DECAPOLIS : Calvinism: Election

Part Two - Election: An Act of God Alone or God Reacting to Man's Choice?

Election is all about making a free choice. When we go to elect a candidate to public office we do so because we wish to exercise our democratic right to vote and make a free choice so that either our candidate of choice might win or we might simply do our part in the electoral process. It is therefore important for us to be as well informed as possible about the character, the political-social-economic philosophy, and the track record of each candidate asking for our vote. In God's case, He is omniscient therefore as informed as any being could ever be about anything imaginable. God knows everything there is to know.

When Man disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, he did so knowingly and freely. God told Man that, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17). But the devil came and told Man, "You will not surely die…" (Genesis 3:4). Man exercised his free will and chose to believe the devil rather than God. Man surely died! That is why Paul in addressing the Ephesian believers can say, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." (Ephesians 2:1-2).

Man when originally created by God was created in knowledge, true righteousness and holiness. (Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 4:24). But we know what happened: Man sinned and sin affected his mind. His mind can no longer think after God's own thoughts. It got darkened. It got confused. Likewise, sin affected his emotions -- suddenly man experienced feelings of guilt, shame, alienation from God, alienation from one another. And then again, sin made his heart so sick the Bible says of it: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

Sin affected man's mind, the emotion, the heart. Nevertheless, God did not take fallen man's ability to be able to choose freely. He continued to make Man accountable for his choices. Man made a free anti-God choice then, and he continues to make anti-God choices to this day. And so he experiences the consequences of sin: pain, suffering, misery, despair, and finally eternal death. But, so much for Fallen Man's free will. We know that unless he is born again, Fallen Man does not have the heart to make pro-God choices. His motivation is always self-serving at best.

Divine Election is biblical. Three times in the NIV, the word election is mentioned:

Romans 9:11-13. "Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

RO 11:28-29. "As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable."

2 Peter 1:10-11. "Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Again, Divine election is biblical. Eleven times in the NIV, the word elect is used to refer to the true believers in Christ. Here are some:

Matthew 24:31. "And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."

RO 11:7-8. "What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day."

Titus 1:1. "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness…"

Clearly, Divine Election is biblical. There is no question about that. But the question is, "When God elected you or me, was it conditioned on anything you or I said or did which He knew beforehand when He looked through the corridors of time, so to speak? Well, we already made the argument that if salvation were conditioned upon even one good act of Fallen Man like hearing the gospel message and accepting Christ, no one will be saved." Romans 3:11-12 is clear, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." For those of us who have come to Christ, the Bible wants us to know that Divine power was involved even in our coming to Christ. In John 6:44, Christ himself said, ""No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…" Again, In John 15:16, Christ himself said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit…" Clearly Election is dependent solely on God.

But these questions remain, "What was God's criterion in making His choice? How did God come to the decision of who is going to be included among the elect?"

Again, if we do not want to fall into the trap of depending upon raw human reason, we must turn to the Bible and allow God's holy word to speak to us. Let's continue.

Concerning God's choice with regards to the elect, the Bible is clear. It tells us that none of us became a member of God's family because of anything we did right on our own. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. And Titus 3:3-5 tells us this: "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit…" So then let's not forget that we have been saved by God's grace because of God's mercy.

So what now? So we know that God did not choose you or me because of any righteous thing we said or did but by His grace because of His mercy. So okay, God's choice was not conditioned by anything external or outside of Himself. So it must be internal. God's reason for choosing us lies within Himself. What does the Bible have to say about that? Well, nothing much, except to reveal to us the grand scheme of things. The big picture. The ultimate reality. The majestic "What's it all about?" The mother of all "Why?" And it's simply this: That God might glorify Himself and Himself alone because He is the only one worthy of praise through both His work of creation and His work of redemption! Now let's read Ephesians 1:3-14 and see if it supports everything that has been said in this article:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory."

This passage is what has been said in this article all about, isn't it? But not so fast, you might protest. "What about those whom God did not choose? Was not injustice committed against them?" To you who ask these questions, let me ask you, "If God allowed man to slide and not carried out His warning of "You will surely die" could God be said to be Just? No. There is no justice when the guilty gets away free and does not get punished. So then, if God decided to send us all to the place of death called Hell, then God is simply being just, isn't He? Because we are all guilty, aren't we? If you and I are sent to Hell, it is justice. No one gets injustice. If you and I are pardoned because Christ paid the penalty of our sin, we both received mercy, don't we? Because we cannot pay our debt which is deserving of Hell, can we? So if we end up in Hell, it is justice. If we end up in heaven, because we are pardoned, it is mercy. There is no injustice there. However, supposing you ended up in heaven and I ended up in Hell. What did each one of us received? The right answer is, you received mercy, I received justice. There is still no injustice there. The Bible is clear: God is just to all but He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. (Romans 9:18).