An Election that Actually Matters

          The doctrine of election is one of the most beautiful and encouraging doctrines of the faith.  That doesn’t mean that it is easy to understand and accept from a human perspective.   Even Martin Luther referred to it as “the hard wine”, but if you look at what the bible says and really think about it, then it won’t be so hard to understand and will be a source of encouragement to you.

            The first thing to understand is that when we talk about election there is more than one kind of election in the bible, there is corporate or group election, election to a particular task or office, and individual election to salvation for individual believers.

            Corporate election is when God chooses a group of people to be his people.  In  the old testament this was Israel, but in the same way that God chose Israel, He also choose the church.  Peter writes to believers that the Church is a Holy nation, a chosen race and a people for God’s own possession (1 Peter 2:9-10).  That God chose a group of people as His own is very clear.

            A second kind of election is the election, or choosing by God, of an individual to fulfill a particular function or office.  This is seen in both the Old Testament and the New.  God chose Moses as the deliverer of Israel from Egypt, He chose David to be king and Solomon to build the temple (even though David desired to build it).  This kind of special election was not just something that happened long ago, but is still going on as God elects people to the ministry and other positions and offices within the church (Eph 4:11).

            But when we talk about election what most people think of is personal election to salvation.  This kind of election refers to God’s choosing individual people for grace that results in faith and leads to salvation.  The selection of believers by God is a thread that runs through the whole of Scripture.  In the Pentateuch God choose Abraham (Gen 12:1-3) in the prophets God chooses Jeremiah before his birth (Jer. 1:5) but in the writings we have as clear a statement about election as any of the passages about election we find in the New Testament.  David wrote in Psalm 65:4 “Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in your courts”.  This is an explicit statement about personal election.

            The New Testament also clearly teaches election in the gospels, Acts and the epistles.  John 5:21 records Jesus saying that the “son gives life to whom He wishes” and in 6:44 Jesus says that “no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.”  Acts 13:48, in describing the response to the preaching of Paul, notes that as many were appointed to life believed. Paul likewise writes “who He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Rom8:30),” and that “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph.1:4).  Peter notes in 1 Peter 1:1-2 that believers scattered throughout the world are “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”  Finally Revelation 13:8 states that the names in the book of life have been written since the foundation of the world.

            It is simply inescapable that God has elected certain people to faith and eternal life.  It is His choice and He is the actor.  I have given so many examples so that it is clear that this is a teaching that runs throughout the whole of Scripture, from the first book of the bible to the last.  To deny individual election is to deny a clear teaching of Scripture.

            But the doctrine of election in no way negates man’s free will.  Some who believe that man chooses God claim that irresistible election is incompatible with the free will of man. They claim that this doctrine makes men robots who are marching to either destruction or salvation with no input into their fate.  That however is simply not true.  All men apart from God constantly and freely chose sins that alienate them for God and make them objects of wrath.  Paul, in Romans 3:11, writes of the natural man “No one seeks for God.”  God does not actively elect some for damnation and others for salvation.   All men are headed to perdition, by their own choosing and actions, but God gracefully elects some  to be awakened to their spiritual condition that they might repent and believe.  While this may seem unfair to us, the reality is that fair would be for everyone to be cast into hell, but in His mercy God elects some to life.  As Exodus 33:19 records God says “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy”.

            So you should be encouraged by the doctrine of election, if you have truly accepted Christ as both your Lord and Savior.  God has chosen you.  What an incredible gift of grace.  Not only is election a tremendous encouragement, but it is also a call to holy living, as Paul exhorted in Ephesians 4:1, we should strive to walk worthily of the calling with which we were called.