04.01 - Chapter 20 - Salvation and The Sovereign
Part IV SOTERIOLOGY: THE STUDY OF SALVATION
Chapter 21 SALVATION AND THE SOVEREIGN
Definition
Soteriology, (soteria, salvation, logos, discourse) refers to the study of the doctrine concerning salvation. In general, Soteriology embraces God’s purpose to save, the Person and work of the Redeemer, and the application of redemption by the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and lives of men.
Six Presuppositions of Soteriology There are six foundational principles on which the doctrine of Soteriology rests.
• God’s rule is sovereign.
• God as Creator, Ruler, and Saviour underlies all the provisions of salvation.
• Man is responsibility to his Creator because he has the capacity for good and bad.
• The Covenant of Works expresses God’s will and man’s obligation.
• The Law of God requires perfect obedience.
• God as a perfect Being cannot require less than perfection in His Moral Law.
♦ Matthew 5:48 "Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect."
♦ 1 Peter 1:16 "It is written: Be ye holy for I am holy."
♦ John 5:17 "All unrighteousness is sin." The Law of God cannot be lowered or eliminated to accommodate man’s weakness for to diminish or abrogate God’s Law is to tarnish God’s essential nature. The Law must be met to the last letter. Furthermore, mercy cannot infringe on justice else there would be disharmony among the attributes of God’s being. So what is to be done? What can be done? How are souls to be saved? There is an urgent necessity for a cleansing Atonement that expresses justice and mercy alike while maintaining the harmony of the Divine nature. The Fall of Man
Like so many other things in life, it is a great mystery to know how temptation could find a point of contact and acceptance in a holy person made in the image of God. However, Scriptures reveal that man, when first tempted, yielded to temptation and fell from an exalted state of great grace and privilege into sin which brought condemnation and a sentence of death. On the basis of these basic facts Soteriology proceeds. The Order of The Decrees
Among theologians, there has always been a difference of opinions as to the order of events in the Divine economy. Of particular importance is whether or not the objects of the Divine decree were contemplated as fallen creatures, or merely as men whom God would create on an equal basis (Loraine Boettner, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination). Two views have emerged on this matter. The Infralapsarian View The infralapsarian view contemplates the salvation of men after the Fall. Those who are chosen to salvation were chosen on the basis of being members of a fallen race which means that all who shall come to faith were elected subsequent to the Fall. According to the Infralapsarian View, the order of events would be as follows.
• God decreed to create man in the image of God.
• God decreed to permit the Fall of mankind in Adam.
• After the Fall, God decreed to elect some of the fallen souls to salvation and to leave others in a natural state of condemnation.
• God decreed to provide a Redeemer for the elect whose work of redemption would be sufficient for all.
• God decreed to secure the application of this salvation to the elect by means of the Holy Spirit. The Supralapsarian View The term "supralapsarian" indicates that the decree of election to salvation took place before God created man and before He permitted the Fall. According to the Supralapsarian View, the objects of the Divine decree were contemplated merely as men whom God would create, all of whom were on an equal basis in His sight. According to the Supralapsarian View, the order of effects would be as follows.
• In eternity past God proposed to elect some of mankind to eternal life and to condemn others.
• God proposed to create man.
• God proposed to permit the Fall.
• God proposed to send Christ to redeem the elect.
• God proposed to send the Holy Spirit to apply salvation to the elect Election Precedes Salvation At whatever precise point God decreed to save souls, once made, the Divine choice necessitated all the preparations involved in the salvation process. Without Divine preparation of the heart, an individual could not exercise any choice at all in a positive direction towards the Lord just as "no man ever chose when and where he would be born, who would become his parents, how he would be taught and trained, whether the Gospel was to be sent to Europe or America, or whether they were to remain heathen, whether the Gospel should ever sound in his ears or he forever remain ignorant of its contents and call. All these things that enter so much into man’s salvation were chosen absolutely and alone by God" (David Clark). The Covenant of Redemption As the order of the Divine decree continues to be contemplated, the biblical revelation is clear that in matchless grace God did not leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery. Out of His mere good pleasure, and for all of eternity, God did elect some to everlasting life. God entered into a Covenant of Grace with the elect to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.
Evidence that Such a Covenant Was Made There is Scriptural evidence that a Covenant of Redemption was made between the Father and the Son.
♦ John 6:37 "All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me."
♦ John 6:39 "Of all that He hat given men I should lose none."
♦ John 8:42 "Neither came I of myself, but He sent me."
