Unconditional Election (i.e. Sovereign Election)

 

Terms used interchangeably: Sovereign Election

v Unconditional Election Introduced

What is meant by unconditional election?

Election is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure. It is “unconditional” because it is not conditioned upon anything that God sees in us that makes us worthy of his choosing us.

What unconditional election does not mean?

It doesn’t mean that God will save people no matter whether they come to faith or not. Those whom God has elected will exercise faith. Only those who trusts in Jesus Christ will be justified.

Unconditional Election vs Conditional Election

Many people who have a doctrine of election or predestination look at it this way: from all eternity God looks through the corridors of time, and He knows in advance who will say yes to the offer of the gospel and who will say no. On the basis of this prior knowledge, those whom He knows will meet the condition for salvation—those who express faith in Christ—He then elects to save. This (unbiblical) view is called CONDITIONAL ELECTION.

v Unconditional Election Proven

Romans 9:11-16: “¹¹though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— ¹²she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” ¹³As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” ¹⁴What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! ¹⁵For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

Ephesians 1:3-6: “³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

Romans 8:28-30: “²⁸And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Acts 13:48: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

Some more proofs

Romans 11:7: “What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened”

John 10:25-27: “²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, ²⁶but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

John 6:35-40: “³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

1 Thessalonians 1:4-5: “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,
because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”

2 Thessalonians 2:13: “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth”

2 Timothy 1:9: “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began”

1 Peter 1:1: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,”

v Unconditional Election Explained

1.     Election is NOT Based on God’s Foreknowledge of Our Faith

Some says that election is based on God’ foreknowledge of one’s faith. They use Romans 8:29 to support their view. But their interpretation is flawed for many reasons:

Romans 8:29: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

·       The above passage speaks of the fact that God knew persons (“those whom he foreknew”). The text actually says nothing about God foreseeing that certain people would believe, nor is that idea mentioned in any other text of Scripture.

·       It is never used in a “foreseeing” (some facts) sense, whenever this word is used with respect to God “foreknowing” someone. It always means “personal knowledge.”

Romans 11:2: “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?” [God knows all the nations in the sense that he knows everything that they will do, but that is not the sense in which “foreknew” is used here. It is a personal knowledge that involves a saving relationship]

1 Peter 1:20: “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you” [God the Father knows everything beforehand, even the acts of Satan. But that is not the sense in which the word “foreknown” is used here. He “knows” His Son in a personal relational way. Christ was foreknown by God the Father.]

·       This is the sense in which the Scriptures can talk about God “knowing” someone.

1 Corinthians 8:3: “But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”

Genesis 18:19: “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” [God knows all things, even the wicked deeds of the most wicked beings. But that is not the sense in which the word “known him” is used here. God knew Abraham in a relational way. He choose Abraham. That is why ESV translates it as “For I have chosen him….”

Amos 3:2: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” [God “knows” all the families of the earth in one sense. But the meaning here is; You only, Israel, have I chosen for my own.

·       Scripture never speaks of our faith as the reason God chose us. Rather it excludes it (Romans 9:11-13; Ephesians 1:3-6). The phrase “He chose us before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:3) is synonymous, in a sense, to the phrase “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad” (Romans 9:11).

Therefore, in Romans 8:29, God “foreknewing” them is to be understood in such a way that He “thought of them in a saving relationship to himself” and “chosen” them before (“fore” + “knew”) the foundation of the world. Such foreknowledge is virtually the same as election. Whom he has chosen, he also predestined. Ephesians 1:3-6: “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

2.     We believe BECAUSE He has chosen and predestined us before the foundation of the world, not vice versa.

Acts 13:48: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” [“as many as” (no more or no less), as were appointed to eternal life believed]

John 6:37: “³⁷All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” [If “giving by the Father” has been done, “coming to Jesus” will follow. It should NOT be read as “when you believe, the Father gives you to Christ.” No. That is not the point. Those who was “given to the Son by the Father” will come to the Son, i.e., believe in Jesus Christ (by comparing with verse 35, we can see that coming to Jesus = believing in Jesus)]

John 10:25-27: “Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, ²⁶but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” [The term “sheep” does not refer to those who have used their power of self-determination to produce faith. Rather, being a sheep enables you to believe (follow the shepherd), not vice versa. We see this in John 10:26 where Jesus says, “You do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.” So the sheep do not first make themselves sheep by believing; they are able to believe because they are sheep. And all the sheep will follow their shepherd].

3.     God chooses INDIVIDUALS to Salvation

Some people will say that God elected groups of people, but not individuals to salvation. That is nonsense. To talk about God choosing a group with no people in it is not biblical election at all. The Scriptures talks about certain people whom God predestined. Romans 8:29: “those whom he foreknew”, Ephesians 1:4: “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world”, Christ’s “sheep” (John 10), “as many as were appointed” (Acts 13:48), “all that the Father gives me” (John 6:37). These are indeed individuals, whom God has chosen in eternity past to bestow His mercy for Salvation.

4.     The Election and Predestination is for SALVATION

Some brethren will say that predestination is not for salvation of sinners. Predestination only means, they say, that someday all believers will be like Jesus. Although, predestination includes that aspect of “conforming to the Son”, it includes much more than they simplistically presume.

