Calvinism Defended:
Unconditional Election
By
This is the third section of the e-mail exchange I had with Bill, an individual who objected against Calvinism. Click here to go back to the contents, or here to go to the full 88 page exchange.
In this part of the exchange, I continue with the exposition of key texts related to each of the 5 points of TULIP. Having addressed Total Depravity, I am now addressing Unconditional Election. Please note, I did not include every passage that could have been included, nor did I address any of the counter-texts used by Arminians (e.g., Matt 23:37-39, John 12:32, 1 Tim 2:1-7; 2 Pet 3:9, 1 John 2:2). My concern was to provide a positive presentation of what we believe and why we believe it. All of the so-called "problem texts" have been dealt with many times over by many well respected Reformed teachers who have provided in-depth exegetical analysis of the texts in question. The same simply cannot be said of the other side concerning the texts provided by Calvinists.
My second e-mail response continued:
Unconditional
Election: We use this term to
describe the teaching of the Bible that God has saved us and called us with a
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and
grace which was granted to all who were chosen in Christ for the adoption of
sons before time even began. Thus,
election is unconditional; God’s choice to redeem a sinner is not conditioned
on anything good, either actual or foreseen (for there is no good, actual or
foreseen in a sinner), but on something good in God, namely, His undeserved
favor. A term that might bring this
truth to better light that I have come up with is Undeserved
Election. This states the matter even more clearly in my mind in that it
completely robs man of any chance for boasting, for if you receive something
that you do not deserve, then obviously it was not received on the basis of
something good in you. Here are
some texts for your consideration:
Matthew 24:31 “And he
shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather
together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other.”
--
This verse, which deals with the so-called "end times," calls
attention to the fact that there is a set number of people from among the human
race whom God has chosen to save. He
will gather all of these people, and only these people; not every
single person who ever has or ever will live.
The elect are gathered from the “four winds…from one end of heaven
to the other,” (a rather
poetic way of saying “the world.”).
God’s elect are scattered all over the world, from every nation, tribe,
and tongue, and it is God who is gathering His sheep.
There are a couple of things to note in this verse as related to the
discussion:
1.
The word “elect” – The first thing to notice is that there is such
a thing as the “elect.” That is
not an Augustinian idea, but a “God” idea.
The second thing to notice is that the “elect” are called “His”
elect. The little word “His”
conveys possession. The elect are
the possession of God. Third, since
this “elect” which God owns is being gathered by Him, that means that the
elect is comprised of something, and the “something” that comprise the elect
is people out of every tribe and tongue and nation. Fourth, the very nature of
the word “elect.” When you
elect something you choose something. God
has chosen something, namely, people out of every tribe, and tongue, and nation,
as His own special possession. Why
did God choose these ones? Was it
because they were better or smarter or wiser than the ones not chosen?
No. Those who are chosen are
chosen solely on the basis of the kind intention of God’s will and grace
alone, according to His purpose. When
did this election occur? Before the
foundation of the world, before anyone did either good or bad.
Mark
13:20 “Unless the Lord had shortened those
days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the
elect, whom He chose, He
shortened the days.”
-- Notice again that this “elect” is a group of people that He chose.
It is not man’s “freewill” that God is zealous to care for, rather,
His primary concern among the inhabitants of the earth are His people, His
sheep, His church, His beloved, His bride, His elect.
The Apostle Paul echoes this, when he says, “I endure all things for
the sake of the elect.” (2 Tim 2:10).
John
13:18 “I do not speak of all of you.
I know the ones I chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be
fulfilled, but He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.
From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur
you may believe that I am He.”
-- If Jesus knows the ones
He has chosen, could those chosen “choose” not to be “chosen?”
Where is their “freewill” if they cannot choose to not be chosen?
John
15:16 "You did not choose me, but I
chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will
last."
-- Election is not on the basis of our choice, but God’s.
We love Him because he first loved us.
And, this election will produce results (fruit) in the lives of those
chosen. The purpose of election
isn’t so that the elect can sit around and pat themselves on the back for
being “elect” (as a matter of fact, this would
be the case in a non-Reformed understanding of election, because the
non-Reformed locate the basis for one’s election in the individual himself
(his act of foreseen faith, for example), instead of on the undeserved favor of
God bestowed them. In unconditional
election, every vestige of human boasting is utterly demolished, while in the
non-Reformed view, every vestige of human boasting is exalted and magnified. One view of election praises the unspeakable grace of God and
His altogether wise purpose alone, the other praises the ingenuity of man.
Acts 13:48 (Also used to prove
effectual calling) “When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and
glorifying the word of the Lord; and as
many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”
-- Only those who were appointed to eternal life believed.
Here we see a couple of important truths.
First, the appointment to eternal life precedes belief.
This calls attention to the key axiom of Reformation theology “regeneration
precedes faith.”
