Our Beliefs

The Doctrine of Election is one of the most vital in the Bible—and one of the least understood. The word “election” does not appear in the Old Testament; it is found in only six verses in the New Testament (Romans 9:11; 11:5 KJV, 7 KJV, 28; 1 Thessalonians 1:4 KJV; 2 Peter 1:10). But the word “elect/chosen” (Hebrew bachir; Greek eklektos) appears four times in the Old Testament (Isaiah 42:1; 45:4; 65:9, 22) and sixteen times in the New Testament (Matthew 20:16; 22:14; 24:22, 24, 31; Mark 13:20, 22, 27; Luke 18:7; 22:35; Romans 8:33; 16:13; Colossians 3:12; 1 Timothy 5:21; 2 Timothy 2:10; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:2; 2:4, 6, 9; 5:13; 2 John 1, 13; Revelation 17:14). The root Greek word for election means a choice or a laying out. While election involves both God and man, the initiative in election is with God, not with man (John 6:44). In creation the initiative was with God: “In the beginning God created” (Genesis 1:1). Likewise, in redemption the moving force was God: “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). I. Some Errors Regarding the Doctrine of Election 1. God’s will – One error is that election depends merely upon God’s will or good pleasure. The fallacy of this position is that it magnifies some aspects of God’s nature to the neglect of all others. It emphasizes God’s will and power and minimizes His righteousness and love. Likewise, it ignores the human will and power of choice. 2. Salvation of the few – Another error is that God wishes to save as few as possible rather than as many as possible. This is in direct contrast to the idea that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16). The whole tenor of the Bible is that God loves all men equally and endeavors to save them equally. 3. Election of individuals – A third error is that election relates to certain individuals, with some destined so salvation and others to damnation. This view says that God exhibits his love in the former, while in the latter he demonstrates his justice. Thus the atonement of Christ was not for the whole world but for the elect alone. This, however, is a direct negation of the comprehensive teachings of Scripture (John 3:16, Revelation 22:17). There are two schools of theology on this point: 1. Christ died to save some, the elect and 2. Christ died to save all men. 4. Fatalism – A final error is that election tends toward fatalism. Such a view says that some will be saved and others lost, regardless of what they do. Therefore, evangelism is unnecessary. In like manner are all events of man’s life explained. This reasoning makes man a puppet on a string. Election never appears in the Scriptures as mechanical or blind destiny. It has to do with a God who is love and with a man who is morally responsible (1 John 4:8-10; Acts 2:37-41; Romans 10:13). Election never appears as a violation of human will (Matthew 23:37-38). II. The Twofold Elements Basic in Election 1. The sovereignty of God – There are two ways to regard this truth – abstract and concrete. The sovereignty of God, considered in the abstract, simply means that God, being all-powerful, can do as He pleases apart from any other consideration, such as the rights or well-being of others or all the attributes of His nature. An example of this may be seen in Matthew 20:1-16 Here each laborer received the same wages regardless of the hours worked simply because the owner wished it so. However, there is much more in the parable than that one idea, e.g., justice (vv. 13-14) and mercy (v. 14). But if the sovereignty of God is considered in the concrete, all of God’s sovereign dealings as related in the Scriptures must be included. Here, in the words of Mullins, we discover that God “keeps the reins of government in His hands. He guides the universe to His own glorious end. That end embodies the highest ideals of holiness and love” (Isaiah 54:8; 55:1-9; Jeremiah 31:3; Ephesians 3:1-11). 2. The free will of man – Over against the sovereignty of God the Bible places the free will of man. God made man in His own image (Genesis 1:27). Man is a personality with the power of choice (Genesis 3:1-6); he is capable of a sense of guild (Genesis 3:7); he is morally responsible for his decisions (Genesis 3:8-24; Jeremiah 31:29-30; Ezekiel 18:2; Romans chapters 1-3). 3. The impossibility of harmonizing these two facts – On the level of finite intellect, the sovereignty of God and the free will of man cannot be harmonized, but in the infinite wisdom of God there is no conflict (Isaiah 54:8-9; Romans 11:33). But even human reason can help us to understand, in part, this mystery. We know that divine sovereignty must not cancel human freedom, else man becomes a mere machine incapable of fellowship with God. Furthermore, this would make God responsible for man’s sinful acts. However, if we remember that God is a God of law, the mystery is partially explained. The presence of law in the physical, moral, and spiritual realms hardly needs to be proved. Science has demonstrated the role of law in nature (Genesis 1:24-25; 8:22). By it health is preserved and the ground is tilled; natural law makes possible orderly living on the earth. Daily observation demonstrates that in the moral and spiritual realms the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). It is well to remember that all of God’s laws are beneficent. Only when we violate them do we pay the penalty in suffering and death. The evil in nature and in man is not by the express will but by the permissive will of God. However, we must also remember that the very nature of God’s dealing with us through law constitutes a self-limitation upon God. Thus He does not act merely by capricious will but by the laws which He has established. The final answer to all things, therefore, is in the will of man. If his life corresponds to God’s laws, well and good. But if his will runs counter to these laws, the wages of sin is death in whatever realm it may be. Obedience or disobedience to God’s Laws determines the outcome. But even so, God has higher laws than those known to man by which God overrules man’s rebellious will. Buy the knowledge of these higher laws (Genesis 1:28) man is able to live a fuller life and to overrule his own errors. But even beyond man’s knowledge God works by His laws in the realm of the miraculous. It is in this final thought that we find understanding of the