Whosoever chosen
It was so with believers at Pisidian Antioch. They “glorified the word of the Lord,” gave it its proper place, bowed to its authority, rejoiced in its tidings, and responded to its invitation. By so doing they established the fact of their wholehearted, personal, volitional response to the gospel. Because God knew that—He saw them establish that fact of response—He was able to appoint them to eternal life. Predestination always has to do with our future destiny as believers. It never interferes with our power of choice and moral accountability. God’s ability to ordain people to eternal life never operates apart from their ability to obey the gospel as an act of their will. The operations are two sides of the same coin. Over one side of the door of salvation is written: “Whosoever will may come.” Once we have passed the portals we can see written on the other side, “Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.” In his own inimitable way, D. L. Moody used to say, “The elect are the whosoever wills and the non-elect are the whosoever won’ts.”
John Phillips, Exploring Acts: An Expository Commentary , The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ac 13:48.
