A Discussion on Election
Brothers and sisters, I wanted to take the space here to talk about a controversial topic that came up in my sermon on Sunday. If you haven’t seen it, I would encourage you to go to our church’s Facebook page and watch last week’s sermon on Ephesians 1:1-6. This isn’t to get more views or self-aggrandizement, but purely to help you understand the context from which I’m speaking here. The topic is God’s election and predestination of those who are saved.
Language & History: A Botanical Exploration
In recent years, seemingly two prominent camps have begun to sweep through many Baptist circles. First, there is the Calvinists, or as some prefer, the Reformed camp. Then there is the Arminianist camp. It should be noted though that there are two other, lesser-known camps people tend to fall into; Molinism and Corporate Election. I’ll briefly sum up what each group claims surrounding the doctrine of salvation and election.
Let’s start with Calvinism or reformed. Arguably some of the most prominent and godly pastors fall into this camp. People like John MacArthur, John Piper, David Platt, and Voddie Baucham all fall into this system of belief. It can most succinctly be understood by the acronym T.U.L.I.P.
The T stands for total depravity. Essentially this is the belief that humans are totally deprived and are completely unable to respond to God without the intervention of God Himself giving us the ability to respond to His Gospel. U is for unconditional election. This is the belief that God predestines some before the foundation of the earth to salvation while choosing to leave others dead in their sins. L is for limited atonement. This is the belief that Christ’s sacrifice was only for God’s elect or those predestined for salvation and not for the unsaved. The I is for irresistible grace. This is the belief that if you are one of God’s elect you cannot reject God’s salvation as you were predestined for it. In other words, if you are one of the elect, God’s grace overpowers your total depravity and directly causes our response to the gospel. And last is P or perseverance of the saints. This can somewhat be summed up by the phrase, “once saved, always saved.” The idea is that once the elect person reaches a saving faith, that faith will always endure/persevere to the end. They cannot walk away from the faith. There’s much more to say about these points and many scriptures backing them up but I encourage you to go and continue to follow up with research of your own.
Arminianism has its own floral acronym. It is D.A.I.S.Y. The D stands for diminished depravity. In essence, this is the belief that man is too depraved on his/her own to respond so He gives prevenient grace which is just enough grace for people to respond freely to God’s salvation. The A is for abrogated election; the belief that God bases His election on the foreknowledge of those who will freely choose Him. The I is for impersonal atonement; the belief that Christ died for everyone, making salvation possible for everyone. S is for sedentary grace, or God calls everyone to salvation but man can freely reject it. Y is for yieldable justification, or man can freely reject his/her salvation after their initial salvation. In other words, people can fall from grace. This theology was initially developed by Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius. Some prominent Arminianists are Craig Keener, John Wesley, Ben Witherington III, & I. Howard Marshall.
Molinism has its own flower as well; R.O.S.E.S. The R is radical depravity, or that the fall has affected every aspect of humanity and we are unable to save ourselves. This is similar to total depravity but does not see humanity as bad as it can possibly be. O is for overcoming grace. In essence, it is God’s constant beckoning that overcomes our depraved nature and leads us to salvation. Whereas irresistible grace seems to totally remove man’s free will to be saved, overcoming grace preserves it. The first S is for sovereign election. This is the belief that God desires salvation for all but accentuates that we don’t in our depravity choose God, but He chooses us. The E is for eternal life. In essence, a believer, once saved, is given a new life that is preserved and a faith that will endure. And lastly is the final S or singular redemption. This argues that Christ’s atonement is sufficient to save all but is only efficient to save God’s elect. In other words, salvation is not universal but only for believers. Some prominent Molinists are William Lane Craig and Alvin Plantinga.
Another important aspect of Molinism is the idea of middle knowledge. Ligonier Ministries sums this concept up well with the following:
“What is middle knowledge? At the center of this recent interest has been God’s knowledge of possibilities involving human choice (the “counterfactuals of freedom” as they have been called). Why this innovation? Its proponents are concerned to preserve what they consider to be two vital beliefs. The first is God’s providence and total foreknowledge. The second is the idea that human beings are ineradicably free in an indeterministic sense. When we speak of indeterministic freedom, we mean that any human being, in a given set of circumstances, has the power to choose A or to choose not-A. The problem is obvious. How can this be consistent with God’s universal providential rule and His purposes of redemption? The Molinists’ way of attempting to keep all this together was to suggest that there existed, besides God’s natural knowledge and His free knowledge, a third kind of knowledge. They argued that God also has “middle knowledge” (between the other two). What this means can be briefly explained. Given a whole array of possible worlds (that God knows), given worlds in which men and women were free in the relevant indeterministic sense, God knows what they would freely choose in every possible circumstance. God has knowledge of all such possible outcomes. If placed in one set of circumstances, God knows what Jones would freely choose. If placed in another set of circumstances, God knows what Jones would freely choose. This is true for all possible people and all possible circumstances. God has this middle knowledge by inspection of all the possibilities that the free will of each person might choose.”
William Lane Craig also succinctly summarizes Molinism in this video.
