How do you define unconditional election? That’s the task I have set before myself, and I’m not sure how to describe it. In layman’s terms, it means that it is God who decides who is chosen and who is not. Man has no say in the matter. I know this can sound harsh to many, and I had a difficult time with it as well, so I’ll try to be gentle.
In essence, the Lord has known since the beginning of the beginning who would choose Him. If that were not so, He wouldn’t be all knowing. God is sovereign. He has the power to make happen whatever He wills, thus it is impossible for Him to be frustrated. So, this means that He has complete control over everything, for if He didn’t have control and something happened that He didn’t ordain and was thus out of His control, then He wouldn’t be God.
Are you still with me? Good!
God ordained His elect, those who would call out to Him and become Christians through the sacrifice of His son since before the creation of the world. Taking into account the combination of God’s omniscience and His sovereignty, this must be so. This is my definition of unconditional election. God’s choosing of His elect through a decision process that is of God, not of man.
It is a gift from God and is only possible through the miracle of regeneration. Let me explain this a bit more for the readers out there who may be a bit confused by my use of this term. There’s not too much of a debate about it. We are all sinners. What’s more, we are are sinful by nature. Until God performs a true miracle in our hearts, we will not respond positively to His call. Until we are regenerated, our nature is not one that is receptive to Him. Therefore, we do have the free will to choose or deny God according to our own nature. Our nature begins as being very negative toward God, but that is by our own doing. Until we are regenerated, we will continue to make that natural choice against God.
Regeneration is the new birth. It is the change in our hearts that God makes that enables us to come to Him willingly, making conversion the new natural progression for our choices. The term “Born Again” would be more correct to point to regeneration than to conversion as referring to it as one and the same as salvation is premature. But since conversion is made into the natural end of regeneration, I don’t see the need to argue this point.
Regeneration is completely unconditional. It is entirely the work of God, not of man. There is nothing a person could do to force it upon themselves, nor would they want to do so as it would be contrary to their nature. That is an important fact to remember. Before a person can earnestly seek God with all of their heart and wish for conversion, they must be regenerated. Because of this, there is never a time when someone would seek to accept God before this miracle has taken place. This fact has calmed my own previous distaste regarding the matter of Unconditional Election. That and a careful reading of Romans 9.
The unconditional election of God and the unconditional act of regeneration are linked in this way. We do not love the light after we have gone to it, as many people believe. Rather, we go to the light because we love the light. And we love the light because God has put that love of His word into our hearts and made us into a new creation with the desire to earnestly seek Him.
Related Posts: U – Unconditional Election
absolutely awesome Doug!!!!
…definitions and explainations…
Doug at CoffeeSwirls does an awesome job of describing our Unconditional Election. Totally worth the read and study. Thanks Doug!
I just wanted to add a small tidbit to support your post.
John 1:12-13. Note v. 13: “nor of human decision or a husband’s will”. It doesn’t get much more clear that that (especially in addition to Romans 9 and John 6:44.
I was also going to touch on the issue of foreknowledge but I see that I have to wait for that topic.
Doug,
Well argued point. Are there any disenting arguments out there?
Thank you for the encouraging word. May God continue to enrich your understanding of Himself that you might share with us.
With much appreciation,
Sam
Outstanding. And from the Westminster Confession of Faith…Chapter III, Paragraph VII:
The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious justice.
http://www.reformed.org/docume.....html#chap3
Thank you all! Oh, and Josiah, I can be a bit flighty about the whole “schedule thing”
so I may get to that point and feel that the topic of foreknowledge has been discussed well enough.
But then again, foreknowledge goes farther than just this, doesn’t it?
Friday Blogabout
Haven’t done a ‘Blogabout’ in a while. Not for lack of material, just short on time these days. In the latest in her series on the attributes of God, Rebecca Writes talks about the immutability of God : God’s purpose,…
on (Hey, You Have To Start Somewhere, Right?) Total Depravity through Adam Condemnation Unconditional Election Limited Atonement Irresistible Grace Salvation [...]
This is a subject that few understand until they have been called, it has nothing to do with being called to be a Christian. First one can consider the implications of pre-destination and divine purpose agreed pre incarnation.
Romans 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of GOD. 28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love GOD, to them who are called according to his purpose. 29: For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. That he might be the first born among many breathen. 30: Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31: What shall we say to things? If GOD be for US, who can be against us?
