Calvinism: Unconditional Election

The second point of Calvinism is summarized by the Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics as:

Unconditional Election is the doctrine which states that God chose those whom he was pleased to bring to a knowledge of himself, not based upon any merit shown by the object of his grace and not based upon his looking forward to discover who would "accept" the offer of the gospel. God has elected, based solely upon the counsel of his own will, some for glory and others for damnation (Romans 9:15,21). He has done this act before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1:4-8).

This doctrine does not rule out, however, man's responsibility to believe in the redeeming work of God the Son (John 3:16-18). Scripture presents a tension between God's sovereignty in salvation, and man's responsibility to believe which it does not try to resolve. Both are true -- to deny man's responsibility is to affirm an unbiblical hyper-calvinism; to deny God's sovereignty is to affirm an unbiblical Arminianism.

The elect are saved unto good works (Ephesians 2:10). Thus, though good works will never bridge the gulf between man and God that was formed in the Fall, good works are a result of God's saving grace. This is what Peter means when he admonishes the Christian reader to make his "calling" and "election" sure (2 Peter 1:10). Bearing the fruit of good works is an indication that God has sown seeds of grace in fertile soil.⁷⁹

Before we go further, it is incumbent on us to give a disclaimer. We are in no way arguing for Arminianism (Arminianism was started by Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609) who was a Calvinist until the day he was forced to defend his beliefs and found that his opponent could more skillfully defend his views against Calvinism). Though there are some similarities, what we pose here is not Arminianism which, though less damaging than Calvinism, also is flawed.

This second point of Calvinism, Unconditional Election, is clearly negated as well, as we have already proven in our introduction of this "Doctrine of Election" section. God, declaring the end from the beginning, simply fulfills what was ordained from the foundation of the world that the Lamb would be slain and reopen the way to the tree of life. Thus, God's sovereign decision is "dictatorial" in regard to election only to those encapsulated by the Old Testament versus the New Testament. Those righteous that died under the Old Testament were not left captive in the prison of death: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water" (1 Peter 3:18-20). And we also see this spelled out in the following verses:

When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 39:27-29)

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) (Ephesians 4:8-10)

Under the New Testament, we became a chosen generation: "the generation of Jesus Christ" (Matthew 1:1). A generation in which God can "transport" us back before the fall in the Garden of Eden and express his essence—love—in giving us a choice again between "the tree of life" and "the tree of death." There is no choice unless God the Father gives us one—the Father draws us. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44). That drawing, however, was realized by the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32). Notice, all of mankind was originally written in the book of the living from the foundation of the world; however, "Whosoever hath sinned against [the Lord], him will [the Lord] blot out of [his] book" (Exodus 32:33; see also Psalm 69:28; Psalm 139:16). Moreover, "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life" (Revelation 3:5).

Notwithstanding, unconditional election is valid in one respect. God foreknew the subset of humanity that he would choose to serve him as ministers of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:11). Notice what he told Jeremiah: "Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jeremiah 1:4-5). Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, identifies two actions taken by God before the world began: saved and called. "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Timothy 1:9). In other words, once called, always called: "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (Romans 11:29). Thus election signifies to single out, to select, to choose, to take one and leave another. Election, in the New Testament, means that since God "will have all men to be saved," he has singled out certain Christians to be priests—ministers of Jesus Christ—unto him, while other Christians are left without a formal office in Christ. It means that before the foundation of the world, God chose out of the mass of our fallen humanity a certain number and predestinated them to serve him in a formal capacity as an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher, or sometimes, a prophetess: "for many be called, but few chosen" (Matthew 20:16). Notwithstanding, this unconditional election of ministers of Jesus Christ, God does not force anyone to answer his call (see "Spiritual Leadership 101"). "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you" (John 15:16). Thus there are many ministers who, though called, are not ordained by God. The reasons for this are few: 1) Some called have not answered the first call to become a Christian; 2) Some called, even though they are Christians, have resisted the call into ministry (Luke 9:59-62); 3) Some called, even though they are Christians and have answered the call into ministry, have not prepared themselves for the "job" (1 Timothy 3); and 4) Some called, even though they are Christians, are living in unrighteousness (1 Peter 5:6; 2 Peter 2).

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