Everyone Believes in Election
Every Christian who reads the Bible believes in election. The word is on the page. Believers are called elect, and Paul says God hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). The real question is what that choice rests on. Did God look over the fallen race and pick particular people for reasons known only to Himself? Or did He choose, in Christ, to save all who would believe, knowing beforehand who they would be?
The Reformed teaching that before creation God chose particular persons to salvation out of His free grace alone, with nothing in them, not even foreseen faith, as the reason for His choice.
This is the U in TULIP, an English memory aid whose earliest known use dates from the early twentieth century. The doctrine is far older. Augustine, the catholic bishop of Hippo, first taught in the 390s that God chose those He foreknew would believe. He later retracted that view (Retractations 1.23) and came to rest election on God's will alone. The Protestant Reformers drew on him. When the Remonstrants objected in 1610, the Dutch Reformed Synod of Dort answered them point by point in 1619. See the history of the debate.
We want to treat this doctrine with care, because many who hold it love Christ and have served Him faithfully. Charles Spurgeon preached it. William Carey, the Particular Baptist missionary to India, held it. They are our brethren, and error is not always unbelief. We also believe the doctrine does not fit what Scripture says, and we owe it to them and to the Word to say why.
God chose in Christ to save all who believe. His election is according to His perfect foreknowledge (1 Peter 1:2), it rests on no merit in anyone, and it never bypasses faith. This is neither Calvinism nor Arminianism. See Calvinism, Arminianism, or neither?
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For Deeper Study
- Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point CalvinismAmazon David L. Allen and Steve W. Lemke, eds.Non-Calvinistic Southern Baptist scholars answer each point of TULIP. Closest to the view taught here.
- Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist ApproachAmazon Kenneth KeathleyA non-Calvinistic Baptist who affirms eternal security. We do not depend on his Molinist framework.
- Chosen by GodAmazon R. C. SproulReformed. A clear, popular case for unconditional election. Read it to hear the view from one who loves it.
- Arminian Theology: Myths and RealitiesAmazon Roger E. OlsonClassical Arminian. We differ on the security of the believer.
- Perspectives on Election: Five ViewsAmazon Chad Owen Brand, ed.Five positions in dialogue, including Reformed and Arminian contributors.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Election and Foreknowledge
Before the foundation of the world, God chose in Christ to save all who believe, according to His perfect foreknowledge, and predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son.
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