dealings with God with man in salvation. When man sins, God imposes the higher law of His mercy and grace (Ephesians 2:1-10). God takes the initiative to save miraculously in accord with His righteousness and love. Hence come the incarnation in Jesus and His crucifixion, resurrection, and continuing intercession. But the free will of man is involved, for he must either accept or reject the saving overtures of a righteous and loving God. Even the sovereignty of God is limited by God’s moral and spiritual laws and by the nature of the free will of man. Therefore, the doctrine of election refers to a plan of salvation for all men and not simply to the capricious choice of some men and the rejection of others. God in His sovereignty has elected a plan of salvation for all men. It is a plan based on grace and not merit (Matthew 20:1-16). Those who in their free will accept it are saved; those who reject it are by their own free will lost. “Many [or all] be called [or elected], but few [those who conform to the elected plan] chosen” (Matthew 20:16). 4. The cognate terms relative to the problem – “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son . . . Moreover whom He did predestinate, them he also called: and whom He justified, them He also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30; author’s italics). The foreknowl- edge of God simply means that God knows all things before they happen. God knew beforehand who would accept or reject His overture of grace. But a person’s foreknowledge of an event does not make it a part of his will or planning. In his finite foreknowledge he may know that automobiles are going to crash and people will be killed. But he does not will or cause it. The infinite foreknowledge of God removes all uncertainty, but it does not make God responsible. He knows who will reject His grace, but He does not will it or cause it. Predestination with regard to salvation, on the other hand, simply means that God has predetermined that those who respond affirmatively to His call or election will be justified, or declared righteous, and furthermore will be glorified. All of this is “according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28; Ephesians 3:11). III. The Twofold Operation of Election We cannot fully understand the doctrine of election unless we see in it God’s purpose of salvation for all men. This doctrine is not based upon arbitrary choice but upon the fulfilment of God’s “eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:11). To accomplish this purpose God elected first a people and second, individuals. 1. The election of people – God elected individuals and families. First, God chose Noah and his family (Genesis 6:8) to be the channel of his blessings to mankind. Second, He chose Abraham and his seed: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great: and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3; author’s italics). Note the condition and the racial blessing. We do not comprehend the election of Abraham unless we see also God’s worldwide purpose of grace. The covenant with Abraham was basic in His redemptive purpose. Of Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, God chose or elected Isaac (Genesis 15:4; 17:16; 21:12; Romans 9:7); of Isaac’s two sons God chose Jacob (Malachi 1:2-3; and Romans 9:13); and from Jacobs loins came the twelve tribes of Israel. Note that “love” and “hate” in Malachi 1:2-3 and Romans 9:13 contain the element of choice. God had to choose one or the other: therefore, He Loved or chose Jacob and hated or rejected Esau. All the above choices were sovereign, but this sovereignty was based upon God’s foreknowledge that those chosen possessed the characteristics which would make them suited to God’s purpose. Even so, their response was one of free will. Note instances where they acted otherwise (Genesis 9:21; 12:11; 25:25; 26:7; 27:1-46). The crux of this matter is seen in the election of the nation, Israel. When God was ready to redeem Israel from Egypt, He proposed to carry out through them His covenant with Abraham (Exodus 6:5-8). Thus He elected a nation. This covenant with Israel was sealed after their deliverance from Egypt. Note that God covenants only with a redeemed people. “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6; author’s emphasis). God was sovereign in making this proposal; Israel exercised her free will in accepting it (Exodus 19:8). Note that this was a conditional covenant. God’s sovereign election was still combined with Israel’s free will in accepting or rejecting, then and later, the covenant. But this did not mean that God loved Israel more than other nations. She was to be a priest-nation through which God would extend His love to all people. But Israel forgot the responsibility and remembered only the privilege of being a peculiar treasure. The prophetic utterances bristle with challenges for Israel to accept in reality the conditions of the covenant. “It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved [desolations] of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles [heathen], that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6; author’s italics). When finally it became apparent that Israel would not honor the covenant, God, as sovereign, promised a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:8). The sovereign will of God is grounded in His saving love. He never changes His eternal purpose, though He changes His procedure according to man’s free will. Thus we come to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, who was not merely a Jew but the Son of man. Here again we see the worldwide redemptive purpose of God. Christ died for all men; His commission included “all nations” (Matthew 28:19-20). At this point we note the election of a people, the new Israel. According to Matthew 21, God rejected national Israel. The parables of the two sons (vv. 28-32) and the wicked husbandmen (vv. 33-41) clearly relate how repeatedly Israel’s free will had rejected God’s sovereign will with regard to His covenant. By their own words Jesus condemns the Jews: “He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard [Isaiah 5:1-7] unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons: (v. 41). Jesus replied: “Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof . . . And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they perceived that He spake of