Lastly is Corporate Election. This particular belief doesn’t have a cool flower acronym and doesn’t address all of the same points as the others but seems like a viable option as well. Corporate Election is the belief that God has chosen to save those people who are found to be “in Christ.” It is through faith that we are found to be “in Christ,” as the preeminent chosen one (Matt. 12:18). Election is mainly corporate (i.e. the universal Church/people of God) as the elect are called a chosen people (Eph. 1:4-6), the body of Christ (Eph. 4:12), “my church” (Mt. 16:18), “a people belonging to God” (1 Pet. 2:9) and His bride (Rev. 19:7). Therefore, individuals that identify with the elect corporate body are found to be among the elect. For a further discussion on this check out a good video here.
What do we know?
When you first decide to head down this rabbit hole of understanding God’s election for salvation, it’s easy to see much of this as theological hair-splitting. For example, concerning the concept of “once saved, always saved,” a Reformed and an Arminianist will look at a person that seemed to be saved at one point but later walk away from the faith in two different ways. The Reformed will say that person was never truly saved and therefore didn’t reject God’s irresistible grace. The Arminianist will say that, yes the person was saved but they freely rejected that gift and are no longer saved. No matter which way you cut it the outcome is the same, that person is no longer saved. Same with the concept of election. If someone places their faith in Christ, a Reformed theologian will say that they were predestined and had no real choice in the matter and God alone saved them through no will or desire of their own. An Arminianist would say that yes, that person chose to place their faith in Christ for salvation and is therefore saved. Either way that you cut it, the end result is the same; that person is “In Christ” whether of their free will or preordained determined action of God.
So, let’s look at the truths we do know for certain that all of these groups will agree on. We know that our sinful nature has had a profound impact on us and places us in the path of God’s just wrath (Rom. 3:23, 6:23). All would agree that salvation alone comes from and through Christ alone and we cannot earn that grace (Rom. 6:23, Eph. 2:4-6). All would agree that there is some sort of election or choice by God. It is the extent and nature of that choice that is really debated (Rom. 8:29, 9:11, Eph. 1:4-6). And lastly, I believe all of these views hold that there will be some who are ultimately saved and some who are not. None of these views argue for universalism.
There are some other important truths that play a factor in this discussion. This whole thing is a spiritual mystery. We don’t have to have a perfect explanation. This mystery has been revealed in Christ but still is referred to by Paul as a mystery (Eph. 1:9). Second, God’s very nature is that He is perfectly good. He cannot do anything contrary to His nature which is the epitome of good. Therefore, if God chooses some for salvation and some for destruction, I cannot help but trust that it is good because I know God is good. If free will plays more of a factor in our salvation, then I trust that that is perfectly good because it is how God designed it. In essence, I submit to however God has worked it out.
Another important reminder is that God would have been perfectly just to leave us dead in our trespasses. There is nothing in us that deserves God’s grace, so even if God chooses to leave some dead in their sins, He is perfectly just to do so.
On the other hand, it is important that God desires that none should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). He deeply loves us and desires to have a relationship with each one of us. He extends an invitation to us and beckons us “Come, the one who hears come; the one who is thirsty, come; the one who wishes, take the water of life at no cost,” (Rev. 22:17).
Lastly, it’s important to remember that Jesus commanded that we go and make disciples (Matt. 28:19-21). Some, mostly in the Reformed camp, have taken the theology of election and irresistible grace to the nth degree and say, “since God solely chooses those who are saved and those who aren’t we have no need to share the gospel.” I believe this to be only a small percentage of the Reformed, but nonetheless, it needs to be identified as pure disobedience. Even if God preordained some to salvation, God chose the method through which He disseminates His grace to be through the spoken message of the gospel through His Church (Rom. 10:14-15).
I want to be clear, you can land in any of these camps and be a born-again believer. Your soteriological position on this particular issue does not determine your eternal destination. It is by faith in Christ and submission to His Lordship that places you “In Him” (Rom. 3:8, 4:5, 5:1, Gal 2:16, 3:24, Eph. 2:4). So, we must be careful not to be proclaimers of Calvinism or Arminianism, but proclaimers of the gospel and makers of disciples. Sadly, some would rather break fellowship with other faith siblings over differing views on these issues. But our task as believers is universally the same, to bring the most glory to God that God allows us to.
If you are curious about where I fall on this issue, I personally think that in my limited understanding of the things of God, I humbly agree most with corporate election. However, I am comfortable saying that I’m still wrestling with this issue and will likely continue for the rest of my life. I don’t want you to think that because I don’t believe anyone on this side of Heaven will be able to perfectly understand it, that it isn’t an issue worthy of exploring for ourselves. These are issues that God’s Word speaks at length about and they affect our understanding of who God is. Therefore, it is vital that as believers we wrestle with these issues, use the gifts of logic and critical thinking that God has blessed us with, and ultimately submit to the Word of God.
I pray that this discussion, while not nearly as extensive as it could have been, was enlightening and challenging for you. I pray that you decide to dive into the Word of God and explore this for yourself. I pray that you lean on other godly men and women that have studied and written on this subject to gain a better understanding. I love you all dearly and appreciate the diversity each of you brings to God’s church.
In Him,
Pastor Trenton
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