God’s Effectual Call: “Why Did God Choose Abraham in the First Place?”

What is God Like? – How Can We Know for Sure? – Part 6

By Richard Allen – June 2, 2025

With the total ruin that Adam’s and Eve’s Fall brought upon mankind, God calling Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans (as recorded in Genesis 11), was a “sovereign act of grace.” Abraham’s father, Terah, was most likely an “Idol-maker” for Nimrod. So, God’s working faith in a fallen man like Abraham, bringing him to the “land of promise” to make of him a great nation and then reveal Himself in ways that had not been seen since the Garden of Eden – was a “miracle of grace!” And what makes Abraham’s conversion special is that he was a fallen man – just like we all are. While Hebrews 11:8-19 provides a faithful view of Abraham, we know from Abraham’s life that God’s Love and Calling was not because of Abraham’s faithfulness, but because of God’s purpose! Abraham’s descendants, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons would later travel to Egypt, where they would be subject to bondage. All this happened before God would wonderfully deliver them from Pharaoh’s hand, and bring them into a land of promise. Now we want to examine God’s promises to Abraham in this installment of: “What is God Like? – How Can We Know for Sure?”

The First question we need to answer is:  “What exactly were the ‘promises’ that Paul says were made to Abraham and his ‘seed,’ in this Letter to the Galatian Church?”  Paul told the Believers in Galatia that God’s Covenant of Promise, could not be set aside, even for the Law!

“Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. Scripture does not say ‘and to your offspring,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your offspring,’ meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise” (Galatians 3:15-18).

Paul’s reasoning is profound, the promises were all focused on one person, the Covenant Heir – Jesus Christ!  All of God’s purposes to recover fallen mankind and fully restore men and women to fellowship with Him, spring from that one Promised Seed.  The promise of the coming offspring of the woman brings us back to Genesis 3:15 where God told the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offsrping and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).  Using many shadows and types, God spoke continuously throughout the Old Testament, pointing toward the Coming Christ, the Promised Offspring of Abraham who would deliver mankind from sin and ruin, and restore us to fellowship with God our Creator. These passages from Galatians and Genesis are an excellent springboard to begin a further study of the Doctrine of Revelation! Sad to say, many Christians have never heard of this doctrine.  They usually respond:  “I’ve heard of the Book of Revelation,” but never the “Doctrine of Revelation.” We find the answer in several verses. The first passages are from Matthew 16:

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ Then Jesus asked, ‘but what about you?  Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter (petros – Greek – a little stone), and upon this Rock (Petra – a large Rock), I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it’ ” (Matthew 16:13-18).

Here's another passage from John Chapter 6:

“So, the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’  They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’   Jesus answered them, ‘Do not grumble among yourselves.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.  It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me’ ” (John 6:41-45).

It wasn’t the content of  Peter’s confession only – that Christ, the Stone prophesied in Isaiah 28:16 would be the foundation of his Salvation – but the fact that God Himself had Revealed Christ to Peter!  This is the hinge pin upon which all of God’s dealings with mankind – since the Fall of Adam and Eve – swings!  God is the ‘Initiator,’ Not feeble-fickle Man!  God purposed the Plan of Redemption, and it was God Himself who executed our “So Great Salvation!”  Apart from God initiating and revealing Himself to Abel, Enoch and Noah – there would have been no contact with a Holy God. While Hebrews Chapter 11 makes it clear that man’s response was “By Faith,” we also know that God Himself is the Author of Faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).  It’s all by Grace from the Great Revealer Himself. If anyone of us is inclined to boast, realize that the only reason any of us believe is because “We were all taught by God!” (John  6:45). Theologians also refer to God’s Revelation as “the Effectual Call” of the Gospel. Not only is preaching involved, but God the Father is at work through God the Spirit in bringing us to Salvation.  Here’s a good working definition from the Gospel Coalition website:

“The Calling of God is both general, the gospel call that goes out indiscriminately to all, and particular, the effectual, spiritual call wherein the Father calls the elect to the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.” [ https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/effectual-calling/ ]

As mentioned in this Blog’s title above, the Second question we need to ask and answer is: “Then why did God choose Abraham in the First Place?”  To listen to some online Rabbis and even some naive Christian Ministers, you would think that Abraham was a “righteous man,” who “intuitively” kept “Torah” (Law) with God. Nothing could be further from the truth. Abraham was “Not chosen because of his own personal righteousness, but because of God’s purposes alone.” After a long pilgrimage – one marked with many failures – Abraham’s Faith was ready for the ultimate test:  To Sacrifice his only Son on Mount Moriah (Note: Golgotha is in the Moriah Mountain range)!  Genesis records Abraham’s triumph of faith, prepared by God to obey, without wavering. God’s Sovereign Revelation to Abraham, patiently bearing him along through many trials, finally bore faithful fruit!  Here’s what Genesis Chapter 22 records:

“And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:15-18).

The answer to “why God chose Abraham” doesn’t lie with him, but rather in God’s purpose to bless both Abraham and his descendants – and all the Nations (i.e. Gentiles) By Faith!  It was Abraham’s Ultimate Offspring, Jesus Christ, through whom “all the nations on earth have been blessed!”  This is the restoration that God had promised for centuries, as God prepared, preserved and providentially cared for Abraham’s descendants – to whom Christ would ultimately be born! As we’ve seen, the Fall of Adam and Eve so ruined their descendants that nothing short of a “Divine Intervention” could bring about a restoration between God and Man. While fallen men and women went their own way, creating idols with their hands and minds, only “being taught by God the Spirit” would restore mankind to a “saving knowledge of a Holy God!” That was the promise of Isaiah 54:13 which Jesus referenced – a wonderful chapter that is quoted several other times in the New Testament regarding the Salvation of mankind – God “effectually calling” all men (Jews and Gentiles), in fulfillment of the Promise to Abraham! 

"Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: 'All nations will be blessed through you.' So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith" (Galatians 3:7-9).

God’s Promise to Abraham is what the Apostle Paul highlights in the Book of Galatians. That Promise was to be Salvation by Atonement and Being Filled By the Spirit. God would not only “atone for man’s sin – giving him freedom from sin’s curse and ultimate penalty – Death,” but God would then “indwell men by His Spirit,” giving us power and dominion over sin and becoming a “Temple in which He would dwell in the Spirit!” The first, “Atonement,” frees us from the “penalty and condemnation of sin,” while the second gives us “freedom from the presence and power of sin,” making us “fit for God’s presence.” This is the “So Great Salvation” that Abraham was promised by God, in which both Jews and Gentiles partake by Faith!  In closing, let me share with you several verses from Galatians Chapter 3, that speak directly to the Promise to Abraham and the two-fold blessing – Pardon and Being Filled by the Spirit.  Paul tells both Jews and Gentiles in the Church the full extent of our Salvation in Jesus Christ:

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’ – so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13-14).

There is a Third question that needs to be answered: “Why does God choose to save fallen men and women by His gracious, effective call and not through human wisdom or effort?”  The answer is simple: “That no flesh might glory in His sight!”  God will share His Glory with no other. We should all marvel that like Abraham, God sought us and saved us, “not by works of righteousness, but by His marvelous Grace!”

Soli Deo Gloria!