Commentary:  The paradox of salvation

By RALPH FUDGE

Monday, May 26, 2025

Merriam Webster defines paradox as “something (such as a situation) that is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible.” In other words, it is something that does not make common sense. It’s something that cannot be and yet is.

I think one of the greatest paradoxes is the fact that God preordained or elected some people to be redeemed, and yet He still gives them free choice in the matter. To man’s common way of thinking (common sense), this cannot be. Either one is predetermined to be saved, or else he is free to choose. Man either has free choice or he does not. What we need to realize is that we are using man’s limited intellect to judge or explain something “hidden in the counsels of God.”

I feel certain, after 79 years of living, thinking, and observing, that the human mind is not endowed with sufficient intelligence to understand many of the things in life and many of the things of God. The Bible advises us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). It also reminds us that the things of God can only be spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). However, I believe there are still many things of God that even the best Christians, the most spiritual ones, will never understand in this life because of our inadequate intellect. God simply did not see fit to endow man with enough intelligence to comprehend some things. The sooner we realize this fact, the more easily we can accept it.

There are even earthly, non-spiritual phenomena that man seems totally incapable of understanding. One example is gravity. Albert Einstein spent thirty years trying to explain it without success. Another is magnetism. Though we make use of it every day to produce the electricity we all enjoy and depend on, we don’t have a clue as to why it should be. We have no understanding of how one thing, such as a magnet, can cause movement in another, such as a piece of iron. We know it does, but that’s the end of our understanding other than theory as to the origin of magnetism in the spin of electrons. Many people, especially those who consider themselves intellectual, will not accept my postulation about all of this. Many are far too vain and self-absorbed to allow the possibility of mental inadequacy in these or any other matters, but that does not mean they can understand many of the things of the Spirit of God.

They are still mentally unable to understand much, I believe. And every human will always be unable, at least on Earth, to understand all things.

In summary, it is best to simply trust God and accept the fact that His world contains some things we will never, in this life, understand. Man is just not “smart” enough.

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Ralph Fudge is the pastor of Big Ochlocknee Baptist Church in Coolidge, Ga., and has a Master’s degree in theology from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Quote: I believe there are still many things of God that even the best Christians, the most spiritual ones, will never understand in this life because of our inadequate intellect.