The second point of Calvinism to discuss is Unconditional election. The word election means that someone was chosen or selected. We will discuss how someone becomes elected in Christ.
John 3:3 states: Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Remarkably, this verse has been mutated to an imperative. This statement is indicative. It is describing not how to see the kingdom of God, but rather what condition must exist for this to happen. A man cannot influence or control the timing of his birth, the manner of his birth, the identity of his parents. A man is born; this is an indicative statement. In the same way, a man is born again. He no more control over this second birth than he had over the first. Jesus, in his office of priest, takes care of this for man. The manner of this rebirth is the work of the Holy Spirit acting in an individual gifting him the belief in the scripture. The elect will receive this rebirth and the reprobate will not. This is unconditional. There is no added value of the individual that contributes to the likelihood of election.
Many will argue that this is not fair. Return to the third to last paragraph of the Total depravity post. God sees mankind as a wasteland of dead people. This is what we deserve. It is only through the Grace of God, by the actions of Jesus, as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, who gives us belief in the scripture, that we get something other than what we deserve. Do not ask for fair. You do not want fair. Fairly, we should receive death and eternal separation from God. This is our problem. Why are some elect while others are reprobate? We are not given to know the answer to all of God’s mysteries. Some things we just have to accept and move onward.
But what of free will? We will come to this discussion in the post about Irresistible Grace. For now, I will try to explain with this example. I have a jar of coins by the phone. When I come home, I empty my pockets of coins into this jar. Occasionally, my wife will cash the coins at the bank. These coins have value to us. What is more, some coins have a higher value than other coins. Our bank recognizes these coins as currency and gives them a value that depends upon the intrinsic makeup of the coin. God does not recognize these coins as having any value in our redemption. They are but various shiny pieces of metal to him. There is no difference in value between pennies and dimes or any other coin. All coins have two sides. On side is usually called heads, for obvious reasons, and the other side is called tails to distinguish it. Suppose that each coin represented a person. The heads side represents salvation and the tails side represents damnation. Heads, you are elect; tails, you are reprobate. Then total depravity means that in the beginning, before Adam, everyone was on heads. God created heads up creatures. Adam fell, and when he did, he caused every coin to be flipped over. Jesus placed Himself into the world with heads up. Now, we have a light in the world. Jesus then shook up the whole jar and spilled them out on the ground. Some landed on heads and others did not. We do not know how Jesus selected which coins to land on heads. That is not given to us to know. We know that the work of the Holy Spirit is to notify each individual that they have landed on heads. It is the arrogance of man to assume that a coin has the power within it to determine on which side the coin falls. A coin does not determine its own outcome. A coin is dependent upon the hand that turns it to determine its fate. The Bible says that Jesus deliberately turns more coins to heads that can be counted. This is the image of Grace. We will return to this analogy in a later post.
Now in that graveyard of eternity called humanity, God has elected some to be alive again through Jesus. Some are called to rebirth in Christ Jesus. Others are left in the death that we all deserve. This is Grace, that any are called from the fate that we deserve, to live again by rebirth in Jesus.
Where does the bible reveal this to us? While I could take the more circuitous route through the Bible again, I’m going to go straight to the heart of the matter. Romans 3 and Romans 9 are the key passages. I’ve cited Romans 3 about every third post, but here we go again. The second half of the passage, after we are proven dead in sin, reveals the offer of Christ through faith. What is key in this passage is that the only prerequisite for the gift of propitiation through Jesus’ blood is faith. In chapter 9, Paul ups the ante. Take the time to read this chapter. You should read all of Romans straight through without interruption, but that is another topic.
God's Sovereign Choice
9:1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 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— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 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.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 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?” 21 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? 22 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, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”Israel's Unbelief
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Now, go back and read verses 8-24. That’s pretty heavy stuff. Before they were born, before there was any reason for either to be judged in a civically fair way, God elects one son to be cursed and the other to be elect. There was no condition, only God’s sovereign choice. That is the essence of Unconditional election. Many other passages talk about the elect, but this is exactly the doctrine that we are talking about now.
--Troll--
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