You Did Not Choose Me, But I Chose You (John 15:16) – Decalvinized

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:16).

Calvinists claim this passage shows that we (Christians) did not choose Christ; rather, Christ chose us…and then regenerated us (changed our hearts)…after which we become believers. So we did not choose Christ; Christ chose us.

But is this really what this passage is teaching?

Calvinists who make this argument are either unaware of the context or are deliberately choosing to ignore it. As the context shows, when Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose and appointed you” (John 15:16), he was talking to his apostles (see John 14:5, 8). Moreover, these apostles were already Jesus’ disciples when Jesus chose and appointed them for apostleship:  

“He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles” (Luke 6:12-13).

As this passage shows, Jesus chose and appointed twelve people from among his disciples to be apostles. And these were the apostles that Jesus was talking to when he said, “You did not choose me, but I chose and appointed you.” The subject was apostleship, not salvation.

So this passage is not about Jesus choosing and appointing unbelievers to be Christians, as Calvinists claim. Rather, it’s about Jesus choosing and appointing certain disciples to be apostles.

As to the question, How does someone become a disciple? Jesus clearly said:

“If any man will come after Me he must take up his cross and follow after me and deny himself” (Matt 16:24).

This is how someone becomes a disciple…by choosing to follow him!

The Limited Negative

Keep in mind, also, that when Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16), Jesus may have been using a “limited negative,” which was a common Hebraic figure of speech. A limited negative means: “not only A, but also B.” Jesus often used limited negatives. For example, he said:

“Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27).

Jesus was obviously not saying (in this passage) not to work for food, for the apostle Paul said, “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). What Jesus meant was: “Do not only labor for the food that parishes, but also for food that endures to eternal life.”

Elsewhere Jesus said:

“I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Although Jesus said he did not come to bring peace, he obviously did…for Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6)! What Jesus meant was: “I did not only come to bring peace, but also a sword.”

At another time, Jesus said:

“He who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me” (John 12:44).

Jesus didn’t literally mean that Christians don’t believe in him. Rather, what he meant was: “He who believes in me believes not only in me, but also in him who sent me.”

Jesus used these kinds of “limited negatives” all the time. So when Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16), he may have simply meant: “You did not only choose me, but I also chose you.”

By Alex Polyak, founder of Answering Calvinism, 3/21/26.