Those that have an agreed predestination agreement (some call this a karmic contract) could well be vibrating as a Christ as predicted by St Paul and by Jesus when he said ‘did I not Ye, Ye are gods?’ The first born are those who have gone through the eye of the needle and have moved from being to becoming a Christ in the image of his son. People attain this by seeking within and through healing the self the doors/gateways to heaven do indeed open. On can be called by the saints for a divine mission prior to going through the eye of the needle. However, the mission may not manifest until one has gone through the eye of the needle.
Election can be two fold, it can be related to being called for a mission and it can also relate to being recognised for your good works. When your good works are recognised God inspires a person to offer you a title of recognition. E.g Universal Peace Ambassador.
So is election unconditional? Only if you accept that the soul has a pre-destination, pre-incarnation agreement and divine purpose.
Regeneration and redemption of our divine selves is free will and free will is one of the greatest gifts from God. It is only the willing that change because it takes willingness to heal the self and seek within. Once you have healed/purified the self and realised your Christ self; you are indeed born again, your spiritual self now reigns supreme.
The spiritually dead can and do rise from the grave! Love is the path of no return to the old way of being. Where is harmony there is love and where there is love there is God.
Love beyond measure
Kim
If you wish to learn more about the gateways and the phases of attainment on the pathway to enlightenment that Jesus was sharing with us, I recommend this website.
workofthechariot.com
Onwards and upwards flying divine!
Kim xx
Since this is the thrust of the statement you are making, would you care to back it up with scripture? What sort of person is willing to love the light without the intervention of the spirit of God? Where are we ever called to “heal the self?” Isn’t seeking within ourselves the problem and not the solution?
The spiritually dead do rise. But just like Lazarus, they rise at the call of the one who holds the keys to death and hades. And just like Lazarus, nobody rises of their own volition.
If our election had anything to do with what we had accomplished through looking in or by instigating the change, we would have cause to boast in some measure our part in the process of our salvation. But that is exactly the desire of the natural man and is what sets Christianity apart from every other religion out there.
To be accepted in any pagan setting, you must be “good enough” but in Christianity you must first acknowledge that you cannot be good enough, and therefore must rely on the grace of God. That is, the undeserved merit. That is what grace is.
Again, all I am asking is that you qualify your statements with scripture.
So – this means that some are chosen, with no regard to their personal worthiness. Are the rest born simply to feed the fires of hell? Not being argumentive, I just don’t understand the concept of God choosing some and rejecting the rest of us poor souls. This IS in fact what we are saying, is it not?
Briefly, if election was based on worthiness, nobody would be saved. It is the mercy of God that causes anyone to be elected and not our striving. There are those who have been passed over by God, also for reasons we do not know. It is not for us to try to determine if someone is elect, but to preach the gospel without discrimination and to trust the Holy Spirit to work in hearts.
I won’t say that I understand this doctrine in full, but I do take comfort in knowing that my salvation and my perseverence is not my own doing, but the doing of God who will not allow me to fall. Such a doctrine marks the end of legalism and promotes gratitude among the elect. If anyone uses this to bash those “less worthy” then grace has not been realized in them. Either they do not realize the mercy shown them or mercy has not truly been shown them. It is not for me to judge the will of God.
Numerous scriptures referring to ‘Faith’, ‘Believing’, ‘Submission’,'willful sinning’ compel me to know tht it is an action thqt includes my participation and decision.
The action of turning away from God, from even the beginning with Adam and Eve, teach me that man’s action is critical to whether or not we are in relationship with God.
I believe He chose us from the beginning because He knew who would ‘choose’ Him. But there is absolute truth in our ‘choice’ to repent and turn to Him.
Let’s expand on the passage sighted earlier by Josiah.
vs 10-12 speak to those who ‘received’ and ‘believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God’.
vs 13 is after we ‘believe’ then we become children of God – born an unnatural birth – a birth of the Spirit. But this happens only after we ‘believe’, an action on our part.
We are drawn to the Father by the Spirit who reveals the truth of scripture to us as mentioned in John 6:44. And I also believe when we are told in Genesis 6:3 that God’s Spirit does not strive with man forever. There is a time when He will leave us to our own desires if we refuse to believe.
There is an absolute decision on our part to choose the greatest gift of God -Salvation by the complete sacrifice for our sin by trusting in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. I Cor 15:3-5
Romans 2:5-11 makes repentance, an action of man, clear to me.
1 Timothy 2:16 reminds me that Christ died for ALL men. All who believe. Yes He knew before, who they would be.