Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Unconditional Election - In Accordance with God's Pleasure and Will
"Some say. 'It is unfair for God to choose some and
leave others.' Now I ask you one question: Is there
any of you here who wishes to be holy, who wishes
to be regenerate, to leave off sin and walk in holiness?
'Yes there is,' says someone, 'I do.' Then God has elected
you. But another says, 'No I don't want to be holy;
I don't want to give up my lusts and my vices.' Why
should you grumble, then that God has not elected you?
For if you were elected, you would not like it, according
to your own confession."
Charles Spurgeon
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Unconditional Election is an act of God, before creation, in which God chooses
some people for salvation, not on account of any unforeseen merit in them, but
only because of His Sovereign good pleasure, and according to His purpose.
Due to the fall of Adam, all people are born tainted by sin and in need of a
Savior. None of us deserves to be saved, because of our rebellion against God
(Ephesians 2:1-3), but according to His Sovereign good pleasure, He chooses to
save some, passing over the others, who have no desire to please Him (Romans 8:7-8).
***********
God is free to save no one, everyone, or some. He chooses to save some because
of His mercy, and to His glory (Ephesians 1:3-14).
" .... 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, to the praise
of His glorious grace ..."
Ephesians 1:4-6
God is free to exercise His judgment on some because He is perfectly holy, and
He must condemn all sin.
On the other hand, He is free to give mercy to some to demonstrate His great love.
If God saved everyone, He would not be exercising judgment against sinners, and
if He saved no one, He would not be demonstrating His mercy.
Only if God saves SOME, is He free to demonstrate His justice AND mercy.
**********
What about free will and salvation?
"A man is not saved against his will, but he is made willing by the operation of the
Holy Spirit. A mighty grace which he does not wish to resist, enters into the man,
disarms him, and makes a new creature of him (regeneration - Ezekiel 36:26-27)."
Charles Spurgeon
He is not saved because of his free will "decision," but is "born of God," or
"born from above (John 3:6-8).
"Yet to all who received Him, to those who
believed in His name, He gave the right to
become children of God -- children born
not of natural descent, nor of human decision,
or a husband's will, but born of God."
John 1:12-13
***********
Is it unfair of God to choose some for salvation and not others, and does He
choose them because He foresees that they will one day believe in Him?
The Bible says that is clearly not true!
Paul explains election in the ninth chapter of Romans. Between the twins,
Jacob and Esau, God chose Jacob to be the line through which the Messiah
would come.
"Yet, before the twins were born
or had done anything good or bad-
in order that God's purpose in
election might stand: not by works
but by Him who calls - she (Rebekah,
mother of Jacob and Esau) was told,
'The older will serve the younger.'
Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved,
but Esau I hated."
Romans 9:11-13
"God's choice of Jacob was based on sovereign freedom, not on the
fulfillment of any prior conditions.
Before Rebekah's children were even born, God made a choice -- a
choice obviously not based on works.
Paul is clearly dealing with personal and not national election -- he is
not portraying the nation Israel (Jacob) over the nation Edom (Esau)."
NIV commentary
"God's choice of Jacob, instead of Esau, to continue the physical line
was not based on his personal merit or demerit. Rather, God's choice
of Jacob resides solely in His own sovereign plan, a perfect example
of election unto salvation.
God has chosen some Jews -- and some Gentiles -- but not all, for
salvation.
The fact that God made His choice of Jacob before the boys were born
and apart from personal merit demonstrates that election unto spiritual
life is unrelated to any human effort, and is based only on the prerogative
of God who makes His selection."
John MacArthur
**********
Paul continues explaining unconditional election.
"What shall we say then? Is there injustice
on God's part? By no means! 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. For
the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very
purpose I have raised you up, that I might
show my power in you, and that my name
might be proclaimed in all the earth. So
then He has mercy on whomever He wills,
and He hardens whomever He wills."
Romans 9:14-18
The words, "it depends," refers to God's gracious choice of certain people unto
salvation.
Salvation depends on God's mercy, not on ANY kind of human effort.
How then can God hold man responsible for his actions?
Paul explains.
"You will say to me then, 'Why does He still
find fault? For who can resist His will?'
But who are you, O man, to answer back to
God? Will what is molded say to its molder,
'Why have you made me like this?'
Has the potter no right over the clay to make
out of the same lump one vessel for honorable
use and another for dishonorable use?
What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to
make known His power, has endured with much
patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
in order to make known the riches of His glory for
vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand
for glory -- even us whom He has called, not from
the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?"
Romans 9:19-24
**********
Salvation is not initiated by man, but by God.
It depends on God's mercy in election, and not on anything (even faith, which is
a gift from God) that man does.
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