Acts 28:31
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 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, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." -- Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV Today's Blog PostToday's blog post is going to be a little different. Normally, I've composed my posts regarding ministry and family life. Today, I'm going to share my recent theology paper topic. My topic is the doctrine of Unconditional Election. The main idea is to define, and defend the doctrine of Unconditional Election. My aim with this paper is to understand the doctrine, where it stems from out of a proper exegesis of scripture, as well as its development through church history. I do not aim to cause division within our Lord's church, just merely understand a doctrine that reveals a little more about who He is. I wish not to offend, and dissent with the brethren over a doctrine that describes the events of salvation and not alters its efficacy on the believer. IntroductionGod made the church through the work of Jesus Christ, His life, death, and resurrection bought for Himself a people redeemed and made up of a diverse group. Every one of those people (you and I included) were chosen by God from before the foundations of the world to know Him and to love Him. The doctrine that stems from that statement is called "Unconditional Election." Here my aim is to clearly define this doctrine for you to understand. In order to do that I will first start off with one of the main verses that talk about it Romans 8. "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. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." -- Romans 8:29-30 ESV Out of these verses (and others) the doctrine of election arises. This post is setup to define and defend unconditional election, by first defining election and explaining how unconditional election came to be. This will be done by placing unconditional election within what's called order of salvation (ordo salutis). The order of salvation is the particular way that many theologians have used to describe the Christian's experience in conversion. Each section will be a summary of the corresponding section in the paper, thus will not contain every source used to construct the paper. I hope this is an encouragement for those who agree with the doctrine of Unconditional Election. For those who do not agree, my prayer is that you receive this post with grace, generosity, and humility. I am open to generous dialogue on the subject. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this post. What is Election?Election can be found in both Old and New Testaments. It is the doctrine that describes God's ability to choose a person, or people for himself designed for His explicit purposes. In the New Testament, the word used is "eklegomai" which means "to choose something for oneself." For example: God chose for Himself people (such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob), in order to establish Israel as a nation. So this use of God's election points to his plan to provide a means of salvation for the church as applied to the ordo salutis. So every person that is a Christ follower is elected by God. Within the Order of Salvation, Election is the first step taken to convert the lost, bringing them to know Christ. However the question arises, of what happens with those who do not know Christ? Are they elected for destruction? In a word, no. Rather, what is apparent is that God will call anyone to based on his choice, and will. Election in the Old TestamentBefore digging more into Election in the rod of salvation, following God's plan of election throughout the scripture will build the argument for what happens with all people and how they respond to the Gospel call. God's plan is not only leading towards salvation, In the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac and jacob are an excellent example of God's election. When He established Israel as a nation for himself he chose from among them leaders, Moses and Aaron, the Judges, Kings and Prophets. God would elect each one of them with according to his own purposes. Israel was supposed to be an elected people set aside to reflect proper relationship with the living God amongst a people who are without Him. In Genesis 11, God called Abram out of the land of Haran. In chapter 12, God promised an heir, land, and peace for Abram. Genesis 15, God ratified the covenant on His own, thus making the covenant unconditional, in that God will complete the requirements of the covenant to Abram on His own. After the Exodus, God established Israel as a nation and raised up King David. In 2 Samuel 7 God raised up David to establish him as the king of Israel, and again God ratified this covenant on His own proclaiming that He will complete the work needed for it. These two are just an overview of God electing people--choosing them for His own purposes. Other authors in the Old Testament refer to them and others as the elected: Abraham (Neh. 9:7), Moses (Psa. 106:23), Aaron (Num. 16:1-17; 13) David (Psa. 78:70), Solomon (1 Chr. 28:10), and Zerubbabel (Hag. 2:23). Election in the New TestamentIn the New Testament, God's grace remains the same. In that He still acts according to His own purposes and will, not only that, but God's purposes and will directly affect His people. While in the Old Testament God's election was pointed towards Israel through the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants in the