The doctrine of unconditional election is often criticized. Some brothers and sisters in Christ still say, “What? We don’t have the free will to believe?” Honestly, I don’t want to make an issue out of Reformed Theology vs. non-Reformed. I believe some Calvinists can become conspiracy theorists (ex. Iconbusters) while other non-Calvinists aren’t (ex. David W. Cloud). While reading the John Piper devotional yesterday, it was once again about the doctrine of unconditional election. The doctrine of eternal security is often hated because it doesn’t appeal to pride. I think another reason why the doctrine of unconditional election is often hated is also because of pride. We want to take credit for how we believed. Remembering my salvation journey, I didn’t understand the plan of salvation. I said, “That’s too good to be true.” I saw John 3:16 many times, read the plan of salvation from a pocket New Testament by Gideon’s International, and never understood it. I heard the salvation plan more than once. Some people hear the plan of salvation growing up in a Christian school and aren’t saved.
The passage I read yesterday from my Desiring God devotional goes like this:
God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit. (2 Thessalonians 2:13)
The Bible speaks of our election — God’s choosing us — in Christ before the foundation of the earth (Ephesians 1:4) before we had done anything good or evil (Romans 9:11). Therefore, our election is unconditional in the strictest sense. Neither our faith nor our obedience is the basis of it. It is free and utterly undeserved.
On the other hand, dozens of passages in the Bible speak of our final salvation (as opposed to our election in eternity past) as conditional upon a changed heart and life. So, the question arises, How can I have the assurance that I will persevere in the faith and holiness necessary for inheriting eternal life?
The answer is that assurance is rooted in our election. Second Peter 1:10 says, “Be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” Divine election is the foundation of God’s commitment to save me, and therefore that he will undertake to work in me by sanctifying grace what his electing grace has begun.
This is the meaning of the new covenant. Everyone who believes in Jesus is a secure beneficiary of the new covenant, because Jesus said in Luke 22:20, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” That is, by my blood I secure the new covenant for all who are mine.
In the new covenant God does not merely command obedience; he gives it. “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27; cf. 11:20). Those are new covenant promises.
Election is God’s eternal commitment to do this for his people. So, election guarantees that those whom God justifies by faith he will most assuredly glorify (Romans 8:30). This means that he will unfailingly work in us all the conditions laid down for glorification.
Election is the final ground of assurance because, since it is God’s commitment to save, it is also God’s commitment to enable all that is necessary for salvation.
It’s easy to accept once saved always saved and the perservance of the saints. A non-Calvinist (and I refuse to call them Arminian) could agree, “Well, I would agree that true conversion differs from the false.” I remember how Pastor Armie F. Jesalva of Cebu Bible Baptist Church emphasized true converts from false ones. The current chaplain, Pastor Kent P. Jesalva, would still emphasize it. I don’t intend to debate Calvinism vs. non-Calvinism. Like Pastor Paul David Washer, the issue is the doctrine of regeneration. One of its members, Mrs. Ninfa Verano-Lumagbas is a non-Calvinist and the current principal of Living Word Christian Learning Center.
I was looking at the passages in context. How did the person come to choose the Lord Jesus Christ? The answer is simple. God chose the person first. It’s hard to accept that simple truth not just because of pride. We want to see our friends and loved ones saved, right? However, there’s a principle that even non-Calvinists can agree on. It’s the principle that believers can warn everyone but not convince everyone. I was even told, “Look, if you did your job to warn, you did your job. Leave the person be.” Those words came from a non-Calvinist. However, in the Calvinist context, the non-elect are unable to savingly believe. The elect are those whose hearts hardened in sin, get softened, and become repentant because God chose that person first.
I remember Kent trying to refute unconditional election by saying, “You’re looking for a comparison with Jacob and Esau.” I don’t intend to have a direct debate with him because he’s still a brother in Christ. I will quote from the KJV as much as possible with verses about the doctrine of election. The KJV rendition is this:
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth;)
Everything goes before the twins Esau and Jacob are born. Both of them weren’t born yet with a sinful nature. Paul goes on in Romans 9:12-13 to mention more about Jacob and Esau. Malachi 1:2 is mentioned in Romans 9:13. Is there any unrighteousness on God’s part? None, because God isn’t obligated to show mercy at all. Romans 9:15-16 says that God will show mercy on the person He wills, and the same goes for compassion. It is not based on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. Romans 9:17-18 talks about the Pharaoh and Exodus 9:16 which God says of the purpose of the Pharaoh’s hardened heart. Romans 9:18 says that God will have mercy on He will have mercy and will harden (that is, leave the person as is) whomever He wills.
In a deeper context, if it was before the foundation of the world when God does something, He’s bound to finish it. The evidence is in the changed life and enduring to the end. Many times, salvation is tested through trials and tribulations. Enduring to the end isn’t the cause but the effect of salvation. Those chosen by God will show a difference against those not chosen by God. The tree is known by its fruit. The fruit doesn’t make the tree a tree. It’s the fruit that tells what kind of tree is that tree.
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