The unjust judge saves those he decides to save and condemns those he decides to condemn for reasons known only to himself.What is the meaning of election?
The Greek word for election is ekloge (ek-log-ay') it means to pick out, choose, chosen, elect. It is to choose some people out of many people. Who does the choosing? God does the choosing. Do not be surprised majority of the churches that are Arminian believe this too. On what basis does God choose some out of many? This is where the rubber meets the road. The most crucial question is, on what bases does God elects some and leave others?
The meaning of unconditional election.
Arminians reply, God looks into the future and sees who will accept him, receive him, and God elects them on the basis of man’s will. The Scriptures make it very clear that Election to salvation is in no way conditioned by or dependent upon man. Unconditional means that there are no conditions that humans must meet, including faith. Faith is a gift of God (Rom. 12:3; Eph. 2:8). If human-generated faith plays a part in salvation, salvation is not entirely by grace. Now think about it, if election is of man’s will, then God is bound to man’s will. Then where is the sovereignty of God? Where is the mercy of God? Where is the grace of God? All these have no place as God is limited and he has no choice but he has to make the choice as per man’s decision. This kind of teaching is very heretical and slap on God’s sovereignty.
On the other hand, the Bible says just the opposite. God predestines and choose some according to his will and as per his own pleasure.
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
"It is absurd to think that anything in us could have the least influence upon our election. Some say that God did foresee that such persons would believe, and therefore did choose them; so, they would make the business of salvation to depend upon something in us. Whereas God does not choose us FOR faith, but TO faith. "He hath chosen us, that we should be holy," (Ephesians 1:4), not because we would be holy, but that we might be holy." Thomas Watson
"Moreover, as God respects no persons, so He respects no conditions upon which He gives salvation to us." Thomas Goodwin
"The orthodox maintain that the good pleasure alone (of God) has place and think that no other cause can either be given or rightly sought [for election]." Francis Turretin
"The good pleasure of God is an act of the divine will freely and effectively determining all things." William Ames
If election is of foreseen faith, then God would not have elected man, but rather man would have elected God. Jesus said, there is no one good, but one, that is God.
"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling,"
Election is a glorious doctrine, as the sinner realize although he deserves hell, it was God who chose him. Election is a work performed by the God of glory. It lifts sinners from the darkness, destruction, doom, and death of sin to become God’s children. It brings glory to God, and nothing to man. It will praise of his glorious grace, which we do not deserve. Election is glorious. We were the chief of sinners, the king of sinners, hypocrites and totally deceived ourselves.
1Co 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
But God chose me!
'Twas not that I did choose Thee
For Lord That could not be;
This heart would still refuse Thee,
Hadst Thou not chosen me."
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.
1Co 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
Election brings true humility.
Spurgeon said, “I know nothing, nothing again, that is more humbling for us than this doctrine of election. I have sometimes fallen prostrate before it, when endeavoring to understand it. I have stretched my wings, and, eagle-like, I have soared towards the sun. Steady has been my eye, and true my wing, for a season; but, when I came near it, and the one thought possessed me,—"God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation," I was lost in its lustre, I was staggered with the mighty thought; and from the dizzy elevation down came my soul, prostrate and broken, saying, "Lord, I am nothing, I am less than nothing. Why me? Why me?"
Friends, if you want to be humbled, study election, for it will make you humble under the influence of God's Spirit. He who is proud of his election is not elect; and he who is humbled under a sense of it may believe that he is. He has every reason to believe that he is, for it is one of the most blessed effects of election that it helps us to humble ourselves before God.”
http://www.sounddoctrine.net/
Doctrine of Unconditional Election
- Thread starter beloved57
- Start date
The unjust judge saves those he decides to save and condemns those he decides to condemn for reasons known only to himself.
beloved57
Well-known member
The canons of dort presentation of election:
Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, God chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. God did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation.
And so God decreed to give to Christ those chosen for salvation, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ’s fellowship through the Word and Spirit. In other words, God decreed to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of the Son, to glorify them.
God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of God’s glorious grace.
As Scripture says, “God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before him with love; he predestined us whom he adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved” (Eph. 1:4-6). And elsewhere, “Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).
