Chosen From the Beginning

The Doctrine of Election


Election? As in every four years?

  It is quite a surprise for many evangelical Christians to learn that God chose (elected) them to be saved before the world began. A majority of evangelical Christians (in my experience anyway) are all but totally unfamiliar with the concept of election, some even refusing to believe it at all. But regardless of what objections are raised, the Bible is quite explicit on the matter:

"But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the very beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth..."

2 Thessalonians 2:13



The Bible does clearly teach the concept of election, yet it also undeniably teaches the concept of free will. Many have a hard time reconciling the ideas that we were chosen by God even before we were born and us having any choice in the matter. Most end up thinking the two concepts to be mutually exclusive and believing only one or the other. Nevertheless, I believe the two fit together perfectly with an all-knowing God, which is exactly what I endeavor to show in this article.

  Okay, I'm taking it for granted that you know that God is omnipotent (all-powerful - even over the human will), and omniscient (all-knowing, not only of things now and past, but of things that will yet be). I cite the following scripture to prove both:

"Remember the former days of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure..."

Isaiah 46:9-10



  The key to understanding election and free will is God's supreme knowledge, His foreknowledge specifically. Though it is hard for us to understand as mortal men, God knows everything that has occurred, is occurring, and will occur in the future. God knew even before He created you what you would be like: your physical characteristics, your decisions, the clothes you wear, the things you like to do, your favorite beanie baby, etc... God knew from the beginning of time what you would decide given the choice to believe or refuse the gospel of His Son. He knows if you will stop your ears and refuse to understand, if you will receive it, but not be committed, if you will believe, but love the world more, or if you will accept and follow with all your heart. Because God knows beforehand what every man will do when the word is preached to them, it hardly seems unbelievable that He appoints to salvation those that He knows will humble themselves and hear His word.


That sounds a little left-field. Is that in the Bible?

Of course its's in the Bible.

"For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified."

Romans 8:29-30



[Peter writing to other believers] "...Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ..."

1 Peter 1:2




It is interesting to note that God's reasons behind election and predestination revealed in the Bible are few:



For this reason, I believe a good emphasis on God's foreknowledge is important when teaching about the subject of election.


What exactly did God foreknow about us?

Though it is not exactly stated in these passages, I believe that it is speaking of God's knowledge of who will humble themselves and receive His word when He reveals it to them. I base this on what the Bible says about who God shows mercy to: Romans chapter 9 indicates that God chooses to show mercy to whoever He wants to, and that He chooses us, not we ourselves; but it is also consistently taught in the Bible that God shows His mercy on the humble and rejects the proud. You can read about that in more detail in my article on free will. There is also a clear Biblical example of God's foreknowledge of the human heart:

[speaking of the children of Israel] "For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke Me, and break My covenant. And it shall come to pass, when many evils are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware."

Deuteronomy 31:20-21



Keep in mind that God knew this despite the fact that He did not cause it.

"And they have built the high places of Tophet, which [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded [them] not, neither came it into My heart."

Jeremiah 7:31



The meaning of the phrase that their idolatry had not come into God's heart does not indicate that God did not know of their rebellion (obviously, as He predicted it in Deuteronomy 31), but it is clear evidence that God was not the engineer of such licentiousness. As well as knowing wickedness, He also knows if we will heed Him.

"For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and [without] teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days."

Hosea 3:4-5



  For good or evil, God knows our ways from the beginning. God knew the children of Israel, that they would be unfaithful to Him in generations to come, as well as their future return to Him (not to say that we can come to God on our own, but we respond to His call and grace). God knows us in the same way; we are all sinners by nature and do not know His ways, but even before we decide, He already knows if we will follow Him or not when He does show us His way. So this is where the two concepts of free will and election tie together: You do have free will to humble yourself and hear God's call (as in Hosea 3:4-5 above), or stiffen your neck and reject Him as Israel has done:

"But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts [as] an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in His Spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts."

Zechariah 7:11-12



Whatever choice you make, God already knew beforehand, and has appointed you to be conformed to Christ's image and inherit eternal life if you will receive His Son, or eternal destruction if you will stop your ears and refuse Him.

"What if God, wanting to show His wrath and make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had prepared beforehand for glory...?"

Romans 9:22-23



So does being humble earn us a place as elect?

  Not in the least. No one can earn God's grace in any sense. Just because God requires that you humble yourself to receive His mercy does not make you deserve His mercy. Otherwise, it would not be mercy. Mercy can however, be conditional, as can be clearly seen in the case of Solomon and Shimei (1 Kings 2:36-46). Many people get hung up on the idea of God's election hinging on us in any way. Yet the Bible does teach the concept of conditional election.

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to your virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

2 Peter 1:5-11



  Even after we are saved (and this passage is definitely speaking to and about saved people), we must abide in Christ (see also, John chapter 15) and make our calling and election sure. Since this passage shows that election is conditional even after one is redeemed, it should not be too hard to understand that our election from the foundation of the world was conditioned by God on His knowledge of us hearing and receiving His word.

I know the idea that election is conditional even after we are saved may raise some questions, so I have posted an article on the security of salvation.

Bottom Line:


* Note that humbling oneself and hearing God's word are not within the ability of the natural man alone, but only by the intervention of God's grace. When grace is granted a man he can then hear and believe, but is also free to disbelieve.

"John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven."

John 3:27



For further study into the scriptures: A Closer Look at Romans 9

Possible Objections:


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