprogrammed you to do?”
This is a fair and constant question. I hear it all the time. Here is my answer.
In issues pertaining life and death, would to God that I would be such a faithful and obedient servant! Even as a robot!
Would to God that I would merely move to the motions He makes! I would rather respond only to the prompts of His program!
Would to God that His thoughts were my thoughts, without the pollution of the human reasoning!
I would give my last breath just to be a sheer representation of His Sovereign Will and His perfect government!
I’d rather be in His constant and perfect control than to trust my own heart!
Why?
Jeremiah 17: 9 the heart is deceitful above ALL things, and desperately wicked: who can know it!
Psalm 14:3 There is no one that doeth good, no not one, (Romans
All my inclinations would be evil if it would it be not for the Sovereign and Glorious interventions of God my savior!
Proverbs 3:5 Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. (6) In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths, (equivalent to “He will do everything for you because you are incapable of doing it”).
That’s the kind of God I want to serve. A God that knows that I am helpless and then helps me. Not a confused and contradictory “god” who says that you are helpless without him and at the same time tells you to help yourself having faith first! Such would be a “god” of dis-grace rather than the GOD OF GRACE!
I serve a God who takes the initiative and the “finish-ative”: Philippians 1:6 “ He began a good work and is able to finish it”:
Also…
Exodus 3: I’ve seen the affliction… I heard their cry… I know their sorrows… So I WILL COME DOWN TO BRING THEM UP!
Same thing in– “you were dead but I made you alive”. “Salvation is NOT OF YOURSELVES. It is a gift of God!” Ephesians 2.
The God I serve is a God of plan and design. He sent Jesus to die for me, undeservingly, one of the elect. And that was a plan, not a chancy, whimsical thing that He did in the spur of the moment. He did not save me because I sang three verses of “Just as I am”. He did not save me because I prayed “the sinners prayer” (is there any other kind?). He saved me because of Himself. He saved me and saved the elect because of His Name! He chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world “according to the pleasure of His will” and not the frivolity of mine! (Ephesians 1 – 2 Tim 1: 9. And then to crown His plan with His Glory, He gave me the Holy Spirit as an “earnest” (Ephesians 1), meaning, “a down payment”, a “guarantee of a safe delivery” and a “seal of ownership” which the word “earnest” meant when Paul wrote Ephesians. I’ve been paid for, sent to the shipping department with the necessary stamp (His blood), and all will know WHOSE I am! (What a nice three point sermon!)
He “predestined me, called me, justified me (that means I am just if I’d never sinned) and also glorified me! All before I was even born, because called me according to His purpose, and not mine! (Romans 8: 26-30)
I am the one who sees the assembly line. God already knows the finished product! Praise His name forever!
1 Corinthians 2:16: This is in no way to admit that the elect is a robot in God’s hands. When God saves by Grace the elect, God gives him HIS MIND. We now have the mind of Christ. Now all our passions, desires, emotions and everything with our being is reprogrammed, to use the term of our questioner, to DO THE WILL OF GOD in the same manner, intensity and speed that Christ did His will. This is glorious. To say that the elect believes that he is a robot, without feelings is to say that Christ is a robot today in heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father (oh the mystery of a triune God!) doing the Father’s will. Forever and ever doing the Father’s will! I believe that the Apostle is not talking about the mind of Jesus before the resurrection alone. He is also speaking about the Glorified Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, eternally reigning according to the Father’s great design.
We should be perpetually grateful to our God for having given us the mind of Christ, so now we can, as the saved elect, reflect His will with pleasure and in a way that honors the Father’s name! Perhaps that’s what the Apostle meant when he declared “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”. Let us rejoice in the fact that God has fixed our depraved nature, made us new creatures and gave us the mind of Christ, so now, we no longer live, but He lives in us.
with His atoning blood.
He ever lived
To make His promise true
Though all the host hell march in
To make a second claim
They ALL march out
At the mention of His name!
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