♦ John 10:29 "My Father who gave them to me," The plan of the Covenant of Redemption was to save man by a Redeemer, who should become a Substitute, bear the penalty of sin, fulfill all the demands of God’s Law, justify or acquit the sinner on condition of faith, restore the soul to God’s favor, sanctify it wholly and glorify it forever. This Covenant of Redemption was made in eternity, but takes effect in time. It first appears in human history after the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden when a Redeemer was promised (Genesis 3:15). The Covenant of Grace
Issuing from the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and the Son is the Covenant of Grace between man and God. "The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, and this He hath been pleased to express by way of a covenant (study Luke 17:10; Job 15:7-8).
Moreover, man having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall, it pleased the Lord to make a Covenant of Grace wherein He freely offereth unto to sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him that they may be saved; and promising to give to all who are ordained to eternal life His Holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe (study Genesis 2:17; Galatians 3:10; Romans 3:20-21; Romans 8:3; Mark 16:15-16; John 3:16; Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 6:44-45; Psalms 110:3). This covenant is revealed in the Gospel; first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman, and afterward by further steps until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament; and it is founded in that eternal covenant transaction that was between the Father and the Son about the redemption of the elect; and it is alone by the grace of this covenant that all the posterity of fallen Adam that ever were saved did obtained life and blessed immortality, man Being now utterly incapable of acceptance with God upon those terms by which Adam stood in his state of innocency" (study Genesis 3:15; Hebrews 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:6, Hebrews 6:13; Romans 4:1-2; Acts 4:12; John 8:56; The Baptist Confession Of Faith Of 1689, Chapter 7, Sections 1,2,3).
• The Plan of Salvation is always presented as a covenant, with parties, conditions, promises, and penalties.
• The Covenant of Grace takes the place of the Covenant of Works in which man failed through the Fall.
• The Covenant of Grace is the same in all dispensations [periods of time], patriarchal, Mosaic and Christian. To Adam was given the promise of a Redeemer. Rites and sacrifices were instituted to prefigure the Atonement. To Noah after the flood the covenant was renewed. With Abraham and his seed the covenant was re-established. Moses and Israel embraced that covenant as a national obligation. The gospel in the New Testament is still the proclamation of the covenant. The condition is the same in all dispensations and that is belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as He is revealed in every generation. In the Old Testament era, Jesus Christ was revealed as the Messiah that was to come (Isaiah 53:1-12) In the New Testament era Jesus Christ was and is revealed as the One who has come. And there it is: faith in a Redeemer to come holds the same place as faith in a Redeemer already come. Christ is the Redeemer in all dispensations. The Old Testament saints were saved, not by the works of the Law (Romans 3:20), but by faith in a Redeemer to come (Zechariah 12:10-11). "For if the inheritance is of the Law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise." (Galatians 3:18) The Doctrine of Election
Fundamental to understanding the biblical doctrine of election is to define the term. What does the word "Election" mean? A.W. Pink explains. Election, "signifies to single out, to select, to choose, to take one and leave another. Election means that God has singled out certain ones to be the objects of His saving grace, while others are left to suffer the just punishment of their sins. 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 be conformed to the image of His Son."
Scriptural evidence for election is abundant.
♦ Acts 15:14 ’Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name."
♦ Ephesians 1:4 "According as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world."
♦ Ephesians 1:5 "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,"
♦ John 15:16 "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen"
♦ John 15:19 "I have chosen you out of the world,"
♦ Acts 22:14 "The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth."
♦ Romans 8:29 "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."
♦ Romans 8:30 "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."
♦ 2 Thessalonians 2:13 "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation."
♦ 1 Peter 1:2 "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience."
♦ 1 Peter 2:9 "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 41:9 "Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away." This passage shows God’s distinguishing love.
♦ John 6:37 "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;"
♦ John 6:44 “ No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
♦ Acts 13:48 "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the LORD: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed."
♦ Romans 11:15 "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace."
♦ Romans 9:11 "(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;)"
♦ Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
These passages and others show that God elects individuals to salvation. The election is a personal election (not general). No other interpretation can be put on the texts that embody the doctrine of election. The Extent of the Elective Decree
Though God elects some individuals to salvation, not all share in the election. There are many souls who shall never be saved (John 17:9, John 17:12; Acts 1:25). Salvation is rare and difficult (Matthew 7:13). The extent of the elective decree is better understood by reviewing once more a general view of the Plan of Salvation after the Fall.
• God purposed to save some, but not all, of the humanity which He would create and which He knew would Fall from a glorious estate into sin.
• God chose a Redeemer to secure the salvation of the elect.
• God sent the Redeemer, His own Son Jesus Christ, to earth in the Incarnation.
• Christ made an Atonement for the elect.
• The offer of salvation to is extended to all men without distinction.
