from the calvinist corner
God is sovereign. Sovereignty means that God is supreme in power and authority, that He answers to no one, and that He may do as He pleases for whatever reason He chooses.
"Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure'" (Isaiah 46:10);
...to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur" (Acts 4:28);
...this Man [Jesus], delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross..." (Acts 2:23).
Out of a people of utter sinfulness and inability, God has chosen, by His sovereign grace, to elect some into salvation and not others.
Remember, there is nothing in man that merits any favor, blessing, or mercy whatsoever. For there is no favoritism with God
For[SIZE=+0] there is[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] no[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] respect of persons[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] with[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] God[/SIZE][SIZE=+0]. [/SIZE](Rom. 2:11).
Each and every person is entirely worthy of wrath and incapable of saving himself. That is why God has chosen a people to Himself out of the good pleasure of His heart. Because without His choosing, none would ever come to Him. Therefore, predestination is a loving doctrine:
"...In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ..." (Eph. 1:4,5).
He chooses some and ignores others not because of what the person has done, or what is foreknown that he would do, but simply because of God's sovereign choice:
"[God] who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity" (2 Tim. 1:9);
and,
"for though the twins had not done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated'" (Rom. 9:11-13; see also, Psalm 11:5).
Sovereignty is why God has mercy on whom He desires and hardens whom He desires:
"For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy
...So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires" (Rom. 9:15,16,18).
This is sovereignty! It is God who is in control.
Some He has elected to salvation, others He has not:
"...for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed" (1 Pet. 2:8);
And,
"What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory" (Rom. 9:22-23).
It seems quite clear that God prepares some for mercy and not others. That is sovereignty.
When Adam and Eve sinned was God to call that Good?
