1 Thessalonians 5:9

“For God appointed us not into wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”

“For God appointed us not into wrath”: The word "appointed" does not mean that God has "predestined" (against their freewill) the salvation of certain individuals. Obviously, these Christians could fail (1 Thessalonians 4:6), and some of them did (2 Thessalonians 3:14). If Calvinism is right, then God has appointed the vast majority for wrath--regardless of the choices of those people thus predestined. In contrast, this verse is teaching. wonderful truth. One writer notes, “God never intended for us humans to live out our lives on this earth only to be punished eternally in Hell. God does not wish anyone to be the recipient of His wrath (2 Peter 3:9)” (Denton Lectures p. 179). Here is great encouragement and incentive to prepare for "that day". God is not working against us, and God is not trying to trip us up, rather, God wants us saved (1 Timothy 2:4); and He is trying to do everything short of violating our freewill to see that we do end up saved (2 Peter 1:3). God's call through the gospel (2 Thessalonians 3:14) is intended to save people. “For God did not choose us to condemn us” (Phi). Marshall notes, “Paul's exhortations to vigilance would be nonsensical if vigilance was the product of some inward causation in the believer by God or if there was no possibility of disobeying the exhortation” (p. 140).

“But unto the obtaining of salvation through out Lord Jesus Christ”: Notice how "salvation" is still future in some sense. Clearly, then the "appointment" in the first part of the verse is not of the Calvinist brand, because if God predestined these people for salvation (regardless of their own freewill), then they would already have in their own possession salvation. In fact, they would have "obtained" such salvation the moment God selected them. “Through”: Jesus is the only way (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).