• The gospel is sent into all the nations • When the gospel is proclaimed in local assemblies, the external call is extended to individual.
• Some who hear the external call to salvation are persuaded by the Holy Spirit to accept the call.
• Those who are persuaded by the Holy Spirit are regeneration by the same so that the gospel heard can be believed. Life precedes faith.
Various Views Of The Nature And Ground Of Election The doctrine of election is a common doctrine within Christendom. Most evangelical Churches embrace the doctrine of election. However, there are divers views.
Conditional Election In Church history some, like the Socinians, regarded election as entirely conditional. It has been taught that election rests on the condition of faith and holy living. God’s decree determines to save the believer and condemn the unbeliever, to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. The decree does not extend farther than this. The condition is supplied by the undetermined will of man. Therefore, election is conditional.
! Special Note. The Socinians find their origin in the French theologian Faustus Socinus, (c.1604). Socinus professed a belief in God and adherence to the Christian Scriptures but he denied the divinity of Christ and consequently the Trinity. The concept of a conditional election has evident weaknesses, not the least of which is that it takes away the Divine attributes of foreknowledge and omniscience. If anything is undetermined it cannot be truly foreknown by anyone including the Lord. A purely conditional election renders nothing certain and therefore the elect are outside the compass of God’s knowledge. The Socinians were honest enough to admit that God can not know the uncertain actions of men. The Arminian theological position is less consistent than the Socinians because it draws back from such a conclusion while teaching it. In contrast to the concept of a conditional election, the Bible teaches that the Divine decree, which includes election, is not conditional nor is it changeable.
♦ Isaiah 46:10 “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.”
♦ Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” If faith is the gift of God, it is not wholly separable from the Divine decree.
Election Is Personal The language of the Scriptures show that election is personal, and that men are elected to faith and holiness. Therefore, a conditional election does not correspond to the Scriptural representations in the matter.
♦ Php 4:3 “And I entreat thee also, true yoke-fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the book of life.”
♦ Hebrews 12:23 “To the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.”
♦ 1 Thessalonians 1:4 “Knowing brethren beloved, your election of God.”
Election Is To Faith And Good Works
♦ Acts 13:48 “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
♦ John 15:16 “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you.”
♦ Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Note. If election is “unto faith and good works,” then faith and good works cannot be the condition of election.
♦ 1 Peter 1:2 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”
Limiting Election In an effort to avoid the implications of personal election concept of a limited objective has been proposed. This teaching restricts the Divine decree to the predestination of certain nations, communities, and generations to the knowledge of true religion, and the external privileges of the gospel. There is truth in this view in as far as it goes. It cannot be denied that the gospel has come to Europe and America while many other nations in the world remain in darkness and the curse of false religions. But is that all there is to election? Surely there must be more. The truth of the matter is that Someone is making many choices on behalf of others. No person has ever had a chance to choose when or where they would be born or even if they should be born. No person has ever had the chance to choose whether his parents should be heathen or Christian, moral or depraved. Divine Providence places some people into favorable situations, and some into unfavorable circumstances. There are those who have the benefit of the means of grace from infancy, and others who enjoy little or none of these advantages. All these things are due to God’s over ruling providence, and not to human choice. The contention that election is the choice of individuals to membership in the external Church and the means of grace does not go far enough. God’s decree determines the external circumstances of a person’s life, but the decree does not stop there. The ultimate objective of the decree is the salvation of personal individuals.
"Before Salvation came into this world, Election marched in the very forefront, and it had for its work the billeting of Salvation. Election went through the world and marked the houses to which Salvation should come and the hearts in which the treasure should be deposited. Election looked through all the race of man, from Adam down to the last, and marked with sacred stamp those for whom Salvation was designed. ’He must needs go through Samaria,’ said Election; and Salvation must go there. Then came Predestination. Predestination did not merely mark the house, but mapped the road in which Salvation should travel to that house; Predestination did not merely mark the house, but it mapped the road in which Salvation should travel to that house; Predestination ordained every step of the great army of Salvation; it ordained the time when the sinner should be brought to Christ, the manner how he should be saved, the means that should be employed; it marked the exact hour and moment, when God the Spirit should quicken the dead in sin, and when peace and pardon should be spoken through the blood of Jesus.
Predestination marked the way so completely, that Salvation doth never overstep the bounds, and it is never at a loss for the road. In the everlasting decree of the Sovereign God, the footsteps of Mercy were every one of them ordained." (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, "Things That Accompany Salvation") The Doctrine of Definite Redemption Professor Louis Berkhof summarizes the doctrine of a definite redemption in his excellent work, Systematic Theology.