The thing that precedes every other thing though is election. A person
believes because he has been regenerated, and he is regenerated because he has
been elected in Christ before the foundation of the world. As
for regeneration preceding faith (which will be addressed in Irresistible
Grace), the non-Reformed view reverses this process; it states that faith
precedes regeneration. Thus, the
non-Reformed evangelist will say, “You need to believe in Christ so that
you can be born again,” whereas the Bible teaches that one must be born
again before they can even see the kingdom of God (John 3:3), and that this act
of being born again is not brought about by the will of flesh, but of God (John
1:13). The non-Reformed view
reverses the process. If the non-Reformed view was true, the passage should
read, “and as many believed were appointed to eternal life.”
But, the passage doesn’t say that.
It says the exact opposite. Only
the Reformed view can provide us with an accurate understanding of this passage.
Second, it calls
attention to the fact that not every single person who heard the message
believed. The question is, why
didn’t they? Was it because the
ones who did believe were smarter, or more righteous than those who did not
believe? No.
The verse tells us, “those who were appointed…believed.”
God is the sovereign of the universe, and He and He alone determines who
will and will not be saved, not on the basis of anything in the individual, but
on the basis of His own good pleasure and sovereign will alone.
This is precisely what the Reformed view teaches, and what the
non-Reformed view denies. The
non-Reformed view teaches first that God appoints those to eternal life who
believe (denying the truth of this verse and many other passages), and that God
determines who He will save not on the basis of His own sovereign will, but on
the basis of a foreseen act of faith by the individual.
The individual thus “earns” salvation because he was chosen on the
basis of something good he does. In
the Biblical view, those who were appointed have no room for boasting, because
the only reason they did in fact believe was because they had been appointed by
God for that very thing.
Third, the number of
those who are saved and are not saved is set, and has been
determined by God from all eternity. Out
of all the people who heard the message, not every single person believed.
Why not? Weren’t they all given the same “opportunity”?
Yes and no. The opportunity
for salvation has appeared to people from every nation, however, only those whom
God has appointed from all eternity act on the opportunity.
What about the “freewill” of those who were not appointed?
If they were not appointed to eternal life, then they obviously could not
choose eternal life. They of necessity
had to reject the message, which means “freewill” is not nearly as
“free” as many seem to think.
Fourth, every single
person who was appointed (ordained) to eternal life did in fact believe.
God’s plan of salvation is perfect, because none of those whom He
ordained to eternal life would be, or could be, lost.
All (every single person) whom God has chosen to be saved from all
eternity will, without a doubt, be saved. The
non-Reformed view cannot make that claim. They
claim that God has chosen to save every single person who ever has or ever will
live, yet, many of those same persons are never saved.
According to this view then, God has failed to do something that He had
chosen to do. Is this the picture
we get of the God of the Bible? Certainly
not. It is clear that what God has
chosen to do He most certainly will do, and there is no power in heaven, or on
earth, or in the earth below that can stop Him. This is what the Bible teaches, this is what the Reformed
view teaches, and to God alone be the glory.
Acts
22:14 “And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou
shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of
his mouth.”
-- If there were ever a poster-child for the fact that God’s choice of
persons is completely unconditional, surely it is the murderous Saul of Tarsus.
God didn’t choose Saul because He foresaw that God would choose Him,
rather, He chose Saul, and as result of God’s choosing of Saul, Saul “knew
God’s will, and saw that Just One, and heard the voice of His mouth,”
and the scales fell from his eyes, and he became Paul.
Paul would later write, “But by the grace of God I am what I am,”
(1 Cor 15:10) (note, he doesn’t say, “but by my freewill decision I am what
I am), and “God has chosen…the base things of the world and the things
which are despised…to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh
should glory in His presence.” (1 Cor 1:29), and “But of Him you are
in Christ Jesus…he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” (1 Cor
1:30-31). To think for one moment
that the basis of God’s choosing of Saul was due to something good in Saul, or
some act of foreseen faith in Saul, is to be taken aloft to the highest peaks of
mythology and to be lost in the clouds of willful ignorance and disobedience to
the clear teaching of Scripture to the contrary, not only with regard to God’s
choice of Saul, but to God’s choice of every person who is ever brought to a
place of saving faith in Christ.
Romans 8:28-30 “And we
know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called;
those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
This passage has been referred
to by many commentators as the golden chain of salvation; a chain that cannot be
broken because it was created and is maintained by a sovereign God. Paul says
that those called according to God’s purpose are those whom God foreknew and
predestined. Who are those He foreknew and predestined?
It is the sheep that were given to Christ by the Father “before the
foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4). It
is these that He calls, and this calling is effectual; it never fails to bring
about God’s desired effect, as Paul says, “whom He called, He also
justified.” Paul then tells us that all those that God justifies, He
glorifies.
Paul says, “called
according to His purpose”, and “those.”
With these words, Paul is describing a particular group of people, i.e.,
those who are “called according to His purpose,” and it is “those”
that he is speaking about (“these” He called; “these” He
justified; “these” He glorified).
This is significant because this does not refer to every single person
who ever has or ever will live. Nor
does it refer to every single person who becomes a member of the church, nor
every single person who makes a profession of faith.
As mentioned above, this group
referred to as being “called according to His purpose” are those who
have been chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4);
who were given to Jesus by the Father, and are referred to by Jesus as His
sheep, and the “elect” (Matt 24:22,31; Rom 11:7; 1 Pet 1:2; 1 Pet 2:6).
