[This is a highly controversial topic in the church today. I firmly believe that election is taught throughout the whole of Scripture. This post contains a short exposition on Romans 9. For further study on this doctrine, please refer to the resources I used, as well as reading or listening to the many different sources on election. God Bless!]
Election.
This one word can divide a group of believing Christians faster than any other doctrine. It is hard to understand why that is because it is a Biblical doctrine found throughout the totality of Scripture. However, people still refuse to believe this great doctrine. They believe an unbiblical doctrine that says they can earn their salvation or that salvation is totally serendipitous, coming to them based on some foreseen merit. Both of these ideas are false views of Scripture. If salvation is serendipitous or based on one’s own legal merit, then all of mankind is in a bad predicament, therefore, God must call people to Himself and grant them the gift of salvation.
A good definition of election is essential for one to believe this great doctrine. There are many words in the Greek language that refer to election; these words are predestined, foreknew, elect, and called. R.C. Sproul says predestination “teaches that from all eternity God has chosen to intervene in the lives of some people and bring them to saving faith and has chosen not to do that for other people.” Sproul’s definition of foreknowledge is this: “From all eternity God foreknew his elect. He had an idea of their identities in his mind before he ever created them. He not only foreknew them in the sense of having a prior idea of their personal identities, but he also foreknew them in the sense of fore-loving them.” John Frame said the word elect “simply means ‘choice.’” The word for “called” simply refers to an effective call that is based on predestination and necessarily produces a positive response. These are just a few words that refer to election, however, it would be appropriate to expound on these and look deeper into the doctrine.
Election is unconditional. “Unconditional election means that our election is decided by God according to his purpose, according to his sovereign will. It is not based upon some foreseen condition that some of us meet and others fail to meet. It is not based on our willing or on our running, but upon the sovereign purpose of God.” Romans 9 is one place in Scripture where election is eminent. Here Paul has been explaining the reasons for Israel’s rejection. He states that not all of Israel is part of the true Israel. Rather, the children of promise are part of the true Israel. Then Paul further clarifies his argument by example of Jacob and Esau. He points out that God chose to save Jacob before he was born, “Though 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—she (Rebekah) was told, “The older will serve the younger”” (Rom 9:11-12, italicized mine). The key phrase in this passage for unconditional election is “not because of works but because of him who calls.” Sproul says this verse “emphatically denies that election is a result of the work of man, foreseen or otherwise. It is the purpose of God according to his election that is in view here.”
However, people in the church today deny this doctrine for at least three reasons. These reasons are: 1) they believe they can earn their way into heaven by their good works; 2) it is unfair for God to choose some and not all; 3) it compromises their free will. Earlier in Romans, Paul talks about man falling short of the glory of God. He also quotes the Psalmist saying, “There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one” (Rom 3:10-12). Also in Romans 5 Paul spends a great amount of time explaining the imputation of Adam’s sin to all of man. So, according to Paul every man is born a sinner, he can do no good, he constantly falls short and he can do nothing to earn his righteousness. “If left to ourselves, we are in a state of spiritual death because our hearts are corrupt. Unless the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and ears, we will never believe in or choose Jesus.” These verses dispel any notion that man is righteous enough to earn his way into heaven, yet some Christians still believe they can and here is why they believe this.
Some folks believe in the foreknowledge view of predestination, which teaches that, “From all eternity God knew how we would live. He knew in advance whether we would receive Christ or reject Christ. He knew our free choices before we ever made them. God’s choice of our eternal destiny then was made on the basis of what he knew we would choose.” So, they believe that they do or have done or will do something that pleases God enough to allow them in heaven. This is an extreme view and a definite eisegesis. “In Romans 9:11 Paul stresses that it is the ‘according-to-election purpose of God’ that will stand — not based on human effort but centered solely in Him who calls. In Romans 9:16 Paul leaves no room for doubt when he says, “So then none of this depends on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on the One having mercy, that is, God.”” According to this text, election is solely based on the good will of God and not on any foreseen merit done by someone because there is nothing righteous in them that they can do to earn their salvation. Sproul calls this text the “coup de grace” of non-Reformed views of predestination. This text alone proves the foreknowledge view of predestination and the view that salvation is serendipitous to be utterly false.
The second objection to the doctrine of election is the view that God is unfair in choosing some and not all. John Piper says people are offended when Paul asserts that God “does not base his decisions on any human distinctives that a person may claim by birth or effort.” People would rather believe that, “God must elect persons on the basis of their real and valuable distinctives, whether racial or moral.” So, these people want a conditional election rather than a gift of God’s grace because if they were elected according to their conditions, salvation would bypass them all. “God’s actions would be unjust if they were responses conditioned by the creature, whether they be actions of judgment or mercy.” Rather, God elects people based on His conditions! Paul quotes from Exodus in Romans 9:15 when he says, “For he (God) says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”” God did not tell Moses that He would have mercy on him based on Moses’ conditions. He said “I will have mercy and compassion on whom I please!” This destroys any concept of unfairness that might be credited to God. Calvin says this verse “is just a clear declaration by the Lord that he finds nothing in men themselves to induce him to show kindness, that it is owing entirely to his own mercy, and, accordingly, that their salvation is his own work.” God is never unfair in choosing some and not choosing all. He shows mercy to whoever He desires and He does it based on the kind intention of His will.
The final objection is one that is completely rotten. People believe that unconditional election compromises their free will. The definition of free will is debatable but Jonathan Edwards defines it simply as “the mind choosing.” He also says, “The will always chooses according to its strongest inclination at the moment.” Sproul says, “This means that every choice is free and every choice is determined.” Every choice man makes is free but it is based on his likes or dislikes, therefore, making it determined. Thus, if a man is not regenerate his will is enslaved to sin because that is what he desires to do. As Paul said earlier no one seeks after Christ, so the unregenerate man with a “free” will can never choose Christ because he can never desire Christ due to his hardened heart. Man has nothing to offer God. Therefore, God must elect this man and the Holy Spirit must quicken him in order for him to be saved. This man must be saved by the free will of God according to His good pleasure.
“So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” (Rom 9:16). This verse makes it clear that salvation is from the Lord. God must elect unconditionally those whom He wants to extend mercy. It is not up to the any person to earn their own salvation because they are morally unable. Instead of denying this doctrine, people need to be educated and embrace this great doctrine. To conclude, Paul says it right in Romans 11 when he says, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
Bibliography
Beale, G. K. “An Exegetical And Theological Consideration Of The Hardening Of Pharaoh’s Heart In Exodus 4-14 And Romans 9,” Trinity Journal 5 NS (1984): 129-154.
Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Trans. Henry Beveridge, Peabody: Henderson, 2008.
Frame, John M. Salvation Belongs to the Lord: an Introduction to Systematic Theology. Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 2006.
Lewis, Steve. “The Doctrine of the Remnant and the Salvation of Israel in Romans 9-11,” Conservative Theological Journal (2005): 1-11.
Piper, John. The Justification of God. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993.
Sproul, R. C. Chosen by God. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, 1986.
_________. Romans: The Righteous Shall Live by Faith. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2009.
Eagerly Awaiting 