1. The intents, purposes, and designs of God are always efficacious and cannot be frustrated by the actions of men.
2. Scripture consistently qualifies those for whom Christ laid down His life in such a way as to point to a very definite redemption. Those for whom Christ died are called "His sheep" (John 10:11, John 10:15); "His Church" (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:25-27; "His people" (Matthew 1:21) and "the elect" (Romans 8:32-35).
3. The doctrine that Christ died for the purpose of saving all men, logically leads to absolute universalism, that is, to the doctrine that all men are actually saved. It is impossible that they for whom Christ paid the price, whose guilt He removed, should be lost on account of that guilt.
4. The Bible clearly teaches that the design and effect of the atoning work of Christ is not merely to make salvation possible, but to reconcile God and man, and to put men in actual possession of eternal salvation (Matthew 18:11; Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:7). The whole concept of a potential salvation limits the extent of the Atonement in a way that should be protested.
"We are often told that we limit the Atonement of Christ, because we say that Christ has not made a satisfaction for all men, or all men would be saved. Now, our reply to this is, that, on the other hand, our opponents limit it, we do not. The Arminians say, Christ died for all men.
Ask them what they mean by it. Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of all men? They say, "No, certainly not." We ask them the next question--Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in particular? They answer, "No." They obliged to admit this, if they are consistent. They say, "No; Christ has died that any man may be saved if"---and then follow certain conditions of salvation. We say, then, we will just go back to the old statement---Christ did not die so as beyond a doubt to secure the salvation of anybody, did he? You must say "No"; you are obliged to say so, for you believe that even after a man has been pardoned, he may yet fall from grace, and perish. Now, who is it that limits the death of Christ? Why, you. You say that Christ did not die so as to infallibly secure the salvation of anybody. We beg your pardon, when you say we limit Christ’s death; we say, "No, my dear sir, it is you that do it." We say Christ so died that He infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ’s death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved, and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved. You are welcome to your Atonement; you may keep it. We will never renounce ours for the sake of it." (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Particular Redemption, Sermon 181 in the New Park Street Pulpit)
5. The Bible teaches that the design and effect of the atoning work of Christ was not to make salvation possible, but to reconcile God and man, and to put men in actual possession of eternal salvation, a salvation which many fail to obtain (Matthew 18:11; Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:7).
6. The design of God and Christ in securing the salvation of the elect was not conditional. It was not contingent on the faith and obedience of man. This truth is manifested in the fact that the death of Christ purchased faith, repentance, and all other effects of the work of the Holy Spirit, for His people. There are no conditions of which the fulfillment is simply dependent on the will of man. The Atonement alone fulfills the conditions that must be met in order to obtain salvation (Romans 2:4; Galatians 3:13-14; Ephesians 1:3-4; Ephesians 2:8; Php 1:29; 2 Timothy 3:5-6). Is Election Based upon Foreseen Faith and Good Works?
It is not possible that election could be based upon foreseen faith and good works for how can God foreknow something unless He first determines its certainty? Foreknowledge rests on predestination. Nothing can be foreknown unless it is certainly determined. "Arminianism makes man elect himself, and there is therefore no real election by God. If election depends on man’s faith and works, then man is the agent of his own election; but all Scriptural representation refers election to God. And if be said: ’But God secures the faith and works as the ground of election,’ then that is but to postulate God’s purpose prior to man’s." (David Clark) Repentance, faith, and good works are the result of election, not the cause.
♦ Ephesians 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:"
♦ 1 Peter 1:2 "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied."
♦ Php 2:13 "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
♦ 2 Thessalonians 2:13 "But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the LORD, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:"
♦ Romans 8:29 “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.”
♦ Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" If grace is the gift of God it is not the cause of the gift.
Election and the Weak
Despite any hesitation to embrace the doctrine of the election of individuals to salvation, it remains obvious that the salvation of infants, the intellectually challenged, unconscious dying sinners, and the heathen, if they are saved at all, must depend on the sovereign choice of God and not on foreseen faith and works for none exist. But Who Will Come? In opposition to the doctrine of a definite redemption, select passages are often quoted with the promises, “Whosoever will" or, “Whosoever believeth,” (John 12:46; Revelation 22:17; Romans 9:33; Romans 10:11). The implication is made that that beliefs and decisions are wholly the acts of man apart from a sovereign election to salvation. True as these statements are they do not address the main point. The deeper and vital issue is this: “How does a man become willing? Who will come to Christ?” If any natural man is willing to come to Christ, he can certainly choose to believe and be saved; but the sinful nature is hostile to God. It must be made willing, by God’s word, by God’s grace, by God’s Spirit, or by sovereign intervention. Opposition to definite redemption minimizes the depths to which sin has taken the soul and left it hopeless and helpless in the sight of God.
Free Will Is Not Sufficient To Save
It is not sufficient to say that God has provided an Atonement and presents the alternatives of life and death and leaves it to man to choose between the two. As God did not create the world and leave it to natural laws neither did God make an Atonement and leave it to the capricious decision of man to accept or refuse. In such case the sinful nature of man would inevitably determine every man against God. Sinners need a Saviour for, as Christ said in John 6:44, "No man can come to me except the Father, which sent me, draw him."
Redemption: Accomplished And Applied The biblical revelation is that God has not only made an Atonement, but secures its acceptance upon the heart of Divine affection by the positive operations of the Lord’s grace and Spirit (Psalms 68:18; Acts 2:33; Psalms 2:8 cp. Hebrews 2:6-9). The element of human decision, while it is an factor in the salvation process, is not exercised apart from the inciting or controlling power of God. Salvation is wholly the gift of God.
Human Responsibility for Sin
It is futile to say: “Because a man must be drawn to the Lord by the Spirit he is not to be blamed for not coming to Christ for salvation.” The very argument is an indictment for condemnation. The more a person needs to be drawn the more evil their nature. Such is the disinclination of the sinful nature toward God and good that unless God moves upon it in some way, by grace, or word, or providence, or Spirit, it would stand apart forever by nature and by choice. The sin of unbelief (John 3:18) is not the only sin of man that serves as a basis for just condemnation. There is imputed sin and sins of the flesh that also drag him into hell. The Results of Election
While the Doctrine of Election is found by some to be offensive, there are some distinct results as A. W. Pink notes. "First, the Doctrine of Election magnifies the character of God. It exemplifies His grace. Election makes known the fact that salvation is God’s free gift, gratuitously bestowed upon whom He pleases. It [election] exhibits His Omnipotency.
Second, election makes known the fact that God is all powerful, ruling and reigning over the earth, and declares that none can successfully resist His will or thwart His secret purposes.
Election reveals God breaking down the opposition of the human heart, subduing the enmity of the carnal mind, and with irresistible power, drawing His chosen ones to Christ. Election confesses--"We love him because He first loved us, and we believe, because He made us willing in the day of His power." (Psalms 110:3)
Third, election ascribes all glory to God. It disallows any credit to the creature. It denies that the unregenerate are capable of predicting a right thought, generating a right affection, or originating a right volition. It insists that God must work in us both to will and to do. It declares that repentance and faith are themselves God’s gifts, and not something which the sinner contributes towards the price of His salvation. Its language is, "Not unto us, not unto us," but "unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood."
Finally, election guarantees eternal preservation of all God’s saints. In the Holy Scriptures the question of our salvation is traced back, not to the moment when we believed, but to a point before time began. Before the foundation of the world, God chose us in Christ (Ephesians 1:4). "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee." This lifts the matter of our salvation out of time into eternity. Were salvation merely a thing of time, it would perish. But because salvation is a thing of eternity, it must endure forever." The Difficulties of Election # Argument. "Does not Scripture declare that God is no respecter of persons?"
Answer. Yes, it does, and Election proves it. The seven sons of Jesse, though older and physically superior to David, are passed by, while the young shepherd boy is exalted to Israel’s throne. The scribes and lawyers are unnoticed, and ignorant fishermen are chose to be Apostles of the Lamb. Divine truth is hidden from "the wise and the prudent," but is revealed unto "babes." The majority of the mighty and noble are ignored, while the weak and despised are called and saved. Harlots and publicans are sweetly compelled to come to the marriage feast, while proud Pharisees are suffered to perish in their own self-righteousness.
# Argument. "Is not man a responsible being, endowed with a free will?"
Answer. Man is unquestionably a responsible being. He is no mere machine or automation.
Scripture uniformly regards him as one who reaps according as he sows, and as one who shall yet have to render an account for the things done in the body. But nowhere does the Bible predicate the free will of the natural man. Man by nature is the subject of Satan and the slaves of sin, and does not come free until the Son of God makes him free (John 8:36). "No man can come to me [but he can if he is free] except the Father which hath sent Me draw him"--but there is no need to "draw" him if he is free. This is unequivocal # Argument. "Does not Scripture say, "Whosoever will, may come?"
Answer. It does, and Christ never yet turned away any willing soul. If in the eleventh hour the dying thief who turned unto the Lord was assured a place in Paradise, and if Saul the persecutor of the Church--"the chief of sinners"--found mercy, verily, "Whosoever will, may come." But all are not willing. The vast majority of people have no desire to come to Christ. Had God left it entirely to man’s will, none would ever have accepted Him. Consequently, God has to work in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Php 2:13). God does not thus work in all, and that brings in Election.
# Argument. "Why preach the Gospel to every creature if only a "few" are chosen?"
Answer. Because the atoning sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for all, if all will accept it.
Because God would have published far and wide the matchless grace and fathomless love of His dear Son. Because the sacrifice of Christ is eminently adapted to all: what suits one sinner, must meet the needs of another. Because it is by the preaching of the Gospel that the elect are called out from the world. Finally, because we are commanded to preach the Gospel to all nations, and, It’s not for us to reason why, It’s not for us to make reply, It’s for us to do--and die.
# Argument. "Will not this doctrine cut the nerve of evangelistic effort?"
Answer. In his sermon, Salvation of the Lord, Charles Spurgeon answers this question.
"Well, then, says one, that will make people sit still and fold their arms. Sir, it will not. But if men did so I could not help it; my business, as I have often said in this place before, is not to prove to you the reasonableness of any truth, nor to defend any truth from its consequences; all I do here--and I mean to keep to it--is just to assert the truth, because it is in the Bible; then, if you do not like it, you must quarrel with my Master, and if you think it unreasonable you must quarrel with the Bible. Let others defend Scripture and prove it to be true; they can do their work better than I could; mine is just the mere work of proclaiming it. I am the messenger; I tell the Master’s message; if you do not like the message quarrel with the Bible, not with me; so long as I have Scripture on my side I will dare and defy you to do anything against me. ’Salvation is of the Lord.’ The Lord has to apply it, to make the unwilling willing, to make the ungodly godly, and bring the vile rebel to the feet of Jesus, or else salvation will never be accomplished. Leave that one thing undone, and you have broken the link of the chain, the very link which was necessary to its integrity. Take away the fact that God begins the good work, and that He sends us what the old Divines call preventing grace--take that away, and you have spoilt the whole of salvation; you have just taken the keystone out of the arch, and down it tumbles. (extracted from, The Doctrine of Election, by A. W. Pink) Answers to Arguments Against Election # Argument. “Election is inconsistent with free agency.”
Answer. First, the man that is convinced, convicted and persuaded by the word and Spirit of God to confess sins and embrace the offered salvation is as free as the man whom you persuade to take a walk or to invest in securities. There is no violation of free agency. And it must be remembered that God can bring to bear sufficient inducements to incline any man. The man who resists God’s call by word and Spirit and providence, and whom God allows to pursue his own chosen way to destruction and perdition, cannot complain that he is not a free agent. He has chosen his way and followed it. Finally, if God intervenes over all opposition and rebellion on the part of the man, and sovereignly regenerates him, as was seemingly the case with Saul of Tarsus, at the height of his rebellion, that man is still a free agent in every act of his life. He was a free agent in his opposition, he is a free agent in his obedience; and in his regeneration he was not an agent at all. In no case does God’s decree contravene free agency. And it is God’s sovereign right to regenerate whom He will. No extrinsic power can limit God nor deprive Him of His sovereignty.
# Argument. “Election represents God as partial in His dealings with men.”
Answer. As a matter of fact God does not treat all men alike. Some are born in heathen lands, some in Christian environments. Some are born with high endowments, some with inferior faculties. God chose Israel for His people while leaving others in ignorance of the true God. He provided salvation for man and left fallen angels to the doom of their sin. The parable of the vineyard laborers shows God to be sovereign in the dispensation of His gifts.
“Shall I not do what I will with my own?”
# Argument. “Election is unjust to the non-elect.”
Answer. Strict justice would condemn all. God is not under obligation to save any. All salvation is mercy; all condemnation is justice. Dr. A. H. Strong illustrates this point. “It is not true that, because a governor pardons one convict from the penitentiary, he must therefore pardon all. When he pardons one no injury is done to the rest.”
# Argument. “Election represents God as acting arbitrarily and without reason.”
Answer. That is asserting more than any man knows. We do not know all God’s reasons for saving particular men; nor His reasons for passing some by, except that it is for their sins.
“God’s mere good pleasure” does not mean that there are no reasons in God’s mind why He acts thus or so. Individuals err who think that of God’s will, there is no reason except His will. Sovereignty is just a name for what is unrevealed in God.
# Argument. “A particular election is inconsistent with an offer of salvation to all.”
Answer. A.A. Hodge says, “Nothing but a sinful unwillingness can prevent any one who hears the gospel from receiving and enjoying it. The gospel is for all, election is for a special grace in addition to that offer. The non-elect may come if they will. The elect will come. The decree of election puts no barrier before men preventing them from accepting the gospel offer. Any man, elect or non-elect, will be saved if he accepts. The non-elect are left to act as they are freely determined by their own hearts.” Rowland Hill was criticized for preaching election and yet exhorting sinners to repent, and was told that he should preach only to the elect. He replied that if his critic would put a chalk-mark on all the elect he would preach only to them. “God bids us preach the gospel to all; that some are not saved, is because of their willful, sinful rejection of the offered mercy.” (David Clark) The Signs of Election The doctrine of election should cause no one who hears the gospel to despair or be uncertain as to their state and standing before the Lord. The signs of an elect person may be listed.
• The elect have given themselves completely to the Lord. "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me " (John 6:37).
• The elect are characterized by gospel obedience. Peter speaks of Christians as "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience" (1 Peter 1:2).
• The elect continue to grow in grace and holiness. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).
• The elect remain faithful to the doctrines of grace and persevere in the sphere of faith. They are able to say at the end of life, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).
Election Is Of God The Scriptures speak of an election of God. If language has any meaning this must mean that God chooses the individual unto salvation. Any view that substitutes for God’s choice a scheme that makes men elect himself does not measure up to the teachings of the Scriptures on this subject.
Election Does Not Rest In Man
If the ultimate and determining element in man’s salvation rests in man and not in God, there would be the possibility that no man would ever be saved and Christ might have suffered and died in vain. God not only made certain an Atonement but made certain its application in the saving of men.
Election Demands A Sovereign Savior
If infants, imbeciles, the mentally afflicted and any heathen are saved it must be by the direct and sovereign election of God. If we were called upon to pray for a dying man in his last come we would do so in the full assurance that it was God’s undoubted prerogative to answer our prayers and save that man. And thankful would we be that it was God’s choice and not man’s that determined that man’s salvation. The Hope That Is Found In Election
If the initiative of salvation is with God, and conviction, persuasion, and enabling are the work of God’s Spirit, then election is a forgone conclusion. It can be observed that God’s sovereign election affords a larger hope than any other view of election that can be considered. If God may sovereignly elect whom He will, then all ages, races, and conditions are open to His benevolent choice. We may therefore indulge a hope for many who have never heard the gospel, and for the man at whose bedside we pray though sunk into the unconsciousness that precedes death. If the determining choice rests with the perverted, rebellious, depraved human will, how few will be saved! But if on the will of the God who loved, and gave, and died to save, then a great multitude whom no man can number. Election is not therefore a horrible doctrine of narrow limitation; but the ground of world-wide expectation. It is a source of real comfort and a blessed matter of thankfulness as we look on a world ruined by sin and contemplate its chance of salvation. The Great Mystery Of Election
While there are questions in the doctrine of election before which man must bow in humility, as to the fact of an elect, the Scriptures leave no-one in doubt. Election is a great mystery. "The motives and purposes that lie in the Divine mind are beyond apprehension, and above comprehension. For this reason it is wrong to sit in judgment of God’s actions. How the Divine mind acts on the human mind is, in its deeper reaches, inscrutable. How God affects man below the sphere of consciousness is not open to observation. No-one understands how the immanent God inter-penetrates the physical universe and upholds it by the word of His power; or how that immanence, in substance and power, relates itself to the human mind, and becomes effective in action or restraint." (David Clark) The Transcending Thoughts Of God In all discussions of the doctrine of election, it should be kept in mind that the heart of humanity is dealing with a Being who is infinitely kind and good, and who is equally sovereign and just. In addition, it is to be realized afresh that God is dealing with individuals who are not innocent and do not deserve any mercy. That mercy is show to man is because of God’s great grace. The Purpose of Election The doctrine of election is evidently designed to show, in its practical import, that the whole of man’s salvation is due to God’s mercy and grace and no part of it to man’s merit, wisdom, or virtue. Let this not be forgotten. The chief difficulty in the doctrine of election lies on the side of the unsaved, about whose apostasy, and about the philosophy of it, the Scriptures have not given extended explanation. We may, however, presume to say that God gives to all normal men some light, some knowledge, some operation of His Spirit. This is called common grace.
If Men Are Not Saved
If men are not saved it is because of their sinfulness and resistance of God’s grace. It is proper to say that if men did not resist, God’s grace would save every man. Many may so resist that God may give him up to his own way, and he reaps the doom he has chosen. After God has done all and more for the sinner than he deserves, he may leave him to his own sinful choice. But in all circumstances God is sovereign and almighty. He never surrenders his sovereignty. He may, if He chooses, step over all man’s resistance, and regenerate the man even at the height of his rebellion. One man effectually resists the grace of God and another does not; but the effectual resistance is not due to any limit of God’s power. Judas and Saul both resisted; and Judas was allowed to “go to his own place,” while Saul was made a “chosen vessel.” The ground of the elective decree means the reason that determines the decree to be what it is. Sometimes the word “ground” is used to express the consideration for which a thing is done; as in Justification.