New Covenant God pours out that grace on a remnant of people made up of all nations. The very first example of election in the New Testament would be Jesus in choosing the twelve (Luke 6:13; John 15:16). Another use throughout the New Testament refers to eschatological events (Matt. 24:22, 31; Mark. 13:20). Paul the Apostle as he writes his letters offers three specific texts that explain election; Rom. 8:28-30, 9-11; Eph. 1:1-12. This would be applied directly to individuals whom the Lord has saved. In this context, election offers a Christ-centered viewpoint through which God chooses for Himself a people, not based on foreknowledge, but merely according to God's own good will and pleasure. Romans 8:28-30 Paul introduces what is now called the order of salvation (ordo salutis). This is the logical ordering of events that describe what happens in and to the believer as God is bringing them out of the kingdom of darkness into His kingdom of light. In Christian thought, election has been discussed and some questions rise when it comes to this view, namely; does unconditional election teach a form of fatalism? Is it still necessary to preach the Gospel? What about those who view this as a mark of pride? All of which will be addressed in the next section. Total Depravity and ReprobationTo begin, when people understand election it is easy to question if election teaches either double predestination, or fatalism. Double predestination is the belief that God has chosen for Himself a people for salvation and a people for destruction. While fatalism is the philosophical belief that everything a person does is a result of fate. That there are no true choices in a person's actions because God has foreseen them and in fact configures events to happen. Both of these teachings are inextricably absent from scripture. Instead, what should be studied first is the doctrine of sin. When understanding the capability and effects of human sinfulness paired with how seriously God views sin, then unconditional election is easier to understand and even hold to. For starters the extent of human sinfulness reaches the core of humanity. The extent of sinfulness involves physically (the presence of disease and death), psychologically (mental health issues, which are not in-and-other selves), and spiritual condition. When all three of those things diverging away from the Lord then the only way to describe humanity is in rebellion against God, in totality. Therefore with those who reject God, God does not need to send anyone to heaven or hell rather, God simply leaves those to their own devices. This is understood as reprobation. Romans 1-3 are a the basis of this argument, as well as Ephesians 2:1-3. The entire point of the Romans 1-3 can be summed up with on section 1:18-25 In this section Paul explains how people suppress knowledge of God, and how He revealed Himself in creation and decided to turn and worship creation. As a result God gave them over to their desires. So by nature humanity does not want a relationship with God according to Romans 1-3. Verses 18-25 in context focus on the Gentiles, however, Paul applies this same principle to the Jews in chapter 2. After that it leads Paul to pen 3:23 "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." The point here is humanity's sinful condition, by nature and by choice is what condemns them, not God's election of them for destruction. Election is God's Sovereign ChoiceThe doctrine of unconditional election, as it applies to the church is can be seen in Ephesians 1:4-6; 11 where Paul writes, "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, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved...In him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will." Ephesians 1 and Romans 8:28-11 clearly shows that God has the ability to choose for himself, and he has actively done so throughout the Old and New Testament, and still does so today choosing for himself a people to redeem. Those who are already numbered as believers and followers of Christ's church would be understood to have been chosen since before the foundation of the world and God worked out his redemptive plan and applied to them.
God has a type of freedom that is exists outside of humanity's understanding of freedom. God is the ultimate and perfect authority wherein He rules over our own. In that humanity's freedom is similar to a highway with a guardrail. Humanity is free to move within the constraints of the guardrail but God is free to move however He pleases. Therefore, unconditional election is the result of the sovereign choice of the supreme authority over all things doing as His pleases, according to His will and whatever it is He sets out to accomplish; He succeeds. For the believer unconditional election ought to be a comfort, knowing that God has set His love upon us in a unique way that simply because He loves us, should be a comfort. This would bring a stronger understanding to the what Paul writes in Romans 8:28. We can be sure that God is indeed has our good in mind as He works in the world and those who have yet to know Him will experience the goodness of God in that same way.
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AuthorMy name is Nokomis Gregory. I'm a native of Winston-Salem, NC. After graduating from Piedmont International University I moved Calgary, Alberta as a church planting team member, with the hopes of planting a church in Calgary. Archives
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