Romans 8:29, 30: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

It is absolutely biblical to say that all who have been predestined will be glorified (conformed to the image of the Son). But to say that predestination is not for salvation is absurd and unbiblical. Because, the above passage also states that predestination is also for justification. How can one be glorified without been justified! How can anyone be justified without been predestined (appointed) for eternal life!? Acts 13:48: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

v Unconditional Election Defended

Objection 1: Election means that we do not have a choice in whether we accept Christ or not. The doctrine of election makes us puppets or robots, not real persons.

Response: The mistaken assumption underlying this objection is that a choice must be absolutely free (that is, not in any way caused by God) in order for it to be a genuine choice. We might ask where Scripture ever says that our choices have to be free from God’s influence or control in order to be real or genuine choices. The Scriptures never supports that assumption. We have to understand that God is so wise and powerful that he ordains that we respond willingly. [Beware of some modern Apologists who present some cunning, human illustrations to show that unconditional election makes people puppets. Enough of such illustrations. The infallible word of God teaches unconditional election and we have to believe it. No human illustrations presented by sinful humans can replace the plain truths of the Bible]. If God makes us in a certain way and then tells us that our voluntary choices are real and genuine choices, then we must agree that they are. God is the definition of what is real and genuine in the universe.

Objection 2: The doctrine of election means that unbelievers never had a chance to believe.

Response: First of all, we must note that the Bible does not allow us to say that unbelievers had no chance to believe. When people rejected Jesus he always put the blame on their wilful choice to reject him, not on anything decreed by God the Father.

John 8:43-44: “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.”

John 5:40: “You refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

Romans 1:20: “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

This is the consistent pattern in Scripture. People who remain in unbelief do so because they are unwilling to come to God, and the blame for such unbelief always lies with the unbelievers themselves, never with God.

At a second level, the answer to this question must simply be Paul’s answer to a similar objection: “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”” (Romans 9:20).

Objection 3: Election is unfair.

Response[1]: Two responses may be given at this point.

First of all, this objection would say that it is not fair for God to create some people who he knew would sin and be eternally condemned, and whom he would not redeem. After saying that God “has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills” (Romans 9:18), Paul raises this precise objection: “You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”” (Romans 9:19). Here is the heart of the “unfairness” objection against the doctrine of election. Paul’s response is not one that appeals to our pride, nor does he attempt to give a philosophical explanation of why this is just. He simply calls on God’s rights as the omnipotent Creator:

“But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:20-24).

Paul simply says that there is a point beyond which we cannot answer back to God or question his justice. He has done what he has done according to his sovereign will. He is the Creator; we are the creatures, and we ultimately have no basis from which to accuse him of unfairness or injustice.

This objection of unfairness takes a slightly different form when people say that it is unfair of God to save some people and not to save all. This objection is based on an idea of justice among human beings that we sense intuitively. We recognize in human affairs that it is right to treat equal people in an equal way. Therefore it seems intuitively appropriate to us to say that if God is going to save some sinners he ought to save all sinners. But in answer to this objection it must be said that we really have no right to impose on God our intuitive sense of what is appropriate among human beings.

Finally, we must remember that it would be perfectly fair for God not to save anyone, just as he did with the angels. Among the angels, many sinned and turned away from God and He decided to redeem none of them (2 Peter 2:4). This was perfectly just for God to do, and no angel can ever complain that he has been treated unfairly by God. Among humans, all have sinned and turned away from God. As with the angels that sinned: God could have let all of us go on our self-chosen path toward eternal condemnation. But God decided to do much more than merely meet the demands of justice. If he had decided to save only five human beings, it would have been much more than justice: it would have been a great demonstration of mercy and grace. But God in fact has chosen to do much more than that. He has decided to redeem out of sinful mankind a great multitude, whom no man can number, “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). This is incalculable mercy and love, far beyond our comprehension. It is all undeserved favour: it is all of grace. The striking contrast with the fate of angels brings this truth home to us. The fact that we have been saved from a life of rebellion against God means that we are able to sing songs that angels will never be able to sing for all eternity.

Redeemed – how I love to proclaim it!

Redeemed by the blood of the lamb;

Redeemed through his infinite mercy –

His child, and forever, I am.

 

References:

(this article is compiled from the following works)

1.     Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine

2.     John Piper, Five Points: Towards a Deeper Experience of God’s Grace (available for free in desiringgod.org)

3.     R. C. Sproul, Chosen by God

4.     John Piper, Five Points

5.     Unconditional Election:

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/what_is_reformed_theology/unconditional-election/

6.     Five Reasons to Embrace Unconditional Election:

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/five-reasons-to-embrace-unconditional-election

7.     No Truth moves me like that of Election:

https://banneroftruth.org/uk/resources/articles/2007/no-truth-moves-me-like-that-of-election/

8.     What we believe about the five points of Calvinism:

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-we-believe-about-the-five-points-of-calvinism

9.     God’s Revealed Will and His Secret Will (Divine Election and God’s Desire for All to be Saved): https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/are-there-two-wills-in-god

(Highly Recommended)

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[1] The contents are taken from Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem