The Five Points of Calvinism - 2. Unconditional Election

The second of the so-called "Five Points of Calvinism" is known in theology as unconditional election. 

Warning! This is long post.

Unconditional Election is often thought of as the central and distinctive doctrine of Calvinism. That is arguable, but it is certainly the first distinctive doctrine of the Five Points of Calvinism that clashes with Arminianism and other forms of Christianity.

The word "election" in theology is part of the more general doctrine of predestination and refers to God's choice of who will be saved, made prior to the beginning of creation. Election is plainly taught in Scripture and accepted by all Christians who accept biblical authority.

However, many Christians believe in what is called "conditional election." In simple terms this means that God's choice of who will be saved is based on a condition or action done by those who are saved. It is as if God, prior to creation, uses his foreknowledge to look through time and then those he sees as meeting the condition, he then chooses for salvation. The condition to be met is usually regarded as faith in Jesus Christ. So "conditional election" means God chooses those to be saved whom he foresees or foreknows will have faith in Jesus Christ.

The problem with his view is that it reduces God to choosing to save those he sees will choose him. The basis for the choice is not God, but the human being.

A second non-Calvinist view of election is known as "corporate election". This is the view that God chooses the group which is saved, for example God chooses to save the Christian Church, but whether an individual person is part of the favoured group or is excluded from it is up to the human being, not God's choice. This view is very similar to the conditional election view in practice.

For Calvinists, neither of these views does justice to the Bible's teaching about the sovereignty of God in general, and his sovereignty in salvation in particular.

Calvinists, therefore, believe in unconditional election, which means that the choice of who is saved is made solely by God. 

In negative terms, God's choice is not based on any condition (attitude, thought or action) that those who are chosen must meet or are foreseen as meeting. In particular, election is not based on God foreknowing who would believe, nor does election only relate the choice of a group for salvation, it relates to each individual chosen for salvation.

In positive terms, God's choice is made solely within himself, for his own glory and to display his grace on those chosen for salvation. It is this sovereign choice by God which is the ultimate cause of each person's salvation.

The Calvinist view, unconditional election, means, as theologian R. C. Sproul says: "Election rests on God’s sovereign decision to save whomever He is pleased to save." 

The disputed word between Calvinists and non-Calvinists is obviously "unconditional," but I believe the Bible strongly supports the view that God chooses individuals for salvation yet not based on any condition those chosen must meet. 

Unconditional election does not mean "arbitrary" or "capricious" election, though the opponents of Calvinism frequently paint it in that light. Election is made for good reasons as far as God is concerned; however these reasons are not to do with the fitness, character. actions or even foreseen faith of the elect. The reasons are God's reasons, primarily for his own glory.

Unconditional election also does not mean that God will save people irrespective of faith in Christ or irrespective of a how a person lives out their faith. Unconditional election is the reason some are brought to faith and it is the guarantee of the elect evidencing their saving faith in good works. As Ephesians 2:8-10 says: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

Unconditional election simply means that God chooses the elect not on the basis of any characteristic or condition in those chosen, but for his own reasons, out of love for those who are chosen and for his own glory and praise.

Let's review the evidence, remembering that the discussion is not whether or not God chooses people for salvation—Scripture plainly teaches that much—but whether God's choice is based on something within those who are chosen (conditional) or based on nothing within those who are chosen (unconditional). Is there something about those who are saved that somehow made them more suitable for being chosen than others? The Arminian has to say "yes"—the elect are those who had more spiritual insight or less hostility because they believed in Christ where others in exactly the same position spiritually did not believe. Only the Calvinist says "no"—there was nothing about the elect that made them any more worthy of salvation than anyone else. When the Calvinist says we are saved by pure grace, he really means it.

The starting point for any discussion of unconditional election has to be the wider subject of the sovereignty of God. God is in control of the universe and does what pleases him without reference to anything outside his own will. 

Job 23:13 - "But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does."

Job 42:2 - "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."

Psalm 115:3 - "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Psalm 135:6 - "Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps."

Isaiah 46:9-10 - "Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’."

Daniel 4:35 - "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?'"

Ephesians 1:11 - "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will."

Once this point is understood, that God is God and he is the One who does whatever he desires and pleases with his creation, unconditional election is merely the application of this same doctrine of the sovereignty of God to the salvation of human beings.

The Bible is consistent from Genesis to Revelation that God is sovereign and he chooses those whom he wishes, without consultation or limitation, whether the choice is for salvation (which is our main concern) or for service.

Exodus 33:19 - "And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord’. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."

This verse makes it clear that God is in control of his grace and mercy. He has the sovereign right to show grace and mercy wherever he wishes. He also has the right to withhold grace and mercy when he wishes. Therefore, God is never obligated to save anyone, nor prevented from saving anyone either when he chooses. Paul quotes this verse in Romans 9:15 to show that God was neither obligated to save every ethnic Jew, nor prohibited from extending salvation to the Gentiles.

Deuteronomy 7:6-8 - "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

This passage makes it clear that God's people, Israel, were not chosen because they met any criteria for being chosen. They were chosen because Yahweh set his love upon them. We can therefore speak of God's sovereign love being the reason he chooses some and not others, whether this be one nation over another or some individuals and not others.

Psalm 65:4 - "Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!"

This verse makes it clear that, contra those advocating for corporate election and not individual election, that God chooses individuals, not only nations or groups.

Matthew 11:25-26 - "At that time Jesus declared, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.^'"

Here Jesus is speaking directly about htose who would accept or reject him. It is remarkable that his reflection on this is not firstly about human free will or autonomy, but about the Father's purpose, will, and choice.

John 6:37-40, 44 - "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day..No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.."

John 10:14-15, 25-30  - "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep...I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

These passages from John's Gospel, the direct teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, are among the strongest and clearest teachings on unconditonal election in the whole Bible. Not only is the order of salvation clear in John 6, that the Father chooses first and gives a people to the Son, all of whom he will save, but Christ makes a distinction later in John 10 between those who are his (his flock) and others who are not his flock. Most strikingly he does not say to some "You are not part of my flock because you do not believe" which is what we would maybe expect from an Arminian Jesus, but rather "You do not believe because you are not part of my flock" or in other words, because they were not given to him by the Father. The concept of unconditional election is central to the argument of these passages.

John 15:16 - "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."

This verse is important in making the point that the choice of the disciples was completely unconditional. Christ chose those whom he wanted. It is quite foreign to the concept of election in the Bible to read into it conditionality. Christ never said, far less implied, that he chose the disciples because he knew in advance they would say "yes". The reverse is true, they would say "yes" because he sovereignly chose them.

Arminians sometimes make much of the fact that the choice here is strictly speaking to be disciples and apostles. They try to drive a wedge between election to salvaiton and election to service. Such a distinction is man-made and not derived from Scripture. In choosing these men to lead the church this was merely an extension of them being chosen for salvation, because the eleven here (Judas had already left the room - John 13:29-30) were all elected for salvation and to serve as church leaders.

Acts 13:48 - "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed."

This one of the strongest verses on unconditional election or sovereign election in the New Testament. The order of events is the opposite of Arminian claims. It is those who were appointed ("ordained" - KJV) for eternal life who believed, not those who believed who were appointed for eternal life. An Arminian would never write this verse the way Luke wrote it.

Before we move on to look at the apostle Paul's teachings on election, it is perhaps worth noting that some people believe that unconditional election is a peculiarly Pauline concept. It is worth recognising that hitherto we have only examined the writings of Moses, the Psalms, Matthew and John mainly quoting Jesus himself, and Luke in Acts. Unconditional election is clearly established by these and many more non-Pauline texts. Paul only writes more extensively and explicitly but holds to the same teaching as the other biblical writers and the Lord himself.

Romans 8:28-30 - "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

This passage is a wonderful testimony to unconditional election when read properly and in context.

Perhaps in passing we might first note how difficult it is to conceive how God can make all things work together for good to those who love him (v.28) in a world where everyone has libertarian free will outside God's control, but we will let that pass.

The main point is about the "golden chain" of salvation here in verses 29 and 30. The order given by Paul is foreknown > predestined > called > justified > glorified.

In this context "whom he foreknew" cannot refer to pre-knowledge of facts or things about people (i.e. it cannot refer to God foreknowing who would believe) for the simple reason is that since God is omniscient, he knows all things about all people. It would make no sense to talk about "those whom he foreknew" as a distinct group if the Arminian view is correct since God foreknows everything about everyone. No, this has to be referring to "knowing" in the biblical sense of intimacy and love. Those who are foreknown here are "foreloved". This is knowing in the same way as Jesus meant when he said to the damned "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23).

The rest of the "chain" is clear, from God's choice through to final glory. None are lost along the way (cf. John 6:37). All who are foreknown and predestined are justified and glorified.

All actions are God's. He accomplishes these things. It totally disrupts the nature of the apostle's thoughts, and the beauty of the picture of grace presented, to insert human free will as the determining factor and upon which God's choice is supposedly dependent.

Romans 9:10-13, 15-16 - "And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 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 was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'...For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy."

Paul further expands on his teaching on sovereign election in Romans 9. The whole chapter should be carefully read. Paul goes as deep as any human being ever has into the mind and purposes of God (see Romans 9;19-24). The teaching is clear. Paul contrasts God's purpose of election with human actions (v.16). The fact that God's choice of Jacob over Esau was before they were born or had done anything good or evil strongly suggests that election is not conditional on foreseeing who would believe.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 - "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God."

Here again Paul's argument, reminiscent of Jesus' words in Matthew 11:25-26 we looked at already, does not sound like someone who believes God's choice is based on anything in those who are chosen. If that were so, his argument would fall apart. The argument is that God chose those who are least likely to be chosen, precisely to glorify himself and rule out human boasting.

Conditional election does not achieve this. Instead those who are chosen do have something to boast about—that God foresaw they would believe where others would not. It is impossible to avoid the saved in Arminianism seeing that they are somehow better than those who are lost. In Calvinism by contrast, the saved have nothing to boast about whatever as even God's choice was not based on any difference between the saved and the lost.

Ephesians 1:4-5 - "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will."

Paul is explicit in this great passage in Ephesians 1 that predestination flows from love and that the choice was "according to the purpose of his will" not according to him foreseeing who would believe.

2 Timothy 1:9 - "[God] who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began."

Once again, Paul's thought is fully explicable if election is unconditional, but difficult to explain if God's choice of us is logically preceded by our choice of God. He explicitly says we were saved and called not on the basis of anything in us ("our works") but because of God's sovereign will ("his own purpose and grace"). And all this happened before the ages began!

Unconditional election may be the most hated doctrine of all because it glorifies God and humbles man more than any other doctrine. Unconditional election proclaims that God is indeed God. The Calvinist welcomes this and says "Let God be God". All other views cannot accept this and in one way or another make God's purpose dependent on human free will, a concept of which the Scriptures know nothing.