them [as representative of the nation]” (vv. 43, 45). The sequel to these words is found in 1 Peter2:4-10 with reference to Christian people. Compare this passage with Exodus 19:5-6 and Matthew 21:42-44: note “stone,” “corner,” “builders rejected,” “head of the corner,” “broken,” “grind him to powder”(Matthew); and “chief corner stone,” “elect, precious” (Exodus) “confounded,” “disobedient,” “stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence,” (1 Peter). “But ye are a chosen generation; a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light [Isaiah 60:2-3]: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God [Hosea 1:9]: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:2-10; author’s italics). The similarity between these three passages in Exodus, Matthew, and 1 Peter cannot be accidental. They are an expression of the electing purpose and grace of God. A careful study of Romans will reveal that the promise of God was not to the physical seed of Abraham (Romans 4; Matthew 3:7-9) but to the spiritual seed. Paul was careful to point out in Romans 9-11 that “they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. . . . They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed: (9:6-8). This entire section (Romans 9-11) points out that not all members of national Israel are within the promise. Only those, Jews as well as Gentiles, who have accepted Christ are spiritual Israel. In Ephesians, Probably next to the last letter written by Paul, the apostle clearly set forth the truth that the eternal purpose of God is no longer through one nation but the church, the redeemed through Christ (Ephesians 3, note especially vv. 10-11), which is made up of redeemed people of all races and nations. This truth may be summarized by saying that God’s sovereign will elects those who are to be His “royal priesthood” and “holy nation” for the salvation of all men. The free will of man either accepts or rejects this relationship to his own loss. 2. The election of individuals – The difference God’s election of a nation as the means of achieving God’s saving purpose and His election of individuals unto salvation is that the former is a matter of God’s people losing their opportunity, while the latter is a matter of a lost person’s failing to receive salvation. While an opportunity may be grasped and lost, salvation once received is never lost. But saved people may lose their opportunity to become part of God’s larger redemptive purpose for all other men. Note, further, God’s initiative in His electing grace. Again we repeat that God in His sovereignty has elected a plan of salvation. He has taken the initiative in offering salvation to all men. This is seen in many Scripture passages: John 3:16; 6:37; 6:44; Acts 13:48. Again, in Romans 9-11, there is not only the aforementioned lesson regarding national and spiritual Israel but the matter of the salvation of individual Jews and Gentiles. The sovereign will of God and the free will of man is obvious in both cases (Romans 9:11-13). Election is not a matter of capricious choice on God’s part but of His foreknowledge of what man’s response will be to His proffered grace. Man’s response is a free choice. God has elected salvation to all who, in freedom of will, will call on Him or who will meet the conditions of the elected plan of salvation (Revelation 22:17). In short, God has provided in His election all that is necessary for man’s salvation. He has made man a free moral agent; he is a person of knowledge (2 Corinthians 5:11); conscience (2 Corinthians 5:11); hope (Romans 8:24); love (1 Corinthians 13); sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10; and will (Matthew 23:37; John 5:40; Revelation 22:17), with the power to accept salvation in faith or reject it in unbelief. When Christ cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30), the sovereign God had done all that He could do. Through His church He uses the Bible, music, preaching and teaching that the Holy Spirit may aid men in making a favorable response. But the response lies in the free will of man. Scripture passages abound to this effect (John 3:16; 5:24; 20:32; Acts 2:41-42; 16:31; Romans 10:10). But like Israel as a nation, so we as individuals must remember that salvation is not merely a privilege to be enjoyed but a blessing to be shared (Genesis 12:2). In John 15:16 Jesus said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained [appointed] you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit” (author’s italics). Here is election both to salvation and to evangelism. In both the free will of man determines the final result. By free will men can elect to be saved but elect to be barren Christians. God forbid! The Epistle to the Hebrews is a warning against such a life. 3. The hardening of man’s heart – Certain passages seem to teach that God is the active agent in the hardening of man’s hearts against His proffered will (Exodus 7:3, 13; 10:1). In a sense the Scriptures often attribute events, whether good or evil, to God (Isaiah 45:7). In these passages the sovereignty of God is under consideration. But remembering the free will of man, we must interpret this and other such cases in the light of the permissive will of God. In practically all of these instances cited the context shows that the hardening of the heart was due to the voluntary acts of men themselves and not to God (Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:27-28). The Bible abundantly and clearly declares that men bring upon themselves moral and spiritual blindness by the persistence in sin. God permits His laws to work to the end that by their free choice men lose their moral sense and become spiritually blind (Matthew 13:13; Mark 4:11-12; Luke 8:10). In conclusion we quote Edgar Young Mullins’ definition of election: “Election is not to be thought of as a bare choice of so many human units by God’s action independently of man’s free choice and the human means employed. God elects men to respond freely. He elects men to preach persuasively and to witness convincingly. He elects to reach men through their native faculties and through the church, through evangelism, and education and missionary endeavor. We must include all these elements in election. Otherwise we split the decree of God into parts and leave out an essential part.” (The Christian Religion in Its Doctrinal Expression, 1917, p. 347)