Paul goes on to say some
incredible things about this group of people.
First, he says that God “foreknew” them.
This foreknowing has to do with knowing them in a relationship of love;
it does not refer to knowing the actions of the persons.
Although God does know all things, and knows what we will do before we do
it, the concept of foreknowledge as it relates to salvation does not refer to
this kind of knowledge. It refers
to an intimate relational knowledge of persons, not actions.
In other words, God did not choose us in Christ before the foundation of
the world because He looked down the corridor of time, and foresaw/foreknew that
we would first choose Him. Rather,
those whom God was pleased to save were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world solely on the basis of His grace and purpose alone, and it is in
this sense that He “foreknew” us…He foreknew us in
Christ (Eph 1:4). Or, if you
like, He "knew" us before time even began.
Paul then says that these ones
whom He foreknew have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ
(and ultimate salvation). Predestined
simply means to know and mark out the destination beforehand.
Something that is predestined by God must and will certainly occur. In this case, those whom God foreknew (i.e., His sheep/the
elect) have been predestined ultimately for glorification—it cannot be otherwise for
them, which utterly destroys the concept of libertarian free will.
This is further solidified by Paul when he says, “moreover, whom He
predestined, these He called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom
He justified; these He also glorified.”
Notice the chain: every single person whom He predestined is called.
This calling is a special calling that never fails to bring about its
desired effects, namely, those He called, He also justified.
Justification is an instantaneous act that occurs the moment a person
that has been made spiritually alive by grace alone places saving faith in
Christ whereby the person is declared righteous before God, on account of having
the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to them (which, if I am reading you
correctly, Bill, you evidently deny as
well a bit later). Thus, we also
see that in order to exercise the kind of faith that justifies, one must first
experience the internal calling. The
internal calling is known by other terms such as regeneration, or being born
again. You see, saving faith
doesn’t result in one being born again; being born again results in saving
faith. And all these who
are justified will be glorified.
Glorification relates to our ultimate state whereby Jesus will, as He said in John 6:39, “…raise [us] up at the last day.” It is where we receive our resurrected and glorified bodies, and the final state of our salvation (1 Cor 15:35-54).
To summarize, every single
person who is counted as one of “the called according to His purpose”
are foreknown by God, predestined by God, and will, not might, be
called, justified, and glorified, and the One who accomplishes all of this is
God. Where is libertarian freewill
here? Do those who are predestined
as such have the ability to choose otherwise?
Or, do those who are not predestined as such have the ability to choose
to be among those “foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and
glorified?” If not, then
libertarian freewill is proven, once again, to be what it truly is:
a pagan, humanistic philosophical myth devised by prideful humans to
enthrone humans and dethrone God.
Paul
then solidifies his argument in Rom 8:31-33, “If God be for us, who can be
against us? He who did not spare
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things?” The
“us” and the “all” that Paul is referring to is those whom Paul has been
talking to and about, the elect, as Paul’s states clearly in verse 33, “Who
shall bring a charge against God’s elect?
It is God who justifies.” Justification
is linked directly to Christ’s work of atonement, and Christ’s work of
atonement is linked particularly to the elect, Christ’s sheep.
As Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd, and I know My sheep, and am
known by My own…and I lay down My life for the sheep…”
It is by Christ’s atoning grace that He purchases His sheep, and
procures all things related to their salvation. He has set His love on His sheep from and for
all eternity. One other point here
to recognize is that Paul speaks of the “elect.”
When does a person become a part of the “elect?”
Paul tells us in Eph 1:4 that we were chosen in Christ, “before
the foundation of the world.”
Ephesians
1:4-5 “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 though Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and
will.”
-- Augustine didn’t write this. Luther
didn’t write it. Calvin didn’t
write it. Nor did Edwards,
Spurgeon, Warfield, or Pink. These
are the words of God as breathed through the pen of the apostle Paul!
This verse states plainly what the Calvinist persistently tries to point
out to their non-Reformed brethren:
1. Who did God choose?
He chose us (i.e., all His sheep (cf John 6:37, John
10:14-16,25-29)
2. For what purpose did He
choose us? To be holy and blameless
in His sight (this is accomplished by the imputation of the perfect
holiness/righteousness of Christ)
3. What have believers been
predestined to? Adoption as His
sons through Jesus Christ.
4. What was God's
motivation? Love.
5. We were chosen in Christ and predestined to adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ according to what? His pleasure and will (not because He saw that we would be wise enough, or smart enough, or virtuous enough, to choose Him first).
Here
are a couple of verses I quote without any comments:
I
Thessalonians 1:2-5 “We give thanks to God always for all
of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your
work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ in presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren beloved by God,
His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also
in power ad in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what
kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”
II
Thessalonians 2:10-14 “And in very sort of evil that deceives those who
are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be
saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so
that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have
not believed that truth but have delighted in wickedness. But we ought always to
thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God
chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through
belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you
might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, then brothers, stand firm
and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by
letter.”
Quotes Regarding Unconditional Election:
"A man cannot be thoroughly humbled till
he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels,
efforts, will and works, and depends, absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure
and works of Another - God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make
even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and
does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God." –
Martin Luther