Article 7: Election
Election is God’s unchangeable purpose by which he did the following:Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, God chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. God did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation.
And so God decreed to give to Christ those chosen for salvation, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ’s fellowship through the Word and Spirit. In other words, God decreed to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of the Son, to glorify them.
God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of God’s glorious grace.
As Scripture says, “God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before him with love; he predestined us whom he adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved” (Eph. 1:4-6). And elsewhere, “Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).
By suggesting humans fell by their own fault, taking God by surprise, you make God out to be limited in His foreknowledge. God did not deliberately create humans He knew would fall into sin as though He delights in creating sinners to vent His eternal wrath on for falling into sin.
beloved57
Well-known member
Article 8: A Single Decree of Election
This election is not of many kinds, but one and the same for all who were to be saved in the Old and the New Testament. For Scripture declares that there is a single good pleasure, purpose, and plan of God’s will, by which he chose us from eternity both to grace and to glory, both to salvation and to the way of salvation, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in.Good point. Let me assume you believe God knew He was creating sinners He knew He had no intention of offering salvation so He could burn them in wrath forever for their sin. Your idea of God is not only wrong and stupid, but blasphemous as well. God is not evil and he is not hate. God is love, in spite of Calvinist delusions to the contrary.
1 John 4:8
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
beloved57
Well-known member
Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith
This same election took place, not on the basis of foreseen faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, or of any other good quality and disposition, as though it were based on a prerequisite cause or condition in the person to be chosen, but rather for the purpose of faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, and so on. Accordingly, election is the source of every saving good. Faith, holiness, and the other saving gifts, and at last eternal life itself, flow forth from election as its fruits and effects. As the apostle says, “He chose us” (not because we were, but) “so that we should be holy and blameless before him in love” (Eph. 1:4).Article 9 of the human substitution for God's Word:
God does not love sinners as evidenced by the fact that He created them to be destroyed in fiery indignation forever for their sins they were designed to commit. However, to prove He is worthy of love He does force some sinners to love Him for His everlasting glory.
beloved57
Well-known member
Article 10: Election Based on God’s Good Pleasure
But the cause of this undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God. This does not involve God’s choosing certain human qualities or actions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation, but rather involves adopting certain particular persons from among the common mass of sinners as God’s own possession. As Scripture says, “When the children were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad . . . , she (Rebecca) was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’” (Rom. 9:11-13). Also, “All who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).Calvinists believe that sinners designed by God to sin and never be able to change deserve to burn in hell forever but sinners who turn from their sins and seek to be saved also deserve nothing but God's fiery wrath in judgment forever.
Calvinists believe God created a bunch of junk when He created humans.
I find it extremely confusing. Calvinism, even as James White teaches it, is full of contradictions. But White lames states where that few escape hell; he ignores where Jesus was talking about Jerusalem in a literal sense.
God will never cast off those He chose for believing His word and He will never send a sinner to hell without first offering him the opportunity to be saved.
beloved57
Well-known member
Article 12: The Assurance of Election
Assurance of their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within themselves, with spiritual joy and holy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God’s Word—such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for their sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.
beloved57
Well-known member
If you mean all ethnic jews, no many of them shall be lost, but if you mean all Gods elect Israel from all nations, Abrahams Spiritual Seed, then yes all Israelites indeed shall be saved.
Bradley D
Well-known member
It did not say "elect."
How many elect people have gone to hell?
beloved57
Well-known member
Unconditional election; this means that God does not foresee an action or condition on our part that causes Him to save us. Rather election rests on God’s sovereign decision to save whomever He is pleased to save according to the good pleasure of His own will. This salvation based on His Sovereign purpose of election Rom 9:11
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth)
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth)
beloved57
Well-known member
In Paul's Epistle to the Romans, he dauntlessly declared eternal unconditional election, and counters the objections of his opposers. Rom 9:11-13 "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
The opposers are now ready to charge God with being unfair and unrighteous Rom 9:14-15
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
To be at odds with unconditional election is to be at odds with revealed Gospel Truth !
The opposers are now ready to charge God with being unfair and unrighteous Rom 9:14-15
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
To be at odds with unconditional election is to be at odds with revealed Gospel Truth !