Sometimes it is used in the sense of determining cause or reason. The Ground of Election
It must be kept in mind in all this discussion that the elective decree is a positive decree; while so far as the reprobate is concerned it is only a permissive decree. A man is elected to be saved; he is not elected to be lost, except as God chooses to permit him to follow his chosen way.
When, therefore, we ask for the ground of election, that is to say, "Why a man is saved?" or, "What determines God to save that man?" The Arminian answers: “Foreseen faith and works.” The Calvinist answers: “God’s love, mercy, grace and goodness exercised toward the man.” In the case of the lost, the love, mercy, grace, goodness and Spirit of God would incline him to salvation, did he not resist and rebel. In the case of Saul, and probably of most of us, God overcame the resistance and rebellion by the persuasions of His word, or providence, or Spirit; or perhaps by immediate regeneration. In the case of Judas and Dives (Luke 16:1-31), if he were real, God did not overcome their resistance, but left them to their own determined choice. When pressed to explain why did God not overcome the resistance of Judas, Dives and others, as he did that of Saul; why God did not exert His omnipotence and sovereignty; why God permitted them to have their own way, there is no answer. There are secrets in the mind of God which He has not chosen to reveal.
Election and Reprobation
Though foreseen faith and works cannot constitute the ground of election, foreseen unbelief and disobedience does constitute the ground of reprobation. No person shall ever be saved on the ground of perceived virtues, but they will be condemned on the ground of sin.
While some are saved from their unbelief and disobedience, in which all are involved, and others are not, it is still the sinner’s sinfulness that constitutes the ground of reprobation.
Election and reprobation proceed on different grounds; one the grace of God, the other the sin of man. It is not right to say, as some have, that because God elects to save a irrespective of character or deserts, that therefore He elects to damn irrespective of character or deserts. That is not true. No one shall ever be condemned in an unjust or unworthy manner.
Summary of the Doctrine of Election 1. Election is God’s decision, from eternity past, to save souls of His own choosing.
2. The elective decree contemplates the race as already fallen.
3. Election is from a state of sin and misery unto salvation.
4. Election is personal, that is, terminates on the individual. It includes both means and end, is both general and particular. Election is consummated by the efficient grace of God.
5. Men are brought into a state of grace by the Spirit of God working when, and where, and how, and on whom he pleases; by means or without means; by appeal to the mind and heart, or by immediate sovereign regeneration; constraining by persuasion, or by conferring a new nature.
6. God’s grace and Spirit would incline all men to good if not resisted.
7. Men are lost because of their sinfulness and resistance of God’s grace; not because they have no chance, but because they reject the grace and help proffered.
8. God may permit men to follow the evil they have chosen, to their own destruction.
9. God, in His sovereignty, could regenerate the apostate.
10. Why God does not save all, why He permits some to follow their own way, is not know.
11. Permission is classified in theology as a decree.
12. The judge of all the earth will do right, and bestow mercy even where it is not deserved. A Confession Of Faith: The Doctrine Of Predestination The doctrine of predestination may be defined very simply for it sets forth the truth that from eternity God has foreordained all things which come to pass, including the final salvation or reprobation (judgment) of man.
"Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh: renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.” (The Baptist Confession Of Faith Of 1689, Chapter 10, Section 1; study Romans 8:30; Romans 11:7; Ephesians 1:10-11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; Ephesians 2:1-6; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 1:17-18; Ezekiel 36:26; Deuteronomy 30:6; Ezekiel 36:27; Ephesians 1:19; Psalms 110:3; Song of Solomon 1:4).
Scriptural Evidence for Predestination
♦ Ephesians 1:5 "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,"
♦ Ephesians 1:11 "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:"
♦ 2 Timothy 1:9 "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, "
♦ Romans 9:11 “(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;)”
♦ Romans 9:15 “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.”
♦ Romans 11:5 “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
♦ Romans 11:6 “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”
"Since God is the sovereign God, Whose counsel stands forever, Whose will can be frustrated, and Whose purpose is not disannulled; we must conclude that His will and determination is sovereign particularly in salvation. It can not be that man is the one who determines, by his own will, whether or not he will be saved. Certainly man must seek God, love Him, and serve Him out of a willing heart. But ultimately, since God is sovereign, salvation must depend solely upon His sovereign choice. For He is the infinite Creator Who has the right and the power to do with His finite creatures exactly what He pleases--even with respect to our eternal destiny" (Steven Houch).