The Doctrines of Grace - Unconditional Election

Definition of Unconditional Election from the Westminster Confession of Faith

3.5 Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto; and all to the praise of His glorious grace.
3.6 As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath He, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ; are effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due season; are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power, through faith, unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only.


The Classic Arminian Position (Election Based on Foreknowledge)

“[God purposes] to save particular persons and to damn others, which decree rests upon the foreknowledge of God, by which he has known from eternity which persons should believe according to such an administration of the means serving to repentance and faith through his preceding grace and which should persevere through subsequent grace, and also who should not believe and persevere.” (Quoted in Carl Bangs, Arminius: A Study in the Dutch Reformation, 1971, p. 352).


The Contemporary Arminian Emphasis (Election Corporate, Not Individual):

“The point is that the election of the church is a corporate rather than an individual thing. It is not that individuals are in the church because they are elect, it is rather that they are elect because they are in the church which is the body of the elect One.” (R. T. Forster and V. P. Marston, God’s Strategy in Human History , 1973, p. 136).

“...election is a corporate category and not oriented to the choice of individuals for salvation. . . . [Election has reference to] a class of people rather than specific individuals.” (Clark Pinnock, The Grace of God and the Will of Man: A Case for Arminianism, 1990, p. 20)

The modern Arminian view on election is that the election of the church is a corporate, rather than an individual, thing. It is not that individuals are in the church because they are elect; it is rather that they are elect because they are in the church, which is the body of the elect one. If you ask an Arminian “how did you get in the church?” the answer is that they got themselves into church. Yes there is an assisting grace, but it can be resisted, and the reason they are ultimately in the church is because by faith, by a self standing, self determining, decisive choice they got themselves into the church. They conquered, in the end, their deadness in sin, with God’s assistance up to a point, but they did the decisive conquering. So then election is not of individuals, election is of the church, and it was unspecified so God did not elect particular individuals, He elected a mass and then He left it to the people to decide who would get into that mass. Election is a corporate category. It is not oriented to the choice of individuals for salvation. Election speaks of a class of people rather than specific individuals.

A Calvinist believes that the Bible teaches that individuals are chosen before the foundation of the world and they are chosen freely apart from any achievement or conditions on their part at all, even foreseen faith.

The Arminian either emphasizes that election is based on foreseen faith, or is corporate rather than individual so neither has to reckon with the fact that it’s unconditional for individuals.


Is Election Not Individual Because It Is “in Him”?

Ephesians 1:3-6
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

The phrase Arminians land on is “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world”. Many people think that He chose Christ as the elect One, and He did not choose particular individuals who would be in Christ. So if you are in Christ you are now elect, but He didn’t choose you to be in Christ. He chose Christ and you were the decisive actor in getting into Christ. The Calvinist would say those words could carry that meaning, but they also could not. It may mean that He chose us in the very natural meaning of this word “select”. No doubt God contemplates the Savior when thinking about those He will save. He saves by Jesus, He saves in Jesus, He saves in relation to Jesus. He chose (put the name of one who is born again here) in relation to Jesus. Same thing with predestination. He predestined us to adoption through Jesus. It’s through Jesus that He is bringing me to Himself.


Does “All Things” Include Our Faith?

Ephesians 1:11
In [Christ] also we have been chosen, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.


Were We Dead and Unable to Believe So That Life and Faith Had to Be Given to Us?

Ephesians 2:4-9
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

What kind of election is this? It’s grace God made us alive together with Christ. He did it. If he did it for me but not others, isn’t election individual. His grace brought me from deadness to alive. If grace raised me from the dead and enabled me to believe, God did not wait in His electing decrees to see whether I would believe on my own and thus elect me. He chose those for whom he would do this gracious work, which means He chose before they did it, which means He chose unconditionally. It is a gift. All of that saving work is a gift. If this is true then the Arminian view that election is based on our work of faith being foreknown falls to the ground, because God is providing the faith, not waiting to see if it comes to pass on the basis of which He would elect. If He provides the faith then He is choosing people before they have faith, which means He’s choosing them before they do anything to merit it or show themselves distinctive from any other believer and thus bring them to Himself.


Is Election Individual and Are We in Christ Because of God?

1 Corinthians 1:26-30
For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.


Is Election Individual?

James 2:5
Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?


Is Election the Effect or the Cause of Obtaining Salvation, That Is, of Foreknown Faith?

Romans 11:1-8
Do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.” But what is the divine response to him? “I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.” In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.”


Who Obtained What Israel Was Seeking?

Romans 9:30-33
What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."


Is Election Based on Foreknown Faith or Does Faith Happen Because of Election?

Acts 13:48
When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.


Do We Belong to God Because We Come to Jesus, or Do We Come to Jesus Because We Belong to God?

John 17:6-9
I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. . . . I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours.

John 6:37-39
All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.


Are We Jesus’ Sheep Because We Believe, or Do We Believe Because We Are His Sheep?

John 10:24-27
The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”


Is Evangelism Making Sheep or Gathering Sheep?

John 10:16
I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.


Is World Missions Begetting Children of God or Gathering Children of God?

John 11:50-52
[Caiaphas said,] “it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Acts 18:9-10
And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”


Did God Choose Us Because He Knows We Will Come, or Do We Come Because He Chose to Give Us the Will to Come?

John 6:44, 65
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. . . .” And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

Acts 16:14
A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.


Is Election Based on Foreknown Faith or Is Faith the Effect of Election?

Romans 8:28-33
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.


Is Election Individual and Unconditional and Dealing with Eternal Destiny?

Romans 9:1-23
I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.” And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 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 does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory.


Some Texts that May Seem Problematic for Unconditional Election

1 Timothy 2:1-4
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

I. Howard Marshall, who is not a Calvinist and who writes on this text in “Universal Grace and Atonement in the Pastoral Epistles,” The Grace of God, the Will of Man: A Case for Arminianism, (p. 56), concedes that there are two levels of willing implied in this text: To avoid all misconceptions it should be made clear at the outset that the fact that God wishes or wills that all people should be saved does not necessarily imply that all will respond to the gospel and be saved. We must certainly distinguish between what God would like to see happen and what he actually does will to happen, and both of these things can be spoken of as God’s will. The question at issue is not whether all will be saved but whether God has made provision in Christ for the salvation of all, provided that they believe, and without limiting the potential scope of the death of Christ merely to those whom God knows will believe. But nowhere in the entire essay does Marshall mention the one text in the Pastoral Epistles that points most clearly to these two wills and what they are, namely, 2 Timothy 2:24-26 and 2 Peter 3:8-10.


2 Timothy 2:24-26
The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

Marshall poses the question whether any text in the Pastorals would lead us to believe that “faith and repentance are the gifts of God, who gives them only to the previously chosen group of the elect” (p. 66). He concludes that there is not, even though the text that comes closest to saying this very thing is passed over.


2 Peter 3:8-10
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

Ezekiel 18:23
“Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?

Lamentations 3:31-33 (An example of God willing in one sense what he does not will in another sense) For the Lord will not reject forever, For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion, According to His abundant lovingkindness. For He does not afflict willingly, Or grieve the sons of men.